 | How to Spend a Day with God in Prayer
Mark 1:35 (Redick) One of the main reasons we don’t live more confident, victorious lives in Christ is that we are seldom confident that we are clean. We get busy and neglect to confess our sins - or perhaps we just utter a quick "Oops! Sorry Lord!" and quickly move on, intending to truly confess when we have more time. Then the incident is forgotten and the only thing that remains is the gnawing guilt that sinks down deep within us where it takes the edge off our confidence. We are no longer assured that we are right with God. Then the vicious cycle begins. We feel guilty, so we don't pray. Our prayerlessness brings more guilt and our guilt brings more prayerlessness. |
| Man in the Dark: Nicodemus and the New
Birth John 3:1-21 (Redick) Unwilling at this point to risk his position on something that he didn't quite understand (not necessarily a bad approach to investigating possible truth) but also curious about Jesus, Nicodemus chose to approach the Lord after dark. With darkness in his approach - darkness in his understanding - he hoped Jesus would help him sort it all out without putting his position on the council in jeopardy. |
| The Law of Sowing and Reaping Galatians
6:7-10 (Redick) Think about seeds. A single seed can grow a plant that produces hundreds or even thousands of seeds. A single bag of seeds can sow a whole field and produce hundreds of bags of new seed. We reap more than we sow. This is true in the positive sense, but it is also true in the negative. |
| The New, the Pew, and the Few Various
Texts (Walker and Redick) My very first job in the church was driving the church's VW bus on Sunday mornings and evenings to pick up a wheelchair bound widow. That doesn't sound like exciting work, but that lady had a profound influence on my life. |
| Don't Forget the Main Thing Mark
2:23-27 (Helt) In many parts of the world, life moves at a much slower pace. One man I know was living in Caracas, Venezuela. One day he was standing in line at the bank to pay his bills (this is a common practice in Latin America). Frustrated with having to waste hours standing in line, he remarked, "In the US, we mail our bills in so we don’t have to wait in line all day!" A fellow in line in front of him turned around and asked, "Then how do you make any friends?" You know, he had a point. The world doesn’t come to an end if we slow down and "smell the roses" on occasion. In many countries, which are not so modern and efficient as we are here, they realize the value of taking time to experience life, not just live it. That’s usually not the case here. |
| Putting Old People in their Place
1 Chronicles 29:26-28 (Helt) "...when different generations clash over some issue, the younger person shows respect and honor in their disagreement and they work at not disdaining someone only because they have gray hair or because they move more slowly. In short, "putting old people in their place" means putting them in a place of honor and respect in our lives." |
| Esau's Bitter Bargain Hebrews
12:15-17; Genesis 25:21-34; 27:1-35
(Redick) "When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry…" |
| Two Dynamite Proofs of the Resurrection 1
Corinthians 15:1-8 (Redick) I would venture that most Christians in our day, when they study the Bible, spend the majority of their time in the New Testament, because it reveals the covenant we are under today. Thus, for many of us, because of our unfamiliarity with the Old Testament, this proof of fulfilled prophecy has lost most of its punch. Yet it is still there and available for bolstering our faith in remarkable ways if we’re willing to pursue it. |
| Didymus the Doubter John
20:19-29 (Redick) People can be pretty gullible. Faith is not gullibility. It is OK to question the claims of those who teach you, provided you take steps to resolve your doubt. Actually, some doubt can produce deeper understanding in us, something that God wants. |
| Anatomy of a Betrayal John
13:12-30 (Redick) There are people like Judas in every age – people who enjoy the blessings of Christ’s presence, who hear His word and enjoy the fellowship of His people in a special way. They are given every opportunity to receive the wonderful blessings of God. But like Judas of old, they prove to be hypocrites, selling out their Lord by the phony ways in which they live. |
| Discovering Your Special Gift(s) Matthew
25:14-30 (Redick) Those who manage the savings and investments of others tell us that the hardest part of investing for retirement is getting started. Generally, if you go to see an investment counselor, the last piece of advice you’ll get before you leave the office is this: Start investing something now, even if it doesn’t seem like very much. These people know that absolutely nothing will ever be invested until the first dollar is put in. The same is true in using our gifts for God. We can sit around and think about it. We can listen to sermons about it and say "amen" in agreement. We can read the Bible passages about it and agree with them. But until we get beyond the inertia of startup, nothing else will ever happen until life has slipped away and we find we have done nothing for the Lord. |
