This past week, the news headlines have shown: an earthquake in Chile, shootings, suicide bombings, violence, high unemployment, political fighting and so on. You might say that the news media is not a true barometer of what is going on in the world. I think there’s a certain amount of truth to that – seems like the only news fit for print is the bad news. However, you have to admit that everything is not right in our world – there is a lot of darkness, there is a lot of evil.

It’s also in St Louis, Here’s local headlines: man shot to death in East St. Louis parking lot, officials point fingers in abuse case, video gambling puts Illinois governor on the spot. Looks like we’ve got plenty of problems, plenty of darkness right here in St Louis.

Just because the world is a dark place, I don’t think that we need to throw up our hands and say that life is hopeless. I don’t think that we need to get down or depressed about the darkness. God wants us to live brightly in our dark world, He wants us to let our lights shine. He doesn’t want believers overwhelmed by the darkness.

NIV Philippians 2:14-15 Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe.

In a dark world, a lot of people go around complaining about the darkness. In a dark world, a lot of people argue with others about their behaviors. God’s Word tells us that complaining and arguing don’t help at all, we shouldn’t do either. In fact, to complain or argue puts you right back into the darkness. But there’s a better way, a way to live a blameless and pure life, to shine like stars in a dark world.

My message today is entitled “Designed To Shine.” It is no accident that you and I are living in 2010 in a dark world. God designed you to live in such a time of this. So no complaining or arguing.

In this series, we’re going to look at a book in the Old Testament called Esther. If you’ve never read it before or not recently, I’d encourage you to read it this week. It’s only 10 chapters long. The book is about a young Jewish girl named Esther who was living in a dark world. Esther was part of the exiled nation of Israel living in captivity in Persia during the reign of King Xerxes between 486 and 465 BC.

The story begins with King Xerxes throwing a royal banquet that lasted for 180 days, showcasing the enormous wealth and splendor of the kingdom. Near the end of the banquet, the King sent for Queen Vashti to parade her beauty before the guests, but she refused to come. Needless to say, she was removed from her position of queen and that’s where our story of Esther begins. The first lesson we can learn about bright living in a dark world is …

Listen to my March 7, 2010 message “Designed To Shine” (message-notes).

Download audio file (100307-designed-to-shine.mp3)

Related posts:

1. Designed For A Purpose
2. Understanding The Dark Side
3. Finding Courage To Serve God

James 3:2a (NIV) We all stumble in many ways.

I stumble in many ways. You stumble in many ways. When two stumbling people get together, you don’t get perfection. When two stumbling people get together in a relationship, they need a miracle from God to grow a great relationship. But with God’s help, that is possible.

Today my topic is “Improving Communication.” Communication is one of the important keys in every relationship. Communication occurs in all relationships, but effective communication is necessary for relationships to grow.

James 3:2b (NIV) If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.

Since James has just told us that everyone stumbles in many ways, many of stumbles will be in our speech, in our communication. In fact, God is telling us that as we improve our speech, as we minimize our faults when we talk, it will positively impact all areas of our lives. Communication is vital in all aspects of our lives these days.

The usage of cell phones has exploded across the world. In 1999, there were about 500 million cell phone subscriptions. In 2010, it is estimated there will be 5 billion mobile phone subscriptions.The number of land lines has leveled off at about 1 billion.

Cell phone communication has exploded because you can use them to communicate anytime, anywhere in multiple ways. However, cell phone communication is not perfect, is it? Sometimes you can get a lot of static in the communication and it’s hard to hear. Other times, if you’re too far from a cell tower and the power is low, you may get a dropped call. Still other times, there are simply places where the cell signal cannot penetrate and the phone won’t work. Engineers continue to work to improve cell phone communication.

Today, God wants us to work at improving our speech communication, whether it’s face to face or on a cell phone. We’re going to take a look at three communication principles from the book of Ephesians. God wrote the book on communication and He has something to teach each one of us this morning. The principles we are going to learn can be used in every kind of relationship.

Listen to my February 28, 2010 message “Improving Communication” (message-notes).

Download audio file (100228-improving-communication.mp3)

Related posts:

1. Why Relationships Are Important
2. The Importance of Unity
3. The Purpose Of Temptation

Today my topic is “Relationship Damage Control.” What is relationship damage control? In one word, it is forgiveness. The way to bring healing to a relationship that has been damaged is through forgiveness. Some forgiveness is easy, when the hurt is small, when the other person seems truly sorry. However, forgiving is hard in other situations. Forgiving is hard when the hurt is big. Forgiving is hard when you are hurt repeatedly. Forgiving is hard when the other person does not seem to be sorry. Sometimes we may feel that we just can’t forgive what someone has done to us.

