http://www.jacobswell.cc Jacobs Well Church - Thornton CO Podcasts en Jacobs Well Church - Thornton CO Podcasts Jacobs Well Church - Thornton CO no Jacobs Well Church - Thornton CO Sermons jason@jacobswell.cc ℗ & © 2008 Jacobs Well Church - Thornton CO 720 "Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes." -Nehemiah 3:14 “And I sent messengers to them, saying, 'I am doing a great work and I cannot come down.” -Nehemiah 6:3 Nehemiah encounters opposition to what God has called him to do. There are enemies outside of his people and within his people. People outside the people of God jeered and made fun of what he was trying to accomplish and within his own people, the rich were exploiting the poor. Nehemiah the leader had to do with plenty of conflict. It is the struggle of a leader. For us, we may or may not face open opposition to helping people find their way back to God. But most if not all of us are afraid of offending people or being labeled a religious fanatic if we do all we can to reach out to people spiritually. Our greatest struggle may be with our own fears of what “outsiders” will think of us. Other of us will have family members and friends who think we are taking this spirituality thing a bit too far. (One of the rules many people have is “don't talk religion!”) And there are always forces at work within a community of faith that have to be dealt with if we're going to be who God wants us to be. Our external focus on people finding their way back to God cannot be pursued to the exlcusion of the needs of people within our community in need. In this service, we'll help people identify and deal with their struggles to become the leader God meant them to be. Our focus will be on God's resources and greatness in dealing with our struggles, not our own. Nehemiah shows determination and perserverence and a willingness to sacrifice and pay whatever price he must pay to see Jerusalem's walls rebuilt. http://www.sermoncloud.com/jacobs-well-colorado/struggle-of-a-leader http://media.monkserve.com/EKK/1619/struggle-of-a-leader.mp3 Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:12:35 CDT Dave Richa "Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes." -Nehemiah 3:14 “And I sent messengers to them, saying, 'I am doing a great ... 38:46 Nehemiah is much more than a man with a heart for the things of God, he has vision for it: the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem was not just something he was supposed to do: it was the result of God's hand upon his life for good. The leader within Nehemiah had the vision of God's purposes not only for the city of Jerusalem but God's hand on his life to do him good. As he goes about the task, his heart for the city and people of Jerusalem gets directed into wise strategy to how best bring about accomplishing what God wants accomplished. His vision includes wise strategy in various forms to get the walls built. Each of us need that vision of our own lives and the lives of the people around us who are far from God: that they need to find their way back to God and that God has called us to help that happen and its not a rule or a duty or an obligation or what good Christ-followers do: God's hand is on our lives and on our church to help people find their way back to Him and it is the ultimate good God could bring from our lives. What's more important than being a part of someone's life being changed now and forever? That's the vision of a leader. http://www.sermoncloud.com/jacobs-well-colorado/vision-of-a-leader http://media.monkserve.com/EKK/1619/vision-of-a-leader.mp3 Sat, 23 Aug 2008 11:52:57 CDT Dave Richa Nehemiah is much more than a man with a heart for the things of God, he has vision for it: the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem was not just something he was supposed to do: it was the result of God's hand upon his life for good. The leader ... leadership,nehemiah 34:05 Nehemiah hears of the state of the city of Jerusalem (which was the very center of God's covenant with His people) and he is devastated. It's not that it just happened; Jerusalem had been in bad shape for years and years; he'd no doubt heard about it before, but this time it just hits him and it breaks his heart. He weeps and fasts and mourns for days. What broke within him was the heart of a leader. In God's kingdom, leaders' hearts break for the things that break the heart of God. And his broken heart includes repentance for the people's sin against God. In this service, we'll help people get a fresh look at the