<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" media="screen" href="/~d/styles/rss2enclosurestitles.xsl"?><?xml-stylesheet type="text/css" media="screen" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~d/styles/itemtitles.css"?><rss xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/" xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/" xmlns:itunes="http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd" xmlns:rawvoice="http://www.rawvoice.com/rawvoiceRssModule/" xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" xmlns:feedburner="http://rssnamespace.org/feedburner/ext/1.0" version="2.0">

<channel>
	<title>Pastor Dan's Blog Podcast</title>
	
	<link>http://www.pastordanwalker.org</link>
	<description>Truth from Life Church St Louis</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Thu, 08 Dec 2011 23:02:10 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<language>en</language>
	<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
	<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
	<generator>http://wordpress.org/?v=Pastor Dan's Blog Podcast</generator>
<!-- podcast_generator="Blubrry PowerPress/2.0.4" -->
	<itunes:summary>Pastor Dan's Blog contains messages from a contemporary church, Life Church St Louis. The messages are intensely practical applications of the timeless truths of the Bible to 21st century living. </itunes:summary>
	<itunes:author>Pastor Dan Walker</itunes:author>
	<itunes:explicit>no</itunes:explicit>
	<itunes:image href="http://www.lifechurchstlouis.org/images/Itunes1.jpg" />
	<itunes:subtitle>Biblical perspectives on life.</itunes:subtitle>
	<image>
		<title>Pastor Dan's Blog Podcast</title>
		<url>http://www.pastordanwalker.org/wp-content/plugins/powerpress/rss_default.jpg</url>
		<link>http://www.pastordanwalker.org</link>
	</image>
		<atom10:link xmlns:atom10="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/PastorDansBlog" /><feedburner:info uri="pastordansblog" /><atom10:link xmlns:atom10="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" rel="hub" href="http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/" /><media:copyright>(c) 2011</media:copyright><media:thumbnail url="http://www.lifechurchstlouis.org/images/Itunes1.jpg" /><media:keywords>church,messages,Bible,Christianity,religion,spirituality,truth,practical,God,family</media:keywords><media:category scheme="http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd">Religion &amp; Spirituality/Christianity</media:category><itunes:keywords>church,messages,Bible,Christianity,religion,spirituality,truth,practical,God,family</itunes:keywords><itunes:category text="Religion &amp; Spirituality"><itunes:category text="Christianity" /></itunes:category><feedburner:emailServiceId>PastorDansBlog</feedburner:emailServiceId><feedburner:feedburnerHostname>http://feedburner.google.com</feedburner:feedburnerHostname><feedburner:feedFlare href="http://www.newsgator.com/ngs/subscriber/subext.aspx?url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2FPastorDansBlog" src="http://www.newsgator.com/images/ngsub1.gif">Subscribe with NewsGator</feedburner:feedFlare><feedburner:feedFlare href="http://www.netvibes.com/subscribe.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2FPastorDansBlog" src="http://www.netvibes.com/img/add2netvibes.gif">Subscribe with Netvibes</feedburner:feedFlare><feedburner:feedFlare href="http://www.pageflakes.com/subscribe.aspx?url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2FPastorDansBlog" src="http://www.pageflakes.com/ImageFile.ashx?instanceId=Static_4&amp;fileName=ATP_blu_91x17.gif">Subscribe with Pageflakes</feedburner:feedFlare><feedburner:feedFlare href="http://add.my.yahoo.com/rss?url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2FPastorDansBlog" src="http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/us/my/addtomyyahoo4.gif">Subscribe with My Yahoo!</feedburner:feedFlare><feedburner:feedFlare href="http://fusion.google.com/add?feedurl=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2FPastorDansBlog" src="http://buttons.googlesyndication.com/fusion/add.gif">Subscribe with Google</feedburner:feedFlare><feedburner:feedFlare href="http://www.plusmo.com/add?url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2FPastorDansBlog" src="http://plusmo.com/res/graphics/fbplusmo.gif">Subscribe with Plusmo</feedburner:feedFlare><feedburner:feedFlare href="http://www.thefreedictionary.com/_/hp/AddRSS.aspx?http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2FPastorDansBlog" src="http://img.tfd.com/hp/addToTheFreeDictionary.gif">Subscribe with The Free Dictionary</feedburner:feedFlare><feedburner:feedFlare href="http://www.bitty.com/manual/?contenttype=rssfeed&amp;contentvalue=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2FPastorDansBlog" src="http://www.bitty.com/img/bittychicklet_91x17.gif">Subscribe with Bitty Browser</feedburner:feedFlare><feedburner:feedFlare href="http://www.live.com/?add=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2FPastorDansBlog" src="http://tkfiles.storage.msn.com/x1piYkpqHC_35nIp1gLE68-wvzLZO8iXl_JMledmJQXP-XTBOLfmQv4zhj4MhcWEJh_GtoBIiAl1Mjh-ndp9k47If7hTaFno0mxW9_i3p_5qQw">Subscribe with Live.com</feedburner:feedFlare><feedburner:feedFlare href="http://mix.excite.eu/add?feedurl=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2FPastorDansBlog" src="http://image.excite.co.uk/mix/addtomix.gif">Subscribe with Excite MIX</feedburner:feedFlare><feedburner:feedFlare href="http://www.webwag.com/wwgthis.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2FPastorDansBlog" src="http://www.webwag.com/images/wwgthis.gif">Subscribe with Webwag</feedburner:feedFlare><feedburner:feedFlare href="http://www.podcastready.com/oneclick_bookmark.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2FPastorDansBlog" src="http://www.podcastready.com/images/podcastready_button.gif">Subscribe with Podcast Ready</feedburner:feedFlare><feedburner:feedFlare href="http://www.wikio.com/subscribe?url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2FPastorDansBlog" src="http://www.wikio.com/shared/img/add2wikio.gif">Subscribe with Wikio</feedburner:feedFlare><feedburner:feedFlare href="http://www.dailyrotation.com/index.php?feed=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2FPastorDansBlog" src="http://www.dailyrotation.com/rss-dr2.gif">Subscribe with Daily Rotation</feedburner:feedFlare><feedburner:browserFriendly>This is an XML content feed. It is intended to be viewed in a newsreader or syndicated to another site.</feedburner:browserFriendly><item>
		<title>Overcoming a Judgmental Attitude</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PastorDansBlog/~3/hIoIjZ4bjho/overcoming-a-judgmental-attitude.htm</link>
		<comments>http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2010/11/overcoming-a-judgmental-attitude.htm#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 07 Nov 2010 21:47:12 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Pastor Dan Walker</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Audio]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Life]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Message]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Video]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jesus]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[message]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[relationships]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.pastordanwalker.org/?p=627</guid>
		<description>Currently, we’re in a message series called “40 Days with Jesus” based on the Sermon on the Mount. In our series, we’re discovering that Jesus doesn’t pull any punches when He preaches. He is serious about the kind of life that He expects His disciples to live. Jesus is dead set against any kind of hypocrisy in His [...]
Related posts:&lt;ol&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href='http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2009/07/overcoming-opposition-when-following-jesus.htm' rel='bookmark' title='Overcoming Opposition When Following Jesus'&gt;Overcoming Opposition When Following Jesus&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href='http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2007/10/overcoming-failure.htm' rel='bookmark' title='Overcoming Failure'&gt;Overcoming Failure&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href='http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2010/10/character-qualities-of-a-disciple-of-jesus.htm' rel='bookmark' title='Character Qualities of a Disciple of Jesus'&gt;Character Qualities of a Disciple of Jesus&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ol&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
&lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/PastorDansBlog?a=hIoIjZ4bjho:Xw8L-lGHk9o:yIl2AUoC8zA"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/PastorDansBlog?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PastorDansBlog/~4/hIoIjZ4bjho" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2010/11/overcoming-a-judgmental-attitude.htm/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>

