Imagebearer’s Weblog

Experiencing God Bible Study @ Out Of the Box

I have had a great response of people who expressed interest in a bible study, downtown @ Out Of The Box. Due to the great response, the Experiencing God Bible Study will start the second week of February. We will meet on Wednesday from 10am to Noon, starting February 10th, 2010.

If  you are interested, the study books are $14.95 each. Send me an e-mail and let me know you are in and I will get the books ordered. I will need to know for sure no later than February 5th.

By the way, you do not have to be a member of 1st Hillsville to be involved with this bible study. Join us!

Ronnie

Study Information

While many people ask God to bless their plans, Experiencing God helps lead believers into a deeper love relationship, teaching them to pray to and hear from God, and to join with God in accomplishing what He purposes to do.

This classic study is now revised and offers many new features, such as DVD messages from authors Henry and Richard Blackaby and Claude King, as well as new applications and stories. The testimonies, some of which are featured on this site, are truly inspiring, but God has more work to do. Will you join Him?

Unit 1
God’s Will and Your Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Unit 2
Looking to God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Unit 3
God Pursues a Love Relationship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Unit 4
Love and God’s Invitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Unit 5
God Speaks, Part 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Unit 6
God Speaks, Part 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Unit 7
The Crisis of Belief . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Unit 8
Adjusting Your Life to God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Unit 9
Experiencing God Through Obedience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Unit 10
God’s Will and the Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Unit 11
Kingdom People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
Unit 12
Experiencing God in Your Daily Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
Names, Titles,

January 13, 2010 Posted by imagebearer | Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

My Blogging Story

Some where around January 2008 a couple in the church where I pastor approached me and asked if I would consider blogging on the church website and I said, no. I had no desire and really didn’t even understand what a blog was or how it worked, and on top of all that I was busy.

Just a couple of weeks later I was in a bookstore when I ran across the book, “The Blogging Church”. This book was the start to my blogging future.

It took me about two days to read the book cover to cover and start the blog. I was hooked, convinced that there was not only a future in blogging in ministry but a need. In today’s world, people communicate and learn differently than they every have before. Blogging is one of the ways people communicate and learn.

A blog is yours and it can serve any purpose you want it to serve. A bulletin board for your church, a personal journal, a bible study tool, you name it because it is yours.

My blog represents who I am. You will find many of my passions on my blog. I love God, so you will find many posts pertaining to the bible and bible study. I started several months ago to blog as I prepare bible studies and sermons. I love to run, you will find information on my blog about my training as well as the races in which I get to run. I love my family so you will see lots of pictures of my family. I love to read so you will see book reviews on my blog. I love the Out of the Box Youth Ministry so you will find lots of information here about that ministry. I love adoption and you will find information here on the subject of adoption. I love the church and the United Methodist Church and you will find that information here. You will see my passions as you read my blog.

My blog will hopefully be something that my children will look at for years to come and know what their daddy loves and they will find God here. My blog may someday turn into the makings of a book. The possibilities are unlimited but for the most part I blog because you read. In the past 12 months this blog was visited 30,000 times and that is how I know that you read.

Thank you and I hope that you will consider starting your own blog.

Ronnie

January 13, 2010 Posted by imagebearer | Uncategorized | 1 Comment

In The Zone @ Out Of The Box: Join Us Tonight – January 13th, 2010

Tonight is Wing Night @ Out Of The Box

Come to hang out from 5pm to 7pm

Bible Study from 7pm until

Chicken Wings right after the Bible Study and hang time again, all senior teens welcome.

Ronnie

We now have the Devotional Material for the messages that Justin Lookadoo will be preaching from at resurrection 2010. Wednesday night we will start working through the material Justin has provided @ Out Of The Box.

Ronnie

Here is a clip of our trip to Resurrection 2009 7 Justin Lookadoo

Hebrews 5: 11-14 New Living Translation

¹¹ There is much more we would like to say about this, but it is difficult to explain, especially since you are spiritually dull and don’t seem to listen. ¹² You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food. ¹³ For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right. ¹⁴ Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong.

Colossians 3: 12-17 New Living Translation

¹² Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. ¹³ Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. ¹⁴ Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. ¹⁵ And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.

¹⁶ Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. ¹⁷ And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.

Romans 6: 10-18 New Living Translation

¹⁰ When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. ¹¹ So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.

¹² Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires. ¹³ Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. ¹⁴ Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace.