Take a quick inventory of your life. Is there anyone in your life who you hold a grudge against? Is there someone who has hurt you and you feel bitterness, resentment or anger toward them? Maybe you love the person, but there are some things you’re having trouble forgiving. If there is a person that comes to mind, keep that person in your mind. God wants to release your mind and emotions from the pain of what someone else has done. And in many cases the relationship can be restored. What is the key? The key is forgiveness.

NLT Colossians 3:13 You must make allowance for each other’s faults and forgive the person who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.

There is a word in that verse that occurs two times that I would like you to take notice of, the word is must. It is repeated twice for emphasis, you must forgive. Those are commands from God for every believer. Forgive, even when it’s hard. Why must we forgive when it’s difficult, because the Lord forgave us. Each one of us has been forgiven by Jesus for our wrongs. When we truly understand how much we have been forgiven for, we can forgive others, even when it’s hard.

Listen to my February 21, 2010 message “Relationship Damage Control” (message-notes).

Download audio file (100221-relationship-damage-control.mp3)

Related posts:

1. Forgiving When It’s Hard
2. What To Do When You Are Hurt
3. Releasing God’s Power Of Forgiveness

What was your first experience with falling in love? Do you remember? Maybe it was in middle school or high school and you noticed someone across the classroom or in passing in the hall. You felt like you just had to get to know that person. When you talked to them, you had feelings that you never had before. Your heart beat faster and you had a funny feeling in your stomach. You thought, this must be what love is all about. Love must be this mysterious feeling that I’ve just fallen into. If the feeling is there, I’m in love. If the feeling is gone, I’m out of love. Is that what love is all about?

It seems to me that a lot of people have problems defining what love is all about. The Bible teaches us that love is not just a feeling. The main word the Bible uses to talk about love is agape in the Greek. Agape means to make a choice to appreciate and act in the best interests of someone else. The keyword in that definition is that love is a choice, not a feeling. Love is a choice to do the best for someone else, whether you feel like it or not. Love is a commitment to another person that stands strong through thick and thin.

Today, my message is entitled “Loving From the Heart.” We’re going to be looking at what Jesus taught about love. But Jesus didn’t just teach about love, He showed us what love was all about. He died on the cross for you, because He loved you and wanted a relationship with you. We’ll talk more about that in a few minutes.

1 John 4:19 (NIV) We love because he first loved us.

In other words, we can only truly love God and other people, because God first loved us. We must learn about love from God in order to truly love from the heart.

One day, a Jewish legal expert asked Jesus what he had to do to have eternal life. Jesus asked him what the Bible said and the man …

Luke 10:27 (NIV) He answered: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

Jesus said, that’s right and the man asked “Who’s my neighbor?” In other words, if I’m supposed to love my neighbor as myself, who is my neighbor and how am I supposed to love him? To answer his question, Jesus told a story that showed how to love from the heart. The story that Jesus told explains how to put love into action, even when it’s difficult.

You know, it’s easy to love when everything is going well in a relationship. But true love keeps on loving even when the going gets tough. True love never fails. So, this Valentine’s Day, let’s look at what Jesus taught about love. You can apply these principles to every type of relationship, whether marriage, friendship, family or church family. How can we love from the heart?

Listen to my February 14, 2010 message “Loving From The Heart” (message-notes).

Download audio file (100214-loving-from-the-heart.mp3)

Related posts:

1. Learning To Love
2. Why Is Love So Hard To Find And Keep?
3. What Does Love Look Like?

Then we have friends, people we communicate regularly with. All of us have friends at work, in our neighborhoods, at our schools or in our church. We have less friends than casual acquaintances. Then we have close friends, people that we share with on a deeper level what’s going on in our lives. Most people don’t have a lot of close friends, but our close friends are important to us. Some are closer than others.

Relationships can bring us great joy or deep distress. We can’t control what the other person in a relationship does, but we can control what we do. The Bible has a great deal to say about relationships with other people. God wants us to grow in our ability to relate to people the way He wants us to. That’s what this message series is all about. Learning to grow so that our relationships can be everything that God intends them to be.

Today, my first message in this series is entitled “Why Relationships Are Important.” This message will look at some of the basic truths that the Bible teaches us about the importance of relationships. Unfortunately, our society is having more and more problems with relationships. Approximately 50% of marriages end in divorce. People view marriages as disposable. If it doesn’t work out, I’ll find somebody else.

Facebook and other online networks have become a substitute for growing real relationships. Now, there may be some good things about Facebook, but the number of Facebook friends you have or the number of posts you make, really doesn’t tell whether you have great relationships. In fact, a recent study of Christian college students showed them to be spending almost 20 hours a week on social networking sites. Over 50% of the students felt that excessive time with their online friends was causing them to neglect other important areas of their lives.

