Fresh Encounter Solemn Assembly

Presented to the Baptist State Convention of Michigan Fresh Encounter Solemn Assembly Book titles available are: prior to the 57th Annual Meeting Please visit Kerry Skinner s website (kerryskinner.com) for Books and Resources Authored The Christian Life: A Human Impossibility, (KLS LifeChange Ministries, 2012) Authored The Joy of Repentance (workbook), (KLS LifeChange Ministries, 2011) Authored The Joy of Repentance, (KLS LifeChange Ministries, 2007) Co-authored Chosen to be God s Prophet with Henry Blackaby, (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2003) Co-authored Called & Accountable with Henry Blackaby, (New Hope Publishers, 2002) Co-authored I Want to Enjoy My Children with Henry Brandt. (Multnomah Publishers, 2002) Co-authored Created to be God s Friend (workbook edition), with Henry Blackaby, (Thomas Nelson, 2000) Co-authored Marriage God s Way, with Henry Brandt, (Broadman/Holman, 1999) which was selected as a finalist in the 2000 gold Medallion Awards Competition, sponsored by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association Co-authored The Power of the Call, with Henry T. Blackaby and Henry Brandt, (Broadman/Holman, 1997) Co-authored The Heart of the Problem (book and workbook), with Henry Brandt, (Broadman/Holman, 1995) Co-authored The Word for the Wise with Henry Brandt, Broadman/ Holman, 1995) Co-authored Breaking Free from the Bondage of Sin with Henry Brandt, (Harvest House Publishers, 1994) 12 1

Psalm 85:4-9 Restore us, O God of our salvation, and cause Your anger toward us to cease. Will You be angry with us forever? Will You prolong Your anger to all generations? Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You? Show us Your mercy, LORD, and grant us Your salvation. I will hear what God the LORD will speak, for He will speak peace to His people and to His saints; but let them not turn back to folly. II Timothy 2:22 "Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart." Do I have any personal habits that are not pure? Do I allow impure thoughts about the opposite sex to stay in my mind? Mark 12:30 And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment. Do I read or watch that which is impure or suggests unholy things? Do I indulge in any unclean entertainment? Am I guilty of the lustful look? John 17:20-23 I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. 2 Chronicles 6:24,26,28,36-39 If Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against You,... When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against You,... When there is famine in the land, pestilence or blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers; when their enemies besiege them in the land of their cities; whatever plague or whatever sickness there is;... When they sin against You (for there is no one who does not sin), and You become angry with them and deliver them to the enemy, and they take them captive... yet when they come to themselves... and repent, and make supplication to You in the land of their captivity, saying, We have sinned, we have done wrong, and have committed wickedness ; and when they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul... and pray... then hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, their prayer and their supplications, and maintain their cause, and forgive Your people who have sinned against You. 2 Hebrews 13:17 "Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you." Do I hesitate to submit to God's appointed leaders in the church or elsewhere? Have I dishonored and hindered His work by criticizing His servants? Have I been faithful to pray regularly for my spiritual leaders? Do I have a rebellious spirit toward any God ordained authorities in life? John 14:21 "He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him." Is there anything I am refusing to obey that God has made clear I am to do? 11

Am I impatient with others? Am I ever angry and unkind? Have I ever engaged in gossip or talk that is not edifying to a person or the church? Have I ever by word or deed sought to hurt someone or damage his or her reputation? II Chronicles 7:13-14 When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. Luke 6:46 John 13:35 "By this, all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." Am I secretly pleased over the misfortunes of another? "Why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?" John 7:37-38 If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. Am I guilty of any contention or strife? Isaiah 55:1 Do I quarrel, argue or engage in heated discussions? Am I a partaker in any divisions or party spirit? Are there people whom I deliberately slight? Do I sense and see unity in our church body because of the common bond of love we have in Christ? I Corinthians 6:19-20 "Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's." Am I, in any way, careless with my body? Do I fail to care for it as the temple of the Holy Spirit? Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Isaiah 55:6 Seek the LORD while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. Isaiah 55:7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. Isaiah 55:11-12 So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. For you shall go out with joy, and be led out with peace. Do I fail to practice self control in eating and drinking? Do I have any habits that are defiling to the body? 10 Matthew 11:28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 3