¹⁵ Well then, since God’s grace has set us free from the law, does that mean we can go on sinning? Of course not! ¹⁶ Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living. ¹⁷ Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin, but now you wholeheartedly obey this teaching we have given you. ¹⁸ Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living.

Kristian Stanfill is the Worship Leader for Resurrection 2010

Resurrection 2010
Justin Lookadoo
Action Guide

Session 1
Title: Oh Baby!

Reference: Hebrews 5:11-14; Colossians 3:12-17; Romans 6: 10-18

Oh Baby will set the tone for Resurrection 2010. We’ll start with those who have been
Christians for a while. We will discuss how we must be able to feed ourselves and what
a drain it is if we can’t.

January 13, 2010 Posted by imagebearer | Uncategorized | 1 Comment

New Mens Bible Study @ Out of the Box – All Men Welcome – Regardless of Denomination

WHAT: New Men’s Bible Study Kick-Off!

“In the Dust of the Rabbi”

WHEN: Tuesday, Jan. 19, 6:30 – 7:30 a.m.

(We will meet every other Tuesday)

WHERE:  Out Of The Box

Don’t miss the fantastic fellowship and food (physical and spiritual)!

The perfect way to start your day and meet your New Year’s goal

of spending more time in God’s Word!

All men welcome…Don’t miss it!  See you Tuesday morning!

Bible Study Contents:

In the dust of the Rabbi

In The Dust of the Rabbi: Becoming a Disciple transports you to locations in Israel and Turkey to learn how the early church lived as disciples of Jesus. Come and follow teacher and historian Ray Vander Laan into the life of a talmid (disciple). Learn about how following a rabbi wasn’t simply a hobby, it was a passion that was the driving force behind every action, every thought. And ask yourself, how passionate are you to follow Jesus?

Volume 6 ? In the dust of the Rabbi: Becoming a Disciple

Session 1 - Galilee: When the Rabbi says, “Come”

Session 2 - Galilee: When the Rabbi says, “Go”

Session 3 - Priene: The Presence of God: A Counter Cultural Community

Session 4 - Priene: Living Stones

Session 5 - Didyma: The Very Words of God

When the Rabbi Says, “Come”: There was an old Jewish saying that said to follow a rabbi was to “be covered with the dust of his feet.” When Jesus says, “Come” how close to him do you get? Travel into Galilee and see how the text, the community and becoming like the rabbi drive the early disciples.

When the Rabbi Says, “Go”: In Jesus’ time, disciples were raised in a Jewish community that knew and lived the Torah. However, at some point, they would be sent out into a hellenistic world. These early disciples spend the rest of their lives trying to live like Jesus.

The Presence of God: A Counter-Cultural Community: Set in the beautiful, greek city of Priene, Ray Vander Laan walks us back into a time where town councils, city markets and even the warmth of the fire were provided by the gods of the day. How does a follower of Jesus live among believers of Athena, Apollo and Asclepius? Learn what it means to truly be part of a community of believers.

Living Stones: We once again visit Priene. This time to see the ruins of the magnificent temple of Athena. But as majestic and awe-inspiring as that temple must have been, it no longer stands. Ray Vander Laan challenges believers to consider what it means to be the temple of God. What do we look like to the rest of the world?

The Very Words of God: Didyma was one of three oracles in ancient times – places where people would travel hundreds of miles just to hear the predictions of the gods. Explore the ancient mystery of the oracle process and consider how far you would go to hear a word from God.

This Men’s Bible Study is for men of all denominations.  It is NOT just a Methodist “thing” so come, bring a friend, tell a friend.  It will even be over early enough for you older young men to get to school with time to spare . . . Senior “youth” invited!

January 13, 2010 Posted by imagebearer | Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

SNL This Week – January 17th, 2010

Start the New Year on the right track!

Join us every Sunday Night for Worship and a sermon that will be applied to where you are in life.

We are working our way through the Book of Matthew each week, verse by verse, and we are applying it to our lives. Nobody cares what you say you believe but lives will be changed if we live what we say we believe.

This week, the Scripture is Matthew Chapter 8: 1-22 (The Message)

Matthew 8

He Carried Our Diseases

^1-2 Jesus came down the mountain with the cheers of the crowd still ringing in his ears. Then a leper appeared and went to his knees before Jesus, praying, “Master, if you want to, you can heal my body.”

^3-4Jesus reached out and touched him, saying, “I want to. Be clean.” Then and there, all signs of the leprosy were gone. Jesus said, “Don’t talk about this all over town. Just quietly present your healed body to the priest, along with the appropriate expressions of thanks to God. Your cleansed and grateful life, not your words, will bear witness to what I have done.”

