This is Your House

You are Great - Steve Crown

In Him was Life

In Him was Life

• Ultimate reality is alive. Original reality, absolute reality is a living person. 
• Life gave rise to matter. Physical matter did not give rise to life.
• The life John has in view mainly is new life, spiritual life, saving life, the gift of eternal life, the opposite of spiritual death now and final condemnation later.
• John 5:24 - truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
• God gave us eternal life and this life in His Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son does not have life. 

The Life was the Light of Men

• New life brings light.
• People aren't dead because they can't walk or talk or think or feel or even see with physical eyes. They are dead because "seeing they do not see" (Matthew 13:13). They don't see:
• Jesus as supremely valuable;
• His sacrifice as precious;
• His fellowship as the greatest treasure;
• Jesus said in John 8:12, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
• When you receive Jesus, you receive life. And when you receive life, you receive light.

The Darkness Did Not Grasp the Light

• The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not understood it.
• He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him.
• But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His Name, He gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

The New Birth

• John 3:3 - Truly truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God.
• Everything hangs on being born again. Without this, we are dead and blind.
• God sends Jesus into the world as the light of life to lay down his life for us; and then cause people to be born again so that they can see him and receive him.
• Receiving light happens simultaneously with the opening of eyes.
• These three events - new birth, new sight, new faith - are all talking about the same thing from different sides.
• When Jesus commands us to believe on him for eternal life, we don't wait for a separate experience called the new birth before we believe, and we don't rush ahead to believe as though we could it without the new birth. Instead, we look steadfastly at Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who laid down His life for us.

In the Beginning was the Word

• Written for unbelievers and believers alike. As believers, we are to abide in the vine. Believers in Jesus must go on believing.
• The book of John is an eyewitness account.
• It is Divinely inspired.
• "The Word" refers to Jesus Christ.
• John calls Jesus the Word because he had come to see the words of Jesus as the truth of God and the person of Jesus as the truth of God in such a unified way that He is the final and decisive Message of God.
• What God had to say to us was not only or mainly what Jesus said, but who Jesus was and what He did.

Spending Time Alone

• Spend time alone THINKING. Thinking precedes achievement (John Maxwell). The greater your thinking, the greater your achievement. Henry Ford: Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably why few engage in it.
• Peter Daniels had a thinking day.
• Einstein had a thinking chair.
• Be still and know that I am God.
• My sheep know my voice.
• Successful people spend time alone thinking.
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5 Things by Terri

Success begins the moment you start achieving goals in your life in your day to day living.

Success is something you attract by the person you become. ~ John Rohn.

1. Pray
2. Listen to a faith building message. Faith comes by hearing...
3. Read: leaders are readers. For me, do at least 30 minutes every day.
4. Review dreams and goals.
5. Exercise: there is a direct relationship between physical health and emotional health.

It is not up for debate. I may not feel like doing it but I must rise above emotions. Be committed. Stay the course. Do it day after day over a long period of time.

5 Things Successful People Do Every Day Before 8 a.m.~ Forbes

The morning is the most perfect time to start developing habits in your life because that is when you have the most control over your schedule.

1. Exercise: most people that work out every day, do so in the morning.
2. Map out your plan for the day: the most successful people have a plan for the day. Successful people live on purpose.
3. Eat a healthy breakfast:
4. Visualization: take time to pray, meditate, listen to God.
5. Tackle the most important (possibly most difficult) things.

• To form a habit, commit yourself to it for 21 days. 

• Focus on me. Don't compare with others. You're called to greatness.

Buy the Future

Genesis 25/Hebrews 12

• There are Jacob people and there are Esau people.
• Esaus are comfortable because the odds are stacked in their favor, but Jacobs are not intimidated by the Esaus.
• Success in life is not based on who started first. Seniority is not the ticket to success in life.

The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong; 

but time and chance happen to them all.

• Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field. Jacob was a mild man, dwelling in tents.
• Esau is a producer of raw material. Jacob is a developer of what has been developed. 
• Esau nations produce much, but are hungry. The Jacob nations do not produce but are satisfied. 
• God says one will be stronger than the other. The Jacob system is always stronger than the Esau system.
• The Esau nations use raw physical energy. The Jacob nations use refined methods.
• Hard work is not equivalent to success. 
• Activity is not to be confused for productivity.
• The Esaus negotiate when they are hungry. The Jacobs negotiate on full stomachs.
• Never negotiate when you are hungry. 
• Nations that negotiate while in crisis only end up in deeper crisis.
• Even when you negotiate on an empty stomach, be dignified about your hunger. Be dignified about your need. Be dignified about your poverty. Don't appear poor...
• Esaus don't think of the future. Jacobs buy the future.
• The future is potential that is yet to be revealed. As such, it has no much value today.
•  What I am today does not reflect what I will be tomorrow. Abraham was told he would be the father of the nations yet his present condition was that he was childless. Your present look can contradict your future. Therefore, do not be too concerned about who you are today that you forget about your future.
• I AM NOT ALL THAT I AM SEEING. This is not my last stop. I am in transition. I am moving. Don't act like you've come to a standstill, you are moving on.
• Esau despised his birthright.
• The people who make progress in this life have a Jacob attitude. They are always aware of the future. 
• The people who make it in life make decisions TODAY that will make their FUTURE better.
• The people who fail to make it in life make decisions TODAY that destroy their FUTURE.
• Don't sell your future for present pleasure. The Esaus of this life are deceived by the pleasure and comfort of today. In that deception, they destroy what they will become in future.
• God is not mocked; whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap.
• WHO I AM TODAY IS NOT AS IMPORTANT AS WHO I WILL BECOME TOMORROW.
• MY FUTURE IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN MY PRESENT.
• The Esau people, though perhaps initially bestowed with much, end up weak and have to serve the Jacob people (a people with so little but who make good choices with their future in mind.)
• Every choice Jacob made had the future in mind.
• Esau's treasure is far away. Jacob's treasure is very close by.
• At the time you need your treasure, where is it? Is it out in the field, or near the tent?
• The world is moving to the place where smart work is better than hard work.
• The more you use your brains, the better you are.
• The more you use your physical body to work, the worse for you.
• The Jacobs may not have much to start with but they end up successful.
• Your present crisis cannot be compared to your future glory. No matter how low you have fallen, it cannot be compared to how high you are going to get.
• Let not your present need obscure your future. 
• Trust God. He holds the future in His hands. He will open doors. He will provide for the vision He gives. He will make it possible. Don't sell your future. Buy the Future.