Lake Highlands Church

Are we relating to our high priest the way Abram did?  Are we feasting on his presence?  Are we seeing life from His perspective?  Are we receiving His blessing?  Are we giving to Him out of the abundance that God has given us?  We need to recognize the glory of having a Melchizedekian priest. Scripture reading: Genesis 14:17-20; Psalm 110:1-4; Hebrews 7

Is our growth academic or is it real?  The problem that most of us face is that our growth is academic.  We read our Bible, we go to church, we go to Bible studies; we've got it all up here, but we are unwilling to do what it takes to get it into our lives. If we want to see real growth in our lives, it's going to happen through being tested. Scripture reading: Genesis 14

Lot had no personal relationship with God; he focused on the material things that the world could give him right now; he was led by his passions.  But Abraham knew God, and he focused on what God would give him later and eternally; Abe was led by those promises. Are we more like Lot or Abe? Scripture reading: Genesis 13:5-18

No failure is permanent.  We can go back to the cross of Jesus Christ and receive the grace and mercy of God offered through him.  And, by God’s grace, when we find ourselves in a situation where we are tempted again, if we hold on to God and His promises we can overcome.  In times of testing, the question to ask is not, “How can I get out of this?” but rather “What can I get out of this?”  God is at work building your faith. Scripture reading: Genesis 12:10-13:4

Scripture reading: Genesis 12:1-9

We can’t allow ourselves to be seduced by the world-building for ourselves, trying to make a name for ourselves.  If we do, if we rebel (like Nimrod) trying to create our own gate to God, we too will be scattered.  We must trust in the only One who is the way to God—Jesus. Scripture reading: Gen 10:8-12; 11:1-9

Only God has the ability to say “never” and live up to His word. God has provided a way to escape judgement: the way of sacrifice. And through that sacrifice—Jesus—God says, “whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst,” “he who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty;” “If a man keeps my word, he will never see death;” “I know my sheep. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.” He says, “never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”   Scripture reading: Genesis 6:1-9:17

The power of God's word through Scripture is his gift of revelation to us. It is crucial in helping us know him, to know ourselves, and to walk out a life of love in a broken world.    Scripture reading: Luke 24:25-27

Why do we serve? Christians serve because Jesus was a servant. Jesus viewed himself as the fulfillment of God’s promises that a servant would come and bring the kingdom. Jesus served us by healing the sick, feeding the hungry, and by his great love for us in his self-sacrificial death. After being humbled unto death, Jesus was exalted. In the kingdom, we follow the path of service if we want to be exalted.   Scripture reading: Isaiah 42:1-9, Philippians 2:3-11, Matthew 20:25-28

Fasting reminds us that we are sustained by God.  Fasting humbles us and puts us in a position where we recognize our dependence on God and thus can hear more clearly from God. Scripture reading: Matthew 9: 14-17

The power of repentance is that it clears the obstructions in our relationship with God allows us to take a giant step toward wholeness and health; toward the full and abundant life that Jesus came to give us. And we can have confidence that a prayer of confession God will always answer, with guaranteed forgiveness. Scripture reading: Ezra 9:1-15

Scripture reading: Romans 12:2, ll Chronicles 7:11-16, l Chronicles 4:9-10

The reason we give up things, things that are pleasurable, is not so that we somehow earn favor with God, but it is so that we re-orient our lives and get intentional about our relationship with God.  We give up a pleasure for a brief time in order to allow God to replace that pleasure with Himself.   Scripture reading: various

With the first Adam came the curse, but the last Adam, the offspring of the woman, Jesus, came and bore the curse for us on the cross so that we could be born again, into the family of God.   Scripture reading: Genesis 3:7-24

Too often we listen to voices that do not have our best interest in mind.  The voice we need to have our ears trained to hear is the voice of our loving creator who will always call us into fellowship and freedom.   Scripture reading: Genesis 3:1-13

This is about more than marriage; this is about the dynamics of humanity…that we need both male and female perspective, male and female gifting.  It is about community. Scripture reading: Genesis 2:18-25

For 5 and a  half days God created and filled the earth, but if he had stopped there all he would have had was a greenhouse and a zoo.  But God wanted someone to be in relationship with—to be love and be loved by—so he created humanity, in his image, giving them provision and purpose and privilege and prerogative.   Scripture reading: Genesis 1:26-31; 2:4-9

The Jewish day doesn’t begin in the morning, as we westerners tend to think; the Jewish day begins at sunset.  The mindset is, your day doesn’t begin with production; your day begins with resting.  The idea is, your identity lies in who you are (as created by God), not in what you do. Scripture Reading: Genesis 1:31-2:3

