LIGHT Leaders

1 Thessalonians 5:14

2007-04-16T18:23:00.000-07:00

Topic next time (April 29): 1 Thess 5:14 and the importance of developing discernment. Do you have any questions or ideas about this verse? Or about other verses it reminds you of? If so, go ahead and add a comment here to share them with us.

Kevin

What Scriptures has God shown you?

2007-04-01T14:51:00.000-07:00

What strategy can we use to combat spiritual apathy and inspire spiritual passion? What Scriptures has God shown you that might help to answer this question?

Please post: a) the Scripture, b) any comments you have about the Scripture, c) your name.

Thanks!
Kevin

The Father's testimony to us

2006-10-11T07:31:00.000-07:00

I was reading in John 8 this morning, the passage where the Pharisees were saying that since Jesus was testifying about Himself, then His testimony was not true. He went on to say,

"'Even in your law it has been written that the testimony of two men is true. I am He who testifies about Myself, and the Father who sent Me testifies about Me.

"So they wre saying to Him, 'Where is Your Father?' Jesus answered, 'You know neither Me nor My Father; if you knew Me, you would know My Father also.'" (John 8:17-19)

I was thinking how the Pharisees must have thought He was nuts or blasphemous but that was because they didn't know the Father. I then was reminded of Anna in the temple when Jesus was brought in when He was 8 days old. She had been waiting all her life, devoting herself to the Lord and to service and prayer in the temple. The MOMENT she saw this little one she KNEW who He was. Why? Because she had spent her whole life knowing the Father. The same for Simeon who had been told he wouldn't die until he saw the Lord's annointed. And John the Baptist, growing up a cousing to Jesus, when the time came for Jesus' public ministry, John recognized who He was. Why? Again, because of his life dedicated to knowing the Father.

I guess that means when we spend our life and purpose to knowing God, and by His grace, to know and surrender to His Son, then we will be able to see and hear His plans when He makes them known. And if we reject the Father and His Son, our eyes will be shut and we remain ignorant. Sobering thought.

Kate Megill

God knows what we're made of

2006-09-14T07:05:00.000-07:00

This was encouraging to me. This morning I was reading in Psalm 103, and I came across these verses:

13 As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;
14 for he knows how we are formed, (most translations say something like, "He knows our frame")
he remembers that we are dust. (NIV)

I've been struggling lately with feeling overwhelmed and stressed out, and it was encouraging to remember that God made me, so He knows what I'm made of, what I can handle (nothing--what can dust do?), and He's compassionate enough to help me through. WOW! What a God!

Eric

Compassion without worry

2006-09-10T11:43:00.000-07:00

In a quiet time earlier this week I read Matt 20:29-34. There, it says that Jesus healed two blind men because he was "moved with compassion".

I have been thinking about my own motivations for ministry. Do I do it because I am moved with compassion?

I have to confess that sometimes my reasons are much more selfish than that. I do spiritual things because of how it will look or how they will make me feel.

Other times, I choose to serve because it's the right thing to do.

That's better, but it still isn't fully what God wants from me.

Just serving by my actions with no actual emotional connection to those I serve is at best a sterile kind of love. If I am to follow in Jesus' footsteps, I need to open myself up emotionally to the needs of others, to really care about their lives. (Sometimes, of course, we have to serve even when we don't feel like it.)

The difficulty for me is that when I start caring, I start worrying. I seem to be able to hurt for others or to rejoice in God, but not to do both at once! I think I must be focusing on their needs from a merely human perspective, thinking that it is I myself who must have the answer, instead of seeing every need as an opportunity for God to show his love for them.

So my prayer this week is: God, teach me to feel compassion for others based on trust and joy in you.

Some connected Scriptures: Romans 12:15; 1 Cor 13:3; 2 Cor 1:7; 2 Cor 4:5; 1 John 3:17-18
Also, Romans 12:8 talks about showing "mercy with cheerfulness".

Kevin M

Insights from the M-Team leaders

2006-09-03T20:02:00.000-07:00

At our meeting tonight, the M-Team leaders came up with an interesting list.

We were asking how M-Teams contribute to the discipleship of students. What can students learn through ministry teams better than through other formats (sermons, small group discussions etc.)?

Here was the list:

- They learn that they can serve God in other ways than just preaching, and that they can worship him through other talents than just singing.

- They learn how to work together as a team.

- They learn to accept criticism for the sake of excellence.

- They have the chance to experience God working through them supernaturally to bless others.
(We all agreed that we had found such experiences to be life changing.)

Any comments?
Kevin M

Sometimes is ok to admit it.

2006-08-29T19:45:00.000-07:00

This week (after Karen's testimony at Crib) I realized how wrong I can be about people. I was convicted...I pled guilty to any and all judgement I had passed on people. I think that it's good to admit such things...especially as adults. It's easy to say that we never pass judgement, but if we were honest w/ ourselves, we all do...don't we?

Regardless, it's ok to admit our wrongs. To ask forgiveness of those we've hurt, whether inadvertantly (sp) or on purpose.
and if you are wondering...i have asked her forgiveness.

Always,
Shannon