Podcast appearances and mentions of jesus eph

What do you do when you discover you long for something that matters but you have no room in your life for it? We start a new series highlighting some essentials we have opportunity to make room - in the middle of our busy complex lives - starting with the invitation to immerse ourselves in the life and person of Jesus (Eph. 3:14-21). Our message notes can be found here http://www.gatheringcafe.com/thewestsidegathering/podcasts/WSGmsg20240915_DavidM.pdf

Worthy living involves humility—not humiliation or powerlessness, but complete submission to God and voluntary submission to one another. Humility does not place self-worth over others or God.   Worthy living includes gentleness, which is a spirit of compassion and kindness.   Worthy living displays patience when pressured or annoyed. It is long-suffering with a calm endurance.   Worthy living is characterized by the ability to bear with one another, show love under pressure.   Worthy living maintains the unity of the Spirit that binds us together in peace.   Please notice how these characteristics emerge from the Father's choosing us (Eph. 1:4), adopting us as his children through the blood of Jesus (Eph. 1:5-10), providing us with an inheritance of hope in Christ (Eph. 1:11-12) and sealing our salvation with the Holy Spirit (Eph. 1:13-14).   Because we are part of God's family—chosen by the Father, adopted through the Son and sealed by the Spirit we can live humbly together, be gentle, and patient, bearing with one another, and being unified in the Spirit.

