Posts Tagged ‘Supreme’

By now you should be well aware – if you’ve been at RiverStone the last 2 weeks, or if you’ve been following this blog – that I’m praying a bold prayer for God to do some incredible things with us at RiverStone.  In particular, I’m asking him that he would make us a “God is supremely better people.”  If you missed these messages, please visit iTunes or http://www.riverstonechurch.org/media-2/messages to hear what God is teaching us.

We looked at Luke 14:15-33 again yesterday for part 2 of My 2011 Prayer for RiverStone Church.  We peered deeply into the 3 excuses made by the men who were invited to God’s party.  The bottom line of the parable is simply that God deserves and demands the worship of all peoples.  Do you believe this?  Do you believe that God deserves and demands your personal worship?  Daily?  He absolutely does – and he is absolutely the only one who has demonstrated his supremacy to us seen clearly in the cross of Christ.

What did the invitee #1 say?  He said “I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it.”  Really what he was saying is that he valued the field more than he valued being in the presence of God (the master throwing the banquet.)  This invitee #1 was so wrapped up in his possessions (his field) that he didn’t have room for worshiping God on this occasion.  He placed a supreme value on his stuff than he did his savior.  Do we ever do this?  Are we ever guilty of placing a higher value on our commodities than on Christ?

Let me say that the result of placing a more supreme value on stuff always results in sadness and unfulfillment.

See Luke 18:18-23 & answer these questions as you Dig Deeper into God’s Word:

• What was this man known for that came to Jesus? What was he known as?
• On a scale of 1-10 how moral was this guy in your opinion?
• What might Jesus be saying to this man about how ‘works’ doesn’t equal morality in God’s economy?
• What is the hardest thing to you about Jesus’ challenge to this man?
• What would this man be known for if he decided to ‘do’ what Jesus asked him to do?
• What was the result of his decision? [sadness]

Dig Deeper!

PC

Hey friends,

If you were at RS yesterday, you heard part 1 of my 2011 prayer for RS.  It’s nothing mind-blowing or noteworthy, really, just a simple, top priority prayer of mine as the pastor of RiverStone Church.

As I was studying through Luke 14 a week or so ago – I was gripped with this parable and the teaching of Christ to his audience found here.  I meditated on it all day, and then it triggered in me a passionate desire for RS to be these kinds of people…Here’s my prayer:

I’m asking God to make us a “God is supremely better people.” There it is.  No shock and awe.  No sound bite to it.  Just simple.  Straightforward.  But the passion of my heart.

What do I mean by us becoming a “God is supremely better people.”  I mean this – that we would in unison have as our banner, each person, each family, each child, teenager and adult – that God is better than anything and everything.  He is better than money and work and vacation and raises and children and spouses and comfort and health and dreams and everything!  Oh that we would be personally a people who is most deeply satisfied in who God is, and be supremely filled up with all that God is.  Materials can’t match him.  Treasures in this world can’t trump him.  Economics can’t usurp him in our hearts.

Luke 14 tells us shows us that God demands and deserves the worship of all peoples – and it gives us a picture of 3 people who don’t believe God is worthy of dropping everything in life for.  They reject God’s invitation to God’s party.  They don’t care.  They’d rather treasure work.  They’d rather treasure people.  They’d rather treasure land.  So we must answer for ourselves in 2011 – What will 2011 look like for us?  Will we treasure God above our stuff…or will we treasure God over all other treasures?

My prayer is simple.  That God would make us into a “God is supremely better people.”  Join me in praying this!

PC