Expect the Unexpected this New Year

Expect The Unexpected

Paul Trulock- 1/8/2023

Key Passage: Genesis 22

We Know Two Things Abraham Didn’t Know

1. This is a test

• Genesis 22:1

2. The purpose of the test

• Do you love the gift more than the giver? (Genesis 22:2)

• The first time love is mentioned in the Bible. The love of a father for his so

Abraham was listening for God’s Voice

• Genesis 22:1 - He didn’t need to be called for twice

He Didn’t Delay

• Genesis 22:3 - He got up early

He Was Steadfast

• Genesis 22:4 - “on the third day“

• This wasn’t quick, it was a long and excruciating process.

We Will Worship… and Return

• Genesis 22:5 - WE will worship. WE will return.

• He trusted that God would spare or resurrect Isaac someway somehow… despite the fact that no one had yet been resurrected.

He Trusted in God’s Provision

• Genesis 22:7-8 - Abraham trusted that God will provide.

• Genesis 22:9 - so did Isaac.

“Now I Know”

• Genesis 22:12 - Good is omniscient. He knew the result, but now he experienced it. 

• Good always has a purpose for his tests.

• Abraham also knew and experienced.

Abraham Looked Up

• Genesis 22:13 - …and the Lord provided.

The Lord Will Provide 

• Genesis 22:14

• Matthew 6:26-34

Joyful Generosity

House Rules - Joyful Generosity 

Dave Riddle - 11/20/2022

Key Passage: Mark 12:41-44

Joyful Generosity 

Recognizing that all we have is a gift from God and learning to share what we have.

God Gave

• God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son. John 3:16

  • Jesus is the embodiment of generosity.

Generous: A readiness to give more of something that what is expected 

Jesus Gave Willingly

• John 10:18

Jesus Gave Joyfully

• Hebrews 12:2

Jesus Gave Purposefully

• 1 Peter 3:18

Jesus Gave Sacrificially

• Philippians 2:6-8

Our Generosity Should Be a Reflection of God

• John 13:34

Generosity is An Attack On a Would-Be “King”

• Matthew 6:24

  • Money = mamōnas (μαμωνᾶς) - Mammon - everything we pursue in life. Riches, treasures, dreams, feelings, idols. Everything that isn’t God.

  • Consumerism vs Generosity

Five Resources to be Generous With 

• Physical Capital

• Intellectual Capital

• Relational Capital

• Spiritual Capital

• Financial Capital

An Example of Generosity 

• 2 Corinthians 8:1-9

• 2 Corinthians 9:6-7

Therefore… Don’t worry

Message Begins around 34:00

Therefore… Don’t worry

Dave Riddle - 9/4/22

Key Passage: Matthew 6:25-34

Don’t Worry

• Matthew 6:25

• Worry = merimnaō (μεριμνάω) - to be anxious; to be troubled with cares.

  • Mary and Martha

    • Luke 10:41

    • Troubled = thorybazō (θορυβάζω) - troubled, disquieted, turbid.

• Look at the birds

  • Matthew 6:26

What benefit does worrying provide?

• Matthew 6:27

  • Can you add a second to your life or an inch to your height by worrying?

  • When, after worrying, do you feel better about your life?

• Look at the wild flowers

  • Matthew 6:28-30

The Challenge

• Are we willing to trust Him with our lives?

  • Matthew 6:30

  • Look at how much God loves us.

    • “…you of little faith”

• Don’t worry

  • Matthew 6:31-32

  • Paul reiterates this in Philippians 4:6

• Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

  • Mathew 6:33

  • Luke 10:41-42 (Mary and Martha)

    • There is only one thing that matters!

• Why? Because tomorrow will have its own worries, and today has enough trouble of its own.

  • Trouble = kakia (κακία) - badness, malice, wickedness, evil

You Can’t Serve Two Masters

Message begins around 34:00

You Can’t Serve Two Masters

Dave Riddle - 8/28/22

Key Passage: Matthew 6:24

“No one can serve two masters…”

• Jesus in Matthew 6:24a

• “No one” = oudeis (οὐδείς) - not even one

  • Romans 3:10

• “Can” = dynamai (δύναμαι) - to be able, have power whether by virtue of one's own ability and resources, or of a state of mind, or through favourable circumstances, or by permission of law or custom

• It is impossible!

• “Serve” = douleuō (δουλεύω) - to be a slave to (literal or figurative, involuntary or voluntary):—be in bondage, (do) serve(-ice).