There is a story about a baby eagle who fell out of his nest and into a chicken coop. As the little eagle grew up, he began to cluck like a chicken, strut like a chicken, think like a chicken. But every day he noticed the eagles soaring high in the sky, always sensing that he was meant for something more than the chicken coop, but never realizing who he really was. The difference between the eagles that soared and the one living in the chicken coop was his understanding of who he really was. I think the Christian can go through life in the same way. I said at the beginning of our series in Ephesians that Pauls epistle answers two questions for us: 1) What does it mean to be a Christian, and 2) what does it mean to be the Church. When it comes to your identity as a Christian, some of you may be living like you belong in the chicken coop. Think about what it means to be a Christian according to Ephesians 1:3-14. You, Christian, have all the spiritual blessings listed throughout Pauls magnificent sentence of more than 200 words! You, Christian, have been chosen before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless (v. 4). You, Christian, have been predestined to be the adopted son/daughter of the living God through the redemption of Jesus Christ (vv. 5-7). You, Christian, have been completely pardoned of past, present, and future sins only because of the grace of God that has been lavished upon you as a result of the Fathers wrath that was lavished upon the Son for all of our wrongdoings (Eph. 1:8; 2:1-4). You, Christian, have an inheritance that will not fade with time, cannot be destroyed, and will never be stained by sin (v. 11). You, Christian, have been sealed by Gods Spirit as His guarantee of salvation that will be completed and the full experience of all Gods blessings that you will receive (vv. 13-14). You, Christian, are loved by the God of Isaiah 46:9-11, and you are the beneficiary of all His good pleasure. Christian, you were saved not for the sake of being saved, not for the forgiveness of your sins, not for a pain-free eternity in heaven, not for loved ones who preceded you in death, or for any other reason but for the purpose of knowing Christ, and by knowing Christ, you can know God. I can say this because of the first three words in Ephesians 1:15-23, which state the reason for why Paul prays, what Paul prays, and how Paul can pray for the Christians in Ephesus, and those three words are: For this reason Now, I know that these verses teach us something about how we can structure our prayers. I believe that the way Paul expressed his thanksgiving for the Ephesian Christians and why and how he prayed for them can serve as a model for how we can structure our prayers for one another, but that is not how I want to use our time this morning. What I want to do with our time together is glean what we learn from these verses. Why Paul Prays for the Christians (vv. 15-17) How do you follow one of the most majestic statements about the salvation of lost humanity found in Ephesians 1:1-14? You do it with Ephesians 1:15-23. The apostle Paul begins, For this reason. For what reason, Paul? For the reason contained in the over 200 words that make up Ephesians 1:1-14. For the reason that the Christian has been chosen before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless (v. 4). For the reason that the Christian has been predestined to be the adopted child of God the Father through the redemption of Jesus the Son (vv. 5-7). For the reason that the Christian has been fully pardoned of past, present, and future sins because of Jesus (Eph. 1:8; 2:1-4). For the reason that the Christian has an inheritance that will not fade with time, cannot be destroyed, and will never be stained by sin (v. 11). For the reason that the Christian has been sealed by the Holy Spirit as Gods guarantee of salvation and redemption that will one day be fully complete (vv. 13-14). For all of these reasons is the reason the apostle wrote of the Ephesian Christians that he did, not cease to give thanks for them, while making mention of them in his prayers (v. 16). Notice what the apostle says about these Christians against the backdrop of the first fourteen verses: having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints (v. 15). What did Paul hear about these Christians? He heard about their faith in Jesus and their love for one another while in prison. In other words, the reality of who these Christians were was expressed through the way they lived. Paul specifically and intentionally notes that the faith of these Christians was in more than facts they agreed with, but in the Lord Jesus and the evidence of their faith was seen in the way they treated each other. Because Paul heard of the faith and love of these Christians, he prayed for them, and what He prayed also teaches us something about what it means to be a Christian. Pauls prayer for these Christians is simple: That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him (v. 17). Notice what it is that Paul does not pray for; he does not pray for more power, or success, or easy living, or any other thing but that God would give them, a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. The wisdom and revelation Paul prayed for can only be given to them by God; this is why many theologians believe that the word, spirit is a reference to the Holy Spirit. Others believe that the word spirit is not a reference to the Holy Spirit but the spiritual part of us that lives on after the physical death of our bodies. Regardless of whose spirit Paul is referring to here, what is clear in light of the sealing of the Holy Spirit and His work in the life of the Christian (vv. 13-14), is that it is the Holy Spirit who enables our growth through the authority of the Word of God (revelation) when it is applied to the way we live our lives (wisdom). What does the Word of God (revelation), and its application (wisdom) to our lives, produce? It produces the kind of knowledge of God that Paul longed for in his own life as he expressed in Philippians 3:10-11, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; if somehow I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. The same word Paul used in Philippians 3 for know (ginōskō), he also used in Ephesians 1:17. The Christian was saved by the grace of God to have a relationship with God and Pauls prayer is that the relationship would only deepen through a faith rooted in Jesus as Lord of their lives. What Paul Prays for the Christians (vv. 18-19a) In verses 15-17, Paul lists four character traits of those who have been saved and redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ; those character traits mark the person who has truly been born again, and they are as follows: A faith that is IN Jesus. A loyalty to the LORDSHIP of Jesus. A LOVE for those who belong to Jesus. A pursuit to KNOW Jesus. It is because of these character traits that Paul prays for a deepening knowledge of God that is intellectual, experiential, and emotional - because it is a knowledge that involves the mind, the will, and the heart. In verses 18-19, Paul unpacks what specifically he is praying for. His prayer is that the eyes of their hearts will be enlightened. What Paul is praying for is that the hearts of these Christians would see and understand what God has done for them. The word Paul uses for heart is kardia; he could have used a word for mind as he did in Philippians 2:5, Have this mind [proneō] in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus. Or Paul could have used a different word for mind that Luke used in his gospel to describe the way Jesus opened the minds of two disciples who were confused over the death and news of his resurrection: Then He opened their minds [nous] to understand the Scriptures (Luke 24:45). However, Paul used the word kardia (heart), and he put an eye on it. What are eyes on a heart good for? They are good for seeing what God has done for you so that you can see the heavenly blessings listed in Ephesians 1:1-14, which are yours, and that you will know that they are yours not only with your mind but with your heart. Permit me to put it in a way you may understand more clearly. At the beginning of this series in Ephesians, I listed several truths that are rooted in the identity of the Christian. I said that if you are a Christian and your faith is in the Lord Jesus, then the following is true of you: You are saved by the will of God. You have the grace and peace of God. You have the blessing of God. You are redeemed to be holy and blameless before God. You are a son/daughter of God. You are favored by God. You are forgiven by God. You are rich in the grace of God. You now know God. You have a future with God. You are secure because of God. You are treasured by God. Listen, if you are a Christian, the reason why Paul does not pray for your adoption as a son/daughter, or for more salvation, or more purpose, or more of the inheritance, or more resurrection power, or more of the Holy Spirit is because they are already yours in Christ.What Paul prays for is the thing that we need, and what we need is to know (ginōskō) that they are ours in Christ (v. 17), and to know that they are ours is that they are ours; as you know it is the word used for when Abraham knew Sarah, but maybe what you have not considered is to have known her was to experienced her fully with a mind, a heart, and will that was bound to her as his wife.Paul uses uses a different word for know in verse 18 (oida) that also is the type of knowing that is tied to a persons experience: I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know [oida].I will say more about this next week, but for now, I want to show you what specifically we are to know as Christians.Paul lists three blessings that he wants his Christian readers to know: 1) What is the hope of His calling, 2) what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance, and 3) what is the boundless greatness of His power.I will revisit these three whats that Paul mentions next week, but I will briefly mention what they mean for you now as a way to whet your appetite to come back next Sunday: The hope of His calling: The calling is the kind of thing Paul described in Ephesians 1:3-6 and 2:1-4. You were not looking for God because not only did you not know God, but you were also dead and unresponsive to God spiritually, and then He called you in the same way Jesus called Lazarus to come out of the tomb even though he had been dead for four days (see John 11:1-46). If you are a Christian, you are only a Christian because God called you by breaking into the tomb of your unbelief to give you life. God called you out of His great mercy to make you alive in Christ! The riches of His inheritance: Oh, this is so good, and I cant wait to unpack this with you next week, but for now, what I want you to know is that the inheritance is you Christian! I know this grammatically, but also because of what we read in verses 13-14, In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvationhaving also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of the promise, who is a first installment of our inheritance, in regard to the redemption of Gods own possession, to the praise of His glory. We are sealed by the Holy Spirit as, Gods own possession and because of what He has done to secure the salvation of wretched sinners through His own Son, we are now His inheritance! If you are a Christian, you are now Gods treasured child and because you are redeemed in Christ, what God sees is not a wretched sinner, but a treasure. The riches of His inheritance are that you are loved and given all the rights that come with being his treasured child. The knowledge of the boundless greatness of His power: The power is what we already have as those who have been called by God and belong to Him as His inheritance. What sort of power is it that we have? It is the power of the risen Christ. Paul tells us that this is the power that is ours in the rest of these verses: These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead (vv. 19b-20). Think about it, who can avoid the power of death? No one can, for death is coming for us all! Yet, there is One who conquered death, and the same power that conquered the grave is at work in you Christian! What Paul wants us to know with all our being is that because of our faith in Jesus as Lord, we are progressively moving from death to life. Because you are called by God and because you are His inheritance, the power of God is at work in and through you just as Paul described in Romans 8:11, But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. As one person wrote of this amazing promise that is for the Christian: This power is ours to witness, to overcome sin, to pursue holiness, to fight against the schemes of the Devil, and to have great faith for mission.[1] There is a magnet on my filing cabinet in my office with one of my favorite quotes from Jonathan Edwards that says, You contribute nothing to your salvation except the sin that made it necessary. The one who made your salvation possible is the One you were made to know through and in Jesus. If you really know that it is He who called you, that it is you who are now His inheritance and treasure, and that the power that raised Jesus to life is the same resurrection power at work in and through your life then dont you know that you will be with Christ with a resurrected body on a resurrected earth one day and while with Him, with 10 billion years behind us, we will still know only a joy that will increase with every moment we are with Him. Paul prays that we will live our lives in light of a knowledge that not only acknowledges and understands that truth; but with a knowledge that encounters that truth with the eyes of our hearts. [1] Tony Merida, Christ-Centered Exposition: Ephesians (Nashville, TN: Holman; 2014), p. 39.