Too often we look to the scriptures to learn the “hows”; how to do this, how to do that, how this or that came about.  But the beginning of THE STORY is about the who and the why not the how.  God is the who and WE are the why.   Scripture reading: Genesis 1:1-25

Too often we listen to voices that do not have our best interest in mind.  The voice we need to have our ears trained to hear is the voice of our loving creator who will always call us into fellowship and freedom.   Scripture reading: Genesis 3:1-13

This is about more than marriage; this is about the dynamics of humanity…that we need both male and female perspective, male and female gifting.  It is about community.   Scripture reading: Genesis 2:18-25

The Jewish day doesn’t begin in the morning, as we westerners tend to think; the Jewish day begins at sunset.  The mindset is, your day doesn’t begin with production; your day begins with resting.  The idea is, your identity lies in who you are (as created by God), not in what you do. Scripture Reading: Genesis 1:31-2:3

I think most of us would agree that generally, we know the things we ought to do, but putting them into practice is the hard part.  You might call it a Knowing v. Doing gap.  In order to live in the fullness of life that Jesus offers, the Kingdom Life, we need to be doers. Scripture reading: Luke 6:39-49

We don’t like to forgive because we think it’s weak; Jesus says that it is divine.  We don’t like to forgive because we think that there will be no justice and evil will prevail; Jesus says that vengeance is God’s responsibility.  We don’t like to forgive because we think that if we do it will diminish us; Jesus says, not only will you not be diminished, but you will be refilled to overflowing.  At the end of the day, you can never know the surpassing greatness of the grace of God until you are empty. Scripture reading: Luke 6:27-38

The things that Jesus proclaimed in the “Sermon on the Plain” sound like impossible ideals given by some out-of-touch mystic, but they are actually pragmatic truths proclaimed by a down-to-earth realist.  Jesus knew how life works, both in the Kingdom of Heaven and in the kingdom of this world.  Jesus himself embodied these truths and showed us that living them is the way to full, abundant life. Scripture reading: Luke 6:17-26

It is one thing to believe something, it is another thing to quote scripture about what you believe, but when push comes to shove and when your life is on the line and the powers that be are against you, will you back up your words with your life?   Scripture reading: Luke 6:1-11

If we are going to be followers of Jesus, not just supporters; if we are going to be apprentices, and step into this amazing life that Jesus has called us to, we are going to have leave some things behind.  So we have to choose.  Will we stay with the comfort of what we know…fishing at night, cleaning our nets, doing the same things in the same ways that we’ve always done them…or will we step into the adventure of following Jesus, leaving our boats and nets behind, so that we can experience the love and joy of life with him?  See, the question is, if you don’t follow Jesus, where else are you going to go? Scripture reading: Luke 5:1-11

In this scene we have a perfect representation of the whole ministry of Jesus—the prophecy of who he is, Jesus’ statement of fulfillment, wonder at the beauty of his life, disappoint with the fact that he doesn’t deliver the desired signs, unbelief and rejection, a call to repentance, the sending of the good news to the non-Jew, the sacrifice of Jesus on Calvary, and the divine escape in the resurrection.  The “so what” is that we have to deal with the question we began this series asking: who is this man?  And who is he to me? Scripture reading: Luke 4:14-30

The testing of Jesus came right on the heels of the baptism, that amazing declaration of God that this was his son.  And isn’t that often the case?  Right after an exhilarating experience with God we find ourselves being tested.  The keys for us in overcoming our temptations are found in how Jesus responded to his.  But the big picture question is, what if?  What if Jesus had given in?  If Jesus had given in it would mean that he had given up on us…and that he simply would not do!   Scripture reading: Luke 4:1-12

Far too often we want God to behave like a good deity should—to be there when we want him, to amaze us with his provision, to bail us out of tough spots, to show us his supernatural power when we can’t make things happen the way we want them to happen.  Quite simply, we want him to fit into our box. But when we do that we are acting as the supreme being…which we are not!  He is!  And he will always be about his Father’s business, which is to bring fullness of life to his children.   Scripture Reading: Luke 2:41-52

Jesus has come to fulfill and complete what God started with Israel, to bring salvation to the world. His baptism is the beginning of the new exodus. Just as God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, God was now bringing a new people out of an even older and darker slavery, slavery to sin. The new exodus is wider than just Israel, it is for the whole of creation. Scripture reading: Luke 3:21-22

