You won't have time to read all of this...

Because I'm going to write all the notes down that I took this week at Impact 195. It's my way of processing it. Maybe it won't make sense, maybe it will. My tendency in life is to sit back and be lazy. I let other people do the work, or the program do the work, or the process do the work instead of buckling down and doing the work with the people, program or process. It's a bad habit I've gotten into and will take time to break. Also, I'm learning the leaders names... so I'm just going to put their names above the notes I took off of them when I took notes. These aren't my thoughts... i think if I have some I'll put them in (parenthesis). Here goes...

Ricki:

Matthew 13:24-30 (The parable where someone sows weeds in with the wheat)

the weeds that were sown were called darnelle (I dont' know how to spell it... thats how it sounded when he said it:)) and as baby plants they look identical to the wheat. You can only tell the difference right about harvest time. In life, it's the same... there are weeds or enemies growing around the wheat or us and sometimes it's hard to tell what is weeds and what is wheat.

In the parable, the farmer (God) wasn't surprised when the workers told him that weeds had been planted. He was calm and collected. God knows we have enemies and he's not surprised by them.

Some of our enemies are:

-living according to the world

-Satan-he tries to get us to believe lies

-lusts of our flesh

But we have to remember that Satan is a defeated foe. He has nothing over us. We're in Christ and Christ has already won; therefore we have already won.

(He had us do an activity where we planted seeds for the person next to us. Then we gave away our plant and it is to be a reminder to us for the next 9 months that we HAVE to water and sun the plant just the same that we need to water and sun our relationship with God and we should grow at at least the same rate as the plant)

Don't be surprised if we aren't that excited when you start reading God's word daily or praying regularly or fasting, etc. Those are basic practices. Small steps are great, but if you've been a Christian for a long time, then you should be doing those things already. (He demonstrated by riding a bike around the room asking us what we would think if he (at 39) was excited and expected us to be super excited about him just learning how to ride a bike. We would be excited, but also confused... why didn't he learn that earlier?)

George: Lesson 1 on our Irrevocable Calling

Jeremiah- means raised up by God

he had 40 years of ministry and they were the last 40 years before Israel was taken captive by Babylon. What if we are the final generation before the world or our country is taken captive?

Ps. 119: 109 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

To know God is to know his word. We need to have hundreds of verses memorized. (I've got a LONG way to go....) God has made the vast majority of our calling clear in his word. God's word is faithful. We need to know God's word.

Over analysis produces paralysis... we often over analyze our calling when it is before our eyes. ( I like this little saying... I have totally over analyzed to the point where I can do NOTHING)

Our calling is:

I'm called to know God's word.

I am formed for a purpose

He calls me to the purpose he fashioned me for.

Is my job my vocation--latin word means "to call" ---- or my occupation ---latin word "to occupy or take up space"---The devil wants to occupy my life.

We are called to know God and be in a relationship with him.

We should know God in the bulk of our day--not just in the fringes of the early mornings or just before bed readings. (So true! Sometimes I get to the end of my day and God has not even crossed my mind)

If you don't know God, you won't know your calling.

If you are fearful of the next step, then you don't know God.

Jeremiah 1:5 I set you apart.

you've been called to be set apart. We have to decide to be set apart. God wants us to decide. He wants us to be decision makers. We want God to make the decisions in our lives b/c we are more concerned about success than obedience. (Yikes--this was new to me... I am completely more concerned about success and whats more is I want someone else to blame if it goes sour! God, it's your fault this relationship went bad... I prayed and told you to show me if it wasn't going to work.)

(Then he applied the whole decision thing to marriage....) Marriage isn't about who you choose to marry but how you choose to live with the person you marry. We want God to tell us who to marry... again b/c we are more concerned with success than obedience. (hmmmm.... relationships continue to be such a tricky thing to me...)

God wants us to make decisions out of the hope that he is a good father. We should be enthusiastic about decision making--we're inspired by the things of God.

Deciding is an act of love for God.

Did I choose my job out of love for God and b/c it matches what God's word says?

Nobody liked their calling including the Son of God. (What!?! I might not LIKE what I'm called to!?!?!)

It isn't enough to do work that expresses my talents and provides for my needs----Gifts should expand his kingdom, not my career.

Mark:

He bought a something that he was really excited about and got the box home and noticed it said, "Some assembly required". Dang. He just wanted to enjoy it. We're the same... we come with "some assembly required". We need to work at our relationships with God and other people. It doesn't just happen.

Scott. (About the blind man and Jesus in Mark 8:22-26)

The blindman lived in Bethsaida (meaning the house of hunting)

If he lived in a hunting town and was blind, he would have been completely dependent on those around us.

We walk around dependent on other people for our quality of life. We're also dependent on others spiritually--how they react to us, what they say to study or read.

If we are looking for people or circumstances to make us happy, we will always be blind.

We have to have a heart commitment not to look to people or circumstances.