			<itunes:keywords>Jesus,message,relationships</itunes:keywords>
		<itunes:subtitle>Currently, we’re in a message series called “40 Days with Jesus” based on the Sermon on the Mount. In our series, we’re discovering that Jesus doesn’t pull any punches when He preaches. He is serious about the kind of life that He expects His disciples...</itunes:subtitle>
		<itunes:summary>(http://www.pastordanwalker.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/101107.jpg)Currently, we’re in a message series called “40 Days with Jesus” based on the Sermon on the Mount. In our series, we’re discovering that Jesus doesn’t pull any punches when He preaches. He is serious about the kind of life that He expects His disciples to live. Jesus is dead set against any kind of hypocrisy in His followers. He is interested in our hearts becoming full of God and our actions following our hearts. The wonderful thing is that as we learn from and follow Jesus’ commands in this passage, we lay a firm foundation for a blessed life.

Today, we’ll be looking at a passage from Matthew 7 and I’ve entitled this message “Jesus on Humility.” Of course, the opposite of humility is pride, which is a primary motivator for the hypocrisy that Jesus condemned. As adults, we sometimes play games that aren’t so good. One game we may play could be called “Let’s Label.” To play the game, you first find someone who is different from you, that’s not hard to do. Then you carefully look them over and form a negative or critical opinion of them. That’s not hard to do either, they’re different from you. Then you mentally stick a label on the person and freely share your thoughts and labels with others.

Jesus called the Let’s Label game “judging” and He commanded His followers not to play it.
Matthew 7:1 (NIV) Do not judge, or you too will be judged.
In other words, don’t play the label game or someone will put a label on you as well. Why shouldn’t we judge others? We never know everything about another person. We cannot know the other person’s motives. We have our own biases and aren’t objective in our judging. When we judge others, we put ourselves into the position of God Himself, which is the essence of pride.

I read a story of a young attorney at a large law firm. The head of the firm set out a row of huge turkeys for his employees every Thanksgiving, one turkey for each one. The young attorney was single, lived alone, had no use for a huge turkey, but he took one every year. One year, his close friends in the law office replaced his turkey with a paper-mache turkey, weighted and wrapped just like a real turkey. The young attorney picked his turkey up as usual and got on a bus to go home with it.

On the bus, he sat next to a man who proceeded to tell him that he’d been looking for a job all day with no luck. He had a large family and nothing to feed them for Thanksgiving. So, the attorney decided to give the man the turkey, but in order not injure his pride, he sold it to him for a couple of dollars. The man was moved to tears about the gift turkey.

The next day, his friends at work were dying to know his reaction to the turkey. When he told them about selling the fake turkey, everyone was mortified. They rode the bus for a week, but never saw the jobless man again. What do you think the jobless man thought of the attorney? I’m sure he thought the attorney was the lowest of the low, he would have been sorely tempted to judge him. But the attorney had been trying to do a good deed, he had simply been fooled himself. Don't judge others, for you never know all the facts.

Listen to my November 7, 2010 message "Jesus on Humility."



[flashvideo file=http://www.lifechurchstlouis.org/images/stories/video/101107.mp4 stretching=fill /]</itunes:summary>
		<itunes:author>Pastor Dan's Blog Podcast</itunes:author>
		<itunes:explicit>no</itunes:explicit>
		<itunes:duration>31:24</itunes:duration>
	<media:content url="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PastorDansBlog/~5/AnwkQezAPEw/101107.mp3" fileSize="15075840" type="audio/mpeg" /><feedburner:origLink>http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2010/11/overcoming-a-judgmental-attitude.htm</feedburner:origLink><enclosure url="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PastorDansBlog/~5/AnwkQezAPEw/101107.mp3" length="15075840" type="audio/mpeg" /><feedburner:origEnclosureLink>http://www.lifechurchstlouis.org/images/stories/audio/101107.mp3</feedburner:origEnclosureLink></item>
		<item>
		<title>Faith Drives Away Worry</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PastorDansBlog/~3/n9BCwejaUjg/faith-drives-away-worry.htm</link>
		<comments>http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2010/10/faith-drives-away-worry.htm#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 31 Oct 2010 22:19:09 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Pastor Dan Walker</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Audio]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[God]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Message]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Video]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jesus]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[life issues]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[message]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.pastordanwalker.org/?p=623</guid>
		<description>Faith is incredibly important. Hebrews 11:6 (NIV) And without faith it is impossible to please God, We need faith, not just to go to heaven, but to live life here and now on this earth. In our passage today, Jesus is going to talk quite a big about the biggest enemy of faith.  I believe that [...]
Related posts:&lt;ol&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href='http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2007/08/faith-that-wins.htm' rel='bookmark' title='Faith That Wins'&gt;Faith That Wins&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href='http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2006/12/grow-into-woman-of-faith.htm' rel='bookmark' title='Grow Into A Woman Of Faith'&gt;Grow Into A Woman Of Faith&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href='http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2010/05/what-is-faith.htm' rel='bookmark' title='What Is Faith?'&gt;What Is Faith?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ol&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
&lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/PastorDansBlog?a=n9BCwejaUjg:A9FDzzEhMcY:yIl2AUoC8zA"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/PastorDansBlog?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PastorDansBlog/~4/n9BCwejaUjg" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2010/10/faith-drives-away-worry.htm/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>

			<itunes:keywords>Jesus,life issues,message</itunes:keywords>
		<itunes:subtitle>Faith is incredibly important. Hebrews 11:6 (NIV) And without faith it is impossible to please God, We need faith, not just to go to heaven, but to live life here and now on this earth. In our passage today,</itunes:subtitle>
		<itunes:summary>(http://www.pastordanwalker.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/101031.jpg)Faith is incredibly important.
Hebrews 11:6 (NIV) And without faith it is impossible to please God,
We need faith, not just to go to heaven, but to live life here and now on this earth. In our passage today, Jesus is going to talk quite a big about the biggest enemy of faith.  I believe that the biggest enemy of faith is worry. The Bible condemns worry in multiple places, including our passage today, yet it is often considered an acceptable sin.

