Month: June 2019

Bearing Fruit

Last message in our series, Power for Living, “Bearing Fruit” focuses on the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5.

‘But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

If we live by the Spirit, let us also behave in accordance with the Spirit.’

Galatians 5:22-23,25 https://my.bible.com/bible/107/GAL.5.22-23,25

Are we really disciples?

Are we really his disciples?

When we are wrong, we scream “judge not” and “let he who is without sin cast the first stone”, but we ignore “go forth and sin no more” and “be holy as I am holy”.
We love all the “love one another” but ignore the “bear with one another” and “admonish one another”.
We love the “forgiveness”, but don’t want the “confess”, “repent”, and “cleansed of all unrighteousness”.
We hate to “run the race of endurance” but want the “I go to prepare a place for you”.
We want the “riches of heaven” but forget the widow: “For they all gave out of their wealth. But she, out of her poverty, put in what she had to live on, everything she had.”
If we are his disciples, we follow everything he taught both in person and through the Holy Spirit inspired Scriptures, not just the parts we like.

Then Jesus said to those Judeans who had believed him, “If you continue to follow my teaching, you are really my disciples
John 8:31 NET

The Melting Pot

America was called the great melting pot…

People from around the globe flocked here to become ‘Americans’ and have a piece of the “American dream”.

The melting pot worked for many, many years, with a few stirs along the way, because of the foundational elements that made it.

The pot was made with the biblical foundation of our Declaration of Independence, our Constitution, and our Bill of Rights. And, was fueled by the fires of our beliefs in a loving God, our entrepreneurial spirit, our national pride, and our patriotism.

However, the fires have cooled and the metal of our pot has been cracked and is breaking… we are no longer melting and blending together, we are separating like a recipe gone bad.

We have allowed the fires to be doused by disbelief and lost our national identity. We allowed snowflakes to freeze and crack our melting pot, like hot metal thrown into an ice bath…

The result is a divided nation!

If we want America to survive and thrive, we need to pray a prayer of confession and repentance, we need to return to the hope the first immigrants had coming here to have a better life, not remake the life they had, we need to believe again in a sovereign God that wants to bless our unity in spite of our differences. We need our fire to burn so hot that the snowflakes melt. We need to be proud and humbled to be American again, rather than whatever we used to be…

As we celebrate the coming anniversary of our independence, let us celebrate again what made America the land of opportunity in the first place… a loving God that delivered us from tyranny and oppression!

Hotline To Heaven

Part three of our series, Power For Living, we focus on our Hotline to Heaven, the indwelling Holy Spirit and how he helps us in the second most important area of our entire Christian walk, PRAYER…

First, of course, being our salvation itself… Once we start a relationship with God, it is through prayer that we are able to build that relationship into a vibrant faith.

Holy Spirit helps us, even when we have no idea what to pray, he is completely in tune with the will of the Father, because he is God within us.

‘In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how we should pray, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes on behalf of the saints according to God’s will.’ Romans 8:26-27 https://my.bible.com/bible/107/ROM.8.26-27

The Great Commission and Three Types of Churches

Fantastic article and I agree completely.

My entire sermon series, On Mission, On Purpose: Carry the Message, after Easter was focused on this principle.

https://churchleaders.com/outreach-missions/outreach-missions-articles/353835-the-great-commission-and-three-types-of-churches.html

The Ultimate Power Up

Part two in our series, Power For Living, we discuss the gifts of the Spirit.

The gifts come in three categories, if you will… sign gifts, support or helping gifts, and the people who are gifts.

