September 27th: Relentless Pursuit of Relationship
History of Ruth
- Ruth moved with her husband, father in law, mother in law (Naomi), brother in law and his wife (Orpah) from their home
- Her father in law and brother in law died on the way to their new home
- Her husband died shortly after
- Her sister in law went back home too
- Ruth was left in a foreign land, without any of her friends or family, with only her mother in law
- Ruth stayed in a foreign land with Naomi
- She found a job in the fields to help support her and Naomi
- Ruth met Boaz while she was working
- He was a great guy and they eventually got married
5 Lessons on Relationships from Ruth
- Don’t let your past hurts hold you back from
future relationships
- We all get hurt by other people sometimes
- We all get let down by other people sometimes
- Ruth had every reason to run away from Naomi and go back home
- She chose to stay with Naomi despite losing her husband and being alone in a foreign land
- De faithful to the relationships in your life
- Commitment and loyalty are lost in relationships today
- However, God demonstrated His commitment to us by sending His son to earth to die for our sins
- Ruth committed to Naomi and she fulfilled that commitment by staying with her
- We are stewards to the relationships that God blesses us with in the same way that we are stewards of the money He gives us
- Value great character in your relationships
- Ruth showed strong character in the way she
responded to Naomi when Naomi told her to go back
- Vs 1:17 – 18
- We must show those same character traits and surround ourselves with people that value them too
- Ruth showed strong character in the way she
responded to Naomi when Naomi told her to go back
- Believe redemption is possible
- Just because you may have been hurt by friends or family in the past doesn’t meant that you can’t have great relationships in the future
- God redeems His children
- God redeemed the relationship that Ruth had lost
- Leave a legacy
- To be called a great friend is a huge compliment
- It takes time to develop deep lasting relationships
- It took many years for Ruth and Naomi to become close
- Because they invested in each other through the hard times they were able to have a long-lasting relationship that greatly benefited them both
September 20th : Identity In Christ
- Our identity is a gift from God
- 1 Peter
2:9 – 10
- 3 Ways our identity is a gift
- We are His chosen people
- Jeremiah 1:5
- He chose you, He created you and He loves you
- We are His chosen people
- 3 Ways our identity is a gift
- We are royal priests and priestesses
- Romans
8:15 – 17
- We are “adopted’ once we commit our lives to Him
- Once we are adopted, we have all of the rights and privileges that come from the King
- We are princes and princesses
- Romans
8:15 – 17
- We become
God’s very own possessions
- Isaiah
43:1 – 2
- We are valuable because we are God’s children
- Christian means “little Christ”
- Isaiah
43:1 – 2
- If we are in Christ, no one can determine our worth
- We are valuable because we are a reflection of the creator
September 13th: Relentless Pursuit of Integrity
Life of Josiah
2 Kings 22 and 23
Great Young Leaders in History
- Alexander the Great – Conquered the majority of the known world by the age of 32
- Napoleon – Went from a minor Corsican noble to the Emperor of France by the age of 35
- Fredrick the Great – Modernize Prussia, defeated Austria and Russia and laid the foundation of Germany by the age of 28
- Constantine – United the Eastern and Western Roman Empire at age 34
- Tutankhamun – became Pharaoh of Egypt when he was 10 years old
Josiah – The pursuit of integrity starts when you are young
- Josiah was 8 years old when he became King
- His grandfather and father were corrupt kings who were both killed early in life
- Josiah chose at age 16 to follow God with all of his heart and not be like his father and grandfather
What does integrity mean?
- The quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness
- It is important because it becomes the compass that we navigate our life with
3 ways Josiah Pursued Integrity
- Josiah
Sought the Lord
- Seek the Lord early in life
- Vs 22:1 – 2
- Josiah became King at 8 years old
- Seek the Lord early in life
- Keep on seeking God no matter what
- Vs 22:1 – 2
- “He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord”
- 3 ways to accomplish this:
- Through prayer
- Through studying God’s word
- Through accountability with another believe
- Josiah
obeyed God’s word
- Vs 22:1 – 8
- Josiah led his people back into relationship with God and God blessed them
- Josiah
allowed God to work through him and God blessed him
- Vs. 22:3 – 8
- Because Josiah did what God told him to do he was able to locate a copy of the book of the Law
- Everyone thought those were gone because his father and grandfather had confiscated and destroyed most of them
September 6th: Relentless Pursuit of Blessing
Jabez’s Passionate Prayer for Blessing
1 Chronicles 4:9 – 10
What is a blessing = God’s favor and protection
- Do you believe that God wants to bless you?
