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Here are the completed notes from the Sunday Morning service December 27, 2015:

“Remember, everyone will wind up somewhere. In a word, at their destiny. Few people get there on purpose.” -Clayton King

The search for fulfillment alone should tell us that there is an actual fulfillment to be had.

Scripture: John 10:10

Abundantly – Life that never ends; yet this abundance can also be enjoyed now in this present life.
Peace, security, purpose for living, joy of facing any adversary (including the grave) without fear and the ability to endure hardship with confident assurance.
“Eternal life is given – Abundant life is granted”

1. Surviving Life

A. Allow the past to control the future

• Scars remind us of where we have been.
• They don’t have to dictate where we are going
• According to James Rinehart – “Our background and circumstances may have influenced who we are, but we are responsible for who we become.”

B. Live in fear of the “what ifs”

• Faith is not about everything turning out okay; Faith is about being okay no matter how things turn out.
• The basis of faith is not knowing, but in trusting.

C. Live for the temporary and not the eternal

• “The bigger game is the game of life – That’s the important one to win.” -Tammy Fitzgerald

D. Ignoring the Challenges

• Not considering God’s will over your own plans
  • “When someone desires what God wants more than what they want, they position themselves to hear what God truly wants.” Pastor Peyton
• Sin that needs to be dealt with
  • Dr. Charles Stanley asks two thought provoking questions –
  • “Why would anyone who genuinely loves God want to live for the very sins that cost Jesus His life?”
  • “How could any believer glory in what God abhors?”
• Not doing those things that you know you need to be doing – James 4:17
  • “To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”

2. Transiting to a Thriving Life

A. Understand that “Your daily choices have consequences”

B. Pursue God’s Ultimate Priority – Your Relationship with Christ
“Make your ultimate goal your own personal relationship with Him” -Oswald Chambers

C. Follow God’s calling for your life
Become Christ-like – Romans 8:29; Galatians 5:22, 23

D. Participate in God’s Mission
Use the gifts and abilities God has given you for His glory – 1 Peter 4:10, 11
God does not equip us to stagnate but to serve

Be equipped!
Planning: “Making preparations today for tomorrow’s opportunities” (Dr. Charles Stanley from “A Touch of His Wisdom”)

Here are the completed notes from the Sunday Morning Service December 20, 2015:

Scripture: Luke 1-2

The setting of Jesus birth was far from ideal.

1. As we live out the call God has for our life, we may be misunderstood and ridiculed

• The shame Mary would endure as she accepted the calling God had for her being a young virgin carrying the very Son of God – Luke 1:26-35

2.God’s plans do not always match our plans, but God’s plans are ultimately far better

• The stock and sense of betrayal Joseph would experience as Mary confided in him about her pregnancy – Matthew 1:18-25

3.God is in complete control and will arrange the right circumstances for us to accomplish His will

• The timing of the trip to Bethlehem that was mandated by Rome was less than perfect (Mary was nine months pregnant) – Luke 2:1-5
• “Obey God and leave all the consequences to Him.” – Dr. Charles Stanley

4.God does not call us to do what He does not enable us to complete

• The transportation was nowhere near appropriate for a four-day, approximately ninety-mile trip on donkey – Luke 2:6

5.God works all things together for good to them that are His and that love Him

• The accommodations in Bethlehem were less than perfect: A cave being used as a stable had to serve as a nursery – Luke 2:7
• The picture of the infant Son of God tolerating a stable’s dirt and foul odors is a fitting metaphor for the later scene of the Savior bearing the stench of sin as He died at Calvary. – John MacArthur
• “God assumes full responsibility for our needs when we obey Him.”

6.God’s provision comes in ways we may not expect, but it may require our humility

• The place Mary laid Jesus was far from what a new mother would want for her newborn baby: a feeding trough – Luke 2:7
• “As children of a sovereign God, we are never victims of our circumstances”  -Dr. Charles Stanley

7.God’s calling may require us to adjust our plans and schedule

• The abrupt news of the babe’s life being threaten and the need to flee to Egypt – Matthew 2:13, 14
• “Listening to God is essential to walking with God.”

Here are the completed notes from the Sunday Morning Service December 6, 2015:

Scripture:  John 1:1-17

P/C: Speaking what is socially acceptable and tolerant

1. Jesus was far from politically correct

The Pharisees:

• A religious and political party in Israel in NT times
• About 5 thousand in number
• Fundamentalists of Judaism
• Their zeal to apply the OT Scriptures directly to life led to a complex system of tradition and works

Examples of Jesus being Politically Incorrect:

• Took time to speak to a Samaritan Woman – John 4
• Ate with sinners – Luke 15:1, 2
• Healed on the Sabbath Day – Luke 6:6-11
• Strongly denounced the Pharisees – Matthew 23

Other Examples – Mark 2:23-28 (pluck corn on the Sabbath)

2. Believers are called to follow Jesus and be conformed to His image Not compromise with the world and culture around us

3. Truth is not politically correct but it does exist

A.Truth is absolute (that which is ultimately true)
B.Truth is discovered not invented
C.Truth is unchanging
D.Truth extends to all people, at all times, and in all places regardless of a person’s perspective or beliefs
E.Truth corresponds to reality
F.Truth claims are narrow and exclusive

• If something is true, then its opposite is false

Tolerance: Be open minded, accept everyone, be careful not to offend anyone, and accept all religions and viewpoints as equally true

This is not an accurate understanding of tolerance

• Instead of “Merry Christmas” it is “Happy Holidays”
• Removal of Nativity scenes from public places (even some private places)
• Don’t use the phrase “Radical Islamic Terrorist”
• Confederate flag
• Washington Redskins
• Guns (Gun free zones)
• Believing that marriage is between one man and one woman

The Christian’s Position

Real Tolerance: Understanding the position of others, knowing why you disagree, living alongside them, loving them, and confronting their false ideas with Biblical truth

4. Understand what you believe and why you believe it

5. Expect to be misunderstood by some and attacked by others

• Racist, bigot, intolerant, judgmental, homophobe, hate speech
• John 15:18-25 – If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me. If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin. He that hateth me hateth my Father also. If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father. But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.