There is a story about a baby eagle who fell out of his nest and into a chicken coop. As the little eagle grew up, he began to cluck like a chicken, strut like a chicken, think like a chicken. But every day he noticed the eagles soaring high in the sky, always sensing that he was meant for something more than the chicken coop, but never realizing who he really was. The difference between the eagles that soared and the one living in the chicken coop was his understanding of who he really was. I think the Christian can go through life in the same way. I said at the beginning of our series in Ephesians that Pauls epistle answers two questions for us: 1) What does it mean to be a Christian, and 2) what does it mean to be the Church. When it comes to your identity as a Christian, some of you may be living like you belong in the chicken coop. Think about what it means to be a Christian according to Ephesians 1:3-14. You, Christian, have all the spiritual blessings listed throughout Pauls magnificent sentence of more than 200 words! You, Christian, have been chosen before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless (v. 4). You, Christian, have been predestined to be the adopted son/daughter of the living God through the redemption of Jesus Christ (vv. 5-7). You, Christian, have been completely pardoned of past, present, and future sins only because of the grace of God that has been lavished upon you as a result of the Fathers wrath that was lavished upon the Son for all of our wrongdoings (Eph. 1:8; 2:1-4). You, Christian, have an inheritance that will not fade with time, cannot be destroyed, and will never be stained by sin (v. 11). You, Christian, have been sealed by Gods Spirit as His guarantee of salvation that will be completed and the full experience of all Gods blessings that you will receive (vv. 13-14). You, Christian, are loved by the God of Isaiah 46:9-11, and you are the beneficiary of all His good pleasure. Christian, you were saved not for the sake of being saved, not for the forgiveness of your sins, not for a pain-free eternity in heaven, not for loved ones who preceded you in death, or for any other reason but for the purpose of knowing Christ, and by knowing Christ, you can know God. I can say this because of the first three words in Ephesians 1:15-23, which state the reason for why Paul prays, what Paul prays, and how Paul can pray for the Christians in Ephesus, and those three words are: For this reason Now, I know that these verses teach us something about how we can structure our prayers. I believe that the way Paul expressed his thanksgiving for the Ephesian Christians and why and how he prayed for them can serve as a model for how we can structure our prayers for one another, but that is not how I want to use our time this morning. What I want to do with our time together is glean what we learn from these verses. Why Paul Prays for the Christians (vv. 15-17) How do you follow one of the most majestic statements about the salvation of lost humanity found in Ephesians 1:1-14? You do it with Ephesians 1:15-23. The apostle Paul begins, For this reason. For what reason, Paul? For the reason contained in the over 200 words that make up Ephesians 1:1-14. For the reason that the Christian has been chosen before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless (v. 4). For the reason that the Christian has been predestined to be the adopted child of God the Father through the redemption of Jesus the Son (vv. 5-7). For the reason that the Christian has been fully pardoned of past, present, and future sins because of Jesus (Eph. 1:8; 2:1-4). For the reason that the Christian has an inheritance that will not fade with time, cannot be destroyed, and will never be stained by sin (v. 11). For the reason that the Christian has been sealed by the Holy Spirit as Gods guarantee of salvation and redemption that will one day be fully complete (vv. 13-14). For all of these reasons is the reason the apostle wrote of the Ephesian Christians that he did, not cease to give thanks for them, while making mention of them in his prayers (v. 16). Notice what the apostle says about these Christians against the backdrop of the first fourteen verses: having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints (v. 15). What did Paul hear about these Christians? He heard about their faith in Jesus and their love for one another while in prison. In other words, the reality of who these Christians were was expressed through the way they lived. Paul specifically and intentionally notes that the faith of these Christians was in more than facts they agreed with, but in the Lord Jesus and the evidence of their faith was seen in the way they treated each other. Because Paul heard of the faith and love of these Christians, he prayed for them, and what He prayed also teaches us something about what it means to be a Christian. Pauls prayer for these Christians is simple: That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him (v. 17). Notice what it is that Paul does not pray for; he does not pray for more power, or success, or easy living, or any other thing but that God would give them, a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. The wisdom and revelation Paul prayed for can only be given to them by God; this is why many theologians believe that the word, spirit is a reference to the Holy Spirit. Others believe that the word spirit is not a reference to the Holy Spirit but the spiritual part of us that lives on after the physical death of our bodies. Regardless of whose spirit Paul is referring to here, what is clear in light of the sealing of the Holy Spirit and His work in the life of the Christian (vv. 13-14), is that it is the Holy Spirit who enables our growth through the authority of the Word of God (revelation) when it is applied to the way we live our lives (wisdom). What does the Word of God (revelation), and its application (wisdom) to our lives, produce? It produces the kind of knowledge of God that Paul longed for in his own life as he expressed in Philippians 3:10-11, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; if somehow I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. The same word Paul used in Philippians 3 for know (ginōskō), he also used in Ephesians 1:17. The Christian was saved by the grace of God to have a relationship with God and Pauls prayer is that the relationship would only deepen through a faith rooted in Jesus as Lord of their lives. What Paul Prays for the Christians (vv. 18-19a) In verses 15-17, Paul lists four character traits of those who have been saved and redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ; those character traits mark the person who has truly been born again, and they are as follows: A faith that is IN Jesus. A loyalty to the LORDSHIP of Jesus. A LOVE for those who belong to Jesus. A pursuit to KNOW Jesus. It is because of these character traits that Paul prays for a deepening knowledge of God that is intellectual, experiential, and emotional - because it is a knowledge that involves the mind, the will, and the heart. In verses 18-19, Paul unpacks what specifically he is praying for. His prayer is that the eyes of their hearts will be enlightened. What Paul is praying for is that the hearts of these Christians would see and understand what God has done for them. The word Paul uses for heart is kardia; he could have used a word for mind as he did in Philippians 2:5, Have this mind [proneō] in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus. Or Paul could have used a different word for mind that Luke used in his gospel to describe the way Jesus opened the minds of two disciples who were confused over the death and news of his resurrection: Then He opened their minds [nous] to understand the Scriptures (Luke 24:45). However, Paul used the word kardia (heart), and he put an eye on it. What are eyes on a heart good for? They are good for seeing what God has done for you so that you can see the heavenly blessings listed in Ephesians 1:1-14, which are yours, and that you will know that they are yours not only with your mind but with your heart. Permit me to put it in a way you may understand more clearly. At the beginning of this series in Ephesians, I listed several truths that are rooted in the identity of the Christian. I said that if you are a Christian and your faith is in the Lord Jesus, then the following is true of you: You are saved by the will of God. You have the grace and peace of God. You have the blessing of God. You are redeemed to be holy and blameless before God. You are a son/daughter of God. You are favored by God. You are forgiven by God. You are rich in the grace of God. You now know God. You have a future with God. You are secure because of God. You are treasured by God. Listen, if you are a Christian, the reason why Paul does not pray for your adoption as a son/daughter, or for more salvation, or more purpose, or more of the inheritance, or more resurrection power, or more of the Holy Spirit is because they are already yours in Christ.What Paul prays for is the thing that we need, and what we need is to know (ginōskō) that they are ours in Christ (v. 17), and to know that they are ours is that they are ours; as you know it is the word used for when Abraham knew Sarah, but maybe what you have not considered is to have known her was to experienced her fully with a mind, a heart, and will that was bound to her as his wife.Paul uses uses a different word for know in verse 18 (oida) that also is the type of knowing that is tied to a persons experience: I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know [oida].I will say more about this next week, but for now, I want to show you what specifically we are to know as Christians.Paul lists three blessings that he wants his Christian readers to know: 1) What is the hope of His calling, 2) what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance, and 3) what is the boundless greatness of His power.I will revisit these three whats that Paul mentions next week, but I will briefly mention what they mean for you now as a way to whet your appetite to come back next Sunday: The hope of His calling: The calling is the kind of thing Paul described in Ephesians 1:3-6 and 2:1-4. You were not looking for God because not only did you not know God, but you were also dead and unresponsive to God spiritually, and then He called you in the same way Jesus called Lazarus to come out of the tomb even though he had been dead for four days (see John 11:1-46). If you are a Christian, you are only a Christian because God called you by breaking into the tomb of your unbelief to give you life. God called you out of His great mercy to make you alive in Christ! The riches of His inheritance: Oh, this is so good, and I cant wait to unpack this with you next week, but for now, what I want you to know is that the inheritance is you Christian! I know this grammatically, but also because of what we read in verses 13-14, In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvationhaving also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of the promise, who is a first installment of our inheritance, in regard to the redemption of Gods own possession, to the praise of His glory. We are sealed by the Holy Spirit as, Gods own possession and because of what He has done to secure the salvation of wretched sinners through His own Son, we are now His inheritance! If you are a Christian, you are now Gods treasured child and because you are redeemed in Christ, what God sees is not a wretched sinner, but a treasure. The riches of His inheritance are that you are loved and given all the rights that come with being his treasured child. The knowledge of the boundless greatness of His power: The power is what we already have as those who have been called by God and belong to Him as His inheritance. What sort of power is it that we have? It is the power of the risen Christ. Paul tells us that this is the power that is ours in the rest of these verses: These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead (vv. 19b-20). Think about it, who can avoid the power of death? No one can, for death is coming for us all! Yet, there is One who conquered death, and the same power that conquered the grave is at work in you Christian! What Paul wants us to know with all our being is that because of our faith in Jesus as Lord, we are progressively moving from death to life. Because you are called by God and because you are His inheritance, the power of God is at work in and through you just as Paul described in Romans 8:11, But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. As one person wrote of this amazing promise that is for the Christian: This power is ours to witness, to overcome sin, to pursue holiness, to fight against the schemes of the Devil, and to have great faith for mission.[1] There is a magnet on my filing cabinet in my office with one of my favorite quotes from Jonathan Edwards that says, You contribute nothing to your salvation except the sin that made it necessary. The one who made your salvation possible is the One you were made to know through and in Jesus. If you really know that it is He who called you, that it is you who are now His inheritance and treasure, and that the power that raised Jesus to life is the same resurrection power at work in and through your life then dont you know that you will be with Christ with a resurrected body on a resurrected earth one day and while with Him, with 10 billion years behind us, we will still know only a joy that will increase with every moment we are with Him. Paul prays that we will live our lives in light of a knowledge that not only acknowledges and understands that truth; but with a knowledge that encounters that truth with the eyes of our hearts. [1] Tony Merida, Christ-Centered Exposition: Ephesians (Nashville, TN: Holman; 2014), p. 39.

