A Hardened Heart

S - "Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. In the day of trial in the wilderness" Hebrews 3:8
O -  Trials will bring testings to our hearts. For the people of Israel, the testing came in the wilderness, not in a place of  comfort. Circumstances brought a hardness of hearts to the people. Journeying through the wilderness with God guiding their lives, they had developed a hardened heart. A combination of lack of faith and hardeness of heart stopped them entering  the Promise Land. They couldn't trust God and didn't believe the promises of God.
A - Many times when I face trials, I can have my  heart  be hardened if I'm not careful. Which means I can still walk with God and have a hardened heart.  Disappointments, trials always test my heart. But my faith says that God is in control even though I don't see it with my natural eyes. My challenge is don't get a hard heart in the times of trials and tribulations.
P - Lord, keep my heart from being hard in the days of trials so I can walk with you with a clean heart and with a heart of faith.

Developing A GIVING Church

TITLE: The Church & Business
DATE: February 17, 2011

SCRIPTURE: Acts 18:5
“When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.”

OBSERVATION: Being involved in the business world, as a tentmaker, was not a distraction to Paul. Nor was it beneath his spiritual dignity – a lower status than being a full-time preacher. In verses 2 &3, it opened the doors to Aquila & Priscilla’s heart and they eventually became his disciples. But his desire was to be fully freed to preach the gospel and when he had the opportunity, as was the case in Corinth, at the arrival of his team, he “devoted himself exclusively to” preaching. This passage tells us, that before this time in Corinth, he was engage in a marketplace business in making & selling tents, which opened the partnership with business people who help spread the message of Jesus to others, especially Apollos, later on.

APPLICATION: I’m being challenged to partner more intimately with business leaders in our church so that the model Paul left can be followed. The vision given at the Transformation Conference was developing the church to be a “Giving Church” by having its budget underwritten by 5 business people in the church for the entire year and giving all the tithes and offerings away to the needs of the community. I believe that is what God wants to do so we can be a model church living that way to change the world’s image of the church as a “Giving”, not a “Taking” organism.

PRAYER: “Grant me wisdom and favor to see Your purposes for our church on Maui become a reality – that we would become a powerful “Giving” church that would impact our island.”

Letting Go...

S: Acts 13: 1-2 “In the church at Antioch, there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon, Lucius, Manaen, and Saul. The Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.”

O: God called upon the church to be willing to give up two of their five preachers/teachers. Even though we hate to see people leave, we should always be glad to share those in the church, with others who may need them more than our congregation. Some have described missions as three people carrying one end of a heavy log, and only one person at the other end. Missions is sending one of those three to the other end to help the person who needs more help.

A: Sometimes, we have a limited view of the Kingdom of God and can only see what we see. We do not know what we do not know. Releasing people to follow God’s call on their lives is tough to do, yet essential. Of course, this should be done with wisdom, counsel and blessing from those who know you best. Looking back on my life, I’ve been blessed. My parents released me from our local church and 15 years later, I’ve returned with a greater love for God and His people. The local church I was a part of in college, where I grew the most spiritually, released me to join the staff of another church and this was the most fruitful 8 years of ministry where I fell in love with the mission of the local church.

P: Father, I pray that you would expand my vision and allow me to see the things I cannot see. I pray that I would release people for your purposes, that I would bless them and trust them over to you at all times. I pray that you would bring the people that we need to build our church on Maui and that you would bless our efforts.

S -
Acts 9:11 - ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying.
Acts 10:2 - he (Cornelius) gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly.
Acts 10:9-11 - Peter went up on the roof to pray...he fell into a trance. He saw heaven opened.

O - The word pray, prayer, prayed etc is used 34 times in Acts! I only now noticed the emphasis on prayer. In particular the prayer times of these three individuals stood out. It seems like each of them probably had a consistent and devoted time of prayer with God (only in Cornelius' case is it clearly mentioned that he regularly prayed). Moreover, it seems in the lives of these men that there was a correlation between prayer and seeing amazing things happen in their life.

A - I look at my own prayer life and find that it's not always consistent. I would however like to be like these great men who got to see amazing things happen and be part of what God was doing.

P - God put a desire and passion in my heart to pray and spend time with you, that not only would it lead to seeing and doing the amazing, but that it would lead to deeper relationship with you. Amen.

It's a TRAP!

S- Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.” Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. Matthew 16:23 NLT

O- Jesus felt threatened. "You are a dangerous trap to me" He said. There are two things I observe. 1) He recognized the threat. 2) To destroy the threat, he had to identify the wrong mindset in his friend and change it, or it would have the potential to change Him.


