There is Power in Affirmation

My coach called out the champion in me.  Do you realize the power of your words?

Matthew 5:16 (ESV)

16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Live a life that draws people to you, so you can lead them to Jesus.

How to live an attractive life.

1. Speak encouraging words to each other.

Your words will either draw or repel.  

Ephesians 4:29 (ESV)

29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

You can't spread light if you're speaking darkness.  

If you don't know your true identity in Christ, you can't call out the champion in others.    

Look for the best.  Think the best.  Speak the best. 

Proverbs 18:21 (ESV)

21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue,
    and those who love it will eat its fruits.

You must see yourself as God sees you.  

The more that you reaffirm who you are in Christ.  The more your behavior will begin to reflect your true identity. 

How to live a life that's affirming. 

1. Be intentional about your thought life. 

2 Corinthians 10:5  (ESV)

5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,

2. Spend time with the right people.  They set the tone and speech for your life.  Who are you running with?  

Tom Mullins, guest speaking at Church of the Highlands

Video

https://www.churchofthehighlands.com/media/message/the-power-of-affirmation

Discussion Guide

https://www.churchofthehighlands.com/files/groups/guides/6-25-2017_.pdf

How to make true friends

I used to think that the worst thing in life was to end up all alone.   

It's not.  

The worst thing in life is to end up with people who make you feel like you're all alone.  Robin Williams

Our culture is slowly becoming an emotional desert.  We may be surrounded with people; however, we feel like no ones knows us.  Our digital connections do not truly connect us with people.

As we look at our New Year's resolutions, we should be looking for deeper connections.  God did not create us to be disconnected.  God made us to know Him and each other.  

Matthew 22:37-39  (NIV)

37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 

38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 

39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

The essence of life is this connection. 

John 13:34-35  (NIV)

34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I (Jesus) have loved you, so you must love one another. 

35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

The defining mark of a Christian is our connection to God and with each other.  The measurement of that connection is Jesus Christ Himself. 

We can have a 5 star connection with God and each other, but it's going to cost you. 

Here are the 5 stars of quality relationships.  This is what it's going to cost you.

  

1. Consistent time with God and other believers.  

Anything done without consistency is ineffective. You have to say no to a lot of things even to yourself to have consistent time with God. 

Jesus choose 12 believers to connect with.  Then, He choose Peter, James, and John to connect with even deeper.

2.  Quality time. We need to have quality time with God and other believers.  

Acts 2:44-46 (NIV)

44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 

What we put into something.  We get out of it.  Don't we say that we spend our time. What are you buying with your time and what is your time buying for you? 

3.  Will you trust God and other trustworthy believers, and can you be trusted by them?   

Independence breaks the connection.  What we need is interdependent not independence.  Paul said it like this.  

Philippians 2:3-4 (NIV)

3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

God will give you more than you can handle because God never intended for you to handle it along.

  

There is a risk to trusts.  We've all been burned, but we must learn to trust the right people again.

4.  We must share our lives authentically with others.   

We must share our emotions.  Didn't Jesus ask His friends to pray for Him before the cross?

We can have a one dimensional relationship with others.  Like when we share only work.  Then, we can have relationships that we can trust in all areas of our lives.    

Acts 4:32 (NIV)

32 All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had.

5. We must have faith in God and with trustworthy people of faith.  

When Adam and Eve sinned, we lost our connection to God and others.    Jesus restores that connection.  

1 John 1:7 (NIV)

7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

Think through the 5 stars.  Do you have a 5 star relationship with God?   Do you have a 5 star relationship with anyone?  

Build a 5 star relationship with God.  Then, start building 5 star relationships one person at a time

 Matt Wright, Willowcreek Church

Your Best Friends

Hebrews 10:25 (NLT)

25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

The devil always wants to put us into isolation.  (Read 1 Samuel 14:1-15)

Godly inspiration requires collaboration, which cannot happen in isolation.  

