John Scott – Page 361 – Community Hemet

If you’ve already started reading the book, The Blessed Life, chances are you’ve already been blessed, stretched, challenged and encouraged to follow God even further down the road of this journey.

One person from Community sent me this note after getting started:

“Thanks for the book Sunday. We decided to read it during morning devotion time. A box of Kleenex and 30 minutes later we finished the first chapter. God is Good.”

HE is indeed GOOD!

I know people well enough to know that you might be tempted to skip through certain sections that you’re not sure you agree with, or simply don’t want to hear. PLEASE, take your time and go through each page. Robert Morris explains aspects of a truly generous life better than just about any I’ve ever read.

Here’s one challenge pretty early on in the book. Maybe you already saw this:

“How you handle money reveals volumes about your priorities, loyalties and affections. In fact, it directly dictates many of the blessings you will (or won’t) experience in life. The very first principle you must grasp, if you are to understand giving, is the principle of firstfruits. It can also be called the principle of the firstborn or the tithe. Frankly, far too many Christians are confused about tithing and the principle of firstfruits.” -Morris, Robert -The Blessed Life: Unlocking the Rewards of Generous Living

What if we were ALL, ALL IN? What if we were all living the generous church? What kind of ways could we significantly affect this Valley of ours, this World of ours?

This weekend at Community we gave every household a copy of the book: The Blessed Life, by Robert Morris. This will be true for the next couple weeks, as long as supplies last.

Now that you’ve got your book, what do you do?

It’s simple. The Blessed Life is a powerful book that will help you dig deeper into what we’re studying on the weekends at Community. You can read at your own pace, but if you want to finish it during this series, read three chapters a week.

As we started this series I said, “The key to the blessed life is a heart of generosity. Generous with our lives, with our time, with our money, with our stuff, and with our abilities.”

I want ALL OF US to experience The Blessed Life. I believe this book will open our eyes to see what God wants FOR us (not from us) as we learn to truly be more like Him in this area.

Early on in The Blessed Life, this is what the author has to say about the big picture:

“No one is a natural-born giver. We are all born takers. We enter this world with a fallen sin nature, and at the heart of that nature is a tendency toward selfishness. In contrast, God is a giver. The most widely known verse in the Bible tells us: For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son (John 3:16).”

Then Robert Morris goes on to say: “God and generous both begin with the letter G. Satan and selfish both begin with S. That should help you keep it straight!”

Enjoy the book. I know I am…again.

Stepping In: Getting things started!

1-What has been one of your main reasons for NOT reading the Bible every day?

2-In your LifeGroup you’ll be going through an example of a devotional time with God. Please feel free to stop anywhere along the way and ask questions. OK? Here we go…

**WATCH VIDEO

1. Giving ________________________ to Him.

2. Getting _______________________ from Him.

3. _____________________ spending time with Him.

4. Becoming LIKE HIM!

Building Up: What is God Saying?

RELAX—Have someone in your group begin with a prayer that recognizes you are coming into the very presence of God. Thank Him and anticipate His ability to talk to you through His Word.

READ—Ephesians 1:15-23

REFLECT—Is there any…

Sin to confess? Promise to claim? Attitude to change?

Command to obey? Example to follow? Prayer to pray? Error to avoid?

Truth to believe? Something to thank God for?

RECORD—Take a moment to write down what you heard God saying to YOU in these verses.

REQUEST—Have a prayer time right now in response to what you just learned. Pray about what you can do. Thank God for what He does. Ask for help regarding your own difficulty to trust Him or whatever else you’d like to pray about.

Living Out: How do I obey?

1- What do you think might change in your own life if you did something like this every day?

2-If you haven’t done a service project yet. Line one up!

Yesterday’s blog gave my general impressions of my experience as I went through each hand written note of Freedom. Today I want to pass on a few specific take-a-ways from our powerful series.

First of all, God has been doing some amazing stuff in the hearts of so many people. It never gets old seeing people delivered, freed and set on a new course of purpose and significance with their lives.

Here’s my take-a-ways:

1-Community continues to be a church “anyone can come to.” We’re on the right track and we can’t ever get distracted from this mission. People are broken and need love and grace. So many cards showed me this IS INDEED a place people can come to find hope, love, acceptance, grace and a second, third or twentieth chance!

2-Life-change really does happen best in the context of relationship. Our reports from our LifeGroups has been amazing throughout this series. It’s critical to have a few trusted people to help us unpack all this stuff.

3-My heart broke as I read through the pain so many have endured. We may not know the specific story of the person sitting right next to us in a weekend service, or for that matter of the person standing in front of us in line at Starbucks. However, we can know that God absolutely loves that person and our job is to love them too!

4-God is NOT done with each of our stories. Now, as freedom has found its way into so many of our lives, we’ve got to be the Freedom Fighters God has called us to be. Who’s next? Who are you praying for? Who are you inviting?

After last weekend’s finale of our Freeway series I gathered up the cards that we all wrote on expressing how God had been setting us free. It took me over an hour but I took my time and absorbed what God had been up to in all of our lives.

Today I want to give you a few overall impressions as I went through the cards. Tomorrow I’ll give you a few specific take-a-ways from my experience of looking through each hand-written message of freedom.

Three subjects found their way onto most of these cards, maybe not a surprise, but it definitely confirmed what I had already planned on teaching throughout the next several months.

Relational pain: Broken hearts, broken dreams and at times, broken bones through abuse. So many people are now finding freedom and grace to deal with those that had hurt them in the past.

Financial fear: So many cards expressed fear, anxiety and stress regarding our every day financial worries. I’m so glad we’re starting The Blessed Life series this weekend!! There is a better way to do life, and stress over our finances is NOT it.

Personal shame: Many cards expressed freedom from the guilt and shame of things done long ago. That stuff has kept a tight grip on too many hearts. The good news? God is setting us FREE with His amazing grace!!!

About John Scott

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