Building Better Relationships- Part 2A solid foundation relationship with God is very important in building healthier relationships. Coming to God in prayer, seeking information in the bible, and slowing down our reactions can help us build our relationship with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, and goodness. Incorporating these qualities into our relationship will help us to show love to those around us and build stronger and healthier relationships. Also, recognizing that God alone is perfect and that we cannot do it without connecting with Him will help you extend the love and grace that you receive from God to those around you. Building a relationship with God is the only to be intentional in building healthy and strong relationships. Healthy relationships are not natural or automatic, you have to learn to practice empathy and compassion by putting yourself in the other person's shoes and coming back to your own shoes.  Join today's Therapy Thursday conversation with me, Lisa, and my friend Lidia Martinez as we dive into the second part of the series of Building Better Relationships. We have been referencing the fruit of the Holy Spirit from Galatians 5 to get the qualities of creating healthy relationships. In this part, we shall discuss Patient, Kindness, and Goodness. Tune in!   In This Episode, You Will Learn About:  [00:18] Last week's recap Gal 5:22, Love, Joy and Peace [01:37] This week's focus, Patience, Kindness, and Goodness [01:53] Having patience with people around us; Ephesians 4:2 [03:19] What it means to be patient and demonstrate it through love [04:18] Understanding and extending love through compassion and empathy  [05:30] Listening to understand and not to respond [06:29] Quieting your heart, slowing down, and paying attention   [09:07] Kindness, Colossians 3:12, Ephesians 2:7  [10:06] God's kindness, Joel 2:3 [10:56] How to be diligent, intentional, and show kindness to others   [11:33] Why the fruit of the Holy Spirit are all about abiding and maturity  [13:50] Goodness, Psalm 23:6, finding goodness and love in following God and dwelling in His presence   [15:36] How we are made perfect and good through Jesus Christ  [17:56] Realizing we are not perfect and extending a little bit of grace to other [20:13] How to be intentional this week in a tangible way by showing the attributes to other  [21:06] Give away; Four free coaching sessions  [22:24] Ending the show with a word of prayer and call to action  Notable Quotes and Scriptures: Being patient and bearing with one another in love, is impossible without connecting to God; Eph 4:2 If you pray for patience, God will give you situations to stretch that patience muscle Patience is slowing down and paying attention to the person, and taking time to connect and hear their heart  Listen to understand and be on the same page, not respond Being patient with someone is being present with them  We have to prepare for patience; patience does not come naturally God's kindness to us comes through Jesus Eph 2:7 The fruits of the Holy Spirit come from abiding or being connected to the Holy Spirit   Follow Faith with Friends onWebsite: https://faith-with-friends.captivate.fm/ (https://faith-with-friends.captivate.fm/) Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/faithwithfriends_podcast/ (https://www.instagram.com/faithwithfriends_podcast/) Let's Connect! Lidia Martinez Website: https://www.drlidiamartinez.com/ (https://www.drlidiamartinez.com/) Email: info@drlidiamartinez.com Phone No.: 7865656916 About The Show       *****Thank you so much for listening to the FAITH WITH FRIENDS PODCAST!  Get inspired, motivated, and tuned up with honest conversations every week as we seek to know God and make him known. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and be part...

