Our series at the end of 2015, “God Is…” ended with the wonderful news that God is Here – as Jesus Christ. So, this new series for 2016 picks right up on that theme!
We’ll be learning about Jesus from some key stories in the Bible.
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CloseRyan Sim - May 1, 2013
Wednesday - Change It - Pompous Prayer
Jesus is challenging those who pray in public in order to get ahead, to look religious. He says they got the reward they wanted, immediately. People saw them, were impressed. Done. Problem is, empty reward. What is God's reward for prayer? It's him. A relationship with him. This happens to be what true prayer is about anyway…talking to God…spending time with him. God makes himself, the reward, available to all who will receive him. Closet prayer is like training, shutting out all ulterior motives until we learn to pray for God alone. God is the best spectator for prayer - he sees prayer and motive. Even the worst prayer - God sees the right motive. Even the best prayer - God sees the wrong motive. The word "closet" in this reading is not where someone kept their clothes. It comes from the Greek "tameion" which means storeroom. This suggests there are immediate "treasures" when you pray for God alone. When we pray for God and God alone, we are seeking God, and he is ready and willing to hold up his side of the relationship by giving us what we were seeking. When we pray for others to see, we’re clearly not seeking God but our own benefit, so he gives us that reward we sought, but that's all. If we want applause, he says we can have it. But we're settling for second best. I once got a phone call, informing me that someone was taking Christianity 101 student because he wanted to be baptized in hopes it would helps him immigration case. In the end, I was happy for him to take the course, and would even baptize him if he decided to follow Jesus as his Lord. Those things are highly rewarding in and of themselves! An eternal relationship with God through Jesus Christ – nothing is more rewarding. What about the immigration thing? I doubt it would have helped. One might have a case as a persecuted refugee if they were a baptized Christian at home, before coming to Canada. But immigration authorities probably wouldn’t care if he was baptized in Canada last year. If he took my course, and was baptized, all because he wanted to improve his chances at immigration, he would quickly discover it was an empty reward, nowhere near as good as the real reward. We settle for second best sometimes. We pursue rewards in life, on earth, when we could be pursuing rewards in heaven! We can do this with prayer. We say a bunch of things about God, and call it prayer, when we could be talking to God. We say some words we don’t really believe, simply because someone told us we should. Question: Have you ever tried to regularly spend time in prayer alone with God? What did you find easy comfortable, or difficult and uncomfortable about the experience?
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From Series: "Sermon on the Mount"
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Tuesday - Study It - Pioneer Priorities | June 24, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Wednesday - Change It - Pioneer Priorities | June 25, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Thursday - Act On It - Pioneer Priorities | June 26, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Friday - Reflect - Pioneer Priorities | June 27, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Monday - A New Idea - Pioneer Pain | June 30, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Tuesday - Study It - Pioneer Pain | July 1, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
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Friday - Reflect - Pioneer Pain | July 4, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Monday - A New Idea - Pioneer Players | July 7, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Tuesday - Study It - Pioneer Players | July 8, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Wednesday - Change It - Pioneer Players | July 9, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Thursday - Act On It - Pioneer Players | July 10, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Friday - Reflect - Pioneer Players | July 11, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Monday - A New Idea - Pioneer Progress | July 14, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Tuesday - Study It - Pioneer Progress | July 15, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Wednesday - Change It - Pioneer Progress | July 16, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Thursday - Act On It - Pioneer Progress | July 17, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Friday - Reflect - Pioneer Progress | July 18, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Monday - A New Idea - Pioneer Prodigy | July 21, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Tuesday - Study It - Pioneer Prodigy | July 22, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Wednesday - Change It - Pioneer Prodigy | July 23, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Thursday - Act On It - Pioneer Prodigy | July 24, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Friday - Reflect - Pioneer Prodigy | July 25, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Monday - A New Idea - Pioneer Pork | July 28, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Tuesday- Study It - Pioneer Pork | July 29, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Wednesday - Change It - Pioneer Pork | July 30, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Thursday - Act On It - Pioneer Pork | July 31, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Friday - Reflect - Pioneer Pork | August 1, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Monday - A New Idea - Pioneers And Pagans | August 4, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Tuesday - Study It - Pioneers And Pagans | August 5, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Wednesday - Change It - Pioneers And Pagans | August 6, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Thursday - Act On It - Pioneers And Pagans | August 7, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Friday - Reflect - Pioneers and Pagans | August 8, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
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Tuesday - Study It - Pioneers And Prerequisites | August 12, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Wednesday - Change It - Pioneers And Prerequisites | August 13, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Thursday - Act On It - Pioneers And Prerequisites | August 14, 2014 | Extra | Watch | Listen | |
Friday - Reflect - Pioneers and Prerequisites | August 15, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
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Friday - Reflect - Pioneers and Power | September 12, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
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Wednesday - Change It - Foundation | October 22, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
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Friday - Reflect - Foundation | October 24, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
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