Fri, 21 Nov 2008 12:30:39 GMT <![CDATA[notes...from the waters...]]> Fri, 21 Nov 2008 12:30:39 GMT Sartell Community Thanksgiving Service

 Wed. Nov 21st at 7 PM at St. Francis. 

 Pastor Doug will have a part of the service as we join

St Francis and Celebration Lutheran for this evening of

giving thanks! 

]]> <![CDATA[Don't forget about the Community Thanksgiving!]]> Sat, 17 Nov 2007 07:50:12 GMT  
SAMSON KEPT GIVING DELILAH FAKE ANSWERS…
 
Listen to Delilah’s response-
10Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have made a fool of me; you lied to me. Come now, tell me how you can be tied.”
 
      DELILAH WAS GETTING TICKED OFF
 
13Delilah then said to Samson, “Until now, you have been making a fool of me and lying to me. Tell me how you can be tied.”
 
NOW DELILAH WAS GOING TO TUG ON SAMSON’S WEAKEST SPOT IN HIS HEART!
 
15Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when you won’t confide in me? This is the third time you have made a fool of me and haven’t told me the secret of your great strength.”
 
18When Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines, “Come back once more; he has told me everything.” So the rulers of the Philistines returned with the silver in their hands. 19Having put him to sleep on her lap, she called a man to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him.£ And his strength left him.
20Then she called, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” He awoke from his sleep and thought, “I’ll go out as before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the LORD had left him.
 
SAMSON HAD BEEN SET UP TO WIN, BUT BECAUSE OF FOOLISH MISTAKES, HE SET HIMSELF UP FOR DEFEAT.
            -It wasn’t that his enemies were so smart.
            -It wasn’t that his enemies were so powerful.
 
HE FELL BECAUSE OF HIS OWN WEAKNESSES!
       ARE YOU SETTING YOURSELF UP TO WIN?
]]> <![CDATA[Setting Yourself Up to Win part 2....November 11th, 2007]]> Wed, 14 Nov 2007 03:06:15 GMT Setting Yourself Up To Win
 
Judges 13:1 says, “Again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years.
In Judges 13:2-7 it tells us of God’s plan for the redemption of Israel.
-SAMSON WAS SET UP TO WIN!
JUDGES 14     -Samson wanted to get married.
-His parents were not very happy about this girl because she                      was a philistine.
-Sampon said, “I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU THINK, I WANT TO MARRY HER!”
-Samson married her and things went terrible!
Judges 16:4 Sometime later, he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah.   The rulers of the Philistines went to her and said, “See if you can lure him into showing you the secret of his great strength and how we can overpower him so we may tie him up and subdue him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels£ of silver.”
6So Delilah said to Samson, “Tell me the secret of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued.”
 
THIS IS A SITUATION WHERE SAMSON DID NOT SET HIMSELF UP TO WIN…
 
Let’s face it- Samson has not had the best of LUCK with the ladies.
 
-His first love tricked him into telling her the riddle
                                    -she betrayed him!
-His new love tried to find out the secret of his strength
                                    -she betrayed him!
-Samson should probably get away from this woman
                                    -but women were his weakness!!!!
]]> <![CDATA[Setting Yourself Up to Win....sermon notes November 11th. 2007]]> Wed, 14 Nov 2007 03:01:52 GMT bear with us as we figure out the formatting on this blog site! I know there is a lot of random spacing and what not...trying to figure it out as i go...but want to get something out for those looking for it!

 

thanks!

m

]]> <![CDATA[please]]> Thu, 08 Nov 2007 10:17:21 GMT 3) WHY SHOULD I FORGIVE…

Unforgiveness hurts you….not the person who hurt you!

In Ephesians 4:31, Paul associates unforgiveness with bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, slander, and malice.

 

UNFORGIVENESS IS LIKE AN ACID THAT EATS YOU UP!

*Forgiveness is much more about you being free than it is about freeing someone else!

 

4) NOW THE BIG ONE….HOW DO I FORGIVE?

Romans 12: 17-21

 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay,"says the Lord.

On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
 if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
 In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Jesus said

 

in Luke 2:27-28 "But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.

Forgiveness happens in your HEART!

James 1:5 says, If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.

 

…..God will give you wisdom how to forgive in your situation!

 

 

FORGIVENESS IS OFTEN A DAILY CHOICE

**Put your trust in God’s justice and believe he will handle getting even!

 

 

]]> <![CDATA[Part 2 of Life w/o Parole ...sermon notes from Oct. 28th]]> Thu, 08 Nov 2007 10:16:04 GMT

Prison Break 7 “Life with out Parole”

Hebrews 12:1

 1Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

TODAY…we are taking a hard look at unforgiveness and how it can hold us captive….and give us “life with out parole”

WE WILL look at What…Who….Why…and How to forgive

1) WHAT IS FORGIVENESS

 

WEBSTERS…FORGIVE: To give up resentment of or claim to requital (recompensation or retaliation)

RESENTMENT: To express ill will towards something or someone

Forgiveness is the willingness to give up your resentment toward someone who has wronged you, regardless of how serious or painful that wrong might have been. In other words, you give up any desire to get even.

Col 3:13 Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

Psalm 103:12 as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

PRETTY AMAZING HOW GOD FORGIVES US!

“FORGIVING IS NOT FORGETTING”

FORGIVENESS SHOULD BE GIVEN…BUT TRUST IS EARNED.

*Forgiveness is not about forgetting

….it is about releasing you desire to get even!

2) WHO SHOULD I FORGIVE…

Who did Christ forgive:

Romans 5:10 10 For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!

HE GAVE HIS LIFE FOR US EVEN WHEN WE WERE HIS ENEMIES!

If we want to forgive like Christ….that means forgiving people that don’t care about our forgiveness!

Even on the cross….Jesus demonstrated this by saying in

Luke 23:32 "Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." And they divided up his clothes by casting lots

 

*They humiliated him…degraded him….took away his dignity…..yet he offered prayer for their forgiveness even though they didn’t even want it!

NOONE EVER SAID FORGIVNESS WOULD BE EASY!

*To forgive like Christ means we forgive even when the offender doesn’t deserve or even want our forgiveness.

]]> <![CDATA[Life w/o Parole sermon from October 28th 2007]]> Thu, 08 Nov 2007 10:07:44 GMT ok we just got this up and running...keep checking for updates and entries!

more to come...

]]> <![CDATA[coming soon!]]> Mon, 29 Oct 2007 06:30:44 GMT lets get this thing working!

]]> <![CDATA[testing]]> Mon, 29 Oct 2007 05:09:24 GMT