Ephesians 3:14-21 is a prayer for spiritual strength. It follows Paul's discourse on doctrine and precedes his section on practical application. Paul knows the believer can live with a head full of knowledge and a shriveled heart. He also knows trying to live the Christian life in our own strength is futile. So, after the doctrine discourse and before the practical application section, Paul prays that our inner being will be filled with Jesus. Paul's prayer has four requests: • Spiritual Strength (Eph 3:16) • Deeper Experience with Jesus (Eph 3:17a) • Grasping God's Great Love (Eph 3:17b-19a) • Experiencing the fullness of God (Eph 3:19b) Today's Focus: Experiencing the fullness of God (Eph 3:19b) What is the fullness of God (the Greek word—pleroma)? The fullness of God is the totality of everything God is—his completeness, wholeness, power, and perfection. It includes all his attributes—eternality, omniscience, omnipresence, love, etc. The fullness of God describes the totality of who he is. The fullness of God: Passages to Consider • Colossians 1:19; 2:9-10 • John 14:15-20 • John 1:14, 16 • John 4:13-14 The fullness of God is in Christ, and Christ lives in us. Only through Jesus can we be made complete. “When a person is born again into the family of God, he is born complete in Christ. His spiritual growth is not by addition, but by nutrition He grows from the inside out.” -Warren Wiersbe How can a believer experience the fullness of God? Here are three specific TBC applications. 1. Daily engagement with God through his Word and prayer. The Bible is God's love letter to you. It's your spiritual nourishment. Engaging with Scripture. There is no substitute. You can sign up for daily devotionals at ronmoore.org. 2. Sign up for Living Grounded. Living Grounded is a 12-session study that will help you get started in the life-long process of spiritual growth. You can sign up for a class at biblechapel.org/livinggrounded. 3. Teach Living Grounded. Preparing to teach and teaching allows you to understand and own the truth. To learn more about teaching the Living Grounded material, contact gdevore@biblechapel.org. DAILY DEVOTIONAL WITH RON MOORE Get Ron's Daily Devotional to your inbox each morning; visit biblechapel.org/devo. LIVING GROUNDED Learn more about how you can grow deeper and embrace the foundational truths of the Christian faith with Living Grounded. Whether you're just starting out in faith or you've been a Christian for years, Living Grounded offers truth, wisdom, and encouragement for every stage. Contact gdevore@biblechapel.org to get connected. CAREGIVING Do you have a need we can pray for? Do you need someone to walk alongside you? Do you know of another person who needs care? Let us know at caregiving@biblechapel.org. CAMPUS FACEBOOK GROUPS You're invited to connect with The Bible Chapel family in your campus Facebook Group. Look for Facebook Groups at facebook.com/biblechapel and click on Groups on the left side. FIND AN ENCOURAGER TODAY! JOIN A SMALL GROUP Community Groups are our easiest on-ramp to community at The Bible Chapel; these groups use sermon-based questions to dive deeper into weekly messages. Visit biblechapel.org/smallgroups to learn more and sign up!

