Message Tool

Still Learning the Third Way

2010-09-07T11:05:00.002-05:00

September 5, 2010 Message by David Johnson

Practice:
One of the greatest and most necessary ingredients in becoming someone who wields the sword well, is learning to have grace for yourself. Every morning or evening this week, sit with 2 Corinthians 12:9:

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

Then, journal all about your weaknesses; name all of the things that you’re afraid to admit, but really are true about you. When you are out loud about your weaknesses, allowing God’s grace to cover them, Christ’s power will rest on you.

Experience:
Dave told the story of when his son Caleb skillfully used the sword on him: Caleb told Dave that he was like a lion, sitting and sitting, but when he got really angry, people died. Ask someone who knows you really well to tell you the truth about what you’re like when you’re angry. Afterward, process this information by doing the practice in the section above.

Questions:
1. Has anyone ever skillfully used the sword on you, where perhaps it really hurt in the moment, but it led to healing?

2. When was the last time you allowed your anger to get the best of you, and you pulled out a broadsword, aiming to hurt without healing? What do you need to do to make it right?

3. When you get angry, what are you like? Who gets hurt?

4. Read 2 Corinthians 12:9. How okay are you with being out loud about your weaknesses? What do you do when one of your weaknesses is revealed?

5. Honestly, when it comes to your own sin, weaknesses and mistakes, what would help you to have some grace for yourself?

Still Learning a Third Way (PDF)

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Learning a Third Way

2010-08-30T11:43:00.001-05:00

August 29, 2010 Message by David Johnson

Practice:
In order to help you gain an awareness for leading with both a sword and love, begin your days with this prayer:

Jesus, I invite you into those difficult places today when I won’t know what to say, and when I won’t know what to do. When it is time to wield a sword, give me the wisdom and strength to use it with love and compassion, so that it may be for the healing of others. And when it is time to offer someone kindness, love and compassion, allow me to see them as you see them so that I may do so with true strength.

Experience:
This week, it’s supposed to rain several times. When it does rain this week, pause what you’re doing and ask God to forgive you for where you have bowed down to Baal. Then, ask God for protection for the ones that you love: fight for them in prayer. And as you hear the rain fall, remember God’s promise to renew you and the ones you love (2 Corinthians 5:16-18).

Questions:
1. When you get it wrong, what are you most likely to lead with when you see someone else’s sin – the broadsword without any love, or just a hug without any strength?

2. If you are a young husband/father, Dave challenged you to notice the things to which you’re bent, and stand up straight into your adulthood. There are things to which you’ll have to say, “I’m done with that!” because this is a life or death fight. What rose up in you as he said that?

3. When have you been wounded with a sword that was wielded on you without any love?

4. When have you been wounded by someone who, afraid of their own strength, offered only passivity?

5. Dave ended with a call for the people of Open Door to become people who choose a third way of relating to others – to become integrated people who use a sword with love, and love with authentic strength. What was your response as he said that?

Learning a Third Way (PDF)

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Standing up to Baal

2010-08-23T10:07:00.002-05:00

August 22, 2010 Message by David Johnson

Practice:
Read James 5:17-18. When Elijah prayed, we read in verse 18, the “heavens gave rain,” and “the earth produced its crops.”

Dave ended his talk with a ministry time, in which he invited people to picture themselves underneath a huge waterfall of grace, washing over them with forgiveness and making them new. Spend some time praying, just between you and God, for the heavens to give rain in your own life. When it does, your life will “produce crops,” which is another way of saying that you will become more and more alive.

Experience:
Dave said that Elijah was “like us” (James 5:17) in at least two significant ways: (1) in what he was up against – Baal; and (2) in what he was called to do about it – stand up to Baal and expose its lies. Take some time this week to pray, journal and talk to a trusted friend about your own personal battle with Baal. Exposing your own secrets can be one of the hardest things you can do, so choose wisely the person you share this with. If you’re comfortable with it, have the person pray for you when you are done sharing.

