Generosity Pt. 2

Vitals - Generosity Pt. 2
Dave Riddle - 08/25/19
Key Passage: Mark 12:41-44

Generous: the readiness to give more of something than is strictly necessary or expected.

Scripture: at the core it’s about God giving to us.

Embracing a lifestyle of generosity...

• A Reflection of God

  • John 13:34 - Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.

    • Jesus is the perfect picture of generosity for us to emulate.

• A Display of Gratitude

  • Mark 12:44

    • Even though she had very little, she realized that she was blessed.

  • Hebrews 12:28

    • We’ve received a kingdom that can’t be shaken. Our response should be an outpouring of gratitude.

• An Assertion of Trust

  • Mark 12:44

    • She gave everything and, trusted that God would provide for her.

      • Not a suggestion that we are all prescribed to do the same.

      • But a challenge for us to examine the way we give.

    • Do we give out of our surplus, or do we give sacrificially?

• An Attack on the “King”

  • We are our own biggest enemies: our selfishness, our self-centeredness, our greed. We are the kings of our own lives.

  • Matthew 6:24 - ...you cant worship God and money both.

Spiritual Formation Pt. 2

Vitals - Spiritual Formation Pt. 2
Dave Riddle - 07/14/19
Key Verses: Philippians 3:10, Galatians 4:19

ginōskō (Greek: γινώσκω) - to know by experience, in contract to an intellectual or intuitive type of knowledge.

• it’s one thing to know what sunburn is, it’s another thing completely to ‘experience’ sunburn.

symmorphizō (Greek: συμμορφίζω) - to receive the same form as; to be conformed to.

• Luke 6:40 - ...everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher.

• We are being transformed, not by our own power, but by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Spiritual Practices & Rhythms

• Not obligations, but invitations!

Study

• Philippians 4:8 - “...dwell on these things”

• Repetition, conversation, reflection

Meditation

• Psalm 63:6 HCSB): When I think of You as I lie on my bed, I meditate on You during the night watches

• On scripture, on the works of God, on the things we see happening around us.

Prayer

• “Prayer catapults us onto the frontier of the spiritual life. Of all the spiritual disciplines, prayer is the most central because it ushers us into perpetual communion with the father.” -R. Foster ‘Celebration of Discipline’

Fasting

• Luke 4:1-2 - Jesus fasted.

• “More than any other discipline fasting reveals the things that control us.” - R. Foster ‘Celebration of Discipline’

• Matthew 6:16 - not a requirement, but it does appear to be an expectation. “when you fast”

Solitude

• Mark 1:35

• Solitude =/= loneliness

• Let him who cannot be alone beware of community... Let him who is not in community beware of being alone... Each by itself has profound perils and pitfalls. One who wants fellowship without solitude plunges into the void of words and feelings, and the one who seeks solitude without fellowship perishes in the abyss of vanity, self-infatuation and despair.” - Bonhoeffer ‘Life Together’

Simplicity 

• “The central point for the discipline of simplicity is to seek the kingdom of God and righteousness of his kingdom first and then everything necessary will come in it’s proper order.” - R. Foster ‘Celebration of Discipline’

Submission

• To God, to the cross, to scripture, to our family, our neighbors, to the needs of others, to the body of Christ.

Service

• John 13:15 - "For I have given you an example that you also should do just as I have done for you. "

Out (Our World)

A Family on Mission - Out (Our World)

Dave Riddle - 06/30/19

Key Passage: Matthew 9:35-38

A Quick Review

1. One Calling

   • Help people follow Jesus together

2. Two Commandments

   • Love God, Love Others

     • Mark 12:28-31

3. Three Dimensions

   • Up, In, Out

Living on Mission like Jesus

He went.

• Matthew 9:35 - “Jesus continued going...”

  • Teaching

    • didaskō (Greek: διδάσκω) - teaching with the purpose of transformation.

  • Gospelling

    • kēryssō euaggelion basileia (Greek: κηρύσσω ευαγγελιον βασιλεα) - preaching the good news of the Kingdom.

  • Healing

    • Jesus understood that people needed healing and he provided it.

He Noticed.

• Matthew 9:36 - “when he saw the crowds...”

  • He didn’t overlook them or look past them. He saw them.

He felt.

