Day 2 | 21-Day Growth Challenge | "Are You Serious?"

Tuesday, August 31, 2010 Bryan Hudson 9 Comments






Proverbs 2:2, (NLT) Tune your ears to wisdom, and concentrate on understanding. 3 Cry out for insight, and ask for understanding. 4 Search for them as you would for silver; seek them like hidden treasures. 5 Then you will understand what it means to fear the Lord, and you will gain knowledge of God.  (When you have time, read entire chapter)

INSIGHT: 
In Chapter One, we learned about the purpose of the Book of Proverbs. Here at the beginning of Chapter Two, we get a sense of the passion needed to grow, learn and prosper. Note these powerful prescriptions: "Tune your ears…", Concentrate on understanding…", "Cry out for insight…", "Search for them…," "Seek them…" These statements are not an invitation to work in our own strength, but to allow the Holy Spirit to work through us. Jesus came "full of grace and truth." (John 1:14). Grace is God's favor and ability working inside you. The Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:10, "But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me."

By grace you can labor "more abundantly." You can follow the prescriptions of Proverbs 2:2-5 and achieve the outcomes of 1), "Understand what it means to fear the Lord.." and 2)  "Gain knowledge of God." 

PRAYER AND ACTIVATION:
(Use comment section below to share your insights. Record sensitive items in your personal journal. You may use your name or remain anonymous.)
  1. What are a couple of areas that hinder you from having a stronger passion to draw closer to God?
  2. Why must we seek the things that God promised us?
  3. After reading Proverbs 2:2-4, what two specific insights did you gain from this scripture?
  4. What actions will you take today related to this lesson?
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COMMENT SECTION:
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Day 1 | 21-Day Growth Challenge | Foundations for Prosperity God's Way

Monday, August 30, 2010 Bryan Hudson 14 Comments







Proverbs 1:1 (NLT) These are the proverbs of Solomon, David’s son, king of Israel. 2 Their purpose is to teach people wisdom and discipline, to help them understand the insights of the wise. 3 Their purpose is to teach people to live disciplined and successful lives, to help them do what is right, just, and fair.  4 These proverbs will give insight to the simple, knowledge and discernment to the young. 5 Let the wise listen to these proverbs and become even wiser.  Let those with understanding receive guidance 6 by exploring the meaning in these proverbs and parables, the words of the wise and their riddles. 7 Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.

INSIGHT:

This 21 Day Growth Challenge is called "Prosperity God's Way: Wisdom from Proverbs." When I think about prosperity, I think about financial wealth. When I think about prosperity God's way, I think about serving Christ from the heart and walking in God's blessings at every level, from the spiritual to the natural, including financially.

John's greeting in his Third Letter, while not intended to establish a doctrine, nevertheless reveals the heart of God for His people, "Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers." 3 John 2 (NKJV)

The clear condition for "outward" prosperity in all things, and in health, was "inward" prosperity of the soul. Many newer Bible versions use a word other than "prosper," maybe for reasons of concern about the so-called "prosperity gospel." Regardless of any error or foolishness that may have been perpetrated related to prosperity, the fact remains: God wants His people to prosper and His people want to prosper!

What we need to do is operate from a biblical perspective, not to get stuff, but to live a godly and excellent life.  If we begin at the place were the word of God directs us to begin, we will always place Jesus Christ and godly character ahead of everything else.

So then, "Prosperity God's Way" begins in the soul, which is your mind (what you think), will (what you do) and emotions (how you feel or your disposition) – or your personality and character. The Book of Proverbs was written for the expressed purpose of helping people develop godly character as well as acquire the virtues related to wisdom.

For simplicity of thought, we will mainly use the New Living Translation. For study, I also recommend the New International, New King James versions of the Bible. Daily lessons will only cite a few scriptures, but you should consider reading entire sections and chapters as well.

PRAYER AND ACTIVATION:
(Use comment section below to share your insights. Record sensitive items in your personal journal. You may use your name or remain anonymous.)
  1. What are 2-3 of your goals for this 21 Day Growth Challenge?
  2. According to verse 3, what areas in your life require greater discipline?
  3. After reading Proverbs 1:1-7, what are three specific insights did you gain from this scripture?
  4. What actions will you take today related to this lesson?

ADDITIONAL RESOURCE:

Message by Pastor Bryan Hudson (MP3):
Prosperity God's Way: Cultivating a New Attitude
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COMMENT SECTION:
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21 Day Growth Challenge | Begins August 30

Sunday, August 29, 2010 Bryan Hudson 2 Comments

Matthew 6:33, But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

Proverbs 8:14-18, Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom; I am understanding, I have strength.  By me kings reign, and rulers decree justice.  By me princes rule, and nobles, all the judges of the earth.  I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently will find me.  Riches and honor are with me, enduring riches and righteousness.


Check Your Attitude

Saturday, August 28, 2010 Bryan Hudson 0 Comments

By Dr. Dale A. Robbins

According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, the word "attitude" means "an internal position or feeling with regard to something else." Other words often used as synonyms are: "disposition, feeling, mood, opinion, sentiment, temper, tone, perspective, frame of mind, outlook, view, or morale."
Airplane pilots often use "attitude" to describe their horizontal relationship with the runway then they land. If their attitude isn’t aligned properly, the plane will make contact with the ground at the wrong angle and it will cause them to crash.

