Preaching For Change

Maurice Kojak Fuller shares truth from the highs and lows in his life. The power of your testimony is found in the moments that aren’t picture perfect. The process isn’t pretty but it brings about the picture. Your walk may look different than others but who you walk with makes all the difference. Share your the truth that walking with Jesus isn’t always easy. That there can be times where you are angry with God. God can handle it. God will bring you through if you stay the course.

You are called to be a warrior. You must have the spirit of a warrior. Joshua Chapter 24 Then Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He summoned the elders, leaders, judges and officials of Israel, and they presented themselves before God. 2 Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your ancestors, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River and worshiped other gods. 3 But I took your father Abraham from the land beyond the Euphrates and led him throughout Canaan and gave him many descendants. I gave him Isaac, 4 and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I assigned the hill country of Seir to Esau, but Jacob and his family went down to Egypt. 5 “‘Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and I afflicted the Egyptians by what I did there, and I brought you out. 6 When I brought your people out of Egypt, you came to the sea, and the Egyptians pursued them with chariots and horsemen[a] as far as the Red Sea.[b] 7 But they cried to the Lord for help, and he put darkness between you and the Egyptians; he brought the sea over them and covered them. You saw with your own eyes what I did to the Egyptians. Then you lived in the wilderness for a long time. 8 “‘I brought you to the land of the Amorites who lived east of the Jordan. They fought against you, but I gave them into your hands. I destroyed them from before you, and you took possession of their land. 9 When Balak son of Zippor, the king of Moab, prepared to fight against Israel, he sent for Balaam son of Beor to put a curse on you. 10 But I would not listen to Balaam, so he blessed you again and again, and I delivered you out of his hand. 11 “‘Then you crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. The citizens of Jericho fought against you, as did also the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites and Jebusites, but I gave them into your hands. 12 I sent the hornet ahead of you, which drove them out before you—also the two Amorite kings. You did not do it with your own sword and bow. 13 So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.’ 14 “Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” 16 Then the people answered, “Far be it from us to forsake the Lord to serve other gods! 17 It was the Lord our God himself who brought us and our parents up out of Egypt, from that land of slavery, and performed those great signs before our eyes. He protected us on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we traveled. 18 And the Lord drove out before us all the nations, including the Amorites, who lived in the land. We too will serve the Lord, because he is our God.” 19 Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the Lord. He is a holy God; he is a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins. 20 If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you and make an end of you, after he has been good to you.” 21 But the people said to Joshua, “No! We will serve the Lord.” 22 Then Joshua said, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the Lord.” “Yes, we are witnesses,” they replied. 23 “Now then,” said Joshua, “throw away the foreign gods that are among you and yield your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.” 24 And the people said to Joshua, “We will serve the Lord our God and obey him.” 25 On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people, and there at Shechem he reaffirmed for them decrees and laws. 26 And Joshua recorded these things in the Book of the Law of God. Then he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak near the holy place of the Lord. 27 “See!” he said to all the people. “This stone will be a witness against us. It has heard all the words the Lord has said to us. It will be a witness against you if you are untrue to your God.” 28 Then Joshua dismissed the people, each to their own inheritance. Buried in the Promised Land 29 After these things, Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of a hundred and ten. 30 And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath Serah[c] in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. 31 Israel served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had experienced everything the Lord had done for Israel. 32 And Joseph’s bones, which the Israelites had brought up from Egypt, were buried at Shechem in the tract of land that Jacob bought for a hundred pieces of silver[d] from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem. This became the inheritance of Joseph’s descendants. 33 And Eleazar son of Aaron died and was buried at Gibeah, which had been allotted to his son Phinehas in the hill country of Ephraim.