Ephesians 3:14-21 is a prayer for spiritual strength. It follows Paul's discourse on doctrine and precedes his section on practical application. Paul knows the believer can live with a head full of knowledge and a shriveled heart. He also knows trying to live the Christian life in our own strength is futile. So, after the doctrine discourse and before the practical application section, Paul prays that our inner being will be filled with Jesus. Paul's prayer has four requests: • Spiritual Strength (Eph 3:16) • Deeper Experience with Jesus (Eph 3:17a) • Grasping God's Great Love (Eph 3:17b-19a) • Experiencing the Fullness of God (Eph 3:19b) Today's Focus: Grasping God's Great Love (Eph 3:17b-19a) Grasping God's love begins with grasping the work of Jesus. • Through the work of Jesus, we have redemption and forgiveness (Eph 1:7) • Through the work of Jesus, we have been brought near to God (Eph 2:13) • Jesus “gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Eph 5:2). Grasping God's love begins with grasping the work of Jesus and reflecting on the characteristics of God's love. • God's love for us is eternal (Eph 1:3-6) • God initiates his love for us (Eph 2:1, 4-6) • God's love for us is free (Eph 2:8-9) • God's love for us is guaranteed (Eph 1:13-14) Our Spiritual Identity is rooted and grounded in God's love. In Christ, we are S.S.A.F.E. • Significant: Ephesians 1:3-5a • Secure: Ephesians 1:13-14 • Accepted: Ephesians 1:5 • Forgiven: Ephesians 1:7 • Empowered: Ephesians 1:13-14 DAILY DEVOTIONAL WITH RON MOORE Get Ron's Daily Devotional to your inbox each morning; visit biblechapel.org/devo. LIVING GROUNDED Learn more about how you can grow deeper and embrace the foundational truths of the Christian faith with Living Grounded. Whether you're just starting out in faith or you've been a Christian for years, Living Grounded offers truth, wisdom, and encouragement for every stage. Contact gdevore@biblechapel.org to get connected. CAREGIVING Do you have a need we can pray for? Do you need someone to walk alongside you? Do you know of another person who needs care? Let us know at caregiving@biblechapel.org. CAMPUS FACEBOOK GROUPS You're invited to connect with The Bible Chapel family in your campus Facebook Group. Look for Facebook Groups at facebook.com/biblechapel and click on Groups on the left side. FIND AN ENCOURAGER TODAY! JOIN A SMALL GROUP Community Groups are our easiest on-ramp to community at The Bible Chapel; these groups use sermon-based questions to dive deeper into weekly messages. Visit biblechapel.org/smallgroups to learn more and sign up!

Ephesians 3:14-21 is a prayer for spiritual strength. It follows Paul's discourse on doctrine and precedes his section on practical application. Paul knows the believer can live with a head full of knowledge and a shriveled heart. He also knows trying to live the Christian life in our own strength is futile. So, after the doctrine discourse and before the practical application section, Paul prays that our inner being will be filled with Jesus. Paul's prayer has four requests: • Spiritual Strength (Eph 3:16) • Deeper Experience with Jesus (Eph 3:17) • Grasping God's Great Love (Eph 3:18) • Experiencing the fullness of God (Eph 3:19) Today's Focus: A Deeper Experience with Jesus (Eph 3:17) In Christ, we are: • Significant • Secure • Accepted • Forgiven • Empowered In Ephesians 3:14-17a, Paul prays that the believer may be “strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith….” Positionally, Jesus lives in us. The Holy Spirit—the third Person of the Trinity—is the Spirit of the Father and the Son and takes up residence in our hearts. Jesus lives in us through the Holy Spirit (John 14:16-20; Romans 8:8-11). In this prayer, Paul addresses the experience of that reality. “Dwell” means “to live or dwell in a place in an established or settled manner.” It means settling down and feeling at home. Paul's prayer is for the believer to experience the fullness of Jesus in us. Some questions for evaluating our “experience” with Jesus: Is Jesus “at home” with my EYES? (Luke 11:34-36; Ps 119:37) Is Jesus “at home” with my THINKING? (Phil 4:8) Is Jesus “at home” with my AMBITION? (Phil 2:3-8) Is Jesus “at home” with my TONGUE? (Ps 34:12-14; 39:1) Go to ronmoore.org for guided prayers from Scripture to recharge your inner being (See 3 Minutes with Jesus) DAILY DEVOTIONAL WITH RON MOORE Get Ron's Daily Devotional to your inbox each morning; visit biblechapel.org/devo. LIVING GROUNDED Learn more about how you can grow deeper and embrace the foundational truths of the Christian faith with Living Grounded. Whether you're just starting out in faith or you've been a Christian for years, Living Grounded offers truth, wisdom, and encouragement for every stage. Contact gdevore@biblechapel.org to get connected. CAREGIVING Do you have a need we can pray for? Do you need someone to walk alongside you? Do you know of another person who needs care? Let us know at caregiving@biblechapel.org. CAMPUS FACEBOOK GROUPS You're invited to connect with The Bible Chapel family in your campus Facebook Group. Look for Facebook Groups at facebook.com/biblechapel and click on Groups on the left side. FIND AN ENCOURAGER TODAY! JOIN A SMALL GROUP Community Groups are our easiest on-ramp to community at The Bible Chapel; these groups use sermon-based questions to dive deeper into weekly messages. Visit biblechapel.org/smallgroups to learn more and sign up!