| Considering the Name of God Exodus
3:13-16 (Redick) Some commentators consider it significant that God revealed this name to Moses in the context of the burning bush. As the bush was burning, but didn’t burn up, so God is alive always and never will be exhausted or spent. He was, He is, and He always will be. He will never be extinguished. |
| The Fool Next Door Proverbs
27:14 (Helt) I’m supposed to do more than just ignore him, I’m supposed to show Christian love to him, too. |
| Tossed Back and Forth Ephesians
4:14 (Redick) Imagine trying to raise a fruit tree the way some people try to grow to fruitfulness in the Christian life. Plant the seed in one field. As soon as it begins to sprout, pull it out of the ground, run across the street, dig a hole and put it in there for awhile. Then when it begins to sprout again, yank it out and go put it in the ground someplace else. That tree would never reach maturity if it survived at all. |
| A Father's Role in the Family 1
Thessalonians 2:8-12 (Redick) My parents are still together today. Their commitment to one another has gone on to provide a foundation of extended security to my own grown children which, I hope will be passed on to their children. |
| Don't Rain on My Parade Mark 11:1-10
(Helt) One of the reasons people rejected Jesus then and still do today is that He’s not infinitely pliable. He calls us to an uncompromising faith that affects the most common, mundane, ordinary parts of our lives, as well as big, extraordinary ones. |
| The Need for Masculine
Leadership in the Home Ephesians 6:4 (Redick) "...in many homes, both in the nation and in the church, men are AWOL from this role. Some have abandoned their families altogether. Others have either given up or bowed out of their role. Some are missing because they are lazy and don't want to take on the responsibility. Others do not lead because the social pressure spawned by radical feminism has forced them out and they fear standing against the tidal wave of anti-masculine sentiment. They opt to simply surrender." |
| Run Your Own Race Hebrews 12:1-2
(Redick) Baseball Hall of Famer, Willie Mays, is one of the greatest athletes baseball has ever produced. But he wasn't always like that. For a time he idolized Joe DiMaggio. He watched how DiMaggio stood, how he walked, how he swung the bat, how he ran; he tried his best to be another DiMaggio. Finally, some wise coach said to him, "Willie, you have great ability. Don't be like anybody else. Be yourself." At last he became Willie Mays. |
| What is that in Your Hand? Acts
9:36-43 (Redick) The question came to Dorcas as it did to Moses when he felt he was not the man to deliver Israel from Egyptian bondage: "What is that in your hand?" And Moses answered, "A rod." (Exodus 4:2). And that rod became the symbol of delegated divine power. "What is that in your hand?" the Lord asked Dorcas. She said, "A needle," and He took what she had and she stitched for Christ's sake. All praise then, to the needle, that represented benevolence among the needy. The garments that Dorcas cut out represented Christian faith in action. -- Herbert Lockyer |
| Where there is Death, there is Hope Various
Texts (Redick) A familiar modern proverb says, "Where there is life, there is hope." But whatever help this saying may offer fails at the time of death. This is where the Christian hope takes over. A funeral message. |
| The Conversion of Cornelius Acts
10:1-11:18 (Redick) On Pentecost, Peter told the Jews who wanted to be saved, "Repent and let each of you be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." The case of Cornelius was no different except that God gave some validation in the form of a manifestation of the Spirit so that Peter would know it was OK to speak those words. |
| Grace for the Not-Too-Graceful Matthew
20:1-16 (Helt) If we think of grace only as something that God extends to us, we’re missing the big picture. God gives us grace all the time, but we’re to extend His grace by passing it along to others. Let me challenge you to be proactive in this. Be an agent of God’s grace to the members of your family, the people you work with, your church family, and even the strangers you come into contact with every day. Grace is so radical and so rare that when you show it, people will be changed for the better. |
| Preference or Conviction: Looking Over Our
Core Beliefs Acts 4:18-5:42 (Redick) Rick Graham showed himself to be a man of conviction when he drove around the streets of San Francisco for more than an hour to find a lady who had left her purse with $1792 in cash on the back seat of his cab. He found her and returned her money. Of course, she was elated! But I like best the account of what he said when some of the other drivers ridiculed him for not pocketing the money: "I am a card-carrying member of the Christian faith, and what good is it to go to church if you don't practice what you believe?" |
| Persisting in the Face of Trouble