  1. People Gifts; specific “job titles” that Holy Spirit has given to the Church to lead it…
  • Apostle: Individuals gifted with the ability to plant and administer new churches Ephesians 4:11
  • Prophet also prophecy: boldly and fearlessly proclaiming God’s truth, Ephesians 4:11, Romans 12:6, 1 Corinthians 12:10, 28
  • Evangelist: passionately leading others to the saving knowledge of Christ, Ephesians 4:11
  • Shepherd, Pastor, Overseer: overseeing, training, feeding, coaching/leading, Ephesians 4:11
  • Teacher also teaching: making clear the truth of God’s Word with simplicity & accuracy, Romans 12:7; 1 Corinthians 12:28; Ephesians 4:11
  1. Miraculous Gifts; also called sign gifts are given to authenticate the message of Christ
  • Tongues. Ability to (a) speak to God in a language never learned, and/or (b) to receive and communicate an immediate message of God to His people through a divinely anointed utterance in a language never learned. (1 Cor 12:10,28; 14:13-19; Acts 2:1-13; 19:1-7; 10:44-46)
  • Interpretation. Ability to make known in the vernacular the message of one who speaks in tongues. (1 Cor 12:20,30; 14:13, 26-28)
  • Miracles: 1 Corinthians 12:10, 28
  • Healing: 1 Corinthians 12:9, 28
  1. Support, team, or helping Gifts; They are activity-, ministry- or task-oriented gifts. They are functional.
  • Faith: Ability to discern with extraordinary confidence the will and purposes of God for the future of His work. (1 Cor 12:9; Acts 27:21-25; Acts 11:22-24; Rom 4:18-21; Heb 11)
  • Discernment and discerning of spirits: Ability to know with assurance whether certain behavior or message or feeling purported to be of God is in reality divine, human, or satanic. 1 Corinthians 12:10, Acts 16:16-18; 1 Jn 4:1-6
  • Wisdom. Ability to know the mind of the Holy Spirit in such a way as to receive insight into how given knowledge may best be applied to specific needs arising in the body of Christ. (1 Cor 12:8; Acts 6:3, 10; 2 Pet 3:15; 1 Cor 2:1-13; Jas 1:5,6)
  • Knowledge and Word of Knowledge. Ability to discover, accumulate, analyze and clarify information and ideas which are pertinent to the growth and well-being of the body. The Word of Knowledge is the revelation of a fact in existence which cannot be seen, heard or revealed naturally. It is in existence, it is a fact, it is knowledge
  • Intercession. Ability to pray for extended periods of time on a regular basis and see frequent and specific answers to prayers to a degree much greater than that which is expected of the average Christian. (Jas 5:14-16; 1 Tim 2:2,2; Col 1:9-12)
  • Martyrdom. Ability to undergo suffering for the faith even to the point of death, while consistently displaying a joyous and victorious attitude which brings glory to God. (1 Cor 13:3; Acts 7:54-60; 12:1-5; 8:1-4)
  • Service. Ability to identify the unmet needs involved in a task related to God’s work, and to make use of available resources to meet
  • Helps. Ability to invest the talents you have in the life and ministry of other members of the body, thus enabling them to increase the effectiveness of their own spiritual gifts. (1 Cor 12:28; Rom 16:1,2; Acts 9:36)
  • Exhortation: motivating others to action, application and purpose, Romans 12:8
  • Mercy-showing: Ability to feel genuine empathy and compassion for individuals, both Christian and non-Christian, who suffer distressing physical, mental or emotional problems, and to translate that compassion into cheerfully done deeds which reflect Christ’s love and alleviate the suffering. (Rom 12:8; Acts 16:33,34; Lk 10:33-35; Acts 8:4; Rom 10:15)
  • Giving: releasing material resources to further the work of the Church, Romans 12:8
  • Administration: organizing, administering, promoting, leading, Romans 12:8; 1 Corinthians 12:28
  • Singleness: someone who, like Paul himself, is without the attachment of family or spouse can go places and do things in ministry that others with the attachments should not likely do…  1 Corinthians 7:7

Holy Wind Power

Part one in our series, Power For Living,  in Holy Wind Power, we meet the Holy Spirit.

Given to the Church on the day of Pentecost, we look at Holy Spirit’s attributes and responsibilities in the lives of believers.