Worry is basically looking at the future in a negative way and becoming afraid or worried about it. People are worried about all kinds of things. People are worried about the economy, their investments, their jobs, taxes their bills, their mortgages. What do all those things have in common? People are worried about money. Jesus has something to say about money this morning. People are worried about all kinds of other things, including their health, their relationships, their children, and the list can go on and on.

What does worry bring you? Nothing good at all. In fact, it can damage your health, waste your time and make you an unpleasant person to be around. Why is worry wrong? The Bible calls worry sin. Worry is wrong because it is the opposite of faith. If you’re trusting God, you won’t be worrying. If you’re worrying, you’re not trusting God.

To put it positively, faith drives away worry. Do you want to live free from worry? If you learn and apply what Jesus has to teach us today, you can live worry-free.

God wants to encourage everyone to trust Him in every area of their lives. So, think about the areas of concern, the areas of your life where you are tempted to worry. Let God speak to you today through His word and help your faith to grow strong. Remember, faith drives away worry.

Listen to my October 31, 2010 message "Jesus on Faith."



[flashvideo file=http://www.lifechurchstlouis.org/images/stories/video/101031.mp4 stretching=fill /]</itunes:summary>
		<itunes:author>Pastor Dan's Blog Podcast</itunes:author>
		<itunes:explicit>no</itunes:explicit>
		<itunes:duration>30:55</itunes:duration>
	<media:content url="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PastorDansBlog/~5/wgVQvC6dPYY/101031.mp3" fileSize="14841424" type="audio/mpeg" /><feedburner:origLink>http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2010/10/faith-drives-away-worry.htm</feedburner:origLink><enclosure url="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PastorDansBlog/~5/wgVQvC6dPYY/101031.mp3" length="14841424" type="audio/mpeg" /><feedburner:origEnclosureLink>http://www.lifechurchstlouis.org/images/stories/audio/101031.mp3</feedburner:origEnclosureLink></item>
		<item>
		<title>Why Motives Are Important</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PastorDansBlog/~3/BY6bb4jFd1I/why-motives-are-important.htm</link>
		<comments>http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2010/10/why-motives-are-important.htm#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 24 Oct 2010 19:09:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Pastor Dan Walker</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Audio]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bible]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Message]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Video]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jesus]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[message]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[purpose]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.pastordanwalker.org/?p=619</guid>
		<description>Today my message is called “Jesus on Motives.” Motives are the inward thoughts or reasons behind our words and behaviors. Other people can’t see your motives, only you and God truly know the motives behind your actions. Motives have a lot to do with our hearts. As we are going through the Sermon on the Mount, we are [...]
Related posts:&lt;ol&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href='http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2010/10/character-qualities-of-a-disciple-of-jesus.htm' rel='bookmark' title='Character Qualities of a Disciple of Jesus'&gt;Character Qualities of a Disciple of Jesus&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href='http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2010/11/overcoming-a-judgmental-attitude.htm' rel='bookmark' title='Overcoming a Judgmental Attitude'&gt;Overcoming a Judgmental Attitude&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href='http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2010/02/why-relationships-are-important.htm' rel='bookmark' title='Why Relationships Are Important'&gt;Why Relationships Are Important&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ol&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
&lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/PastorDansBlog?a=BY6bb4jFd1I:Z9Jnk-Z5LWw:yIl2AUoC8zA"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/PastorDansBlog?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PastorDansBlog/~4/BY6bb4jFd1I" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2010/10/why-motives-are-important.htm/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>

			<itunes:keywords>Jesus,message,purpose</itunes:keywords>
		<itunes:subtitle>Today my message is called “Jesus on Motives.” Motives are the inward thoughts or reasons behind our words and behaviors. Other people can’t see your motives, only you and God truly know the motives behind your actions.</itunes:subtitle>
		<itunes:summary>(http://www.pastordanwalker.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/101024.jpg)Today my message is called “Jesus on Motives.” Motives are the inward thoughts or reasons behind our words and behaviors. Other people can’t see your motives, only you and God truly know the motives behind your actions. Motives have a lot to do with our hearts. As we are going through the Sermon on the Mount, we are seeing that Jesus had a lot to say about our heart attitudes or motives.

Why should you be concerned with your motives? We’re going to see today that when you do the right things with the right motives, God will bless you. If you do the right things with the wrong motives, you get zero blessing. And of course if you do the wrong things in life, things won’t go well with you. Sometimes people wonder why God blesses others who appear to be doing the same things they are, but they aren’t blessed. One of the possible reasons could be motives.

We are carefully studying Jesus’ words, because as we learn to follow them with God’s help, our lives will be blessed in increased measure.
Matthew 6:1 (NIV) "Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
This statement by Jesus sums up everything we’re going to be talking about today. He says the His disciples must not do good things before others with the motivation to be seen by others. If you have this wrong motivation, you will get no blessing or reward from God.

Now, if you’ve been following this message series, we talked earlier about Jesus’ statement in
Matthew 5:16 (NIV) In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
Isn’t that a contradiction? In Matthew 5, Jesus tells us to let others see our good deeds and in Matthew 6, He says don’t do your good deeds before men. No, it’s not a contradiction, it’s a difference of motives. In Matthew 5, the motivation in doing good deeds before people is so that God is praised. In Matthew 6, Jesus warns us to not do our good deeds before men in order to be seen or praised by them. Jesus is warning us against the hypocrisy of the religious leaders who had wrong motives.
John 12:43 (NIV) for they loved praise from men more than praise from God.
That is a wrong motivation for good deeds. So what we have here is truth in tension. We are to do good deeds before others, so God is praised. Yet, we must be careful not to do those same good deeds in order to receive praise for ourselves.

In this passage, in Matthew 6:1-18, Jesus is going to instruct us about three kinds of good deeds. In each instance, Jesus begins his instruction by saying, When you … and then goes on. Jesus is assuming, or perhaps we should say commanding every follower to practice these three things in their lives. But when we practice them, we must have the right heart attitude or motivation in order to be rewarded or blessed by God.

Listen to my October 24, 2010 message "Jesus on Motives."



