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Margaret Feinberg

Scouting the Divine

SHEEP
The imagry of sheep are all throughout scripture. Nearly 700 references to sheep in Gods word.

John 10:1 - 5

The shepherds voice draws the sheep in.

The shepherd knows the details of the sheep.

Not only does the sheep know the shepherds voice but the shepherd knows the voice of the sheep.

HONEY
Nearly 70 references to honey in scripture

Exodus 3:8a
A beehive is like the body of Christ. Each person works together for a purpose and each person has to do their job.

VINE YARD/ WINE
Hundreds of stories of wine and vineyards.

John 15
Pruning
A pruning tool is small and sharp. It is precise not general.

Abiding
It's not until the 4 th year that the first grapes come fourth, 7th year the first wine and 17th year that a vine financially produces profit.

A vine is planted in rocky soil to force the vine to push forth down deep into the ground.

We should all scout the imagry of the Divine!

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Mark Batterson

Building alters vs building monuments

I Samuel 14:35
• Alter building is one of the most important tasks of the leader.

• We don't celebrate enough of what God has done right.

I Sam 15:10
• Saul went from building an alter to God to building a monument to himself

• If we think small of ourselves then we begin to set up monuments to ourselves.

• Insecurity leads us to thinking small of ourselves. God has appointed those who are called!

• We have to do the right things for the right reasons.

• Saul became so concerned with competing with David. His focus became about numbers.

•. You are not appointed by people you are annointed by God

• Have I forgotten God's call on my life?

• Need confidence in your leadership? Remember that you are annointed by God!

• Sometimes the failure of a dream is God's greatest gift.

• The greatest thing that God does is often in spite of not because of us.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Catalyst - Reggie Joiner

Reggie Joiner A shift in how we view the family 1. Most of us have been influenced by the church but ALL of us have been influenced by the family. 2. We all have a picture of what the family looks like. • It's a disolusion for us to have a preconceived idea of what the family should be. • What family actually is sometimes is unexpected to us. 3. If we hold to tightly to our ideal picture of family we set up families to be disillusioned. 4. God doesn't really give us a picture of the ideal family in scripture 5. Your calling as a leader isn't to get families to conform to a common picture. SHIFT IN THINKING Lead them to a relationship with God 6. There are two different approaches: • give them a better picture or • give them a better story - every family can realize the story of restoration in their life. A bigger story! 6. Parents don't need a better picture they need a better story. They need hope. 7. LEARN TO COOPERATE WITH GOD SO YOUR KIDS CAN HAVE A FRONT ROW SEAT OF THE GOODNESS OF GOD! 8. God doesn't use perfect people he uses broken people! Dueuteronomy 6 • Moses is concerned that Israel will forget who god is • How do we transfer faith from one generation to the next. When you have a bigger story approach you: 1 - imagine the end 2 - fight for the heart 3 - make it personal 4 - create a rhythm 5 - widen the circle In a given year the average church has about 40 hours to influence a child. The average family has 3000. Who should we be influencing? The child or the family? Who is the next entity to influence the family? It should be the church. Lead our families to see the story of redemption and restoration in teir lives. Let go of pictures and embrace stories!