What does the Bible have to say about relationships? A Pharisee once asked Jesus was the greatest commandment in the Law was.

Matthew 22:37-39 (NIV) Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

The most important thing in life is your relationships. First, your relationship with God and secondly, your relationships with other people. So, today, we’re going to look at why relationships with people are so important.

Listen to my February 7, 2010 message “Why Relationships Are Important” (message-notes).

Download audio file (100207-why-relationships-are-important.mp3)

Related posts:

1. Meaningful Relationships
2. How To Restore Broken Relationships
3. How To Get Close To God

There is a disease that no medical researcher is working on. This disease is widespread. In fact, it infects every human being at birth. This disease is terminal. Unless cured, you will die from it. The disease I am talking about is sin. No person is immune from it.

Romans 3:23 (NIV) For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

How many people are infected by sin? All have sinned. What is sin? Sin is actions, attitudes and thoughts that fall short of how God designed people to live. Sin hurts the person who sins, hurts others and hurts God. Sin has a tragic final outcome.

Romans 6:23a (NIV) For the wages of sin is death …

The end result of the disease of sin is death. First of all, physical death in this life. The ultimate reason that people die physically is the result of sin. Secondly, the end result of sin is eternal death. Separation from God forever in a place of unbelievable torment called hell. That is the fate of every person born into this world, unless they find the only cure for the disease of sin. Here is the cure …

Romans 6:23b (NIV) … but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This cure works in every person and has a 100% cure rate. The cure for sin is eternal life through Jesus Christ. Most, if not all of us here at Full Life have been cured of sin. We have become believers, followers of Jesus Christ. We have the gift of eternal life. We’ve found the cure or perhaps more accurately, Jesus has brought us the cure. What is our responsibility to all those around us who are still dying of the disease of sin? That’s what we’re going to talk about today.

My message is entitled “Courageous Influence.” God has designed you to influence those around you for Jesus. God has chosen you to tell others about the cure for sin that you have found. God is calling us to not be ashamed, but be courageous in spreading the Good News of Jesus to others who need to know.

Romans 1:16 (NIV) I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes …

So can we be courageous influencers in our world? How can we share the cure for sin with people around us?

Listen to my January 31, 2010 message “Courageous Influence” (message-notes).

Download audio file (100131-courageous-influence.mp3)

Related posts:

1. Why Jesus’ Death Matters
2. Beginning A Relationship With God
3. What Happens When I Die?

Knowing what the Bible says is not enough, we must apply it and put it into practice in our lives.

James 1:22 (NLT) But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.

There are people who get these five foundations in their lives out of balance. Some people so focus on studying the Bible, that they have no time to actually do what it says. James tells us that there is no benefit in studying the Bible is you don’t do what it says.

Today, we’re going to talk about “Compassionate Service.” Another title may have been simply “Putting God’s Word into Practice.” Serving in the family of God is a God-given method to grow spiritually. It goes hand in hand with studying God’s Word to know what to do.

It’s kind of like giving one of your children a book about playing baseball. They can sit down and study that book about baseball for weeks. They can take a test and score 100% because they know all the baseball vocabulary and rules. Yet, until they pick up a bat, glove and ball and get into the backyard to put their knowledge into practice, they don’t know how to play baseball. Knowledge must be applied before you reap the benefit.

God has a plan for your life of putting His Word into practice. God’s plan for each of our lives is different.

Ephesians 2:10 (NLT) For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

Notice in this verse, that as a believer, you were created for a purpose. Your purpose is to do the good things that God planned for you before you were born. What are those good things you are to do? They are putting God’s Word into practice in a way that is consistent with how God created you.

James 1:25 (NLT) But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.

The blessing of God comes on the lives and families of those who put God’s Word into practice. So how can you grow in doing God’s Word?

Listen to my January 24, 2010 message “Compassionate Service” (message-notes).

Download audio file (100124-compassionate-service.mp3)

Related posts:

1. Why Am I Here?
2. Putting Your Abilities To Work
3. Growing Together In A Life Group

Now, physical growth pretty much happens automatically, or so it seems. However, there are some requirements for physical growth. A child needs to eat right and learn a whole host of things to grow into a well-rounded productive adult. Regarding spiritual growth, many people think it happens automatically as well. People tend to measure spiritual maturity by how long a person has been a believer, 5 years, 10 years, 20 years and so on. But what does the Bible say?

Hebrews 5:12 (NIV) In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!

The first thing we can learn from this verse is that God desires every believer to mature to the point they can teach someone else about the truths of God. The second thing we learn is that this desired spiritual growth does not happen automatically. Spiritual growth had not happened for the people this book was written too. They were still spiritual infants, needing spiritual milk, rather than solid food. If spiritual maturity is not measured by how many years you’ve been a believer, how is it measured?

