Continuing the new sermon series on Amazing Grace:
Ruth 1
Another Bible story detailing how God takes ashes and turns them into beauty...
Some motivation for living a grace-filled life...
3 thoughts from from this real-life story of Ruth's Grace:
1. Grace Hurts
Naomi and Ruth lost everything...In the midst of such pain, lifting up their voices and weeping together (sometimes it's really good to let it out and cry, tears can be a gift from heaven)...
Ruth shines amazing grace in the midst of hurt!
Job 1 & 19
(blessed be the name of the Lord, I know my Redeemer lives)
We've been PRIVILEGED around here to usher many friends and family into eternity!
Keep your eyes on heaven while missing them...
Don't forget WINNIE OLIVER'S Memorial Service this Saturday, 2pm
We need food for the potluck...
(especially because many of us will be away at the marriage retreat)
When grace hurts it's important to not wallow in the hurt but allow God to transform a wounded people into WOUNDED HEALERS!
9 pieces of advice from Dale Wolery, followed by 7 telltale signs of unhealed wounds:
1. Ask God to heal you and change you, especially if you think you do not need to do so...
2. Face reality squarely. Each of us needs the prescriptive intervention of the Great Physician regularly. Stop the secrecy about your wounds...
3. Evaluate honestly. If you are not currently working on a wound, you are hurting yourself and others with your hurt...
4. Seek and receive help. We never reach the point where we eradicate our blind spots. Without the evaluation of astute observers our unexamined lives will wound others despite our good intentions...
5. Find a mentor to guide your healing...
6. Engage a CHRISTIAN counselor to aid you in mending your wounds...
7. Seek honest assessment from your spouse, family, friends, church leadership. Winston Churchill said, "courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen...
8. Read. There's so many great books filled with great help and advice. I just ordered WHEN HELPING YOU IS HURTING ME, Carmen Berry.
9. Be public and private about your wounds and healing journey...wisdom, discernment...
AND
1. Cycles of sin - when habitual sin or addictions enslave a life
2. Cyclical conflict - when open conflict or conflict avoidance is normative
3. Complaining spirit - when negativity and complaint dominate you
4. Cutting anger - when our lives are marked by angry outbursts, uncontrolled attacks, or a hot temper. Hostility is about hurt!
5. Connection deficit - when deep emotional connection has seldom been present or is squeezed out of one's relationships (marriage)
6. Consistent Illness - ignoring our pain ensures pain or illness in our bodies
7. Cluttered Conscience - your inner life becomes muddled with blaming, rationalizing, avoidance, and gossip
Let God move you from wounded to WOUNDED HEALER
guard your heart, protect your attitude
nobody can steal your joy, you have to give it away
2. Grace clings
committment, faithfulness
Ruth 1:16 & 17
In this crazy world, everybody's clinging to something!
(money, alcohol, drugs, food...any vice)
CLING TO THE ONLY THING THAT NEVER FAILS: CHRIST
3. Grace re-fills
Naomi said in verse 21...I went out full, and the Lord has brought me home again empty...
But, read to the end of Ruth, the LORD fills her back up again!
Isaiah 61: beauty for ashes, gladness for mourning, praise for despair
2 Cor. 8, Prov. 3, Luke 6, Rom. 6
(again I got a little fiery in my preaching and the response was encouraging)
closed with... http://www.snopes.com/religion/amazing.asp
Ruth 1
Another Bible story detailing how God takes ashes and turns them into beauty...
Some motivation for living a grace-filled life...
3 thoughts from from this real-life story of Ruth's Grace:
1. Grace Hurts
Naomi and Ruth lost everything...In the midst of such pain, lifting up their voices and weeping together (sometimes it's really good to let it out and cry, tears can be a gift from heaven)...
Ruth shines amazing grace in the midst of hurt!
Job 1 & 19
(blessed be the name of the Lord, I know my Redeemer lives)
We've been PRIVILEGED around here to usher many friends and family into eternity!
Keep your eyes on heaven while missing them...
Don't forget WINNIE OLIVER'S Memorial Service this Saturday, 2pm
We need food for the potluck...
(especially because many of us will be away at the marriage retreat)
When grace hurts it's important to not wallow in the hurt but allow God to transform a wounded people into WOUNDED HEALERS!
9 pieces of advice from Dale Wolery, followed by 7 telltale signs of unhealed wounds:
1. Ask God to heal you and change you, especially if you think you do not need to do so...
2. Face reality squarely. Each of us needs the prescriptive intervention of the Great Physician regularly. Stop the secrecy about your wounds...
3. Evaluate honestly. If you are not currently working on a wound, you are hurting yourself and others with your hurt...
4. Seek and receive help. We never reach the point where we eradicate our blind spots. Without the evaluation of astute observers our unexamined lives will wound others despite our good intentions...
5. Find a mentor to guide your healing...
6. Engage a CHRISTIAN counselor to aid you in mending your wounds...
7. Seek honest assessment from your spouse, family, friends, church leadership. Winston Churchill said, "courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen...
8. Read. There's so many great books filled with great help and advice. I just ordered WHEN HELPING YOU IS HURTING ME, Carmen Berry.
9. Be public and private about your wounds and healing journey...wisdom, discernment...
AND
1. Cycles of sin - when habitual sin or addictions enslave a life
2. Cyclical conflict - when open conflict or conflict avoidance is normative
3. Complaining spirit - when negativity and complaint dominate you
4. Cutting anger - when our lives are marked by angry outbursts, uncontrolled attacks, or a hot temper. Hostility is about hurt!
5. Connection deficit - when deep emotional connection has seldom been present or is squeezed out of one's relationships (marriage)
6. Consistent Illness - ignoring our pain ensures pain or illness in our bodies
7. Cluttered Conscience - your inner life becomes muddled with blaming, rationalizing, avoidance, and gossip
Let God move you from wounded to WOUNDED HEALER
guard your heart, protect your attitude
nobody can steal your joy, you have to give it away
2. Grace clings
committment, faithfulness
Ruth 1:16 & 17
In this crazy world, everybody's clinging to something!
(money, alcohol, drugs, food...any vice)
CLING TO THE ONLY THING THAT NEVER FAILS: CHRIST
3. Grace re-fills
Naomi said in verse 21...I went out full, and the Lord has brought me home again empty...
But, read to the end of Ruth, the LORD fills her back up again!
Isaiah 61: beauty for ashes, gladness for mourning, praise for despair
2 Cor. 8, Prov. 3, Luke 6, Rom. 6
(again I got a little fiery in my preaching and the response was encouraging)
closed with... http://www.snopes.com/religion/amazing.asp
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