[flashvideo file=http://www.lifechurchstlouis.org/images/stories/video/101024.mp4 stretching=fill /]</itunes:summary>
		<itunes:author>Pastor Dan's Blog Podcast</itunes:author>
		<itunes:explicit>no</itunes:explicit>
		<itunes:duration>27:12</itunes:duration>
	<media:content url="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PastorDansBlog/~5/nBekxrXyEuU/101024.mp3" fileSize="13056576" type="audio/mpeg" /><feedburner:origLink>http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2010/10/why-motives-are-important.htm</feedburner:origLink><enclosure url="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PastorDansBlog/~5/nBekxrXyEuU/101024.mp3" length="13056576" type="audio/mpeg" /><feedburner:origEnclosureLink>http://www.lifechurchstlouis.org/images/stories/audio/101024.mp3</feedburner:origEnclosureLink></item>
		<item>
		<title>Jesus’ Instructions on Relationships</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PastorDansBlog/~3/86UFTNaD8ac/jesus-instructions-on-relationships.htm</link>
		<comments>http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2010/10/jesus-instructions-on-relationships.htm#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 17 Oct 2010 19:03:53 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Pastor Dan Walker</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Audio]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Family]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Message]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Video]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jesus]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[message]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[relationships]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.pastordanwalker.org/?p=616</guid>
		<description>We’re going to be looking at what Jesus has to say about living out God’s plan for your relationships. In our current message series, 40 Days with Jesus, we’re going through Jesus’ famous teaching in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7. Relationships were invented by God. People were created so that we could have a [...]
Related posts:&lt;ol&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href='http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2010/02/why-relationships-are-important.htm' rel='bookmark' title='Why Relationships Are Important'&gt;Why Relationships Are Important&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href='http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2006/06/how-to-restore-broken-relationships.htm' rel='bookmark' title='How To Restore Broken Relationships'&gt;How To Restore Broken Relationships&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href='http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2010/10/character-qualities-of-a-disciple-of-jesus.htm' rel='bookmark' title='Character Qualities of a Disciple of Jesus'&gt;Character Qualities of a Disciple of Jesus&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ol&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
&lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/PastorDansBlog?a=86UFTNaD8ac:y2AJU4H2ec4:yIl2AUoC8zA"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/PastorDansBlog?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PastorDansBlog/~4/86UFTNaD8ac" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2010/10/jesus-instructions-on-relationships.htm/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>

			<itunes:keywords>Jesus,message,relationships</itunes:keywords>
		<itunes:subtitle>We’re going to be looking at what Jesus has to say about living out God’s plan for your relationships. In our current message series, 40 Days with Jesus, we’re going through Jesus’ famous teaching in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7.</itunes:subtitle>
		<itunes:summary>(http://www.pastordanwalker.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/101017.jpg)We’re going to be looking at what Jesus has to say about living out God’s plan for your relationships. In our current message series, 40 Days with Jesus, we’re going through Jesus’ famous teaching in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7. Relationships were invented by God. People were created so that we could have a relationship with God and with one another. Relationships bring much blessing into our lives, but also sometimes conflict and pain. How can your relationships be everything that God intends them to be? The answer is by understanding the principles of God’s Word and then applying them to your life with the help of the Holy Spirit.

It is the Holy Spirit that illuminates God’s Word and shows us how to practically apply it to our lives.
Matthew 5:19 (NIV) … whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
In order to teach God’s Word, you have to understand what it says. However, that’s not enough. God desires for each person to understand, teach and practice God’s Word. What did Jesus call those who understand and teach God’s Word, but don’t practice it? Hypocrites. We don’t want to be hypocrites but devoted followers of Jesus. Jesus goes on to say
Matthew 5:20 (NIV) For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.
You see the religious teachers of the day appeared to have it all together. They thought they understood God’s Word and they taught it to others. Yet, Jesus says here that these teachers weren’t even saved. Why? Because, as we’ll see, their so-called righteousness was only in outward appearances. In their hearts they were not right with God, they were hypocrites. The teachers did not practice what they taught.

Managing outward appearances with no change of heart just doesn’t work. But isn’t there just a touch of the truth there? Don’t we sometimes say one thing, but think quite another in our hearts? What if the thoughts of our hearts came out, rather than the words we want others to hear? Let’s remember as we go through Jesus’ teaching that God wants our outward actions and words to reflect a pure and honest heart within.

In this section of Matthew 5, we will see Jesus teach on 6 aspects of relationships. In each aspect, Jesus begins by saying, “You have heard … And I say to you.” What people had heard had to do with outward actions. Jesus deals with heart attitudes.

Listen to my October 17, 2010 message "Jesus on Relationships."



[flashvideo file=http://www.lifechurchstlouis.org/images/stories/video/101017.mp4 stretching=fill /]</itunes:summary>
		<itunes:author>Pastor Dan's Blog Podcast</itunes:author>
		<itunes:explicit>no</itunes:explicit>
		<itunes:duration>32:39</itunes:duration>
	<media:content url="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PastorDansBlog/~5/gJm2I-mtt1M/101017.mp3" fileSize="15670304" type="audio/mpeg" /><feedburner:origLink>http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2010/10/jesus-instructions-on-relationships.htm</feedburner:origLink><enclosure url="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PastorDansBlog/~5/gJm2I-mtt1M/101017.mp3" length="15670304" type="audio/mpeg" /><feedburner:origEnclosureLink>http://www.lifechurchstlouis.org/images/stories/audio/101017.mp3</feedburner:origEnclosureLink></item>
		<item>
		<title>What’s My Mission in Life?</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PastorDansBlog/~3/XOo0wDNEUHs/whats-my-mission-in-life.htm</link>
		<comments>http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2010/10/whats-my-mission-in-life.htm#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 10 Oct 2010 16:45:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Pastor Dan Walker</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Audio]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Message]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Video]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[message]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[outreach]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.pastordanwalker.org/?p=612</guid>
		<description>I&amp;#8217;d like to talk about the mission that Jesus has for each disciple. A mission is a special task given to a person or group to carry out. Before we begin discussing what Jesus has to say about your mission, we need to look at some biblical background. 1 John 5:19 (NIV) We know that we [...]
Related posts:&lt;ol&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href='http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2006/10/mission-possible.htm' rel='bookmark' title='Mission Possible'&gt;Mission Possible&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href='http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2010/10/character-qualities-of-a-disciple-of-jesus.htm' rel='bookmark' title='Character Qualities of a Disciple of Jesus'&gt;Character Qualities of a Disciple of Jesus&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href='http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2011/11/helping-others-in-their-quest.htm' rel='bookmark' title='Helping Others In Their Quest'&gt;Helping Others In Their Quest&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ol&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
&lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/PastorDansBlog?a=XOo0wDNEUHs:0JzUSQXQHxE:yIl2AUoC8zA"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/PastorDansBlog?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PastorDansBlog/~4/XOo0wDNEUHs" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2010/10/whats-my-mission-in-life.htm/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>