Ephesians 3:14-21 is a prayer for spiritual strength. It follows Paul's discourse on doctrine and precedes his section on practical application. Paul knows the believer can live with a head full of knowledge and a shriveled heart. He also knows trying to live the Christian life in our own strength is futile. So, after the doctrine discourse and before the practical application section, Paul prays that our inner being will be filled with Jesus. Paul's prayer has four requests: • Spiritual Strength (Eph 3:16) • Deeper Experience with Jesus (Eph 3:17) • Grasping God's Great Love (Eph 3:18) • Experiencing the fullness of God (Eph 3:19) Today's Focus: Spiritual Strength (Eph 3:16) For this reason… This refers back to Ephesians 3:1. Paul's is based on our union with Jesus and with other believers. I bow my knees before the Father… God is the sovereign Creator of all. However, only Jesus allows us to have a personal and eternal relationship with God the Father. Strengthened by the Spirit in your inner being… Our inner being is our eternal soul (Gen 2:7) that is made alive and lives in union with Jesus (Eph 2:4-6). Our inner soul needs strengthened each day by God's Word and prayer. Go to ronmoore.org for guided prayers from Scripture to recharge your inner being (See 3 Minutes with Jesus) DAILY DEVOTIONAL WITH RON MOORE Get Ron's Daily Devotional to your inbox each morning; visit biblechapel.org/devo. LIVING GROUNDED Learn more about how you can grow deeper and embrace the foundational truths of the Christian faith with Living Grounded. Whether you're just starting out in faith or you've been a Christian for years, Living Grounded offers truth, wisdom, and encouragement for every stage. Contact gdevore@biblechapel.org to get connected. CAREGIVING Do you have a need we can pray for? Do you need someone to walk alongside you? Do you know of another person who needs care? Let us know at caregiving@biblechapel.org. CAMPUS FACEBOOK GROUPS You're invited to connect with The Bible Chapel family in your campus Facebook Group. Look for Facebook Groups at facebook.com/biblechapel and click on Groups on the left side. FIND AN ENCOURAGER TODAY! JOIN A SMALL GROUP Community Groups are our easiest on-ramp to community at The Bible Chapel; these groups use sermon-based questions to dive deeper into weekly messages. Visit biblechapel.org/smallgroups to learn more and sign up!

Sunday, February 27, 2022. Welcome to St Joe Community Church. Today's message is entitled The Parable of the Dragnet and was delivered on Sunday, February 27, 2022 by Greg Byman. For more information visit www.StJoeCommunityChurch.org, click on the Sermons tab, and find today's broadcast. Parable of the Dragnet Matthew 13:47-50 This Parable declares warning and hope We must choose to trust in Jesus Christ   We do not have to be afraid of God's final judgment       Matthew 13:47-50 “a large net thrown into the sea….they dragged it to shore” -the kingdom of heaven is like “a net cast across the world,    being pulled toward the final reckoning” -we cannot escape the final destiny of the end of this world!     “every kind of fish” -we are all alike sinners, but not all sinners sin alike! -similar to wheat and the weeds (vs 24-30) parable -Christians are not supposed to segregate and isolate    -we must be separate from evil living, but we will always         Co-exist among those who live for evil   “gathered the good fish, but threw out the worthless ones” -imagery of sitting on the seashore sorting out the good catch of    fish from the rest of the trash hauled in by the dragnet   “The angels will go out, separate the evil people from the righteous” -Jesus explains to the crowd that this parable illustrates the   great separation of believer and unbelievers at the “end of time -God is our final judge!  His angels will execute perfect justice -Rev 20:11-15  Great White Throne of Judgment           “and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping an gnashing of teeth” -similar to Matthew 13:42 -Luke 16:23-24, 27-28 Jesus describes a rich man in hades    -in torment, in agony in this flame!, place of torment -Rev 20:11-15- the unrighteous are thrown into the lake of fire    -Rev 20:10  The same place where Satan, his demons and      the false prophets will be “tormented day and night forever      and ever” -gnashing of teeth- regret, remorse, sorrow   Evil/Unrighteous People Reject Jesus Christ -Revelation 20:11-15  The Great White Throne of Judgment    -they are judged by their works    -Romans 3:10  No one is righteous!    -Romans 3:23  All have sinned and have fallen short of the       glory of God -their names are not found in the book of life     Good/Righteous People Place Their Faith In Jesus Christ -Romans 3:26  God declares righteous “the one who has faith in    Jesus” -Eph 2:8-9  We are saved by grace through faith, not by works -enter the kingdom of heaven today!  Trust in Jesus Christ   Trust God to do what is right! -He is just- He WILL execute perfect justice    -do not impose our imperfect justice system on God!    -do not worry if this world refuses to condemn evil       Romans 12:19  “vengeance is mine, I will repay”   -He is love-    -he will keep His promise to keep/save all who trust in Jesus    -he will make everything right      -perpetrators will either be justified by Jesus Christ or         personally pay for their wickedness forever   Let anyone who has ears listen!