Acts 13:13-52 (Redick) If you're going to have a good marriage you're going to have to be persistent in those times when circumstances make it difficult. If you're going to raise good kids you're going to need persistence in standing firm against those parts of the culture that pressure them to go the opposite direction. If you're going to advance the cause of Christ and have a positive influence on people around you you're going to need to be persistent because the Enemy of our Souls doesn't give up easily. If you're going to remain faithful as a Christian you're also going to need persistence because there is nearly constant pressure to get you to give in and give up. Your persistence, or lack of it, may ultimately determine whether you end up in heaven or hell. |
| Don't Let the End Erase the Beginning
2 Chronicles 26 (Redick) A little boy came to his mother and said, "Mommie, I am as tall as Goliath – I’m nine feet high." "Well that’s interesting, son," she replied. "What makes you say that?" "Well, I made a little ruler of my own and measured myself with it, and according to it I am nine feet high!" |
| What to do in a Crisis: The Story of
Jehoshaphat 2 Chronicles 29:1-30 (Redick) When a crisis comes and you are afraid, what do you do in your fear? Panic? Run? Cry? Curse? Doubt? Compromise? Surrender? Something else? God wants you to turn to Him! |
| Striking the Balance Ecclesiastes
3:10-12 (Helt) Life, and more specific to our occasion, ministry, is really about finding balance — living in the material world with genuine requirements that need to be attended to and yet still being aware of God and of our role in His Creation. |
| Looking Out for Number Two Luke
10:25-37 (Redick) Try as I might, I can’t reach out and touch the victim of that earthquake on the other side of the world. And hugging the TV doesn’t do a thing. Neither does a sentiment of pity, real though it might be. Yes, I can donate to the Red Cross or some other international agency (and that’s a good thing) but it really doesn’t address this issue of the meaning of "neighbor" as one who is close by. If you live in town as I do and go out into the street and scream to the top of your lungs, dozens, if not several hundred people will hear you. These are your neighbors. |
| It Will Take Great Concern to Bring People
to Christ in the Twenty-first Century Mark 16:15-16
(Redick) It may not be that all of us are called by God to die in the process of sharing our faith with those who do not know. But I know that he has called each of us to live in such a way that we can communicate the message of the gospel. This means living lives without compromising the truths we have come to believe. God does call us to dedicate our lives to serving Him by serving others, as we can, for the sake the gospel. He calls us to live differently than so many who are "religious" today. |
| Look and Live: Lifting Up the Serpent in
the Wilderness John 3:14-15; Numbers 21:4-9 (Redick)
Isn't it true that sometimes we get tired just like they did? And we get "short"? And we complain? And some of us are tempted to remember "Egypt," our former life in the world before we came to Christ (the life of sin and bondage) as having been something better than it actually was? Doesn't our memory too, get a little distorted by the myth of nostalgia? Somehow we forget the slavery and difficulties of those days and just remember the glitter. Somehow the thinnest soup of memory, under difficult circumstances, can seem like the thickest stew. |
| God's Lost and Found Luke
15:1-32 (Redick) I watched them all the way to the luggage claim area. He never stopped kissing that baby. He never stopped welcoming that baby back home. I thought, "Where did I ever get the idea that my Father God is less loving than a young daddy in white slacks and white shirt with white flowers and a green paper?" |
| The Baby Changed Everything Matthew
1:18-25 (Redick) "...they must report that 'some force,' mysterious in origin and independent of human will, but with range and energy sufficient to affect all civilized nations and persistent enough to run through all the centuries, had 'somehow' put the impress of Christ’s hand on all history. |
| God Wants You to be Rich Various
Texts (Strubhar) It’s like moving to a far away place and having to leave your possessions behind… a move that is far enough that you will be flying to your new home. You can’t take much on an airplane with you. You could try selling everything and carrying the cash with you to buy new things at your destination, but then you would be at risk for getting robbed or even just losing what you had worked so hard for. There’s something that would work much better. Just transfer it ahead. |
| Come Home Dad, Come Home Various Texts
(Redick) A father's relationship with his children really consists of several decades of small but important opportunities. These may be no more than 2 or 3 minutes at a time, often unpredictable and unexpected. My personal opinion is that such teaching is at least equal in importance to the regular "devotional" time where everybody sits down to read a passage of Scripture that may or may not be relevant at the moment. |
| Three Things a Blind Man Saw that Many