Hebrews 5:13-14 (NIV) Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

These verses show that a mature person understands the teaching about righteousness, that is God’s Word. Not only does a mature person understand the Bible, they have applied it to their lives. A mature person has trained themselves to doing the right things in life.

Today, our topic is Spiritual Growth. We’re going to be looking at how you can accelerate your spiritual growth and grow towards spiritual maturity. Every foundation that we’ll be talking about in this series is important for spiritual growth. However, today, I’m going to talk about how God’s Word can bring about spiritual growth and maturity.

2 Timothy 3:16 (NLT) All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.

That’s a good verse to memorize this week. It’s one of our action steps on the back of your Connect Card. The Bible is essential to growing spiritually. The start of the New Year 2010 is a great time to pursue God’s goal for your life of spiritual growth.

Listen to my January 17, 2010 message “Spiritual Growth” (message-notes).

Download audio file (100117-spiritual-growth.mp3)

Related posts:

1. How You Can Grow
2. Discovering The Growth Manual
3. Investing In Growth For Life

Last Sunday, the message was entitled “Powerful Prayer.” We looked at the foundation of prayer, which is really the foundation of a growing relationship with God. When you become a believer, your relationship with God begins. However, our relationship with God must grow and be nurtured. Prayer is one of the most important aspects of growing in your relationship with God. This vertical relationship with God is the most important relationship in your life.

Today, I want to talk about the horizontal relationships with our lives. The second foundation for life we’re going to talk about today is the foundation of “Meaningful Relationships.” Specifically, we’ll be talking about the relationships that God wants us to have with other believers in a church family. Of course, we have relationships with other people who are not believers, but they will be the topic of another foundation later in this series.

Quite frankly, this is a somewhat controversial topic these days. Quite a few people claim to be Christians, but yet believe that they don’t need to be part of a church family. They feel that they can do quite well by simply maintaining their relationship with God. As with any other opinion, we must test it by looking at God’s Word. Opinions or beliefs that are not based on the Bible have no validity.

Hebrews 10:25 (NIV) Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another–and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Here we have clear instruction from the Bible, that believers need to meet together. Meeting together with other believers is not a new invention, it has been part of God’s plan since the beginning. The purpose for meeting together is to encourage one another. It’s interesting that this verse teaches that meeting together is more important as the time of Jesus’ second coming gets closer. So it’s actually more important now than it was 2000 years ago to build meaningful relationships in the church family. To love other believers in the family of God should come naturally.

1 John 4:21 (NIV) And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

If you love God, you must love your brother and sister in God’s family. If you love your brother and sister in the Lord, then you’ll want to meet together with them on a regular basis. Today, we’re going to look at the experience of the early church in the book of Acts to learn more about building meaningful relationships.

Listen to my January 10, 2010 message “Meaningful Relationships” (message-notes).

Download audio file (100110-meaningful-relationships.mp3)

Related posts:

1. Why Relationships Are Important
2. How To Restore Broken Relationships
3. Restoring Damaged Relationships

The most important thing in life is your relationship with God. If your relationship is on track and growing, then everything else in life will fall into place, including your finances. However, if your relationship with God is stagnating or deteriorating, then you’ll have problems with the rest of life as well.

Psalm 90:12 (NIV) Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

To number your days aright is to analyze your days in light of your relationship with God. To look back at 2009 and ahead to 2010 in light of God is to have a heart of wisdom.

Today, we begin a new message series called “Five Foundations for Life.” To start off the New Year, we’re going to look at the five foundation stones of that God’s Word lays out for our lives. As we study these foundational principles, remember to look back at how you applied them in 2009. You see, it’s not enough just to say, I’ve heard that before.

The principles of God’s Word must be applied to your life in order for you to be blessed. How did you do in 2009? No matter how well you did, there’s always room to improve and grow in 2010. In January, we’re going to discuss a different foundational principle every week.

Today, we’re going to look at “Powerful Prayer.” Prayer is a foundational principle of the Christian life. You cannot grow in the Christian life without prayer. You can’t accomplish what God wants you to accomplish without prayer. However, although prayer is good, not all prayer is equally effective.

James 5:16b (NIV) The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

Some prayer is weak and ineffective. Ineffective prayer doesn’t receive answers from God. Powerful and effective prayer receives answers from God. Powerful prayer comes through righteous people, people who are living 100% for God. The reason is that prayer is two-way communication with God. Prayer is really simply talking with God, getting to know God better, building your relationship with God.

Listen to my January 3, 2010 message “Powerful Prayer” (message-notes).

Download audio file (100103-powerful-prayer.mp3)

Related posts:

1. The Mystery of Unanswered Prayer – Part 1
2. Meaningful Relationships
3. Waiting on a Big God