			<itunes:keywords>message,outreach</itunes:keywords>
		<itunes:subtitle>I'd like to talk about the mission that Jesus has for each disciple. A mission is a special task given to a person or group to carry out. Before we begin discussing what Jesus has to say about your mission, we need to look at some biblical background. </itunes:subtitle>
		<itunes:summary>(http://www.pastordanwalker.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/101010.jpg)I'd like to talk about the mission that Jesus has for each disciple. A mission is a special task given to a person or group to carry out. Before we begin discussing what Jesus has to say about your mission, we need to look at some biblical background.
1 John 5:19 (NIV) We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.
The world that we live in is a spiritual war zone between two opposing kingdoms. On one side is the kingdom of God, inhabited by disciples of Jesus. On the other side is the world, the kingdom of darkness, inhabited by those who are not Jesus’ disciples. The world is under the control of Satan, the evil one. Every person is on one side or the other.
1 John 2:15 (NIV) Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
These two sides are in direct opposition. A disciple is not to love the world or it’s ways. In fact, if a person loves the evil of the world, it proves they are not Jesus’ disciple. What then do you think the world thinks of Jesus’ disciples?
John 15:19 (NIV) If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.
As we have seen, the character qualities of a disciple of Jesus are exactly the opposite of what the world teaches. So, true disciples, committed followers of Jesus, are hated by those who are of the world, those who are not believers.

So, what is the mission of a disciple of Jesus? Jesus’ mission for you and me is to influence people in the world for God so that they go from hating Jesus and His disciples to loving Jesus and His disciples. Our mission is to work with God in rescuing people from the dominion of darkness and bringing them into the kingdom of light.

Today, we’re going to look at Jesus’ instructions on how to carry out your mission, one of your primary purposes in life.

Listen to my October 10, 2010 message "Jesus on Mission."



[flashvideo file=http://www.lifechurchstlouis.org/images/stories/video/101010.mp4 stretching=fill /]</itunes:summary>
		<itunes:author>Pastor Dan's Blog Podcast</itunes:author>
		<itunes:explicit>no</itunes:explicit>
		<itunes:duration>35:48</itunes:duration>
	<media:content url="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PastorDansBlog/~5/54tx_ks39ic/101010.mp3" fileSize="17182464" type="audio/mpeg" /><feedburner:origLink>http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2010/10/whats-my-mission-in-life.htm</feedburner:origLink><enclosure url="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PastorDansBlog/~5/54tx_ks39ic/101010.mp3" length="17182464" type="audio/mpeg" /><feedburner:origEnclosureLink>http://www.lifechurchstlouis.org/images/stories/audio/101010.mp3</feedburner:origEnclosureLink></item>
		<item>
		<title>Character Qualities of a Disciple of Jesus</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PastorDansBlog/~3/6FE1vXJO0PI/character-qualities-of-a-disciple-of-jesus.htm</link>
		<comments>http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2010/10/character-qualities-of-a-disciple-of-jesus.htm#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 03 Oct 2010 17:58:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Pastor Dan Walker</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Audio]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bible]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Life]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Message]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Video]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[discipleship]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jesus]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[message]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.pastordanwalker.org/?p=604</guid>
		<description>Today we begin a new message series called “40 Days with Jesus.” I believe the content of this series has the potential to make a radical difference in the lives of everyone here. Why? Because we’re going to be studying the most famous teaching of Jesus called the Sermon on the Mount. This teaching of Jesus is [...]
Related posts:&lt;ol&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href='http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2011/12/jesus-the-power-of-god.htm' rel='bookmark' title='Jesus &amp;#8211; The Power of God'&gt;Jesus &amp;#8211; The Power of God&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href='http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2008/01/importance-of-character-in-leadership.htm' rel='bookmark' title='The Importance Of Character In Leadership'&gt;The Importance Of Character In Leadership&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href='http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2010/10/jesus-instructions-on-relationships.htm' rel='bookmark' title='Jesus&amp;#8217; Instructions on Relationships'&gt;Jesus&amp;#8217; Instructions on Relationships&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ol&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
&lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/PastorDansBlog?a=6FE1vXJO0PI:87yQWfrED_o:yIl2AUoC8zA"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/PastorDansBlog?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PastorDansBlog/~4/6FE1vXJO0PI" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2010/10/character-qualities-of-a-disciple-of-jesus.htm/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>

			<itunes:keywords>discipleship,Jesus,message</itunes:keywords>
		<itunes:subtitle>Today we begin a new message series called “40 Days with Jesus.” I believe the content of this series has the potential to make a radical difference in the lives of everyone here. Why? Because we’re going to be studying the most famous teaching of Jesu...</itunes:subtitle>
		<itunes:summary>(http://www.pastordanwalker.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/101003jpg.jpg)Today we begin a new message series called “40 Days with Jesus.” I believe the content of this series has the potential to make a radical difference in the lives of everyone here. Why? Because we’re going to be studying the most famous teaching of Jesus called the Sermon on the Mount. This teaching of Jesus is found in Matthew 5-7 and we’ll be going through these 3 chapters verse by verse over the next 40 days or so in October and November.

Before we get into the first section of the Sermon on the Mount, let’s look at the whole passage in summary. I believe that Jesus’ teaching could be best summarized in
Matthew 6:8 (NIV) Do not be like them …
Who is the ‘them’ we are not to be like? As you read the whole passage, which I’d encourage you to do this week, you’ll see the ‘them’ is hypocrites. What is a hypocrite? A hypocrite is a person who claims to have certain beliefs, but his behavior in his life shows he is not sincere. A hypocrite is someone who wears a beautiful mask, but underneath things are not so beautiful. A hypocrite is not who they seem to be.

Now, before we all excuse ourselves, because we aren’t hypocrites, but we sure know a few, I believe that we all have some hypocrisy to deal with in our lives. As long as we are sinners, we try to cover up that sin and appear better than we really are. Jesus hates hypocrisy, but he loves authenticity. Being who you say you are. Being in private, the same as you appear in public. That’s what I want for myself and everyone in this church.

Jesus’ message in the Sermon on the Mount is not just negative, he also shows us what a true follower, a true disciple of Jesus should live like. In the very first section of the sermon, Jesus shows us what the character of a disciple should be. Today, I’ve entitled my message ‘Jesus on Character.” Every believer is to be a disciple of Jesus, a follower of Jesus. If someone is not a disciple of Jesus, then they’re not a believer.

In today’s message, we’re going to be looking at the 8 beatitudes, found in Matthew 5. Each one begins with the phrase “Blessed are ... and then Jesus describes a character trait of a disciple.” What does it mean to be blessed? Someone who is blessed by God is content, they are fulfilled, they are filled with joy, their needs are met. So, today, we’re going to look at 8 character qualities that God wants to build into your life, so that you’ll be blessed and equipped to fulfill God’s purpose for your life.