The purpose of Luke’s gospel, as he put it, is to lay out an orderly account so that we might know with certainty the truth about Jesus. In this text, Luke is going to show us that even in the days immediately following his birth, Jesus’ life was perfection in making; that he is not some maverick Jew who began his own movement which was a defection from Judaism, rather his life is one of complete adherence to the Law of God, even in his infancy.  Why is this important?  It helps us to see that Jesus was both everything we are and everything we are not, so that he might be our faithful and merciful high priest, redeeming us and bestowing upon us the full rights of being children of God. Scripture reading: Luke 2:21-24

An intro to the study, we need to be asking just as the disciples asked, “Who is the man?”  Have we bought into a conservative establishmentarian view of Jesus or do we see him for who he really is?  Our culture, Christians included, has become much too comfortable with the idea of Jesus and has become ambivalent about him. But Jesus does not give us ambivalence as an option. We will either declare, “my Lord and my God,” or we will side with the Pharisees who said, “he leads the multitudes astray. Scripture reading: Mark 4:35-31

There is a feeling among many sincere Christians that Christmas is a religious holiday for kids, but Easter is the critical event for the mature Christian.  Truth is, without Christmas there is no cross and there is no resurrection.  Christmas is God’s ALL IN moment.  When Hope is battling fear, God’s ALL IN moment tips the scales in our favor, and the world is forever changed. Scripture: Luke 2:8-18

Often there are events in our lives that turn our world upside down.  When that happens it can cause us to become unraveled and fearful.  But if we will have faith like Mary and trust in our God, God can use those events to use us to bring him into the world. Scripture: Luke 1:26-38

Waiting can be frustrating; most of us don’t like to wait.  But waiting can also remind us that there is something going on that is bigger than ourselves. The Christmas season is a reminder that every moment that we wait on God is an opportunity to connect with Him in anticipation of the future that he has for us; a future of hope and of good news. Scripture: Luke 2:21-38

There is something about the unknown that unsettles us, that makes us anxious, that causes us to move away from uncertainty and toward things that are more certain. The invitation of God is to not be afraid, to step into the uncertainty of life and trust him.  And when we do that we open ourselves up to the miraculous. Scripture: Luke 1:1-25

When we move outside of ourselves and give ourselves away for the benefit of others we find real freedom.   Scripture: Philippians 2:1-5  

There is a huge difference between simply shutting people out and setting appropriate boundaries with people. The former isolates us and keeps us in relational bondage, while the latter enables us to live free.   Scripture: Psalm 74:13-17

Forgiveness is the core of the gospel because at the cross Jesus forgave us and reconciled us to the Father.  But what do we do when someone sins against us? Do we extend the same grace we received or do we stand in judgment of them?  The Grace Pathway shows us how to move from judgment to forgiveness, and trade our torment for freedom. Scripture: Matthew 18:33  

When we believe the lies the evil speaks to us—either about God, ourselves or others—then our expectations and behaviors line up with the kingdom of darkness and we live in bondage.  But when we live in the truth of who God is and who he has created us to be, we live in the kingdom of God and experience his freedom.   Scripture: 1 Corinthians 2: 10-12

Our tendency is to avoid conflict in order to keep the peace, but more often we need to move toward the conflict and address it in order to experience the freedom God has for us.  Scripture: Galatians 2:11-14 

When wronged we have a choice: we can become bitter or better.  Only when we operate from a posture of forgiveness will we live free.   Scripture: Matthew 18:21-35  

Most of our problems (not just relationally) stem from the fact that we think more highly of ourselves than we ought.  Pride entraps us, humility frees us.   Scripture: 1 Corinthians 3:21-4:7

We all wear masks and try to hide behind certain things, but that keeps us in bondage. Only living in the reality of who we truly are will move us into the freedom God has for us.  (Identity in Jesus.)   Scripture: Genesis 3:1-13

We have this idea that freedom is the absence of constrains, that we are “free” to do whatever we want whenever we want, but that is simply not what real freedom is, and it is certainly not the way to live free in relationship with God and with others. (Covers two kingdoms, father’s heart, and the cross of Christ.)   Scripture: John 8:31-37  

Too often too many people feel that the work of "ministry" is to be done by those who are in "fulltime ministry" (you know, the professionals).  But what we need to appreciate is that Jesus calls all who follow him to be ministers "whatever" their occupation is.   Scripture: Colossians 3:17  

The way that we use language is either creating life or death…in our relationships, in our marriages, in our workplaces.  We have the opportunity to help bring fullness into the lives of other people by what we say to them and how we say it.  Our words can actually create an incredible amount of life in the people around us, if…we use tact. Scripture: Proverbs 10:18-21

Without conflict there’s nothing happening in life.  Having conflict is healthy and normal; it’s part of the natural rhythm of being in community and being human.  The issue isn’t conflict, the issue is how we handle it.  How do we approach conflict with wisdom? Scripture: Proverbs 13:10