Below is a link to Mark Driscoll’s blog where he deals with the subject of idols which we discussed last night.  Follow the link and take the time to go through each of the questions.  Post your thoughts here.

Notes and questions: http://blog.marshillchurch.org/2008/06/16/worship-god-transforms/

Video of Mark’s Sermon: http://www.marshillchurch.org/media/doctrine/worship-god-tranforms

Come hang out with us tonight as we explore what idols are lurking in our lives.  Is it the way we do church? Is it your car? Is it your boyfriend/girlfriend? Is it your fear? Is it your pain?

Tonight we’re going to ask the questions.  We hope that you will dig for the answers.  There can only be one.

Following tonight’s service, take some time this week and post your thoughts and reflections here.

We’re all going to worship something.

For the last few weeks we have been getting back in touch with the important things.  We have stripped away and scaled back many of the comforts and amenities of modern church.  We would like your input.  How has this impacted your worship?  Your relationships?  Do you miss the modern things?  What can we learn and how can we implement it into our everyday lives?

Reply to this post and let us know what you think.  What do we really need?

It has been a while since we’ve updated the blog here.  We’ve been in the process of trying to staff all of the needed areas at ethos and catch up on service recording editing from the summer.  We should be back on track here.  It’s going to be an exciting Fall here at Eagle’s Nest.  We’ve been taking a look at being involved and sharing our faith.  We had an awesome week with Ken Johnson (the audio should be up here in a few days).

We’re going to be hearing from some of the other Pastors here in the coming weeks, as well as, Scott Dailey and Chip Reese.  We also are going to have our annual Christmas Program on Dec. 20th.

MAKE SURE YOU ARE HERE NEXT WEEK! I believe that next week will be one of the most intimate and powerful times at ethos that we have had.  Make sure you are here and bring somebody!  Go ahead and ask yourself . . . what do I need?

See ya next week!

Pastor Scott

Galatians 1:1-5

1. “Grace and Peace to you from God” -  That’s a great thing! It is given to us!

1. Grace – Free and unmerited given to us through the sacrifice of Jesus

2. Peace – the state of being that we are in no matter the circumstaces because of what God’s done

3. They are from God and not by men – vs. 1:1

2. “gave Himself for us” – Because we couldn’t do it

1. The Cross is the place of substitution

1. According to scripture when there is sin there is death (Wages of Sin, None righteous no not one, all have sinned and fallen short)

2. There was nothing we could do, we were already condemed

3. The relationship with God was completely broken and could only be perfectly paid for by a perfect sacrifice

4. The death was ours, but he took it as His own

3. “to rescue us” – Because we all are condemed

1. God didn’t condem us, we condemed ourselves

2. Isa. – Thrice holy God (holy, holy, holy passage)

1. Hebrew principle of repeating adjetives (verily, verily) Isa. is the times important

2. The only way we who are utterly sinful can get in touch with a God who is utterly holy is for us to be made holy (be holy as God is holy, be perfect) Leviticus 20:26, 1Peter 1:15-17

3. This is impossible for us, our righteousness is as filthy rags, if we could do it then we would have fulfilled the law

4. this was done by Jesus taking our punishment, paying for it, and leaving us the door into the Kingdom out of this “present evil age” by faith in Christ – As we surrender to Christ it is His holiness and perfection that resides in us and provides us the access to our Father.

4. “according to the will of our God” – Because He wanted us

1. According to the will of our God and Father – He desires for us to be with Him.  To be His to know Him.  To be His children.

2. The cross was not about an angry God at sin, but about a God who is passionate for people to be rescued!

3. He is for us.  The cross is the shape of God’s heart.

]]> http://ethosblog.com/2009/07/21/the-cross-for-us/feed/ 0 Scott Hobbs http://ethosblog.com/2009/06/24/kick-ball-this-week/ http://ethosblog.com/2009/06/24/kick-ball-this-week/#comments Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:09:41 +0000 Scott Hobbs http://accessethos.wordpress.com/?p=253 ]]>

Sorry for the delay in posting!  It’s been a crazy beginning to the summer.  The One Prayer Series has been phenomenal!  We are so excited about joining with so many believers across the Globe to make deeper discoveris about who God is!

