God always intend there to be a certain order to our lives.  His intent was that He would be first above all things. God states this directly in the first two commandments.  It wasn’t because He needs to be first, it’s because we need him to be first.  When we replace our Creator for something He has created the order that God intended is destroyed.  As we move God from his deserved position in our lives and replace Him with the pursuit of career, relationships, money, acclaim, you know the list, things just don’t end up the way we thought it would. We have so many promises for the good life in scripture.  The issue is they all have one hitch, PUT ME FIRST!   Why is this so hard? How do our loves become so disordered? Perhaps it is because we lose sight of the gift that was given us through God’s son on the cross. Tim Keller in the Prodigal God frames it this way,

 ”Money can’t die for us, popularity can’t die for us. There is nothing more beautiful in all of reality than the picture of a perfectly happy Being, leaving all the bliss of heaven, and sacrificing everything for the sake of rebellious, undeserving, ungrateful people. The more you look at Jesus doing that, the more you will love him above anyone or anything else. He will capture your heart so that nothing matters more than he does. When you see what he’s done for you, it makes the worst times bearable and the best times leave-able.”

Let’s get our lives in order and watch the awesome things God can do with a people FULLY devoted to Him.

The audio files from ethos are now available! you can go to http://www.eaglesnest.ch/audio and pick the weeks you want to listen too. We are working on our recordings and will be re-launching our podcasting thru iTunes shortly. Keep checking back!

* We lost the 11/7/10 week due partially to the incident with my laptop being run over.

How good are we at following people?  So many time we want to do it our way, on our time…you know the drill.  When we look at scripture this was not the way things were done.  Look at the lives of David, Joshua, and Elisha.  Each of these men came under the discipleship or rule of another before God could use them for his greater purpose.  Who are you following?  How closely?

I challenged those at Ethos to do two things:

Find someone who has walked a particular road, one that you would like to walk, a little bit longer than you have and ask them to meet with you for one hour over coffee.

Here are some ideas for that meeting:

Make a list of things you would like to learn.
Make a list of people who excel in those areas.
Ask those people for one hour over a cup of coffee.  Don’t start by asking someone to mentor you.  This can feel like an overwhelming task and responsibility for some people.  And I’ve found that the best mentors typically respond that they have nothing to offer.
If the coffee goes well, ask the person if they would be willing to meet with you again sometime.
Know what you want.  Be specific about the purpose of your meeting with them and what you hope to gain.

List three truths you have learned about Jesus that you could share with someone who is new in faith.  Find three people and share those three truths with them. (maybe not all at once, but over time)

Think of it this way…

Make a list of three people you would like to and could feasibly spend one hour with.

Make a list of three people who would benefit from one hour of your time.

I believe these things will start us down the sacred road of discipleship.

Sunday, August 1st, Matthew Lilley will be speaking and leading worship at Ethos.  Be here at 6:30 PM for an awesome time or Worship and Teaching!

Matthew heads up 6:22 Ministries in Greenville, NC and is the author of a number of songs we sing here at Eagle’s Nest including Lord of All, Relentless,  and My Daddy Loves Me.

Make sure you take time to officially welcome Matt Windsor who is now an official Delaware resident. He is and is going to have an incredible impact here with ethos!

Get excited and get involved. Stay tuned. A lot more is coming.

Hey gang,

So many of you guys are BBQing other places this coming Sunday for the 4th that we’ve decided to cancel Sunday night.  So we’ll see you next week, July 11th.  Why don’t you guys make sure you invite some new friends that you meet at the BBQs this weekend to come with you next week!

Make sure you let everybody you can think of know that we won’t be meeting this weekend!

Love you guys!

Last week’s teaching on Faith.  It’s not just a word.  It is our belief being fleshed out in how we live.  It is a conviction that shapes our very existence.  It is just NOT church attendance, Bible reading, and good deeds.

I wanted to start there.  Romans 10:9,10.  We must come in faith, by faith we are justified, and through faith we please God.

We just celebrated the death and resurrection of Jesus and are now in that period of 40 or so days where we observe the coming of Pentecost.

There are some things out of this period that I want us to look at over the next few weeks.

Sum up about last week’s Sci Fi Book.  I thought it was about . . . but at the end I realized it was about something completely else.

Don’t you thing the disciples felt this way?  Do you think they imagined things would shake out the way that they did?

There they were afraid, shattered, confused, scattered.

1. Matthew 26:56 – They abandoned Him.
2. Luke 22:54-62 – They made mistakes out of fear (Peter).
3. John 20:19 – They went into hiding.
4. John 21:1-4 – They went back to what they used to do.

In the wake of disappointment, pain, death, and un-met expectations, we do these things.

This is not what Jesus died and rose again for.  We are destined for the post resurrection life.

So, Jesus appeared to His disciples to reveal Himself as the one who would:

1. Will never leave – Mark 16:7, “just as He told you” – God’s word is forever and true. He goes on to tell them in Matthew 28:20 “Sure I am with you always” – Holy Spirit
2. Always forgive and restore – John 21 – the Restoration of Peter
3. Drive out fear – Luke 20:36-52, Matthew 28:16-20 – Met with them to show them He was alive and to prepare them to go out in boldness.
4. And never leaves us the same – Acts 1:8 – More in the messages to come

Post resurrection life is to be marked by:

1. God’s presence – He is with us
2. God’s character/nature – Grace, Mercy, Forgiveness
3. God’s love – Casts out all fear
4. God’s Power – The Holy Spirit

Over the coming weeks, we’re going to take at look at those days and our days and figure out what the post resurrection life is all about!

Be here, Sundays at 6:30 PM and bring somebody!