A-This is especially important for high school students to understand. If they don't impact those around them, the people around them will impact them. The way to change people is to speak into their wrong thinking and beliefs because beliefs generate action. Jesus didn't just rebuke Peter for saying what was wrong, he corrected him by telling him what was right.  Jesus realized that the people around him could be a trap if they had wrong thinking. If he didn't change them, they would have the power to change Him. Jesus had this caution even as the Son of God. If Jesus felt threatened by bad thinking, how much more am I susceptible to wrong thinking. I cannot live right if the people around me are living wrong. For me to live right, I need to teach those around me to live right as well. One cannot exist without the other.


P- Jesus, please help me to follow you in the way that I think and live. Help me to have the same discernment that you had (For myself and others around me). Help me to have the courage to speak out when something needs to be said instead of expecting others to figure it out on their own.

S- John 5:¹ Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. ² Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. ³ Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed 4 and they waited for the moving of the waters. From time to time an angel of the Lord would come down and stir up the waters. The first one into the pool after each such disturbance would be cured of whatever disease they had. 5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. ⁶ When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”

⁷ “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”

⁸ Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” ⁹ At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.

O- Sometimes we can be so focused on our weaknesses or how long we have had them that we forget that the God we serve is far more powerful than our weaknesses. Then God asks us if we want to get well and the first thing we do is make excuses on why we haven't got better or why we can't get better and we don't realize that God can make any and all of our weaknesses disappear.

The invalid he had tried to receive healing the way other people have experienced healing and it didn't work for him. Lucky for him, God is a God who seeks us out even when we are at the brink of giving up and accepting our weaknesses. All the invalid had to do was realize that he had access to Jesus and his power and to believe and follow His instructions for his life. Once he did that he was delivered from his weakness and began to walk.

A- One area I have always struggled with throughout my life was my weight. I always had a slow metabolism, I have always loved food and was taught at a young age to finish all my food even if I was full. I ran cross country and had a bad coach that would run us ridiculous amounts and it got to the point where I was burnt out and hated to run after that. Then came the excuses of being married and spending hours ministering to people and not having as much time to exercise as much as I used to when I was single.

I have struggled with it for so long that when God asked me if I wanted to get well, like the invalid, I would tell the God who created the universe why I couldn't get well instead of asking Him to make me well.

P-God please make me well in this area of my life and let me be in the best shape of my life as a testimony to your power. Please also reveal other areas of my life where I have been making up reason to tolerate things in my life instead of running to you and asking you to make me well.

S- Acts 4:18-20

"Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

O-

I don't why I just realized it now...but honestly, I can't remember a day when I wasn't at least aware of God in my life. He has been with me, ever since I knelt down with my dad in the prayer room here in Maui and asked Jesus into my heart. Just that thought alone, is enough for me to linger and think on. I truly know He has been with me every day since that morning.

However, He was with me, but that doesn't mean I was drawing close enough to be with Him. Only now...

Peter and John had been with Jesus. Walked with Him, heard Him, saw Him heal, saw Him answer every trapping question...lived with Him, ate with Him...I'm sure they joked around too.

Men, who have "been with Jesus":

1) Cause a stir in the community.

-They meet needs and draw attention to the only name by which we can be saved (Jesus-for those of us who need things spelled out).

2) Religion will try and stop the spread of a move of God.

-OR tradition. I find myself loving my own traditions. But I need to be willing to lay down my tradtitions and preferences in order for the next generation to have their revival.

3) There will be commands and threats to stop.

-It is only those that persevere that yield a harvest.

What is the key to persevere in light of external and internal pressure to stop in our mission?

Don't stop seeing and hearing.

It was a ludicrous notion for Peter and John to shut-up about Jesus. They, "could not help speaking about what they had seen and heard".

A-

If I want to see and hear Jesus every day, I have to spend the time with Him. It requires that I seek Him out in the word. There's no getting around the word. Twenty podcasts cannot take the place of my personal time with Him in the Bible. I can worship for hours and read books about the anointing, but unless I spend the time digging in the word and praying about what He's showing me, I have not really been with Him.

God's purposes will be accomplished through people who have truly been with Him-and that means extended word time.

P-God help me to keep my heart a fertile soil for the seeds of your word. Help me to not let offense keep me from You and others. Help me, to not let confusion over current life circumstances keep me from trusting You. Help me endure, because I know I will get weary. Teach me to renew my strength. Let your word come to me and not return void. Let it come to me as a seed and become fruitful and enduring, so I may present myself to you-as a man who worked out His faith...a man who walked with God...and could not help but speak about what I've see and hear, everyday.