Listen to my October 3, 2010 message "Jesus on Character."



[flashvideo file=http://www.lifechurchstlouis.org/images/stories/video/101003.mov stretching=fill /]</itunes:summary>
		<itunes:author>Pastor Dan's Blog Podcast</itunes:author>
		<itunes:explicit>no</itunes:explicit>
		<itunes:duration>40:28</itunes:duration>
	<media:content url="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PastorDansBlog/~5/zP2tCzwxcNI/101003.mp3" fileSize="9712768" type="audio/mpeg" /><feedburner:origLink>http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2010/10/character-qualities-of-a-disciple-of-jesus.htm</feedburner:origLink><enclosure url="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PastorDansBlog/~5/zP2tCzwxcNI/101003.mp3" length="9712768" type="audio/mpeg" /><feedburner:origEnclosureLink>http://www.lifechurchstlouis.org/images/stories/audio/101003.mp3</feedburner:origEnclosureLink></item>
		<item>
		<title>Why Go To Church?</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PastorDansBlog/~3/rGmY_irAdb4/why-go-to-church-2.htm</link>
		<comments>http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2010/09/why-go-to-church-2.htm#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 26 Sep 2010 20:04:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Pastor Dan Walker</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Audio]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bible]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Church]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Video]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[community]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[message]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[purpose]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.pastordanwalker.org/?p=601</guid>
		<description>Life is getting busier and more hectic with each passing year. How many would agree with that? It seems as though the time in a day is shrinking every month. The night arrives before we have time to get everything done. So it’s important that we spend the time that God has given us doing the most [...]
Related posts:&lt;ol&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href='http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2010/09/a-church-of-prayer.htm' rel='bookmark' title='A Church of Prayer'&gt;A Church of Prayer&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href='http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2008/07/connecting-with-church-family.htm' rel='bookmark' title='Connecting With A Church Family'&gt;Connecting With A Church Family&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href='http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2006/03/st-louis-church-directory-tool-for-finding-st-louis-church.htm' rel='bookmark' title='St Louis Church Directory &amp;#8211; A Tool For Finding A St Louis Church'&gt;St Louis Church Directory &amp;#8211; A Tool For Finding A St Louis Church&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ol&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
&lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/PastorDansBlog?a=rGmY_irAdb4:r5q30zBiuUo:yIl2AUoC8zA"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/PastorDansBlog?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PastorDansBlog/~4/rGmY_irAdb4" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2010/09/why-go-to-church-2.htm/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>

			<itunes:keywords>community,message,purpose</itunes:keywords>
		<itunes:subtitle>Life is getting busier and more hectic with each passing year. How many would agree with that? It seems as though the time in a day is shrinking every month. The night arrives before we have time to get everything done.</itunes:subtitle>
		<itunes:summary>(http://www.pastordanwalker.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/100926.jpg)Life is getting busier and more hectic with each passing year. How many would agree with that? It seems as though the time in a day is shrinking every month. The night arrives before we have time to get everything done. So it’s important that we spend the time that God has given us doing the most profitable things. One of the things that God has designed to help you be successful in life is church. Yet even in the days of the Bible, people had a problem with going to church.
Hebrews 10:25 (NIV) Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
God’s Word tells us not to give up on going to church, because we need the encouragement that church brings us. And the Day of Christ’s return is closer now than ever.

In America, 84% of adults claim to be Christians, yet only 20% of adults regularly attend church. The number one reason that people don’t regularly attend church is that they are too busy. What does it mean when someone says they are too busy to do something? It simply means that the thing you are too busy for has a low priority in your life. You don’t see much value or benefit in it. I really believe that’s why the vast majority of people in America do not regularly attend church. They see no real benefit to it, it’s just a waste of a Sunday morning.

This morning, my message is entitled “Five Benefits of Church.” We’re going to look at the Bible together and see five main reasons to go to church. Knowing these five reasons will also help us make good use of our time in church. Knowing these five reasons will help you pick a healthy church family to be a part of to begin with. If the Bible says that being part of a church family is important, then there must be something to it.

This morning we’re going to concentrate on one passage in the book of Acts. The book of Acts in the New Testament tells the story of how the church got started. It’s not just a lesson in history though, the model found for the church in Acts is one that God desires the church of the 21st century to follow as well. There are 28 chapters in the book of Acts. We want Life Church to be an Acts 29 church. An Acts 29 church is a church that is committed to extending what started in the first 28 chapters of Acts right into St Louis in 2010 in our own Acts 29 chapter.
Acts 2:41-47 (NIV) Those who accepted his [Peter’s] message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
From this passage we’re going to discover five reasons why the church exists and why you should be a part of it.

Listen to my September 26, 2010 message "Five Benefits of Church."



[flashvideo file=http://www.lifechurchstlouis.org/images/stories/video/100926.mov stretching=fill /]</itunes:summary>
		<itunes:author>Pastor Dan's Blog Podcast</itunes:author>
		<itunes:explicit>no</itunes:explicit>
		<itunes:duration>33:35</itunes:duration>
	<media:content url="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PastorDansBlog/~5/kNkdHgPk8eg/100926.mp3" fileSize="8060416" type="audio/mpeg" /><feedburner:origLink>http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2010/09/why-go-to-church-2.htm</feedburner:origLink><enclosure url="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PastorDansBlog/~5/kNkdHgPk8eg/100926.mp3" length="8060416" type="audio/mpeg" /><feedburner:origEnclosureLink>http://www.lifechurchstlouis.org/images/stories/audio/100926.mp3</feedburner:origEnclosureLink></item>
		<item>
		<title>How to Pray for Lost Loved Ones – Part 2</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PastorDansBlog/~3/maeDDYW1yJ0/how-to-pray-for-lost-loved-ones-part-2.htm</link>
		<comments>http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2010/09/how-to-pray-for-lost-loved-ones-part-2.htm#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 20 Sep 2010 01:39:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Pastor Dan Walker</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Audio]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Church]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Video]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[message]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[outreach]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[prayer]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.pastordanwalker.org/?p=597</guid>
		<description>We’ve been looking at the biblical principles that a believer needs to practice to pray powerful prayers. Our theme verse for the entire series has been James 5:16b (NIV) The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. Now this verse does not say that prayer by just anyone is powerful and effective. Only the prayer [...]
Related posts:&lt;ol&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href='http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2010/09/how-to-pray-for-lost-loved-ones-part-1.htm' rel='bookmark' title='How To Pray For Lost Loved Ones &amp;#8211; Part 1'&gt;How To Pray For Lost Loved Ones &amp;#8211; Part 1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href='http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2010/09/a-church-of-prayer.htm' rel='bookmark' title='A Church of Prayer'&gt;A Church of Prayer&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href='http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2010/08/advanced-prayer.htm' rel='bookmark' title='Advanced Prayer Disciplines'&gt;Advanced Prayer Disciplines&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ol&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
&lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/PastorDansBlog?a=maeDDYW1yJ0:KEXQC7T37Gg:yIl2AUoC8zA"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/PastorDansBlog?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PastorDansBlog/~4/maeDDYW1yJ0" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2010/09/how-to-pray-for-lost-loved-ones-part-2.htm/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>

