Tuesday, October 19, 2010

You Can Trust Him

Deep Roots – Trust in God
by Brian Mininger

Notes from Message 10.17.2010 

Jeremiah 17:5-8

This is what the Lord says:"Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans,who rely on human strengthand turn their hearts away from the Lord.They are like stunted shrubs in the desert,with no hope for the future.They will live in the barren wilderness,in an uninhabited salty land.

"But blessed are those who trust in the Lordand have made the Lord their hope and confidence.They are like trees planted along a riverbank,with roots that reach deep into the water.Such trees are not bothered by the heator worried by long months of drought.Their leaves stay green,and they never stop producing fruit.


Where is Your Trust?

  • Relying on yourself to get through destroys your relationship with God
  • Relying on others to get through destroys your relationship with others
  • Only relying on God allows our relationship with Him and others to grow
  • The beginning of Trust in God is surrender, the choice to lay down ourselves, confess our sin and accept the free gift of salvation through Jesus
  • This Surrender is a Daily Choice 
Trust Killers
  • Anger with God
  • Victim Mentality
  • Figuring it all out
  • Offenses
  • Wounds
  • Fear
Trust God for Salvation

Gen 49:18 - I trust in you for salvation, O Lord! 
I Pet 1:8-9 - You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls.

Trust God for Wisdom & Revelation

I Cor. 2:4-5 - And my message and my preaching were very plain. Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit. I did this so you would trust not in human wisdom but in the power of God.
Prov 3:5-6 - Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.

Trust God for our Physical Needs

I Tim 6:17 - Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment.
Lk 12:24-26 - Look at the ravens. They don't plant or harvest or store food in barns, for God feeds them. And you are far more valuable to him than any birds! Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? And if worry can't accomplish a little thing like that, what's the use of worrying over bigger things?

Trust God to Defend us

Ps 22:4-5 - Our ancestors trusted in you, and you rescued them. They cried out to you and were saved. They trusted in you and were never disgraced.
Dan 3:16-17 - Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty.

Trust God for our Physical Healing

Ps 103:3-5 - He forgives all my sins, and heals all my diseases. He redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies. He fills my life with good things. My youth is renewed like the eagle's!
Is 53:5 - But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed.


Trust God to Heal our Heart

Ps. 147:3 - He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds.
Ps. 33:20-22 - We put our hope in the Lord. He is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. Let your unfailing love surround us, Lord, for our hope is in you alone.
Jn 14:1 - Don't let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me.

Final Thoughts

  • The attitude of trust is humility and submission
  • Trust is created in the struggle and the fire
  • We need the filling of the Holy Spirit to live this way each day

Time to Get to Work

Good Morning Riverbank,

I love what Victoria shared yesterday about praying for workers in the harvest.  We have an incredible opportunity to impact this community for Jesus Christ and see lives transformed, but that is going to take workers. 

So what is a Harvest?  The Harvest is a word picture that Jesus used to describe the time when we reap the results of the "seeds" of faith in Jesus that have been sown in the lives of individuals as they surrender to Jesus and are set free from the power of Sin in their lives.  

Just like a Harvest of wheat takes workers and equipment, in the same way the spiritual Harvest takes workers and resources.   There are people to love and pray with, children to serve,  worship to be led, discipleship to be taught, events to be planned, coffee to serve, chairs to be set up... and the list goes on and on.  I promise you there is a way to serve that fits with your giftings and abilities.  

So here's today's challenge... 
  1. Pray and allow God to show you how He would have you work in the Harvest
  2. Pray for more workers to join us here in Nelson Co in the Harvest
  3. Pray about how God would have you share your resources to reap the Harvest
  4. Pray for God to prepare the Harvest
As you can see there is a theme... Pray and Act.  To reap a mighty Harvest we must do both.

I know there are some of you who receive this e-mail that are interested in what God is doing at Riverbank, but haven't yet got connected.  There may be many reasons for this... schedules, other commitments, or still trying to discern where this is where God wants you to be.  I encourage you to seek God about joining this work.  It is truly going to take all of us to reap this Harvest.

