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Refer back to Monday’s post for the details this week…

2 Samuel 11
David has walked closely with God but in this chapter he falls to lust. What marks do you see in his life that led him to fall?

txt is a series at Arrowhead Church where we are dealing with some of the core theological and practical issues we value as a church. Each week of the series, I am posting 3 short devotionals dealing with the topic from the previous Sunday. This post is the first of 3 dealing with life change and bearing fruit.

In the Old Testament, King David was a powerful king who won victories for God in his personal life and in his military and government leadership. There were times when he was close to God and times when he was far away. This week we’ll look at a time of victory, a time of failure, and a time of coming back to God.

1 Samuel 17
In this passage a young David kills the giant Goliath. How was he able to bear this fruit for God. (See especially verses 34-37 and 45.)

Not much of a recap this week. If you’re reading this at the time of release, I’m on the interstate headed to the beach with family for the week. It’s been five incredible months at church, but I will have to say that I’m more exhausted than I have been in a long time. Probably has to do with getting old as well!

Pray for us this week! We’ll be praying for you. The devotionals will continue to post this week on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

Next week is Father’s Day and we’ve got some great things planned. See you then!

You know that stage where your cell phone goes from staying charged for 3 days, then to 2 days, then to 1 day? That’s where I am right now. Battery life is a problem. I didn’t used to have to plug this thing in every night, but now I do. So, in the meantime, when I don’t, it dies halfway through day 2. That’s happening today. And as a result I’m not able to function at full effectiveness because every time the phone rings I have to say “if my phone dies I’ll call you back.”

I think being prepared for the situations we face every day is half the battle to our success and effectiveness. It’s like being fully charged and ready. The first step is to pray through every appointment and task before it begins. I want to know God is working through me, not just that I’m working on my own.

I also want to be overprepared for opportunities to speak publicly and to take advantage of the time I get on the phone and at lunch with people. Being a giver and not a taker is important to me. I want to ask people what’s really going on in their lives, and sometimes I have to prepare myself for an encounter so that can happen.

I want to be prepared for meetings. I don’t want to waste people’s time. If I need to report on something, I don’t want to wing it. I try to take notes and make them clearly understandable.

Preparedness is the missing fruit of the Spirit in my book!

Matthew 7:24-27
God’s Word provides a solid foundation, and yet many times we don’t build our lives upon it. Read these verses. What is God saying to you about the foundation of your life?

Matthew 7:7-12
This passage teaches very clearly on the subject of prayer. Do you have something that is burdening you or something you are anxious for God to do? Take some time today to pray for those issues. What does verse 7 say happens when we ask, seek, and knock?

1 day late, here’s what went on yesterday. Hey, I didn’t even get to last week’s recap, so better late than never!

• Week 4 of txt. This is a great series for me. It strips away all the other ideas that fly around in my head and causes me to focus in on what’s most important. Talked about how to hear God’s voice. We’ll get audio up in the next couple days.
• Lots of regulars were traveling yesterday. Crowd would have been WAY down, but having The Verity lead worship meant all of their families came!
• The Verity is awesome. I’ve heard how talented they are but hearing them for the first time was great. Congratulations to them for getting voted in to play at the Cornerstone Festival this summer. You guys deserve it!
• Tyler Patterson was on vacation in Ireland. Yeah, Ireland. What a punk. We honored him by greeting each other with “top of the mornin’ to ya”.
• Setup and teardown are sweaty events when it’s hot out! Thanks to everybody who makes it happen.
• Lots of decisions are being made to allow us to make a greater impact in the community right now. It’s stressful but very much worth it. I’m more excited about our future than ever before.
• Great stories of life change are continuing to happen! Had someone tell me they had never heard baptism explained in 50 years of going to church until last Sunday.
• We’re going to baptize at least 15-20 people on June 28! I can’t wait for that day to come!

That’s about it for now. Happy Sunday recap on a Monday.

During our txt series at Arrowhead Church, we are taking some time to define some core theological and practical issues we believe as a church. This week we’re dealing with how to hear from God. Three devotionals will be posted this week on this subject. This is the first.

Matthew 7:1-6
Take time today to ask God to reveal sin to you. We are very good at pointing out the sin in other people’s lives but are often blinded by our own. What analogy does Jesus use in this passage to liken this to? Take some time to ask Him what sin is present in your life that needs to change. He will speak.

Matthew 28:16-20
Jesus calls us to make disciples in all nations. What 2 things does He say are part of that in verses 19 & 20? What is your part of making disciples in all nations?

Romans 6:1-4
Verses 1-2 are teaching us that it is not okay to sin just so that God can show us grace. He really wants us to change. What do verses 3-4 say about baptism and the picture that it is of that change?