Characteristics of someone who has your back:

1.  They challenge your mentality.  Don't settle for average.  God has called you to be extraordinary.  

Proverbs 29:18  (NLT)

18 When people do not accept divine guidance, they run wild.

    But whoever obeys the law is joyful.

2. They stretch your spiritually.  There are risk involved in seeing God do great things.

Hebrews 11:1 (NET Bible)

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, being convinced of what we do not see.

3.  They support you whole heartedly.  The armor bearer supported Jonathan heart and soul.  Insulation is not the same as isolation.  Sometimes you need to leave some people behind on your journey. 

1 Samuel 13:19,22 (NIV)

19 Not a blacksmith could be found in the whole land of Israel, because the Philistines had said, “Otherwise the Hebrews will make swords or spears!” 22 So on the day of the battle not a soldier with Saul and Jonathan had a sword or spear in his hand; only Saul and his son Jonathan had them.

Only Saul and Jonathan had swords.  Even so the armor bearer still supported Jonathan. 

4.  They help you think strategically.  Even when you're taking great risks you need to plan. God planning and hard work lead to prosperity. 

Proverbs 21:5  (NIV)

The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.

5.  They propel you supernaturally  (1 Samuel 14:16-23). 

Dave Sumrall, guest speaking at Church of the Highlands

I No Longer Live

Galatians 2:11-13 (MSG)

11-13 Later, when Peter came to Antioch, I had a face-to-face confrontation with him because he was clearly out of line. Here’s the situation. Earlier, before certain persons had come from James, Peter regularly ate with the non-Jews. But when that conservative group came from Jerusalem, he cautiously pulled back and put as much distance as he could manage between himself and his non-Jewish friends. That’s how fearful he was of the conservative Jewish clique that’s been pushing the old system of circumcision. Unfortunately, the rest of the Jews in the Antioch church joined in that hypocrisy so that even Barnabas was swept along in the charade.

Galatians 2:16, 19 (MSG)

15-16 We Jews know that we have no advantage of birth over “non-Jewish sinners.” We know very well that we are not set right with God by rule-keeping but only through personal faith in Jesus Christ. How do we know? We tried it—and we had the best system of rules the world has ever seen! Convinced that no human being can please God by self-improvement, we believed in Jesus as the Messiah so that we might be set right before God by trusting in the Messiah, not by trying to be good. 19 What actually took place is this: I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn’t work. So I quit being a “law man” so that I could be God’s man. 

Galatians 2:20 (ESV)

20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

The more you die the more you live.

  

Matthew 16:21-25 (ESV)

21 From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 

22 And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” 

23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 

25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

How do we keep from going back to our old way of living?

How to live the Crucified Life.

Romans 7:6-7 (ESV)

6 But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.  What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”

1.  We must crucified self interests.

We want God to change situations.  God wants to change us.

1 Corinthians 15:31 B (ESV)

31  I die every day! 

  

Christianity is the day you decide that you want to live your life for God. 

John 3:30 (NLT)

30 He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.

We must practice humility. 

2.  We must crucify our flesh with it's passions and desires.

Galatians 5:24  (NLT)

24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there.

Joshua 24:15  (NLT)

15 ... choose today whom you will serve...But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.”

Make a decision to surrender to Christ.  Don't follow feelings.  Make a decision, so feeling will follow.

3.  Crucify your desire for the world.

Galatians 6:14  (NLT)

14 As for me, may I never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross my interest in this world has been crucified, and the world’s interest in me has also died. 

2 Corinthians 6:17-18 (NLT)

17 Therefore, come out from among unbelievers,
    and separate yourselves from them, says the Lord.
Don’t touch their filthy things,
    and I will welcome you.
18 And I will be your Father,
    and you will be my sons and daughters,
    says the Lord Almighty.

Separate yourself from ungodly friends.  Your friends determine your future.  You can decide how much of the world you are going to have in your life.  Create a world filter for yourself.

Chris Hodges, Church of the Highlands

https://www.churchofthehighlands.com/media/message/living-the-crucified-life