• Compassion

  • Matthew 9:36

  • splagchnizomai (Greek: σπλαγχνίζομαι) - to be moved as to one's bowels, hence to be moved with compassion, have compassion (for the bowels were thought to be the seat of love and pity)

He Explained

• Matthew 9:37

  • The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few

Our Response

We Embody Jesus

• Luke 6:40

• We want to be like Him.

We Proclaim

• Acts 1:8

• Witnesses for Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit

Two Outcomes

1. Redemption

   • Ephesians 1:7

2. Restoration

   • We can make a difference in a world of chaos.

The most important thing to remember is how desperately God loves you.

• The world is full of individuals that God loves individually.

• Do we see the world through God’s eyes or do we see faceless/nameless masses?

God’s Household

A Family on Mission - God’s Household

Dave Riddle - 06/09/19

Key Passages: 1 Timothy 3:15, Matthew 28:18-20, Luke 6:40

Our mission: Helping People Follow Jesus Together!

• A family on mission!

1 Timothy 3:15 - ... I have written so that you will know how people ought to act in God’s household, which is the church of the living God,  the pillar and foundation of the truth.

• Household = oikos (Greek: οἶκος) - an inhabited house, a physical dwelling place. Also, the inhabitants of a house, all the persons forming one family - a household. 

  • In the New Testament: the family of God: Where God has made his home. Us!

Matthew 28:18-20 - Then Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.  19 Go, therefore, and make disciples  of  all nations,  baptizing  them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember,  I am with you always,  to the end of the age.” 

• Disciples = mathēteuō (Greek: μαθητεύω) -  to be a disciple of another, or to make someone a disciple. 

• mathetes (Greek: μαθητής) - pupil/leaner/student - a disciple. In the New Testament, a disciple is one who not only learns, but accepts and adverse to the instruction given to them, making it their personal everyday way of living .

Luke 6:40 - A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.

• we are called to become like Jesus and help others become like Him too!

Three-Dimensional Discipleship 

1. Up (Father)

   • Reconnect with our Father God through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. 

2. In (Family)

   • We are connected. We can’t do this apart from our brothers and sisters. United in Christ. 

3. Out (World)

   • Salt and light, ambassadors and witnesses to the world! We exist to reach out into the world to see them become like Jesus too!

Easter Sunday 2019 - The Last Enemy

He Set His Face - The Last Enemy

Dave Riddle - 04/21/19

Key Passage: Matthew 28:1-10, 1 Corinthians 15:3-8, 42-45

Luke 9:51 - When the days were coming to a close for Him to be taken up, He resolutely set His face towards Jerusalem. 

• Resolute: purposefully unwavering or determined.

Victory Over Death’s Defeat

• 1 Corinthians 15:3

Victory Over Sin’s Domination

• 1 Corinthians 15:3

It Displays the Power to Make a Comeback

• 1 Corinthians 15:4

• 1 Corinthians 15:43

It Shows the Reach of God’s Grace

• 1 Corinthians 15:45

Four Cries

He Set His Face - Four Cries

Dave Riddle - 04/14/19

Key Passage: Luke 19:28-44

Luke 9:51 - When the days were coming to a close for Him to be taken up, He resolutely set His face towards Jerusalem. 

• Resolute: purposefully unwavering or determined.

Jesus’ Disciples:

• “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!”

  • Luke 19:38

  • Psalm 118:26

  • Luke 2:14

• We’ve been redeemed, and that is something worth celebrating!

The Pharisees:

• Teacher, rebuke your disciples!

  • Luke 19:39

  • Rebuke (Greek: epitimaō / ἐπιτιμάω) - to tax with fault: to chide, reprove, rebuke or censure severely. To admonish or charge sharply.

The Rocks

• Would cry out in praise!

  • Luke 19:40

  • “Cry out” (Greek: krazō / κράζω) - to "croak" (as a raven) or scream. To call aloud (shriek, exclaim, intreat): cry (out).

Jesus:

• Cries over Jerusalem

  • Luke 19:41

  • “He wept for it” (Greek: klaiō / κλαίω) - weeping as the sign of pain and grief

  • Matthew 23:37 - “how often I have wanted to gather your children together... but you wouldn’t let me”

  • Luke 19:44b - “you did not recognize the time when God visited you”.