• “Masters” = kyrios (κύριος) - supreme in authority

  • Romans 10:9, Luke 6:46

“…he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other.”

• Jesus in Matthew 6:24b

• It’s impossible for us to love (agapaō: ἀγαπάω - perfect unconditional love) two supreme masters at once.

  • Compare to Jesus’ comments about the good “single” eye from last week, Matthew 6:22.

“…You cannot serve both God and money.”

• Jesus in Matthew 6:24c

• “Money” = mamōnas (μαμωνᾶς) - Mammon - everything we pursue in life. Riches, treasures, dreams, feelings, idols. Everything that isn’t God.

• Joshua 24:15 - “…choose this day whom you will serve...”

Spiritual Astigmatism

Message begins around 34:00

Spiritual Astigmatism 

Dave Riddle - 8/21/22

Key Passage: Matthew 6:22-23

“Eyes are the windows to the soul” - Shakespeare… or Cicero… or someone else

 “The eye is the lamp of the body” - Jesus in Matthew 6:22a

“The Evil Eye”

• Matthew 6:23

• A concept found in many world cultures and elsewhere in the Bible

  • Deuteronomy 28:54, 56

  • Proverbs 28:22

• A person who lacks generosity. A person who looks out for their own self-interest. Narcissistic, self-consumed.

• Matthew 20:15 - literally translated “is your eye evil because I am good?”.

The Single Eye (Healthy Eye)

• Matthew 6:22

• haplous (ἁπλοῦς) - simple, single, whole

  • haplos: bountifully, liberally

    • See James 1:5

  • haplotes: singleness. Subjective Meaning: sincerity, without pretense or self-interest), or Objective Meaning: generosity.

    • See 2 Corinthians 8:2

What Are You Chasing?

What are you chasing?

Dave Riddle - 8/14/22

Key Passage: Matthew 6:19-21

The STUFF we love is temporary

• Matthew 6:19

  • The things we chase so fervently disappear so quickly.

• James 4:13-14

  • We don’t know what tomorrow will bring.

    • Life is unpredictable!

  • Your life is like a puff of smoke.

• Psalm 39:4-5

  • Temporary, fleeting, gone so fast.

• Psalm 39:6

  • We rush around in vain, gathering possessions that won’t last.

What are you chasing?

• Dreams

• Money

• Possessions

• Love

• Happiness

Eternal Rewards

• Matthew 6:20

  • Store you for yourself treasures in Heaven.

• What are they? We don’t know.

• How do we receive them?

  • By pursuing Jesus.

  • Giving to the needy

  • Prayer and fasting

  • Being persecuted for Jesus

  • …all without seeking earthly recognition.

• 1 Timothy 6:17-19

  • Be rich in good works

  • Be generous and willing to share

  • …This is truly life!

• “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot love”. - Jim Elliot

• Luke 12:15-21

  • Are we chasing and hoarding the things that we cannot keep?

• Matthew 6:21

  • Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Examine your heart to see which treasure you’re really chasing.

Upside Down View of Generosity

Kids Choir Starts at 9:30 // Baptisms at 14:30 // Message at 30:00

Upside Down View of Generosity

03/20/2021 - Dave Riddle 

Key Passage: Mark 12:41-44

Oikonomics: The economy of God’s household. The way our family on mission invests it’s available resources in and for the family of God.

Five Capitals:

• Spiritual Capital is about the depth of our relationship with God as a follower of Jesus, producing a spiritual equity that we invest in others.

• Relational Capital refers to the quantity and quality of our relationships which produces a relational equity we have to invest.

• Physical Capital is all about our ability to devote time and energy to both people and tasks. It includes the time we make available and the capacity we have to use that time.

• Intellectual Capital refers to our capacity to think and reason, to use our minds as something to invest as part of God’s family on mission. Ideas and knowledge.

• Financial Capital is perhaps the capital that we are most familiar with. Money. Treasure.

Generous: showing a readiness to give more of something than is strictly necessary or even expected.

The Widow’s Gift

• Mark 12:41-44

  • Not a parable but an event Jesus is witnessing.

Priority, Regularity, Individuality, Proportionality

• 1 Corinthians 16:2

• They responded zealously!

  • 2 Corinthians 9:1-2

No one can serve two masters

• Matthew 6:24

Give Thanks

• Hebrews 12:28

Love Generously

• John 13:34

An Assertion of our Trust

• Mark 12:44

Give Cheerfully

• 2 Corinthians 9:6-7

  • God loves it!