- Why does He want to bless you?
- How does He bless His children?
5 Lessons from Jabez’s prayer
- The name “Jabez” means “He causes pain”.
- When you pray, begin by acknowledging who God is
- “Jabez cried out to the God of Israel”
- Jabez had a close intimate relationship with God
- When you pray, do it with a heart fully invested in
God
- “That You would bless me”
- Because Jabez fully believed in God and had a relationship with Him there was no question in his mind that God would bless Him
- When you pray, ask God to multiply your territory
and do more through you
- “That You would multiply my territory”
- Jabez was asking for God to increase his ministry with his people
- When you pray, ask God to take you through all the
way through the pain, circumstances and struggles that come at you.
- “Your hand be with me”
- Jabez didn’t want to face hard times alone. He prayed for God to carry him through the tough stuff in life
- When you pray, come to God humbly and ask Him to use
your weakness for His glory
- “Keep me free from harm so that I will be free from pain”
- God can our deepest darkest pain and weakness and turn it into our strength to use for His glory.
- The key word is “free”. Only God can give us the freedom to turn our weakness into strength
August 30th: Relentless Pursuit of Healing
Naaman’s Road to Healing
2 Kings 5:1 – 15
Naaman was:
- A powerful man and commander of the army of the King of Aram
- very respected by the King of Aram
- a valiant soldier himself
- a leper
Three Mistakes He made out of arrogance:
- He thought
money could buy his cure and happiness
- Vs 5
- He gathered all of his money first instead of just leaving to go find Elisha
- He went to the
wrong person first
- Vs 6 – 7
- He went to King of Israel first instead of going directly to Elisha as he was instructed to do
- He wanted to be
cured in his own way and got mad at God when it didn’t happen
- Vs 10 – 12
- His was too proud and arrogant to try the solution that he had been given
Three blessings that happened to Naaman when he chose God’s way
- He was HUMBLED
- He learned what complete OBEDIENCE to God’s way looks like
- He was completely HEALED
Many times we are our own barrier in our relationship with God.
August 23rd: Relentless Pursuit of Jesus
Relentless – oppressively constant; incessant
3 Crosses and 3 Choices Made on 1 Day
Luke 23:32 – 43
- The first cross
held Jesus, dying FOR ALL
sin
- His choice was Redemption
- Redemption – the action of regaining or gaining possession of something in exchange for payment or clearing of a debt
- Jesus’ chose to pay the debt of sin for all of humanity
- The second
cross held a man dying IN HIS sin
- His choice was Rejection
- Rejection – dismiss as inadequate, inappropriate, or not to one’s taste
- He never took his eyes off of himself long enough to see that His salvation was right next to Him
- The third cross
held a man dying TO sin
- His choice was Repentance
- Repentance – to turn away from sin and turn to God
- He recognized that Jesus was the savior and asked to be with Him in Heaven
- His salvation was immediate based on His confession of who Jesus was
We all are faced with the same choices as the 2 thieves. Which one will you choose?
August 16th : Relentless Pursuit of God
Jeremiah 29:11 – 14
- What does relentless mean? a. Oppressively constant; incessant b. For us, it means pursuing the things of God in every area of our life with everything we have, not getting distracted by the enemy
- How do we relentlessly pursue God? a. Trust in God’s plan for your life
i. Vs 11 Plans to:
- Prosper you
- Not to harm you
- Give you hope
- Give you a future b. Know and trust that God listens to you when you pray
i. Vs 12
c. Seek God with all of your heart and you will find Him
i. Vs 13 – 14