Student Messages on 2/5/06 Dan Johnson - What is your fear factor? Fear Factor Comp  (Needs three volunteers including Dave) -Competition 1 Stage Fright Competition  -Pull out a card that says “Volunteer to pray on Wednesday Night” then give another card that says “Do the teapot song w/ actions” -Competition 2 Smoothie from Hell  -Someone must drink a horrible fowl smoothie. -Competition 3 The Ultimate Challenge  -Me and Dave improve Fear is a factor for everyone. Joshua 1:9 “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged for the Lord will be with you where ever you go. You have probably heard of the popular tv show “Fear Factor”. Contestants compete through mental, emotional, and physical competitions to win $50,000 and prove that fear is not a factor for them. Some of these stunts they do are pretty intense too. (Gross out warning)  -Eating animal testicles  -Bobbing for something in cow blood  -Drive cars under semi-trucks  -Sticking needles through the fat of your arm each thicker than the last.  -Being covered in beetles, snakes, scorpions, spiders, and whatever poisonous creepy crawly you can think of.  -And probably the most frightening volunteering to pray on Wednesday night. Seriously now, think about it. These people jump from moving vehicles, walk on glass, and eat animal eyeballs, all for what? $50,000 and bragging rights. “I WON FEAR FACTOR! I FEAR NOTHING!!!” Here's a reality check. $50,000 soon runs out and you may have ridden that unicycle from one rooftop to another but your still afraid of commitment or public speaking or other smaller fears. You fear nothing for awhile and it all dies. It reminds me of Elijah in 1 Kings chapter 18. How it goes is that Elijah thinking he is the only prophet left is up against 450 prophets of Baal! This battle is also referred to as the “showdown at Mt Carmel”. I am not going to read the story to you. You can read it in 1 Kings chapter 18. Elijah and the prophets offered a sacrifice to their respective God. After hours, Baal was a no show. Elijah even inquired to maybe he is on the toilet. Anywho, to prove God's power Elijah had the offering soaked three times. Fire came down from heaven and consumed the offering! Elijah won the showdown and proceeded to kill the 450 prophets of Baal! Elijah had attained a great victory though in 1 Kings 19: 1 – 5. (Read scripture) Elijah had just called down fire from heaven in a fearless act proving fear was not a factor for him. Had this miracle not happened, the prophets of Baal would have killed him! Now Elijah was afraid. “Oh no... jeezy's going to kill me, oh woe is me!” The world has hit him and he ran away. This could be the end of the story. Elijah runs to the mountain, lives there the rest of his life while Ahab continues to be whipped by Jezebel and Aram becomes a world power, the end. Nope. Here is hope. 1 Kings 19: 13 – 15 (Read scripture) God had empowered Elijah to go forward and continue his ministry. As a result we saw a new prophet annointed Elisha (personally my favorite Old Testament character, but thats another lesson) Elisha went on to succeed Elijah. He then went on to confront Ahab. As a result Ahab changed his ways leading to three years of peace between Israel and Aram. Then at the end of his life, Elijah was able to do what only one man prior to him did and that was ascend to heaven. This is a story we can all relate to. I don't know how many of us have called fire down from heaven. Any one in this room? But we have down incredible things in our lives. We have been on mission trips and outreaches. We all had that rush of seeing someone accept Christ as their personal savior when it seemed they would NEVER be doing that. It is not uncommon to experience a supernatural high after such an experience. But just like in the scriptures, that only lasted a time. No one may be trying to kill you... I hope. But someone or something comes in the way and knocks you away from your high and now everything around you is crumbling, we feel like running to the nearest mountain (which if it happened here would actually be a good thing). We feel like running to the nearest mountain finding a cave and never want to leave again. If Elijah can bounce back, so can we. Jame 5:17 (Read Scripture). Wow, we like to think of Elijah the man who did so many miracles that we can never compare to him. But in James it says Elijah was human just like we are. JUST LIKE WE ARE! We may not be calling fire down from heaven or killing 450 prophets of Baal but we are bringing the kingdom of God forward in ways never before done. Through adopt a block we are going into the streets that are forgotten and giving them their value and dignity back. Through adopt a family, we have given a family kindness and compassion, and through the year 2006 and beyond we will continue to love in the face of fear whether it be exiting our comfort zone or saying no to something you would normally say yes to. Are you all with me? Whatcha fraid of? Justin Burns - Building Blocks 2nd Peter 1:3-13 - 3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. 5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. 10 Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. 11 For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. - Why is it important to focus on these eight qualities (faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love)? Verses 10 and 11 tell us that if we practice these things then their will be a grand welcome for us into the eternal kingdom of God. But why speak of these eight qualities? - Look at the next two verses… 12 Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. 13 I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, - We need to be reminded of them because we Christians are forgetful. It’s probably one of our worst qualities. We forget to pray, we forget to read our Bible, we forget the sermon from a month ago that meant so much to us, we forget to even acknowledge God throughout the day because we get caught up with work, school, and everything else. So, as Peter says, we need to be stirred up by way of reminder. - So let’s break this down 5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, - The definition of supplement is: something added to complete or to strengthen the whole or to help increase. So we should strengthen our faith with virtue. Then verse 5 goes on and tells us that we should increase our virtue with knowledge. But how do we increase our knowledge? 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. - The key here is that it all starts with love. For love increases all of these qualities which all help perfect our faith. Why is this so important? Ephesians 3:14-19 - 14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith--that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. - Christ dwells in our hearts through faith, and we are rooted and grounded in love. Therefore, if we increase our love, then we can increase our brotherly affection, godliness, steadfastness, self-control, knowledge and virtue. All of which help increase and strengthen our faith. - The more faith we have, the more Christ can abundantly dwell in our hearts. This in turn leads to our grand welcome into eternity. 1st Corinthians 3:10-15 - 10 By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13 his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. 14 If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. 15 If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames. - These eight qualities are our building blocks that we use to build on the foundation of our lives, which is Jesus Christ. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. - When we keep ourselves from being ineffective or unfruitful then we are building with gold and silver… materials that won’t burn up in flames. However, if we settle for mediocrity and don’t focus on increasing our love and brotherly affection, or don’t really care about being godly or steadfast, but we still believe in God and have some faith, then we are building with wood, hay, or straw – things that will quickly burn. Though we may be saved… it will be as one escaping through flames - I don’t want to smell like smoke in heaven. Final Notes We need to stir ourselves up by way of reminder daily. We need to think of ways we can increase our love which will help strengthen and increase all of these other qualities. That way, Christ can more abundantly dwell in our hearts, and we can have the joy of pleasing him until the day of our grand welcome into eternity.