Malachi 3:7 Return to Me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts. Acts 3:19 Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, II Chronicles 30:9.. for the LORD your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn His face from you if you return to Him. Revelation 2:4-7 Nevertheless, I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God. John 14:15 "If you love Me, keep My commandments." I Corinthians 10:31 "Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." Has personal recognition become a priority for me? Am I more concerned with what others think of me rather than what God thinks? Do I take the slightest credit for anything good about my life or accomplishments rather than give all the glory to God? Do I secretly want the praises of men for what I do in God's kingdom? Do I talk a stronger faith than I am willing to live? Does my life bring glory to God by the way I am living? Matthew 6:12, 14 "And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors... For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you." John 14:21 "He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me." John 14:23-24 Have I refused to forgive any person for the hurt I have experienced from them? Am I holding a grudge toward anyone? "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word... He who does not love Me does not keep my words." II Chronicles 34:27-28 Because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before God when you heard His words against this place and against its inhabitants, and you humbled yourself before Me, and you tore your clothes and wept before Me, I also have heard you, says the LORD. Surely I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace; and your eyes shall not see all the calamity which I will bring on this place and its inhabitants. 4 Are there any misunderstandings that I am unwilling to forget? Am I harboring bitterness, resentment, or jealousy against any person? Ephesians 4:29, 31 "Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers... Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice." Do I complain and find fault? Am I irritable or cranky? 9

Hebrews 10:25 "not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching." Jeremiah 29:4 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all who were carried away captive, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon... Am I irregular in my attendance of worship celebrations? Do I neglect the importance of weekly fellowship with God's people in the study of His Word? Am I faithful to worship - giving God my attention, affection, allegiance and adoration? Jeremiah 29:11-13 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. Luke 12:1 "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy." Do I live by the letter of the Law rather than by the spirit of the Law? Do I sound religious only to hear and then ignore God's Word? Do I expect others to serve me and ignore needs that I can meet? Am I insensitive to the life changing presence and power of God in worship celebrations? Do I give tradition a greater place of authority than I do truth? Ephesians 4:32 "And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you." Have I lost a compassionate heart and a kind spirit? Do I have a critical spirit that is quick to find wrong? Do I easily judge others for their short-comings I see - but am unable to see in myself? Am I sympathetic, loving, compassionate, and humble toward others? 8 Psalm 51:3-4 "I acknowledge my transgressions... Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in your sight." I John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Proverbs 28:13 He that covers his sins shall not prosper; but whoever confesses and forsakes them shall have mercy. A TIME FOR EXAMINATION I Thessalonians 5:19 "Do not quench (stifle) the Spirit." Have I lost the realization that God is constantly watching and weighing all of my thoughts, attitudes and actions as a holy and just God? Have I lost the acute awareness that He is holy and disciplines me for my sin? Have I excused myself and begun to tolerate subtle rebellion against God's holy standards - justifying 5 my disobedience by my own standard of righteousness?

I Thessalonians 5:17 "pray without ceasing" Is my prayer life more intense than ever before? Am I really seeking God more than ever? Am I seeing God conspicuously move in response to my prayer life? Matthew 6:33 "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." Is there anything in which I have failed to put God first? Have my decisions been made after my own wisdom and desires, rather than seeking and following God's will? Do I allow ambition, pleasure, loved ones, friendships, desire for recognition, money or my own plans to interfere in any way with my surrender and service to God? Galatians 5:22 "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy..." Is there joy in my life? In my work? In my worship? In my walk and witness to the watching world around me? Acts 1:8 "you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth." Have I failed to seek the lost for Christ? Am I faithful to witness consistently with my mouth for the Lord Jesus Christ? Has my life not shown to the lost the reality that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior? I Corinthians 4:2 "Moreover, it is required in stewards that one be found faithful." Am I ever undependable so that I cannot be trusted with responsibilities in the Lord's work? Do I allow my emotions to be stirred for the things of the Lord, but do nothing about it? Am I available and engaged in an ongoing ministry through His local church? Philippians 1:21 "For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain." Does anything mean more to me than living for and pleasing Christ? Do they see and sense a conspicuous and contagious joy that comes from God's Spirit? Have I allowed my love for television, movies, pleasure, or material things to distract me from my love relationship with God? Does my joy need to be restored? Is God producing spiritual fruit through my life? Acts 20:35 "And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'" 6 Have I robbed God by withholding His due of time, talents and money? Have I given less than a tenth of my income for God's work? 7 Have I failed to support mission work either in prayer or in offering?