A simple Christmas Service from Arcadia Indiana. Includes a children's story, advent reading and music

Scripture Found In Revelation

Because our God is an Encouraging God I'm Encouraging I will encourage others daily I will encourage others spiritually I will encourage myself I Am Generous God Invented Giving When God gave life to the universe, He spared nothing. Think of all the incredible gifts: beautiful sunsets, mountain peaks, and deep blue oceans. Think of the way plants give oxygen, and water gives life to every living thing. In fact, every living thing is—in some way—a giving thing. Why? Because the breath that spoke it into life is laced with generosity. Our God invented giving. When through sin, we brought on physical and spiritual death, God once again found a creative way to give life. This time, He gave His only Son’s innocent life in place of our deserved death—the most generous gift of all. Then, before Jesus ascended, He promised the coming of an encourager called the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit brought with Him powerful gifts for followers of Christ to build the Church and make the story of Jesus known. Giving is in God’s history, of His heart, by His hand, to build His household. When we give, we act like Him, and we lend to His work. Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. Luke 11:11 “You fathers—if your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead? Proverbs 19:17 If you help the poor, you are lending to the LORD— and he will repay you! I’m generous with others because it shows faith in God. My temptation is to believe that what I have is what I live off of and its limited… Proverbs says the Lord will repay. My God gives great gifts. Its all his already. So, how can we respond to God’s extravagant generosity? We can start by taking care of His gift. What? How can we take care of Jesus? In Matthew 25:31-46 NIV, Jesus tells a story about sheep and goats. The sheep get into heaven and the goats don’t. How did the sheep manage? Jesus explains, For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in … Then, someone asked, when did we do this for you Jesus? He answered, … whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me. Consider: Who is “the least” in your life? How can you generously give to them? I’m generous with the least because they are Jesus brothers and sisters. I’m generous with the least because its giving to Jesus. 1 John 4:7-9Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. 8 But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. We all want to be generous but there is one issue we must deal with. Who oversees my resources? Choose Your Master We get nothing done without giving. We give time and effort to our employers. We give words and affection to our relationships. We even give food to our pets and money to things we believe in. Giving is always a choice. If we chose not to give in the situations above, each situation would cease to exist to us. Every day we wake up is a day we get to choose what we’ll give to. The collection of these daily choices makes up our lives. When we gave our lives to serve Christ, we gave our choices to serve Him. Jesus explained this when He told us we can’t serve two masters. You can probably imagine having two direct supervisors at work. Just as bosses determine what we do at work, choices determine what we give our life to. Jesus was telling us it’s miserable when our choices try to serve two bosses. Two-master living leaves us split-minded in a battle against ourselves. Then, just in case we didn’t make the connection, Jesus told us straight up we can’t serve both God and money. Jesus isn’t saying we can’t have money. He’s saying our choices cannot serve both money and God. Does that mean our money can’t serve God? No. When we give our choices to God, He always puts our money to work for Him, too. In 2 Corinthians 9:6-12, the Apostle Paul urges the Church of Corinth to give cheerfully and generously because God is looking to bless them abundantly to meet both their needs and the needs of others. We can’t serve God and money, but we can choose to serve God with our money! Try this: Examine where your money is serving God and where you’re serving money. I’m generous because my $ is serving God. Let’s Say these positive statements together. I’m generous with others because it shows faith in God. I’m generous with the least because its giving to Jesus who gave me the most. I’m generous because my $ is serving God. Who’s the least or who’s in need? We want to help you be generous. So here’s the Missions team who is giving us an opportunity to help. Maybe you need to keep it. We have all been the least before. Keep it. But you may know right now who needs this more. Pray: God, thank You for giving me life, not once, but twice. First at Birth and then Eternal life with you. Will You now give me the courage to spend my life giving back to You? Please help me to grow a heart of generosity towards the least, my enemy, my neighbor, my church, my family, and ultimately, You. Lord we pray that this gift would be a blessing and would let them know that Jesus loves them. AMEN!