Still Can't See Today Acts 22:1-21 (Redick) The last thing Saul sees before he is blinded is the city of Damascus coming into view where he would carry out his vicious intent of persecution against the Christians. Now the first thing Saul sees standing before him when his eyes clear again is one of the very Christians he had come to persecute! But the blind man has seen things he never saw before. Now he sees this Christian standing before him in an entirely new light. Jesus changes our perspective! |
| The Greatest Risk of Your Life Hebrews
11 (Redick) Imagine someone comes up to you and says, "I want you to follow me." You say, "Fine, where are you going?" He says, "I'm not going to tell you. You'll just have to trust me." |
| Be Careful Little Minds... Philippians
4:8 (Helt) I like the story of one session at a children’s church camp where one of the counselors was leading a discussion on the purpose that God has for every thing in His Creation. The campers began to find good reasons for clouds, trees, rocks, rivers, animals and just about everything else in nature. Finally, one of the children asked, "If God has a good purpose for everything, then why did He create poison ivy?" This made the discussion leader gulp and as he struggled to answer the question, one of other children piped up and said, "The reason God made poison ivy is that He wanted us to know that there are certain things we should keep our cotton-pickin’ hands off of!" |
| Contending with the "Whys" Book
of Habakkuk (Redick) Don’t misunderstand me. Just as you, I would like to have my "why" questions answered. It’s just that I know of a situation in the Bible where a prophet of God asked the big "why" question and ended up learning a lot more than he expected in an answer he really didn’t want to hear. |
| How to be a Stable Christian in an Unstable
World Philippians 4:1-9 (Redick) When Jesus commissioned the seventy to preach early in His ministry they were amazed at the marvelous results. Even the demons were unable to overwhelm the name of Christ! And Jesus acknowledged their joy. Satan was soon to fall from his exalted position due to the Lord’s work on the cross. But in the midst of their enthusiasm, the Master issued an important warning – a warning that all of us would do well to heed, lest we tie the stability of our hopes to the ups and downs of earthly circumstances. He said, "Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven." Jesus knew that while there would be times of great victory for them like they were presently experiencing, there would also be times of great sorrow and seeming defeat.The "god of this world" would not give up ground without a bloody fight. He would have his retribution for these early victories. These workers needed to understand that the joy that sustains us is not found in volatile earthly circumstances. |
| Watching What You Say and Meaning It James
3:2-12 (Helt) You don’t need to be very old to have experienced a time in your life when your tongue — your words, what you said — got you into trouble. What James warns us about is very applicable to all of us: not only is the tongue powerful, but it is also unstable. With your words, you can convince the love of your life to marry you, or you can drive your spouse of many years away by saying something unkind or hurtful. With your words, you can praise those around you, causing them to reach and accomplish things they would never have tried before; or, you can discourage them and cause them to do so much less than they are capable of. |
| Goodbye Dolly: A Christian View of
Artificial Human Cloning Various Texts (Redick) One of the problems with allowing applied science to get ahead of morality and ethics is that science doesn't ask the question, "Should we do this?" It only asks, "Can we do this?" Current research in the area of human artificial cloning isn't driven by moral and ethical considerations. Curiosity, competition, pride, and profit drive it. One need only recall the smug claims of the Raelien/Clonaid spokespeople of recent times to see that. Just because we can do something doesn't necessarily mean we should. |
| Overcoming Temptation
(Discussion Lesson) James 1:13-15 (Redick) PDF file It is possible to live in victory over Satan because of what Jesus has done for us. The victory isn't automatic, however. It requires effort on our part. In order to live in victory over Satan we need to learn how he operates. His major ploy is temptation. We must learn how it works and how to deal with it. |
| Handling Hardship (Discussion
Lesson) Various Texts (Redick) PDF file Helps answer at least a portion of the great "why" question among God's people. Also gives practical advice for coping. |
| Getting Along (Discussion Lesson) Various
Texts (Redick) PDF file Deals with the ever present issue of rifts in the body of Christ and what to do about them. |
| Don't Get Shut Out of the Kingdom Luke
13:18-30 (Redick) A narrow door also tends to cause people to make a decision about what's important. To get through a narrow door you soon find that you can't take a lot of stuff with you. If you can barely squeeze through yourself, there is no room for all the things of this world that you might love more than you love God. A narrow door forces us to decide what's important.
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