• “You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who cannot repay you” - John Bunyan

Do Not Love the World

Message begins around 32:00

Do Not Love the World

02/13/2021 - Dave Riddle 

Key Passage: 1 John 2:15-17

Do not love the world

• 1 John 2:15a Do not love the world or the things that belong to the world.

• James says it, Paul says it, John says it…

• “Love” agapaō (ἀγαπάω) - unconditional love.

• 1 John 2:15b If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him.

  • You can’t serve two masters.

  • There’s gotta be one Lord, Master, priority, affection of your life.

What are the aspects of the world that are most tempting to give my undivided attention to?

• James 4:4 Adulterers! Don’t you know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? So whoever wants to be the world’s friend becomes God’s enemy.

• We need to be very sensitive to the Holy Spirit to recognize when things of the world begin to displace our focus on God.

  • Revelation 2:4 - …you have abandoned your first love…

Everything that belongs to the world

1 John 2:16 For everything that belongs to  the world—the lust of the flesh,  the lust of the eyes,  and the pride  in one’s lifestyle—is not from the Father, but is from the world. 

• Not an exhaustive list

• Flesh - Our base physical passions (Hedonism)

  • 1 Peter 2:11

    • We are foreigners and strangers here on Earth. Temporary residents.

    • Our life is not solely about what happens between birth and death.

• Eyes - The tendency to be captivated by the outward appearance of things. An inordinate desire for the finer things in life. (Materialism)

  • Proverbs 27:20 - Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied, and people’s eyes are never satisfied. (CSB)

  • Human desires are like the world of the dead - there’s always room for more. (GNT)

• Pride - the trust that we have in our own power, resources, abilities, insight. (Self-sufficiency)

  • Luke 14:11 - Those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

Why don’t we care about those things?

• 1 John 2:17 the world with its lust is passing away, but the one who does God’s will remains forever.

  • Paul says the same thing in Romans 7:31

  • Jesus reframes our thinking in Mark 3:35

We need to do a heart check

• What has your heart?

  • If it’s something other than God… it’s the wrong answer.

• Mathew 6:21 - Your heart will always be where your treasure is.

Why Pray?

Why Pray?

Mark Butler - Sunday 5/23/21

Key passage: Matthew 6:5-13

We ask “Why?” all the time, and it’s not a question that God is afraid of.

Why Pray?

To Honor God’s Name as Holy

• Matthew 6:9

• holy: special, unique, set apart

He is not far from each one of us.

• Acts 17:27

• Good is near!

…on Earth as it is in Heaven

• Matthew 6:10

• Micah 6:8

• A call to make all things new, in our lives and in our world.

• It aligns our heart with the heart of God.

Give us contentment and the ability to trust

• Matthew 6:11 - daily bread

• Proverbs 30:8-9 - give me neither poverty or riches, but just what I need so I continue to trust in you rather than in myself.

Forgive our debts/sins 

• Matthew 6:12

• “But God…”

• Repent and accept change e Red at her then saying “I want things to change, but I don’t want them to change me”

…as we forgive those who have sinned against us

• Matthew 6:12

• God’s forgiveness is not contingent on ours, but we are called to be characterized by grace and mercy.

Spare us from temptation

• Matthew 6:13

• God rule my heart

• A cry for help

• Mark 26:14

Prayer binds us together

• “Our Father”

  • not a private prayer

  • This is a y’all prayer

    • Forgive us

    • Lead us

    • Give us

The Will of God

The Will of God

Charles Bai - 10/13/19

Key Passage: Romans 12:2

Romans 12:2

• The will of God... is good acceptable and perfect

  • Good: Luke 18:19 - no one is good except God alone.

  • Acceptable: Matthew 3:17 - This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.

  • Perfect: Revelation 4:11 - all things created by the will of God

Matthew 6:9-13

• When we pray we need to think about three things.

  • The name of God

    • Holy

  • The Kingdom of God

    • Will come

  • The Will of God

    • On Earth as it is in Heaven

Matthew 7:21

• Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in Heaven.

  • So, what IS the will of God?

1 Thessalonians 4:3

• For this is the will of God, your sanctification...

  • Sanctification

    • To be made holy

    • To be set apart

How are we sanctified?

• by the Holy Spirit

  • Romans 15:16

• Through the truth of God’s word

  • John 17:15-17

    • Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.

  • Read the word of God!

Ephesians 4:24/Colossians 3:10

• “Put on the new self/new man...”

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. "