Ekklesia- the called out and set apart gathering of God’s children. The Way- Early followers of Jesus were called The Way. Before GPS there were theses things called Maps. I had on that I kept in my glove box. I mean I kept it there and never pulled it out. In northern Rural Indiana I would go to a concert or visit a friend in a different county. On the way home at night everything looked different and I could not navigate by landmarks. If I could not find my way home, I would look around and look for a large light glow in the distance. Then I would point my car towards that and drive. If I could find a town, I would find a bigger road and I would know where I was. If I found the light, then I could find my way home. Let us open the book of Mark. John Mark is the author. John Mark was a disgraced disciple in his younger years. He was a follower of Paul and Barnabas. Then he got homesick or needed a break and ran away. Little history about Mark. This will give you context of our narrator’s personal view. Mark is the author of this gospel account that recalls Peter’s direct experiences with Jesus. Acts 13:13 13Paul and his companions then left Paphos by ship for Pamphylia, landing at the port town of Perga. There John Mark left them and returned to Jerusalem. 14But Paul and Barnabas traveled inland to Antioch of Pisidia.c Mark MIA for a couple years. Ran away. Perhaps homesick and afraid. His mom had a big house he could go back to. So, he runs away and is out of the picture for a couple years. Paul and Barnabas come back to Jerusalem to update the Ekklesia there and to argue against the need for circumcision. Then Barnabass is like well its time to go back and check on the churches we started let’s take Mark with us and Paul says over my dead body. I don’t trust him. He’s your cousin but to me he’s a coward. And he’s not coming. Barnabass says yes, he is, and Paul says get lost. Acts 15: 36After some time Paul said to Barnabas, “Let’s go back and visit each city where we previously preached the word of the Lord, to see how the new believers are doing.” 37Barnabas agreed and wanted to take along John Mark. 38But Paul disagreed strongly since John Mark had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in their work. 39Their disagreement was so sharp that they separated. Barnabas took John Mark with him and sailed for Cyprus. 40Paul chose Silas, and as he left, the believers entrusted him to the Lord’s gracious care. 41Then he traveled throughout Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches there. God uses this to multiply teams and what seems horrible probably leads to more of the Gospel being preached. So Mark goes with Baranabas but he reappears in Peters writings as His Spiritual Son with Peter and so he is listening to Peter teach and talk about his experiences and this is where he gets the info for his narrative. Mark reappears in Paul’s life in a few different letters. One when Paul is in prison in Rome, he says that he is sending Mark. And a final time in 2 Timothy 4:11 when Paul calls him useful and requests, he comes to help him. Mark writes down Peters teachings on Jesus around d 64A.D. about the time of Peter’s Death (Martyrdom in Rome) Mark writes this for gentile believers in Rome and he writes it almost in the style of an article. He is primarily concerned with ACTION. If the books of the Bible were different genres. Romans would be a deep-thinking movie. John would be a broad view of the teachings of Jesus in the style of a documentary and Mark would be an action movie. Less talk more explosions. Have you ever lost your way like MARK? We all want to have the apostle Paul story of full bore never stop. But I can relate to Mark and the desire to run away. To not always get it right. To be afraid of what God wants and to go back to comfort. Open to Mark 1:16-20 One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simong and his brother Andrew throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living. 17Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!” 18And they left their nets at once and followed him. 19A little farther up the shore Jesus saw Zebedee’s sons, James, and John, in a boat repairing their nets. 20He called them at once, and they also followed him, leaving their father, Zebedee, in the boat with the hired men. Simon and our buddy Drew. Andrew. Simon becomes who? Peter or Petros / Rock cool name. And Jesus says that upon this Rock I will build my Ecclesia. THE CHOSEN When Jesus found his disciples, he did not hand them a Bible or ask them to apply for the position. He said Follow ME!!! Mark 2:14-17 What are Disciples? Here is what they are according to Mark. Mark has a big focus on discipleship. Mark 8:34-38 Follow Jesus by denying yourself and taking up the cross. Jesus invitation to you is to come and follow Me. What will it cost? It is free but it will cost you everything. Simple-> but difficult. You cannot be half nailed to the cross. You must leave everything behind to follow THE WAY! That is how we become a part of the promise found in Mark 13:13 Mark 10:30 If you are lost in darkness lift your head find the light and drive towards it. You will find the kingdom and its King who is asking you to Walk with him. To Follow him. Follow The Way.

Is everything really awesome? Or is everything really pointless?