			<itunes:keywords>message,outreach,prayer</itunes:keywords>
		<itunes:subtitle>We’ve been looking at the biblical principles that a believer needs to practice to pray powerful prayers. Our theme verse for the entire series has been James 5:16b (NIV) The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. </itunes:subtitle>
		<itunes:summary>(http://www.pastordanwalker.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/100919.jpg)We’ve been looking at the biblical principles that a believer needs to practice to pray powerful prayers. Our theme verse for the entire series has been
James 5:16b (NIV) The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
Now this verse does not say that prayer by just anyone is powerful and effective. Only the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. A righteous person is a believer walking rightly before God, a believer that is not walking in any known sin. When you are living righteously, then you can be confident in your prayers being powerful.

In this mini-series within our Power Prayer series, we’re looking at how we can pray powerfully and effective for those dear to us to be saved and walk with God. Last week, we began the discussion of why it is often not any easy task to seeing a loved one come to salvation.

One of the first barriers is simply that most people think they are Christians already. 84% of adults in America think they are Christians. 88% say they feel accepted by God. Yet only 38% of adults actually believe they are saved by confessing their sins and accepting Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Only 7% of adults have a correct understanding of 8 basic Christian beliefs. So, whereas the vast majority of people believe they are Christians, the true Christians are a distinct minority. Jesus came to save the lost, to set those in spiritual bondage free.
Luke 4:18 (NIV) "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed,”
As a Bible-believing church, our mission is the same as Jesus, to set the lost free. Today we’re going to continue to talk about how to do that through prayer.

Late one night, a woman named Chrissy was awakened as the phone rang. When she answered, it was her older brother on the line. He shouted. “Sis, I just invited Jesus into my life, I’m saved. The preacher said to tell someone immediately, so I called you because you’ve been praying for me for so long.” Chrissy was speechless. Her brother had screamed at her at their mother’s funeral when she tried to share Jesus with him. He had broken up a pastor’s home to marry his third wife. He had been antagonistic to the things of God for years and years. Yet somehow, her prayers had finally been answered. A captive had been set free.

God wants to do the same for you, as you pray for your lost loved ones. So, let’s continue with the question, How can I pray for lost loved ones?

Listen to my September 19, 2010 message "How to Pray for Lost Loved Ones - Part 2."



[flashvideo file=http://www.lifechurchstlouis.org/images/stories/video/100919.mov stretching=fill /]</itunes:summary>
		<itunes:author>Pastor Dan's Blog Podcast</itunes:author>
		<itunes:explicit>no</itunes:explicit>
		<itunes:duration>36:42</itunes:duration>
	<media:content url="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PastorDansBlog/~5/W-afBO-Bo4E/100919.mp3" fileSize="8807760" type="audio/mpeg" /><feedburner:origLink>http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2010/09/how-to-pray-for-lost-loved-ones-part-2.htm</feedburner:origLink><enclosure url="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PastorDansBlog/~5/W-afBO-Bo4E/100919.mp3" length="8807760" type="audio/mpeg" /><feedburner:origEnclosureLink>http://www.lifechurchstlouis.org/images/stories/audio/100919.mp3</feedburner:origEnclosureLink></item>
		<item>
		<title>How To Pray For Lost Loved Ones – Part 1</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PastorDansBlog/~3/6oN5acwVHwg/how-to-pray-for-lost-loved-ones-part-1.htm</link>
		<comments>http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2010/09/how-to-pray-for-lost-loved-ones-part-1.htm#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 13 Sep 2010 01:33:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Pastor Dan Walker</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Audio]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Church]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Video]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[message]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[outreach]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[prayer]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.pastordanwalker.org/?p=595</guid>
		<description>Prayer is one of the most important things you can do with your time. Now it’s not the only important thing, but it should have the priority in our lives. One of the reasons that prayer is so important is that it is one of the essential things that leads people to become believers. So prayer [...]
Related posts:&lt;ol&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href='http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2010/09/how-to-pray-for-lost-loved-ones-part-2.htm' rel='bookmark' title='How to Pray for Lost Loved Ones &amp;#8211; Part 2'&gt;How to Pray for Lost Loved Ones &amp;#8211; Part 2&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href='http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2007/12/is-mormonism-christian-part-2.htm' rel='bookmark' title='Is Mormonism Christian? Part 2'&gt;Is Mormonism Christian? Part 2&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href='http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2007/02/lost-tomb-of-jesus.htm' rel='bookmark' title='The Lost Tomb Of Jesus?'&gt;The Lost Tomb Of Jesus?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ol&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
&lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/PastorDansBlog?a=6oN5acwVHwg:aoYvT6XRQ5I:yIl2AUoC8zA"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/PastorDansBlog?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PastorDansBlog/~4/6oN5acwVHwg" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2010/09/how-to-pray-for-lost-loved-ones-part-1.htm/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>

			<itunes:keywords>message,outreach,prayer</itunes:keywords>
		<itunes:subtitle>Prayer is one of the most important things you can do with your time. Now it’s not the only important thing, but it should have the priority in our lives. One of the reasons that prayer is so important is that it is one of the essential things that lea...</itunes:subtitle>
		<itunes:summary>(http://www.pastordanwalker.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/100912.jpg)Prayer is one of the most important things you can do with your time. Now it’s not the only important thing, but it should have the priority in our lives. One of the reasons that prayer is so important is that it is one of the essential things that leads people to become believers. So prayer affects the eternal destinies of people.

A lost person is someone who has not believed in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. They may or may not believe in God, they may or may not attend church, but they do not have a personal relationship with Jesus. Everyone in the world is in one of two categories, they are either a believer or an unbeliever, they are either saved or lost.
Luke 19:10 (NIV) 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.
The reason that Jesus came to this earth was to save the lost. He loved us so much that He came from heaven to die on the cross that our sins might be forgiven. Everyone who believes in Jesus has their sins forgiven and moves from being lost to being saved. Now, if this was Jesus’ purpose in life, shouldn’t this be our purpose as well?