On a more practical note we are mobilizing for our outreach to the children of Nelson Co on the 31st in Lovingston.  God has opened the door for us to set up a Family Fun Center right in the middle of the Trick-or-Treating that goes on in Lovingston.  We have permission to set up in the parking lot and grass of Blossom's Florist at the end of Front St.  We have been told by those who have handed out candy in the past to be prepared for well over 500 kids.  Below is a list of some of the ways you can help.  If you can help with these things reply and let me know and I can pass on the info to Melody.

  • Pass out and put up fliers
  • Invite your friends (Here is the Facebook Page Link that you can use to invite people too
  • Bring and set-up lights, tables, straw bales, coffee makers, water jugs, etc on Sunday afternoon
  • Donate money to help with the cost of the Moon Bounce, goody bags, and refreshments
  • Help fill goody bags this Sunday night at the end of our meeting.
  • Serve coffee
  • Supervise kids on the Moon Bounce
  • Greet and talk to those that stop
  • Pass out Goody Bags
  • Play an instrument
  • Clean-up and haul away trash
  • Help with costume contest registration and judging
  • Take "Guess the # of candy corn" registrations
  • Write thank-you cards to those who come
  • Pray for the preparations
  • Pray for the people
  • Pray for the workers
Finally I will be sending out a prayer focus daily as we prepare for this event.  Today, lift up Melody and Jeff as they assemble the list of needed items and get ready to purchase what is necessary.  Pray for wisdom as they plan amounts and that we will have everything that is needed to bless those who come.

Together in the Harvest,
Pastor Brian

Encouragement for Today

Good Morning Riverbank,
This morning I found my bible reading taking me to the book of Jeremiah.  Specifically to the 30th chapter.  Here, Jeremiah is prophesying to the people of Israel hope for God's restoration of their homeland.  The people of Israel had become scattered and taken over by their enemies but Jeremiah was speaking of hope and the day when God would bring his people back and restore to them what had been lost.  

"For the time is coming when I will restore the fortunes of my people of Israel and Judah. I will bring them home to this land that I gave to their ancestors, and they will possess it and live here again.  I, the Lord has spoken." Jeremiah 30:3

As I read this passage what quickened in my heart was that, in the same way, God slowly restored Israel to Jerusalem, so does He want to restore the spiritual life here in Nelson County and to our communities.  He is bringing people back to himself and rebuilding spiritual roots in Nelson.  Many years ago, as we read in the history books of Nelson, our communities used to be strong places of worship.  There were churches in almost every community that were alive and serving the people, a hub of activity.  
However through time and devastation, the enemy has been able to get a foothold.  But no more! We believe that God wants to do a new and fresh work here in our communities.  His desire is to rebuild that which has been lost and what the enemy has stolen. But we have to decide if we are going to be a part of the "rebuilding" that God wants to do here.  Another passage comes to mind.

"The harvest is so great, but the workers are so few.  So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers for His fields."  Matthew 9:37-38 
The thing that struck me about this passage were 2 things: 
1.  I am  not in charge :)  He is in charge of the harvest.  He is in charge of the results.
2.  These are "His Fields" 

Simply put, He calls us to 2 things-  To Work and To Pray.  That's all. I don't have to worry if the people will be there or not. He is simply asking me to show up, to work in the "fields" that he has prepared.  And he is asking me to pray - pray that more workers will come to help for all those he is going to send.  

Now thats exciting people!  :)  

God's moving...are you ready to jump on board?  Are you ready to work and pray? If so, he's got a job for you.  To work with the people he sends, to love them as he would, to see people set free, to bring in the harvest.  

Be blessed today - 

Working in the harvest together!
 ~Victoria

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Deep Roots - Trust in God - Part 2


Prov. 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart;
  do not depend on your own understanding.
Seek his will in all you do,
  and he will show you which path to take.

Where is your Trust?  Relying on ourselves to get us through comes naturally to us, but this destroys our relationship with God.  Relying on others to get us through causes expectations and offenses and destroys our relationship with others.  Only, relying on God  allows us to grow and have healthy relationships with God and others.

Have a Great Day,

Pastor Brian

Monday, October 11, 2010

Deep Roots - Trust in God

Jeremiah 17:7-8
But blessed are those who trust in the Lord 
  and have made the Lord their hope and confidence.
 They are like trees planted along a riverbank,
  with roots that reach deep into the water.
Such trees are not bothered by the heat
  or worried by long months of drought.
Their leaves stay green,
  and they never stop producing fruit.