needs of the 67 that THEY know, the lives of people that are broken down and need repair, people who need to be brought into covenant with God. Nehemiah sets about using his influence and his own wealth from his respected and lucrative job as cupbearer to the king to do all he could to see that Jerusalem's walls (which were essential for it being the city of God that it was meant to be) to be rebuilt. What influence has God given us? How can we use it for Him in helping people find their way back to Him? And most importantly, are we broken-hearted over the plight of people far from God and are we willing to repent for how we've so often just gone about our lives without much care for people who are far from God? http://www.sermoncloud.com/jacobs-well-colorado/the-leader-within http://media.monkserve.com/EKK/1619/the-leader-within.mp3 Sat, 16 Aug 2008 11:10:38 CDT Dave Richa The Leader Within leadership,nehemiah 36:19 Why does God allow suffering? http://www.sermoncloud.com/jacobs-well-colorado/why-does-god-allow-suffering http://media.monkserve.com/EKK/1619/why-does-god-allow-suffering.mp3 Sat, 09 Aug 2008 10:35:41 CDT Dave Richa Why does God allow suffering? difficult,questions,suffering 27:30 It's a tough issue in our culture. What does God say about homosexuality - not what do his followers say in His name, but what does HE say, and how are we to react? http://www.sermoncloud.com/jacobs-well-colorado/what-does-god-say-about-homosexuality http://media.monkserve.com/EKK/1619/lifes-toughest-questions-homosexuality.mp3 Sat, 02 Aug 2008 10:27:53 CDT Dave Richa Life's Toughest Questions difficult,questions,homosexuality 24:42 In the last of our series in Proverbs, we look at patience, and how being patient makes life work. http://www.sermoncloud.com/jacobs-well-colorado/making-life-work--patience http://media.monkserve.com/EKK/1619/making-life-work-patience.mp3 Sat, 12 Jul 2008 08:01:01 CDT Paul Martin Making Life Work proverbs,wisdom,advice,practical_living,patience 20:41 Proverbs talks a lot about friendship - you have to be the kind of friend God calls us to be in order to find that friend in your life. http://www.sermoncloud.com/jacobs-well-colorado/making-life-work--friendship http://media.monkserve.com/EKK/1619/making-life-work-friendship.mp3 Sat, 05 Jul 2008 11:37:37 CDT Jason Ackerman Proverbs talks a lot about friendship - you have to be the kind of friend God calls us to be in order to find that friend in your life. proverbs,wisdom,advice,practical_living,friendship,friends,community 41:23 Continuing our look at Proverbs, what does it mean to Trust? http://www.sermoncloud.com/jacobs-well-colorado/making-life-work--trust http://media.monkserve.com/EKK/1619/making-life-work-trust.mp3 Sat, 28 Jun 2008 11:35:58 CDT Dave Richa Continuing our look at Proverbs, what does it mean to Trust? proverbs,wisdom,advice,practical_living,trust 35:03 Dave talks about being kind in our second installment of the series looking at Proverbs called "Making Life Work". http://www.sermoncloud.com/jacobs-well-colorado/making-life-work--kindness http://media.monkserve.com/EKK/1619/making-life-work-kindness.mp3 Sat, 21 Jun 2008 11:13:58 CDT Dave Richa Making Life Work proverbs,wisdom,advice,practical_living,kindness 36:35 Proverbs are God's way of giving us little bits of truth that Make Life Work - in the first part of the series, we're looking at Telling the Truth - how honesty makes life work. http://www.sermoncloud.com/jacobs-well-colorado/making-life-work--truth http://media.monkserve.com/EKK/1619/making-life-work-truth.mp3 Sat, 14 Jun 2008 11:10:05 CDT Jason Ackerman Making Life Work proverbs,wisdom,advice,practical_living,truth,honesty 24:40 David is famous for all sorts of great things, but he was one messed-up guy when it came to his parenting. Absalom is his favorite son, and it’s a tragic story of how NOT to parent. Absalom ends up being killed by David’s chief military advisor Joab when he leads a nearly successful coup attempt against his own father. How did things get so bad? A history of permissive parenting. Absalom’s name means “peace of a father”, and David seemed to want a son that liked him and was close to him more than he wanted a son who knew what it meant to be disciplined and raised with healthy limits. First David does NOTHING when his other son Amnon rapes his half sister Tamar. Actually, David does get furious, but doesn’t do anything beyond that. So Absalom, Tamar’s brother, takes matters into his own hands and murders Amnon. And guess what David does about