Join us this week!  Find out more at www.oneprayer.com!  Bring your tennis shoes cause we are going to rock out some kick ball this week following the service!

Love Ya’ll

Scott

The Essential Expectation

Week 1 – Personal Decision to make

-          Prioritize Christ – The Gospel

-          See from Paul’s Perspective – It’s about Jesus – Advancing the Gospel not Ourselves

Week 2 – Things are different for those of us who make the decision to follow Christ

-          God is different than the way He gets portrayed

• He is supreme and above all

-          God picks different people than people assume He should

• He doesn’t pick the perfect, religious, or worldly wise – he chooses how He wants

-          We should live differently

• Our lives are to be founded on Christ – that shapes the whole house and makes it last

We’ve discussed the Corinthian Church had some problems

• They were divided among their leaders – Paul says that if it’s in Jesus then it’s the same thing – 1 Corinthians 3:21-23
• They were struggling with non-Christian influences and practices in the church
• They had some wrong belief

There is a certain way things are supposed to look and function

-          Ever looked at something and said, “That’s Just Wrong!”

-          Like the Lingerie Football League

• Depravity in its finest
  • Exploiting temptation for profit
  • Making common something that is to be sacred
  • Making mockery of football
• There is a certain way football is supposed to look and certain purposes that it is supposed to accomplish

-          God EXPECTS his church to look and function in a certain way

Chapter 5 – addresses sexual immorality in the church

-          Watch how you live and what influences you

• 5:1-2 – Guy is shacking up with his mom
  • They were proud – indication is that they were proud of their “freedom” to live as they please
  • Paul says they should be grieved – Are we about the sin in our churches?
  • He should be disciplined – true love and commitment to growth
  • 5:6 – Believers Continued living in open sin can be destructive to the whole

Chapter 6 – addresses lawsuits among believers

-          Godliness is our standard

• We look to the world to fulfill our desires “our rights”
  • Kids fighting over who gets the last pop tart – small world
  • We live from a bigger world (eternal) – share, be thankful that we have poptarts
  • We should work things out together as believers in the church
  • 6:7-11 – Care about the bigger picture – We are saved through Christ’s sacrifice and will inherit the kingdom of God – DON’T FIGHT OVER OR GIVE INTO SELFISH PURSUITS – this covers vs 12-18

Chapter 7 – addresses Marriage and Priority of God’s work

-          Keep things in the right order of priority

• Paul’s perspective – better not to marry
• Vs 17 – However, we each have a specific place in God’s plan
• Don’t commit to things in this life that will prevent you from putting God first
• Vs 29 – Why? TIME IS SHORT – Vs 35 – Live undivided

Chapter 8 – addresses eating food used in pagan worship

-          Live to inspire growth in others not cause problems in weak believers

• 12 Temples in Corinth to other Gods – sometimes the believers would be invited to feasts at the Temples
  • Food would be sacrificed to these Gods and then eaten in feasts to celebrate those Gods
  • Those Gods weren’t real and Paul says that there is no sin in eating that food
  • However, some of the “new believers” felt that it was wrong to do so
  • Paul tells the stronger believers to not eat the food so that the weak believers would not be tempted to fall back into idol worship
    • Vs 9-13 – READ can be applied to a variety of things in our culture

The Essential Expectation of the Church ~ How Should We Live? Chapter 10:31-33

Background – Corinth much like America today

• Center of trade and commerce
• Culturally Significant in its time
• Many differing beliefs (12 Temples)
• Struggled with immorality

God is looking for transformation and transformation is found in following Christ

1. We need to make Christ a priority
2. We need to have Paul’s perspective – It’s about Jesus – the Gospel not us

God does things different

-          God is beyond human and cannot be judged by human standards

-          God is working out a huge plan that goes beyond human understanding

• Completely includes each of us
• But is also completely beyond us

-          The world says hit them back – God says turn the other check

-          The world says be number one – God says be everyone’s servant

-          The world says you are good and can do it all by yourself – God says you’re sinful and cannot make it alone

It only makes sense then that God’s way – the message of the cross – makes no sense to those who don’t believe in God’s way (who are truly being transformed) . 1 Corinthians 1:18

There are religious people everywhere in this country

Wife Swap – The ultra Religious family, the Modern feminized family –

-          both believe they’re life is the correct way to live.