Questions:
1. In what ways do you see “Baal” influencing the men in our culture?

2. In what ways do you see “Baal” influencing the women in our culture?

3. What do you think needs to be done to come against Baal in our culture right now?

4. If you watch TV for any length of time, especially during sporting events, you’ll see an uninhibited connection between sex and products that companies are trying to sell. Why do you think that sex has the power that it does?

5. In what ways have you been influenced by Baal? What might you need to do to stand up to Baal?

Standing up to Baal (PDF)

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Waking Up for the Battle for Life

2010-08-16T14:10:00.003-05:00

August 15, 2010 Message by David Johnson

Practice:
Every morning when your alarm rings, resist the temptation to press snooze. Instead, use it as a reminder to wake up to what God has for you that day. You might pray a short prayer like this as soon as you wake up:

Jesus, I’m choosing to wake up to you today. I want to partner with you in bringing about your kingdom to my life and to the people with whom I do life. I’m choosing to wake up to the sins that I’m bent to, those things that will never bring the life that you will bring. Please help me to put them to death as I wake up to all that you have for me today.

Ephesians 5:13-14: But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. This is why it is said: “Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. (TNIV)

Experience:
Find one other person to talk to about the “lizard on your shoulder”– that thing in you that needs to be put to death. Obviously, this person needs to be someone you trust, and someone that is willing to hear what you’re struggling with and to hold it with you. The purpose of sharing it with someone else is that when these things are brought out of secret, they lose some of their power.

Questions:
1. Were you able to identify the “lizard on your shoulder” – that thing in you which needs to be put to death? If so, what was it?

2. Talk about your honest answer to Dave’s question: Do you think it’s possible to put it to death?

3. Dave mentioned that it’s easy to get passionate about putting someone else’s sin to death, but actually, you can only put your own sin to death. In what ways do you see yourself caring more about making sure someone else’s sin is put to death, than your own?

4. What might you lose if you put your particular sin to death? What might you gain?

5. What resources do you think you might need as you pursue putting your sin to death?*

* One resource that many people from Open Door have found profoundly helpful in this arena is an Open Door ministry called Restoration Through Prayer. This ministry is made up of teams of two or three trained lay ministers, who are available for 60 to 90 minute confidential prayer appointments. (These are not counseling sessions.) The team, partnering with the Holy Spirit, will support you as you share your needs. They will spend time with you in prayer, asking God to bring His kingdom more fully. E-mail restoration@thedoor.org or call ext 1373 to schedule an appointment. Please indicate whether or not we may leave a message if we get your voicemail.

Waking Up for the Battle for Life (PDF)

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Becoming More Alive

2010-08-09T13:04:00.004-05:00

August 8, 2010 Message by David Johnson

Practice:
“Search me, Oh God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.” Psalm 139:23-24 (NASB)

The Psalmist wrote these words thousands of years ago as a way of inviting God into seeing the kind of posture that he was living. He was basically saying, “I want to stand up straight into you God, instead of bending over and groveling in the earth for life. So show me the areas of my life where I’m trying to get life from things that can only bring death, and lead me instead towards life.” Spend some time this week inviting God to show you the areas in your life that are bringing death instead of life, and ask God to “lead you in the everlasting way.”

Experience:
Invite one other person to do this experience with you. Pick one area in your life that you’d like to come more alive in, and one area that you’d like to put to death. Share those areas with the other person that is doing this experience with you. Then, decide together on a practice that will accompany each of those areas, that will help you come more alive (for example: fasting, celebration, confession, etc).

Questions:
1. Dave talked about two postures of life – one standing up straight, looking upward to God for life, and the other bent over, looking downward to “the earth” for life. Where do you see either, or both of those, in your life?

2. In what areas of your life would you like to come more alive?

3. What do you – personally, practically – need in order to come more alive?

4. What are the areas in your life that you need to put to death?

5. What do you – personally, practically – need in order to put those
areas to death?

Becoming More Alive (PDF)

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