that? NOTHING. Interesting how Absalom is expecting David to do something, he flees, but David does nothing. (2 Samuel 13) David clearly just wants a peaceful relationship with the son he adores. David doesn’t rock the boat. But it doesn’t get David his son’s love and devotion: Absalom revolts against him, telling the people that they can’t count on David for justice. The father who did nothing to correct things in his own family is the king that Absalom says can’t be counted on to do anything for his subjects, either. What we see in David is not just permissive parenting, but sentiment-driven parenting. For him it’s all about how much he adores Absalom and longs to be loved by his favorite son. This is so common today: parents who under-discipline and spoil their children, usually in hopes that their children will love them and like them and be close to them, and most of the time, it doesn’t yield that kind of closeness. It usually yields selfish, defiant, disrespectful, self-absorbed kids. Absalom was WAY past spoiled. He was completely self-involved. And even after his death, David is still driven by his feelings for Absalom, until finally Joab sets him straight and tells him he needs to start doing his job as king and do what people need him to do as king. (2 Samuel 19:4-6) Finally, David gets past his sentiment and starts being who he is meant to be as king, but only after it is too late for his relationship with his son, Absalom. In this message we will encourage parents to take a good long look at how they discipline their children (or DON’T discipline them, as the case may be). We’ll talk about how Ephesians 6:4 warns parents to not exasperate their children which is usually taken to mean that being overly strict is exasperating (which literally means to provoke to anger) but also UNDER disciplining children tends to provoke kids to anger, too, because as Hebrews says, discipline is part of what makes a child feel truly loved (Hebrews 12:5-6) And we may also include stuff on how God as our father loves us too much not to discipline us when we need it. http://www.sermoncloud.com/jacobs-well-colorado/david-vs-absalom http://media.monkserve.com/EKK/1619/david-vs-absalom.mp3 Sat, 31 May 2008 17:16:12 CDT Dave Richa Ultimate Family Challenge family,relationships,david,absalom,parenting,children 30:15 Marriage is next on our list of Family Challenges... what does the Bible say about the challenge of building a lasting, healthy marriage? http://www.sermoncloud.com/jacobs-well-colorado/abraham-vs-sarah http://media.monkserve.com/EKK/1619/ufc-abraham-vs-sarah.mp3 Sat, 24 May 2008 12:10:52 CDT Dave Richa Ultimate Family Challenge marriage,family,abraham,sarah 40:07 Conflict in the family, specifically between siblings, is nothing new. In fact, it's something that has been an issue since the very first set of siblings. http://www.sermoncloud.com/jacobs-well-colorado/cain-vs-abel http://media.monkserve.com/EKK/1619/ufc-cain-vs-abel.mp3 Sat, 17 May 2008 12:03:19 CDT Jason Ackerman Ultimate Family Challenge family,relationships,cain,abel,genesis,challenge 33:01 Why are we commanded to rest? What is the meaning of the Sabbath, and how can we bring that practice into our lives today? http://www.sermoncloud.com/jacobs-well-colorado/rest http://media.monkserve.com/EKK/1619/remember-ancient-practices-rest.mp3 Sat, 10 May 2008 22:29:05 CDT Dave Richa Remember - Ancient Practices remember,rest,sabbath,ancient,tradition 32:59 Jesus can free you from the guilt and shame of things in your past. Religion tries to manage guilt and shame-- Jesus brings freedom. http://www.sermoncloud.com/jacobs-well-colorado/finding-freedom http://media.monkserve.com/EKK/1619/finding-freedom.mp3 Sat, 29 Mar 2008 21:35:54 CDT Dave Richa Losing My Religion religion,faith,freedom,jesus,colossians 31:23 We all have a religion of some kind, even if we're atheists. All religions boil down to what do I have to do to get the "karmic edge" I need to get what I want out of life. We want people to lose their religion, and find Jesus. http://www.sermoncloud.com/jacobs-well-colorado/finding-jesus http://media.monkserve.com/EKK/1619/finding-jesus.mp3 Sat, 22 Mar 2008 21:33:53 CDT Dave Richa Losing My Religion religion,faith,reconciliation,jesus,colossians 31:42 Wonderful Counselor - Christmas Season 2007 http://www.sermoncloud.com/jacobs-well-colorado/wonderful-counselor http://media.monkserve.com/EKK/1619/2007-12-08-wonderful-counselor.mp3 Sat, 08 Dec 2007 18:35:40 CDT Dave Richa Wonderful Counselor - Christmas Season 2007 37:01