If we stay in a loop of "obedience only" in our journey with the Father and never catch His heart, we are at great risk of harboring a religious spirit, producing works of the flesh, bitterness, obligation and worse! All consequences of not going deeper to Catch the Heart. Obedience is great and we need it, but it is meant to convert our soul from "obedience only" (aka Letter of the Law) to being at one and abiding in faith with the Heart of the Father.
Cain brought fruit! Yet he missed the heart of the Father and there were consequences as we read in Genesis 4:1-7. Even though Cain missed it, God still gave Him the chance to repent BEFORE the consequences.
Thank you for your obedience in posting on this discussion! But remember, as much as it is about obedience, it is a tool to catch the heart of the message!
To that end, I have multiple "go deeper" discussion prompts listed. Feel free to answer as many as you like, but do not feel obligated to answer them all. I would rather you go deep on one than stay shallow on all.
1. Have you ever encountered a "thought terminating cliché" in your walk of faith? What was it? Who did it prevent from going deeper toward the heart, discouraging critical thought and meaningful discussion?
2. Share some of your thoughts/experiences on "if you do not do well, sin lies at the door."
3. God has emotions, we are made in His image. When we read the surface level of the text, we may not always consider His emotions unless we read between the lines. Reflect on putting yourself in "God's shoes" to see things from His point of view. (Especially with this season we are in)
"Aha!" - Share and discuss anything that stood out to you, particularly if it led you deeper to catching the heart of God.
Great job Rabbi Nate!!!!!!!! I am going to focus on answering# 2 because my answer has a little bit of all three questions in it.
2. Share some of your thoughts/experiences on "if you do not do well, sin lies at the door." -
Talk about an eye opener and catching the heart beat of God on this verse. My recent experience is regarding witnessing in my harvest field. Two weeks ago, 2 people were on my heart and I said what God wanted me to say to them. It was encouraging and very clear directions on 1) showing them the heart of God and 2) an opportunity to get connected to Him. One person it would have been salvation…
What an amazing message Nathan!
I'm someone who likes rules. I like knowing exactly where the boundary-line is. I like following directions. Which makes this message very much for me.
Obedience is such an important part of being a child of God. It is, as was stated, the starting point. But what really is it all worth without catching the Father's heart. You can "I have to do this" and "I have to do that" until you're blue in the face but unless you get to the "I want to" is there any life in it?
It's all related. Unless you catch the heart of the Father you will be forever stuck in the a pattern that just repeats never…
Number 3 really has me meditating on the heart of the Father. Puting myself in God's shoes... wow. The words "imagine how God feels when..." How He feels when His son or daughter says they love Him, but then they just "obey" out of obligation while grumbling and complaining about it. I know how I feel even just as a parent when my children act like that... But then He always gives an opportunity to repent and gives us a chance to see that sin is right at the door. It's our choice. How heartbreaking it must be for Him to see His children make a choice out of pride and anger instead of just humbly loving Him the way…
Thank you Nate for the challenge to all of us to go deeper and truly catch the Heart of the Father. I have always liked catch phrases--something that grabs your attention, yet like you said, does it cause the thought to stop right there? Definitely a lot for me to consider as I think about my own life, so I want to dive into question 1.....
1. Have you ever encountered a "thought terminating cliché" in your walk of faith? What was it? Who did it prevent from going deeper toward the heart, discouraging critical thought and meaningful discussion?
I'm sure there have been many, many times but I am reminded of one particular time recently. I was working with…
My "aha" part of this message is what got me thinking much deeper to know the heart of the Father. My "aha" moment was God's heart for us to repent. This is an area I know I can improve on in making Him Lord over my whole life. The test that I know I need pruning in this area is with my kids. If I judge a situation wrong as a parent, asking for repentance, apologizing and correcting the wrong is a hard pill for me to swallow. If I was quick to repent to God, than it wouldn't be so hard to apologize to my kids.
One of the statements Nate said along this line of God's heart on…