In essence, your attitude is your inward disposition toward other things, such as people or circumstances. As in with an airplane, attitude is applied whenever you must deal with something other than yourself. According to God’s word, when you become a Christian, a part of your new creation is the development of new attitudes — your attitude should become like that of Jesus. The Bible says, "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:" (Philippians 2:5). "You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off the old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to 
be made new in the attitude of your minds." (Ephesians 4:22 NIV)

Some Random Quotes on the Importance of Attitude

Saturday, August 28, 2010 Bryan Hudson 0 Comments

(Found these items on the Internet, so take it with a grain of salt. Attributions may be missing or incorrect. -- Bryan)

Two men looked out from prison bars; one saw mud, the other saw stars.

Tough times never last, but tough people do. [Robert Schuller]

Failure is only the opportunity to begin again more intelligently. [Henry Ford]

The greatest mistake a person can make is to be afraid of making one. [Elbert Hubbard]

The epitaph on a negative person’s headstone should read, ‘I expected this.’

The size of a person is more important than the size of the problem. [John Maxwell]

There is a world of difference between a person who has a big problem and a person who makes a problem big. [John Maxwell]

Why did the achievers overcome problems while thousands are overwhelmed by theirs? They refused to hold on to the common excuses for failure. They turned their stumbling blocks into stepping stones. They realized that they couldn’t determine every circumstance in life but they could determine their choice of attitude towards every circumstance. [John Maxwell]

Positive thinking will not always change our circumstances, but it will always change us.

A positive pastor in a negative church can turn it around in three years. A negative pastor in a positive church can destroy it in three months.

Great leaders understand that the right attitude will set the right atmosphere, which enables the right response from others. [John Maxwell]

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. - [Walt Emerson]

Life is 10% of what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. [John Maxwell]

Once our minds are 'tattooed' with negative thinking, our chances for long-term success diminish. [John Maxwell]

A leader’s attitude is caught by his followers more quickly than his or her actions. [John Maxwell]

If you think you are beaten, you are. If you think you dare not, you don’t. If you’d like to win but think you can’t it’s almost certain you won’t. Life’s battles don’t always go to the stronger or faster man, but sooner or later, the man who wins is the man who thinks he can.

A happy person is not a person with a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes.

I may not be able to change the world I see around me, but I can change the way I see the world within me. [John Maxwell]

First we will be best, then we will be first. [Stan Leonard]

It’s crowded at the bottom, but there’s a lot of room at the top.

Jeremiah's Hard Journey and High Hopes

Saturday, August 28, 2010 Bryan Hudson 0 Comments

Studying the life and times of Jeremiah. Thinking about his difficult assignment of telling his generation "like it is." His painful, prophetic journey ultimately revealed the greatest hope of all: The promise of new life and new covenant for all generations through the Lord Jesus Christ. (Read Jer. 31:31-41, Compare to Heb. 7:7-13)

Make and Keep Commitments to Christ

Tuesday, August 24, 2010 Bryan Hudson 0 Comments

Psalm 16:18, "I will fulfill my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people, in the courts of the house of the LORD—in your midst, O Jerusalem. Praise the LORD."


Public commitment to purpose and duty allows covenant family to hold us accountable and helps us serve God better. Our public and private life of devotional and service to Christ should be interdependent.


Tell your brothers and sisters in Christ how you will serve God, his church and your community. 

New Covenant Church family:
Remember prayer and fasting August 24 - 26

Coming August 30:
21 Day Growth Challenge: "Prosperity God's Way."

Ask, Thank, and Activate

Saturday, August 21, 2010 Bryan Hudson 0 Comments

Psalm 104:13 You send rain on the mountains from your heavenly home, and you fill the earth with the fruit of your labor. 14 You cause grass to grow for the cattle. You cause plants to grow for people to use. You allow them to produce food from the earth.

The entirety of Psalm 104 shows God's provision and order for His creation and His people. He has set both natural and spiritual laws into motion.

Too often, we are standing still asking God to do something that He has already provided. If I need light in a house that has electricity, I don't need to ask and then stand around waiting for illumination. I need to go and plug in to the provision.

God is still sovereign, active and merciful, so He brings unexpected blessings. However, most of what we need is already available by asking, thanking and activating God's promises already provided in the Word of God, the Bible.

James put it this way: "But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does." (James 1:25)

Either Stumble or Walk By Faith

Sunday, August 08, 2010 Bryan Hudson 0 Comments

Romans 9:30, What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; 31 but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. 32 Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the "stumbling stone." 33 As it is written:  "See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame."

The Bible says that so long as Israel did not place their faith in God, but in their own righteousness, that they stumbled. Jesus Christ, the Cornerstone, the foundation of God's kingdom, and the basis of everything righteous, becomes a stumbling stone and a barrier to those who do not walk by faith. This text states that the Gentiles, or non-Jews, obtained something which many of the people who were originally chosen of God did not receive.

The lesson is this: We are not entitled to something if we are unwilling to trust God and live by faith. Religious heritage and pedigree cannot replace walking by faith. It seems that God is determined not to honor religious works. He sent Jesus to save us, give us a new heart, and help us to renew our minds so that we can trust His word and exercise faith in doing genuine works.

As verse 33 states, we who trust in God "shall never be put to shame."
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