An executive hirer, or “head hunter” whose job is to hire corporate executives for large corporations, told this story. He said that when he tries to assess a potential executive, he tries to disarm them. He takes them out to dinner, takes off his coat and tie, talks about sports or family until they’re relaxed. Then he leans over, looks them square in the eye and asks, “What’s your purpose in life?” He said, that it’s amazing how many executives fall apart at that question.

However, when he interviewed an executive named Bob, he asked him the question, “What’s your purpose in life, Bob?” Bob looked him squarely back in the eye and without hesitation answered, “To go to heaven and take as many people with me as I can.” The headhunter was speechless.

I think Bob had a great answer. I also want to go to heaven and take as many people with me as I can. How about you? For many of us, we especially want to make sure that our loved ones will be with us for eternity. Our spouses, parents, children, grandchildren, friends and whoever else is dear to our hearts. Yet, sometimes, these are the people that seem most resistant to the Gospel. Sometimes, it seems impossible that they will ever be saved.

Prayer is the key to seeing a lost loved one saved and that’s what we’re going to talk about today. So keep in mind someone that you love that is far from God today.

Listen to my September 12, 2010 message "How To Pray for Lost Loved Ones - Part 1."



[flashvideo file=http://www.lifechurchstlouis.org/images/stories/video/100912.mov stretching=fill /]</itunes:summary>
		<itunes:author>Pastor Dan's Blog Podcast</itunes:author>
		<itunes:explicit>no</itunes:explicit>
		<itunes:duration>34:27</itunes:duration>
	<media:content url="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PastorDansBlog/~5/HpcCN5N1VMo/100912.mp3" fileSize="8268759" type="audio/mpeg" /><feedburner:origLink>http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2010/09/how-to-pray-for-lost-loved-ones-part-1.htm</feedburner:origLink><enclosure url="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PastorDansBlog/~5/HpcCN5N1VMo/100912.mp3" length="8268759" type="audio/mpeg" /><feedburner:origEnclosureLink>http://www.lifechurchstlouis.org/images/stories/audio/100912.mp3</feedburner:origEnclosureLink></item>
		<item>
		<title>A Church of Prayer</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PastorDansBlog/~3/AIqvIu0HglQ/a-church-of-prayer.htm</link>
		<comments>http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2010/09/a-church-of-prayer.htm#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 06 Sep 2010 01:26:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Pastor Dan Walker</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Audio]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Church]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Video]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[message]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[prayer]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.pastordanwalker.org/?p=592</guid>
		<description>In this message, I want to step back and look at the importance of prayer to our church as a whole. God&amp;#8217;s Word teaches us that when the people of God gather together to pray, great power is released. Matthew 18:20 (NIV) &amp;#8220;For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with [...]
Related posts:&lt;ol&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href='http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2010/08/advanced-prayer.htm' rel='bookmark' title='Advanced Prayer Disciplines'&gt;Advanced Prayer Disciplines&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href='http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2010/08/what-prayer-accomplishes.htm' rel='bookmark' title='What Prayer Accomplishes'&gt;What Prayer Accomplishes&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href='http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2010/08/foundational-prayer.htm' rel='bookmark' title='The Basics of Prayer'&gt;The Basics of Prayer&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ol&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
&lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/PastorDansBlog?a=AIqvIu0HglQ:aQo6iEj5ow0:yIl2AUoC8zA"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/PastorDansBlog?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PastorDansBlog/~4/AIqvIu0HglQ" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2010/09/a-church-of-prayer.htm/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>

			<itunes:keywords>message,prayer</itunes:keywords>
		<itunes:subtitle>In this message, I want to step back and look at the importance of prayer to our church as a whole. God's Word teaches us that when the people of God gather together to pray, great power is released. Matthew 18:20 (NIV) "For where two or three come to...</itunes:subtitle>
		<itunes:summary>(http://www.pastordanwalker.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/100905.jpg)In this message, I want to step back and look at the importance of prayer to our church as a whole. God's Word teaches us that when the people of God gather together to pray, great power is released.
Matthew 18:20 (NIV) "For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them."
Jesus is present in a special way when believers come together in unity to pray. I believe that there are prayers you'll never see answered if you just pray them by yourself. There are loved ones that may never come to know Jesus if you pray alone. However, the prayer of agreement, when believers gather together has the power to overcome every obstacle.
Acts 4:31 (NIV) After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
After the early church had a prayer meeting, the very building in which they met was shaken. That was some powerful prayer and their prayers were answered very quickly. There is great power released when the church prays together. Behind every great move of God when many people are saved, you'll find at least one group of people who met for prayer. Behind every great church that impacts a whole city, you'll find a serious prayer ministry where people pray together to see God move.

Prayer is the fuel of our lives and of our church. Listen to what Jesus wants for His church, for our church here at Life Church.
Mark 11:17 (NIV) And as he taught them, he said, "Is it not written: "'My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations'?"
In this verse Jesus is saying that he wants His house, His church, to be a house of prayer. He wants the church to be known first and foremost as a place of prayer. Now Jesus was not talking about a building, He is speaking of the church as the people of God. God wants Life Church to be called a church of prayer, not just for ourselves, but a church of prayer for all nations.

To better understand what Jesus is talking about in this verse, we're going to study the surrounding passage found in Mark 11:12-25 to answer the question, How can we become a church of prayer? A church of prayer is filled with people of prayer.

Listen to my September 5, 2010 message "A Church of Prayer."



[flashvideo file=http://www.lifechurchstlouis.org/images/stories/video/100905.mov stretching=fill /]</itunes:summary>
		<itunes:author>Pastor Dan's Blog Podcast</itunes:author>
		<itunes:explicit>no</itunes:explicit>
		<itunes:duration>31:02</itunes:duration>
	<media:content url="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PastorDansBlog/~5/FKuKNMtmbtQ/100905.mp3" fileSize="7448704" type="audio/mpeg" /><feedburner:origLink>http://www.pastordanwalker.org/2010/09/a-church-of-prayer.htm</feedburner:origLink><enclosure url="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PastorDansBlog/~5/FKuKNMtmbtQ/100905.mp3" length="7448704" type="audio/mpeg" /><feedburner:origEnclosureLink>http://www.lifechurchstlouis.org/images/stories/audio/100905.mp3</feedburner:origEnclosureLink></item>
	<copyright>(c) 2011</copyright><media:credit role="author">Pastor Dan Walker</media:credit><media:rating>nonadult</media:rating><media:description type="plain">Biblical perspectives on life.</media:description></channel>
</rss><!-- Performance optimized by W3 Total Cache. Learn more: http://www.w3-edge.com/wordpress-plugins/

Minified using disk: basic
Page Caching using disk: enhanced
Database Caching 8/95 queries in 0.162 seconds using disk: basic

Served from: www.pastordanwalker.org @ 2012-02-10 09:27:33 -->

