Pastor Jeff Little
Imagine looking back over your life and sheepishly admitting you didn't engage with Jesus' mission nearly at all. "What Can I Say? I was casually disobedient."
Jesus' wants and our wants are not necessarily the same thing... but shouldn't they be(come) the same? For His sake?
"If you love Me," Jesus said, "you'll obey My commandments." Today, we challenge you to fill in the blank of any area He is calling you to, as a disciple and therefore a disciple-maker. What blanks need to be filled in your life?
We look deep, internally, today, discovering God's design and plans, His intent and commands. Whatever holds us back from accomplishing all He intends must be dealt with internally first, before it ever manifest externally. And YOU CAN DO IT!
With all our prayers and requests of/from God, in the name of Jesus, ever wonder how often anyone actually asks Him what He wants? Purpose and fulfillment are found through exactly that... asking Jesus - What Do You Want?
Do you ever feel exempt or excluded from the group benefits package? Would you like, instead, to be right up in the front for all the blessing? THAT'S WHAT WE WANT FOR YOU, AND WHAT GOD COMMANDS! He's telling us, "Everyone Must Cross" in order to get all HE has for you. Let's (all) GO!
Ever feel like you're just managing your days and not living your life? "How can things be like this? Is this all there is for me - for my family? How will I make it?" Â There is a message directly from God that you need to hear... and not just as a bumper sticker, but in its entirety... "YOU GOT THIS!" Devote your attention to this message and let God's Word wash over you and wash you clean from all the doubt and mess of the world, so you can possess your promised land as God has always intended for you!
What if God promised that He would provide such an incredible, blessed, overflowing life of purpose and fulfillment, but He made all the promises conditional - so IF anyone took the terms seriously, they would definitely receive all His goodness, and IF not, they would not receive? Because that is exactly what God did. As we begin this new series, we each must ask ourselves how we are doing at humbly following His direction. Because if we do, all His best plans and promises are on the other side of The Humble Test.
Yes, Jesus is the answer, but Jesus isn't here, so what are you gonna do about it? :) He says YOU are the answer WITH HIM! See how.
When life hits - and it always tends to hit hard - we need relief, we need support, we need answers. Thankfully, The Bible shows us exactly what the answer is for any situation you find yourself in. Give attention to what God has said, and what He backs up - and the answer will be yours.
Hearing God is something that He makes so possible and simple for every one of us, but unless we create space and spend time with Him, we can (and do) limit how much interaction we have with the Almighty. As unfortunate as that current reality is, we are not those who rest in old realities, but respond to God's call closer and closer to Him.
There is an entire 3rd Person of the Godhead/Trinity called The Holy Spirit. Jesus was baptized with The Holy Spirit and also Himself baptizes others with The Holy Spirit to this day. Discover what that infilling and overflowing looks like in the life of a disciple of Jesus today as you give attention to God's Word and will for your life.
Our King on His throne in His Kingdom expresses His will for His subjects (and friends). He intends for everyone to live an abundant life, and gives each one the opportunity to become free from anything that has kept them bound.
God, throughout all history, has given given given so much to people, wooing us to Himself, only to be met with contempt and rebellion time after time. Despite us grieving His heart, He still pursues us - and Jesus expresses how we show Him we love Him... unlike so many before us. As we repent and become obedient, may your heart be open to hearing God's plans for you... what to keep and what to ditch... what to start and what to stop.
When God makes a move and invites His devoted people to a specific time and specific place to receive incredible things from Him, GET READY... and that's exactly what He is doing right now, so that is exactly what we are doing right here.
What would you do if obeying God was against manmade laws of the land where you live? As we look at Jesus, we see clearly what He would do... what He DID... and even what it cost Him. Are you willing to pay a price to obey The Lord? Does Jesus' model give you faith and strength to obey in the face of criticism and penalty? Watch what Jesus did...
Could it be that we are still waiting for an angel to come stir the waters for us so one can get healed at a time? What if we all took responsibility to STIR IT UP and got active in our own pursuit of Jesus, The Healer, and got everything we needed?
No sermon today, just discussion - about where we start with divine healing and God's will and Jesus' instruction... and while not exhaustive, it is a decent primer into a Greater Things filled life, because we get to honestly and openly discuss what we've experienced, have been taught, and what may have been holding us back from experiencing the blessing available by the faithfulness of God.
Everyone has struggles and needs and questions... Jesus is the answer to all that, but do we really know that to be true? Have we experienced it? How would someone come to fully know and live in that reality of GREATER, when most people tend to live out "LESSER THINGS THAN THESE?" We must start by getting TO Jesus, then listening and follow all the way through to obedience.
Who ever has that confrontational conversation about the complacency of  someone else's spiritual life? Well, despite being devastatingly absent  in our contemporary American Church, it happens during the episode with  the woman at the well, when, as she proceeds from her encounter with  Jesus to evangelize her hometown, He confronts His own disciples' lack  of activity with these words, "Don't YOU say, 'there are still four  months and THEN harvest?'"  What do we do with such a confrontation? Find out in this message,  "Time's Up."
Joining Jesus on His mission, the Samaritan woman at the well, immediately proceeds from Jesus to call others to Him because of what great thing He did for her. Â Our lives must reflect the same sort of passion and commitment to living on purpose with our Lord as hers.
Jesus comes to the Samaritan woman at the well with a request to give Him a drink. Â Jesus asks from us today as well. Â Will you give Him a drink? Â Will you do what He says and show Him you love Him?
There were certain things in the life of Jesus that were not optional... and as His disciples, as God's children, there are things that aren't optional for us either. Â Jesus had to do certain things. Â We have to... too!
God SENT His Son Jesus with a mission. Â Jesus lived on mission. Â Jesus commissioned believers to be on His mission with Him... Jesus Sent Us. Â Thus, "He Sent Me."
When John the Baptist claps back at those frustrated about Jesus' increasing popularity with "He Must Increase and I Must Decrease," what are today's disciples to do except adopt and model that sentiment and lifestyle with vigor. Â With the unmistakable growl of a HEMI engine, we must vigorously decrease and seek to increase Jesus' fame, popularity, worship, etc. Â And when we do, we will surely see Greater Things Than These... what we've seen up to this point.
Continuing to process how judgment, condemnation, love, and humility work, we continue digging into the scriptures surrounding these concepts to discover how to interface with believers and the world in presenting God's preferred option for everyone... Come To The Light.
Our culture uses words from the Bible with some liberality that may not be warranted... such as judge and condemn. Â Today, as our study comes to the middle of John 3, we look all together at these words and discuss their Greek roots and implications for God's spiritual family on this earth, all in the context of our celebration of Jesus coming to earth, particularly how He explicitly didn't come to condemn the world but to save it. Â So... HOW THEN?!?!!?!
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