In our vision and desire to be a people like the Great Oaks on the Riverbank with our roots deep into the river of God, the root of Trust in God must be strong.  Trust is based on our choice to surrender our self-reliance and reliance on other people and choose to rely on God.  This is the choice that happens at salvation when we choose to trust Christ to forgive our sins and the choice that we must make each day to live in the abundant life that He has for us.  This is not easy and many things get in the way.  We will talk about some of these "trust killers" this week.


Be Blessed,

Pastor Brian

Thursday, October 7, 2010

God is at Work 3

When Pastor Brian asked us to share what God was doing in our family a lot passed through my mind. So, I’ll start by saying it has been great to be in the process of watching Riverbank come to be. From our first family meetings with Brian and Tori when Riverbank was just a dream in our hearts to now actually meeting together as a core group on a weekly basis is seeing our dreams unfold into reality. It is wonderful that we now have the privilege of a “life-giving” church in our own hometown for Katelyn to grow up in Christ in and invite her friends to come grow with her. As we continue to move forward I am grateful that I can join hands and hearts with Riverbanks families to fulfill the mission of Jesus to share Love for Christ, Family and Community.

By Mari Johnson

Location update: We will gather at the Riverbank @ the American Legion Building in Shipman on Sunday 4-6.

Be Encouraged,

Pastor Brian

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Our Desire for Community


Genesis 1:26
Then God said, "Let us make human beings  in our image, to be like us."

I am not going to start a lengthy theological discussion on the "Trinity" here, but I want to share something with you.  Even with our limited human understanding we can see from scripture that we worship one God with three persons.  And, in Genesis it says that we were made "to be like us."  Two people can share love... but it takes three for community.  God Himself has chosen to live in community and created us the same way.  There is a desire in us for deep relationships and the power of shared life that comes through small group relationship.  The most life transforming power of community is found within these relationships with other believers.

So how deep is the "Root" of community in your life?  Are you actively sharing your life with other believers, encouraging, challenging, and praying for one another?  Or are you alone waiting for the rain to somehow blow your way and water your thirsty heart?

Prayer Focus - May we grow in our love for each other and draw others to Christ.

God Bless,

Pastor Brian

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

The Root of Community


John 13:34
So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.

This Sunday afternoon when we gather at the Riverbank I am going to begin a series about "Roots"  Our vision is to be like the great oak trees planted on the Riverbank with our roots going deep into the the river of God.  But what are those roots?  This week we are going to seek God for His revelation about the root of "Community"  God has called us to live in relationship with one another... but what do these relationships look like?  How do we love each other?  Meditate on the scripture above and let God speak to your heart as you prepare for what He wants to do in you this week.

Prayer Focus
- That God would help us grow in our love for each other and those around us.
- That God would give us faith to believe that those in bondage to emotional wounds, sin, and destructive behavior can be set free by the power of God.

Be Blessed,

Pastor Brian

Friday, October 1, 2010

For His Glory


John 5:5-9
One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, "Would you like to get well?" "I can't, sir," the sick man said, "for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me."Jesus told him, "Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!"Instantly, the man was healed! He rolled up his sleeping mat and began walking! 

This story has always amazed me for a couple of reasons.  First, this man had been sick for 38 years.... and Jesus knew that. How many of us have the faith to believe God for the healing of someone who has been sick that long?   Or, have we given up hope a long time ago.  Second, when Jesus asked this man if he wanted to be healed he showed his "victim mentality" by answering with an excuse.  Then JESUS HEALED HIM ANYWAY!  So, much for the teaching that our healing is contingent on us having faith.  This man didn't have faith and Jesus still healed him.   

So what can we learn from this?  God is looking for people filled with Faith and the Power of the Holy Spirit that will ask Him to do what no one else believes can be done.  And, He wants to do miracles not only for the person being healed, but also for His glory.  Jesus went on after this healing to use it as a "teachable moment" to confront the legalism of the Pharisees.  

My prayer today is that we are a people of faith, filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, believing God to do miracles that set people free and bring Him Glory.

God Bless,
Pastor Brian