^5-6As Jesus entered the village of Capernaum, a Roman captain came up in a panic and said, “Master, my servant is sick. He can’t walk. He’s in terrible pain.”

⁷Jesus said, “I’ll come and heal him.”

^8-9“Oh, no,” said the captain. “I don’t want to put you to all that trouble. Just give the order and my servant will be fine. I’m a man who takes orders and gives orders. I tell one soldier, ‘Go,’ and he goes; to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

^10-12Taken aback, Jesus said, “I’ve yet to come across this kind of simple trust in Israel, the very people who are supposed to know all about God and how he works. This man is the vanguard of many outsiders who will soon be coming from all directions—streaming in from the east, pouring in from the west, sitting down at God’s kingdom banquet alongside Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Then those who grew up ‘in the faith’ but had no faith will find themselves out in the cold, outsiders to grace and wondering what happened.”

¹³Then Jesus turned to the captain and said, “Go. What you believed could happen has happened.” At that moment his servant became well.

^14-15By this time they were in front of Peter’s house. On entering, Jesus found Peter’s mother-in-law sick in bed, burning up with fever. He touched her hand and the fever was gone. No sooner was she up on her feet than she was fixing dinner for him.

^16-17That evening a lot of demon-afflicted people were brought to him. He relieved the inwardly tormented. He cured the bodily ill. He fulfilled Isaiah’s well-known sermon:

He took our illnesses,
He carried our diseases.

^18-19When Jesus saw that a curious crowd was growing by the minute, he told his disciples to get him out of there to the other side of the lake. As they left, a religion scholar asked if he could go along. “I’ll go with you, wherever,” he said.

²⁰Jesus was curt: “Are you ready to rough it? We’re not staying in the best inns, you know.”

²¹Another follower said, “Master, excuse me for a couple of days, please. I have my father’s funeral to take care of.”

²²Jesus refused. “First things first. Your business is life, not death. Follow me. Pursue life.”

Ronnie

The Band for 1st Hillsville is SouledOut, if you haven’t heard them then you are missing out. If you are interested in getting your year off to a great start and then getting each week of the year off to a great start, then come to SNL and get fired up, God is at work in Hillsville.

January 13, 2010 Posted by imagebearer | Uncategorized | 1 Comment

This Day In The Life Of Your Pastor – January 12th, 2010

January 13, 2010 Posted by imagebearer | Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

Day 13-90 Days to read the New Testament (TNIV)

1 Peter 1

¹ Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,

To God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, ² who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood:
Grace and peace be yours in abundance.

Praise to God for a Living Hope

³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴ and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, ⁵ who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. ⁶ In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. ⁷ These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. ⁸ Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, ⁹ for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

¹⁰ Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, ¹¹ trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. ¹² It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.

Be Holy

¹³ Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. ¹⁴ As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. ¹⁵ But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; ¹⁶ for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” ^[a]

¹⁷ Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. ¹⁸ For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, ¹⁹ but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. ²⁰ He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. ²¹ Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.

²² Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. ^{[b] 23} For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. ²⁴ For,
“All people are like grass,
and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall,

²⁵ but the word of the Lord endures forever.” ^[c]

And this is the word that was preached to you.

1 Peter 2

¹ Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. ² Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, ³ now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

The Living Stone and a Chosen People

⁴ As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by human beings but chosen by God and precious to him— ⁵ you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house ^[d] to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ⁶ For in Scripture it says:
“See, I lay a stone in Zion,
a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him
will never be put to shame.” ^[e]

⁷ Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,
“The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone,” ^[f]

⁸ and,
“A stone that causes people to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall.” ^[g]
They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.

⁹ But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. ¹⁰ Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Living Godly Lives in a Pagan Society

¹¹ Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. ¹² Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

¹³ Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, ¹⁴ or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. ¹⁵ For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of the foolish. ¹⁶ Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. ¹⁷ Show proper respect to everyone, love your fellow believers, fear God, honor the emperor.

¹⁸ Slaves, in reverent fear of God submit yourselves to your masters, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. ¹⁹ For it is commendable if you bear up under the pain of unjust suffering because you are conscious of God. ²⁰ But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. ²¹ To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.

²² “He committed no sin,
and no deceit was found in his mouth.” ^[h]

²³ When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. ²⁴ “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” ²⁵ For “you were like sheep going astray,” ^[i] but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

January 13, 2010 Posted by imagebearer | Uncategorized | Leave a Comment