So Jesus takes the blind man out of the town and everything he's ever known. He's out of his comfort zone. Jesus LEADS him out which requires Jesus to take him by the hand and the man has to follow. He NEEDED Jesus.

We all need to be led. We can't do it on our own. If we could, Jesus wouldn't have had to die.

Trying harder doesn't work--exhibit A: The OLD TESTAMENT!

You can only to tomorrow what you are becoming today.

Jesus SPITS in the blindman eyes. Don't miss the offensiveness of this act. It's not fun to be spit on. It's degrading, demeaning and no fun.

If God chooses to spit in my face, God is doing me a favor.

Mingo on Mt 5:13 We are the salt of the earth

-Salt was used as a healing agent.

-Salt was used to make correct paths clear--as seasons passed, they get unclear... so the salt clarifies where the path is.

-It preserves what is good

AM I SALT?

George on Isaiah's Irrevocable Call Lesson 2

Traffic makes a path hard. Sometimes our lives and hearts have so much traffic that they get hard. Pray that God would soften our hearts.

Isaiah saw God. We NEED to see God.

We're not limited by our abilities but by our vision.

Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. Mt 5:8

Seeing God for who he is is the game changer.

(He asked us to take one minute to write down 25 attributes of God. Try it.)

(This is what I came up with: just, kind, good, loving, righteous, can't think of anything.... always present, ever knowing, perfect, unchanging, can't think of anything...... keeper of promises, always right, unchanging, there's still 45 seconds left.....)

How full is your mind of God? (obviously not very for me at least)

We need to have a fresh vision of God.

Isaiah sees God on the throne right after King Uzziah died. He sees the TRUE king.

Who is my true King? Who's directing the course of my life?

We need to see God as Sovereign. That means God is free to do whatever he wills. When God says do something, we say yes.

The Great Commission. It's NOT an option.

Is God here to enrich my life or am I here to give my life to him?

Most people want to serve God, but only in an ADVISORY role. In my prayer life, do I tell God what to do? Do I direct God instead of getting direction from him?

A boss gives us direction. God gives us direction. What if we went to our bosses the way we go to God and told them what we wanted done? (YIKES... that would NEVER fly!)

God is sovereign. We are not.

What if I saw God as Sovereign? How would that change today? Do I have plans for today? Did they come from God?

Isaiah saw God high and lifted up. He saw God as MAJESTIC. Am I in awe of God? When I think of God, does my breath catch?

I absolutely HAVE to know god.

Is God too small? What if the obstacles are not that great, but our understanding of God is too small?

The Sun is 180 earths lined up in circumference. How does our little palm block the sun when we hold it up? It's b/c our hand is much closer than the sun. Maybe our problems are closer to us than the Son. If the Son was closest to us, he would block our problems.

God is infinitely greater than every good thought of him. God could create a new universe every day and it would not even touch his creative capacity. Maybe God made an infinite amount of space out there just to prove how great he is.

You can tell the size of your God by the size of your worry list.

Gary on our Irrevocable Call

All we have is today. We've been promised an equal amount of time.

Be faithful with what you have today. Make the most of every moment of your day.

George Lesson 3 on Irrevocable Call... Ezekiel 8:1-8.

God's hand fell upon him and took a hold of Ezekiel, lifted him up and took him to Jerusalem. (By the hair on his head mind you)

What would it feel like for God's hand to fall upon me? A calling always begins with a revelation of who God is.

All the self help books are about discovering yourself. In the Bible, people discovered themselves when they discovered who God is.

God grabbed him by his hair. What grips my life? pride, materialism, ambition, worry, desire for comfort, pleasure, worry, intellect?

When God grips you, you will be elevated above the mundane. Up out of the normal.

Do I still have normal ambitions and ideas?

The world wants us to be "well-rounded". In Scripture this means dull. If we are a dull sword, then we have no point. Does my life have a point to it?

Then God brings him to Jerusalem and shows him visions

What do I envision for my life?

I need a vision of God who is the author of my life.

Not Vain Imagination--The vision we have is the map we will follow. A vision of where life could go will take me on a journey of selfishness.

A vision of God will take me on a journey of worship.

The vision God gives Ezekiel shows him the Image of Jealousy at the GATE OF THE HOUSE OF GOD!!!

God wants us to understand and see that he is a jealous God. He is zealous for his relationship with us. An EXCLUSIVE relationship with us.

The image of Jealousy represents ANYTHING that takes prominence in my life and competes for my attention. What are the idols in my life today that provoke God to jealousy?

In verse 8, God tells Ezekiel to dig into the wall to discover more visions. He digs and sees detestable images of creatures that are worshiped.

Sometimes we have to dig into our hearts to discover the images/idols that are there. Is it flippancy, rebellion, greediness, lustfulness? What is on the inner chambers of my heart?

(I told you... Good job reading it all... my heart and mind is full. Maybe your heart was tweaked by some of this... mine was most assuredly. I don't know what else to say except that I am tired and need a nap now.)