The Rock Church

Daniel Was Greatly Loved and So Are We

A while ago, I decided to read my Bible cover to cover. As I read through the book of Daniel, I took my time. I want to encourage you with one application I gleaned from Chapters 9 and 10.

In chapter 9 verse 2, He writes, “I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years.” I appreciate how he understood God’s Word and believed Jeremiah’s writing to be reliable. He believed that God would keep His Word. What he read he believed. What he believed he applied.

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A Servant’s Heart

When you’re asked to help someone move, serve at church, or take someone a meal, what is your first reaction? Is it, “I don’t want to do that, I serve enough already. Someone who doesn’t already serve can do it.”? Maybe it’s, “Well, if nobody else does, I will.”? For some, it might be, “I’d love to! I thought you’d never ask!”?
 
The Bible is clear, we need to adopt the heart of a servant. We need to humble ourselves and make a habit of considering others better than ourselves. Consider Philippians 2:3-4, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

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We Are in a War

“We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.” — 2 Corinthians 10:3-5

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Eyes Locked

“I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken” — Psalm 16:8

Last November, The Rock pastors traveled to St. George for a multi-day conference. On our free day, a group of us went to Zion National Park; we’d decided to hike to Angels Landing. The hike is five miles long with 1,500 feet of elevation gain. That doesn’t sound too bad, but the challenging part of Angels Landing is the extreme exposure and huge cliffs. Sadly, people have died there.

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2020 Connection

Last month, Pastor Tony encouraged us to set goals in areas where we want to grow. My simple follow up question for you today – almost a month into our new year is – how are your goals going? Have you gotten a plan to read the Bible to connect with God, and are you working the plan? If not, let me give you some suggestions as we steam ahead into a new decade.

At The Rock, we use phrases like “daily devotions” or “quiet times” to describe the discipline of Bible reading and prayer. This is a great way to start your day! Your Bible reading can be what you want to make it — maybe a structured study using a devotional? possibly reading through certain passages? perhaps reading through the Bible in a year (One Year Plan)? You might even consider journaling some of the thoughts God gives you (Teaching on devotionals).

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A New Year’s Addendum

We are officially one week into 2020, so I’m going to go ahead and ask you, “How are you doing with your New Year’s resolutions so far?” By the time you read this, I’m sure I will have bailed on at least one of mine! But, that’s ok. There is one resolution, however, that I am not planning to let go of so easily; I want to invite you to add it to your list of goals as well.

This year, my resolution is to totally depend on the Lord to help me live out the Fruits of the Spirit in my life. Let me explain why I have chosen this as a New Year’s resolution.

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Christmas

Well, it’s that time of year and tomorrow we’ll celebrate Christmas! We’ll celebrate in our own ways and for me, it’ll be my 35th Christmas. Each one of them has been different. Some have been memorable and detailed in my mind, some have blended together and some of them I don’t remember
at all.

No matter how you celebrate (or how many you’ve celebrated), each Christmas is a reminder to us that Jesus came to this world and dwelt among us. It’s an opportunity for us to remember that He came to save us.

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Reputation for Faith

“All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had promised.” — Hebrews 11:39 (NLT)

I love this verse. As many of you know, it comes from the book of Hebrews — a book that boasts the great Hall of Faith heroes. Recently, as I was reading Hebrews, this verse spoke to me.

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The Guardian of Our Souls!

My heart really resonates with the thought of Jesus being our Shepherd and the Guardian of our souls.

“Once you were like sheep who wandered away. But now you have turned to your Shepherd, the Guardian of your souls.” — 1 Peter 2:25 (NLT)

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An Atheist, Buddhist and Christian Walk Into a Class

“And I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ.” — Philemon 1:6

Recently, I had a chance to experience this verse firsthand. I was invited by a friend to speak to his class on the topic of Christianity. There were a number of unbelievers there, including an atheist and Buddhist. We spent the next two hours discussing their questions (related to the reliability of the Bible, science, the problem of evil, Jesus, questions about the character and nature of God and the Gospel). In fact, I was able to share the Gospel multiple times and invite the group to church!

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