-          Religious misses the point of the things they say they follow

-          The other is operating completely out of selfish gain

-          Neither made sense to the other and both missed the mark and were causing damage

1 Corinthians 1:20 – 25

Paul asks, “where is the wise man?” – People cannot know God through their own wisdom.

-          The Jews practiced all of the rules and did everything right – Just hurt people

-          The Greeks were looking to enlighten themselves through wisdom and serve their own ends

1 Corinthians 1:26

God doesn’t choose by human standards – We will never measure up – someone always has more

God works out of His great love and mercy and chooses people like me and you

-          Not wise, influential, not royalty

-          He chooses the unlikely, the foolish, the poor,  and the weak

-          SO THAT NO ONE WILL BOAST IN THEMSELVES – GOD IS THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN SAVE AND TRANSFORM

We are to be different

Healthy, work out people.  Takes a level of commitment and desire that is beyond me.

-          5 am at the Gym

-          Shakes made out of bananas, wheat, spinach, apples, and peanut butter

-          Running miles at a time when they aren’t being chased by a rabid animal

They are different, but they understand something that results in a lifestyle

We are told to be holy, we are strangers in a strange land, it even says we are a peculiar people

If we understand that doing things God’s way will produce transformation in us and in those around us, then it makes sense to begin to live the life He’s called us to.

We cannot have it His way and ours.  They aren’t compatible.

You can’t be selflessly selfish. You can’t be the servant of all and the attention hog at the same time.

You can’t be the work out person and still be the junk food eating, unhealthy living person and be a true representation of what you say you are.

Your life has to be built on Christ – 1 Corinthians 3:11 – Your foundation in life starts with Christ.  That will shape whatever your build on top of it.

We are to be different.  We have to stop trying to have it both ways.  We cannot build our lives was the rest of the world builds and expect our lives to stand.

1. Stop looking at Christianity from the way the world looks at life
2. Understand that it’s not because of how great or wise or religious we are that we can be followers of Christ
3. That the only way to build a life that will stand the test of eternity is to build it on Christ not our own merits

Be sure and take time to listen to the first messages in this series!  Scott Dailey was our guest speaker and did a fantastic job!

Listen: Essential Week One

Pracitce

Who are you? What defines you?

Who we are is defined by what we believe and what we do. If we are Christians, then our worldview is defined by knowing Christ and our behavior is defined by knowing Christ.

Jesus said “If you love me you will keep my commands” John 14:15

New Command that Christ Gave – Luke 10:27 “Love God – Love People” Not just the 10 commandments

It’s more than acting right.  Jesus is after our hearts.  Behavior  or practices is a product of the heart’s condition

Rich young ruler. “He says, I’ve done all those . . .”  Jesus said care for people – sell your stuff (Love God Love people)

God always Leads – Leaders Go First – So He came and loved us with all laying his life down (While we were yet sinners Christ died for us and Washing feet episode) He did these things because He loved us.

When we decide to become followers of Jesus (One who comes after and is becoming like) We Believe – Take Him at His word and live like it. It defines our world because we love Him.

Before Jesus came – the disciples were fishermen and tax collectors

After they had fallen in love with Jesus and walked with Him . . . we see these guys developing lives that new practices.

They didn’t do these things to impress or obey God, they did them because they loved God.

Practices follow and flow out of relationship and subsequently deepen our relationship

 Acts 20:1 – Be community with God and each other – Relationships

1 Corinthians 12 – Meet each other’s needs – Spiritual Gifts and Mutual Minisitry

Hebrews 12:17 – Accountability

Colossians 3:17 – Whatever you do . . . – It’s all about Him when you come to know Him