INTRODUCTION Freedom is a thoroughly Christian principle. The ancient pagan world knew nothing of true freedom, and despite secular humanism's attempts at claiming it, there is no other liberty apart from the living God. Christian liberty is grounded in freedom to worship the Triune God, and when our hearts are turned to Him, we are set free from all bondage and set free to serve. THE TEXTS “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery… For you were called to freedom brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself'” (Gal. 5:1, 13-14). SUMMARY OF THE TEXT In context, Paul is warning the Galatians against Judaizing, that is, adding Jewish ceremonial laws to Christ perhaps as an attempt to feel more secure, perhaps as an attempt to avoid persecution from zealous Jews (Gal. 5:2-11, cf. Gal. 1:4-9). But every form of legalism is a crushing yoke of slavery, and to return to Egypt is to sin against Christ who set us free (Gal. 5:1). The mentality of slavery is simple: just do as you're told, but true freedom brings responsibility (Gal. 5:13). This means that true liberty is directed by God's law of love (Gal. 3:14). FREEDOM FOR WORSHIP In the Exodus story, one of the fundamental lessons we learn there that freedom is for worship: “Let My people go that they may celebrate a feast to Me in the wilderness” (Ex. 5:1, cf. 10:25). But Pharaoh instinctively knew that if Israel was set free to worship God, they would never be slaves again. True worship of the living God sets the captives free. This certainly begins as moral and spiritual freedom with regeneration (and hearts that can't stop singing), but freedom from sin teaches men to think like free men. This begins with personal responsibility (confession of sin and forgiveness) and flows out to covenantal responsibility in the spheres of authority assigned to us by the Lord Jesus: family, church, and state. When they are healthy, all three spheres mutually check and enforce one another, but throughout Scripture worship is the tip of the spear: Abraham built altars throughout the land of Canaan, the priests blew trumpets and carried the ark around Jericho, the choir went out in front of the army under Jehoshaphat, and Jesus sent us out into the world to preach and baptize and celebrate the Lord's Supper as the vanguard of the Kingdom. Daniel shows us the centrality of free worship both in the refusal of the three friends to bow down to the statue (Dan. 3) and in Daniel's resolute prayer despite the king's decree (Dan. 6). Christians are free from every decree of man that would require idolatry or prohibit the worship of the living God. While there is freedom in some of the particulars of when and where worship is conducted, Christians must be zealous for freedom to worship because Christ is worthy and because all of our other freedoms flow from there. When you think about preserving freedom, first think about worshipping the King who grants all freedom. FREED TO SERVE This freedom that Christ gives is for serving one another in love, and that love is measured by the second greatest commandment: love your neighbor as yourself (Gal. 5:13-14). But Christians must not be simplistic or naïve in this. Remember first of all the gospel: “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1 Jn. 4:10-11). God did not love us in the way that we thought He should; He loved us in the way that we actually needed. And we must love one another like that. This is truly serving one another in love: doing what is needed for long term physical and spiritual health, blessing, and success. How does Scripture teach us to love like Christ? It says husbands are to love their wives as their own bodies, like Christ has loved the church and gave Himself up for her, providing for them and protecting them (Eph. 5:22-33), and fathers are to provide for and raise their children in the nurture and admonition of Jesus (Eph. 6:1-4). This includes the duty to care for the health, safety, medical decisions, welfare, and education of all in the family. Failure to do so is functional apostasy and worse than a run of the mill pagan (1 Tim. 5:8). This spiritual and religious duty to care for your family is why Christ set you free. This is what your Christian freedom is for. And you are under orders not to relinquish this freedom. Wise men will need to consider various tactical courses to protect this freedom but protect it we must. CONCLUSIONS One of the ways our freedom is under attack is through well-meaning appeals from other Christians that we need to be willing to lay our freedoms down for the sake of the gospel. Don't be selfish! This is one of those half-truths that can sound more godly than it actually is. The half truth is: do not use your freedom for the flesh, to serve yourself, to serve your lusts, to bite and devour one another (Gal. 5:13-15). Don't use your freedom to act like Egyptians. But keep the image of the Exodus firmly in mind. Christian liberty is fundamentally freedom from Egypt (sin, death, the Devil) and freedom to love our people in obedience to Christ. Therefore, no Christian is free to go back to Egypt. Lay our freedom down? That's like saying lay your obedience down, lay your duty down, lay your family down. God forbid. Christ has set us free. For another example, when drag queen story hour first burst on the scene in all of its lugubrious shame, some of our most prominent conservative, even “Reformed” leaders told us that this was merely the price of “freedom” in a country like ours. If we want to continue to have the freedom of speech, the freedom to express our religious convictions then we have to make room for gaudy perverts. Notice the hidden unbiblical assumption here is that “freedom” is merely power of choice. But that is like saying that in order to be a truly free country you must allow for the option of slavery. Not hardly. True freedom is walking in the light of Christ, walking in the relief of forgiveness of all our sins. No, the price of freedom was paid by Jesus on the cross, and He died to set us free from all that darkness. And loving your neighbor means doing all in your power to share that freedom with them.

John 6:53-59 Ephesians 4:20-25 - Key Text Romans 6:1-25

Ephesians 1-15 -NASB- -15 For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints.---1. Faith is particular and has defined content-if it is according to the gospel of God-the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Eph 4:17  Dit sê en betuig ek dan in die Here, dat julle nie meer moet wandel soos die ander heidene ook wandel in die verdwaasdheid van hulle gemoed nie— Eph 4:18  mense wat verduisterd is in die verstand en vervreemd van die lewe van God deur die onkunde wat in hulle is vanweë die verharding van hulle hart; Eph 4:19  wat ongevoelig geword het en hulle oorgegee het aan die ongebondenheid om in hebsug allerhande onreinheid te bedrywe. Eph 4:20  Maar julle het Christus nie so leer ken nie, Eph 4:21  as julle ten minste van Hom gehoor het en in Hom onderrig is soos die waarheid is in Jesus: Eph 4:22  dat julle, wat die vorige lewenswandel betref die oue mens moet aflê wat deur die begeerlikhede van die verleiding te gronde gaan, Eph 4:23  en dat julle vernuwe moet word in die gees van julle gemoed Eph 4:24  en julle met die nuwe mens moet beklee wat na God geskape is in ware geregtigheid en heiligheid. 

Eph 4:17  This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, Eph 4:18  Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: Eph 4:19  Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. Eph 4:20  But ye have not so learned Christ; Eph 4:21  If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: Eph 4:22  That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; Eph 4:23  And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; Eph 4:24  And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. 

What is SPIRITUAL FREEDOM? The inevitable blessing of believing in Jesus and continuing to obey His Word is to know the truth. “Grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ” (1:17), He is “the way, and the truth, and the life” (14:6), and “truth is in Jesus” (Eph. 4:21). In a postmodern world, where the hope of discovering absolute truth has been largely abandoned, such knowledge is revolutionary. Like Pilate, who asked the cynical question, “What is truth?” (18:38), modern skeptics are left with nothing but their own ignorance and despair—the fruit of their futile search for truth apart from God. The truth comes not only from knowing the revelation of Scripture concerning Christ, but also from being taught by the Holy Spirit, the “Spirit of truth” (14:17; 15:26; 16:13; 1 John 5:6). The apostle John referred to the Spirit's teaching of believers in 1 John 2:27 when he wrote, “As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.” Connect with Mr.0 with an email to blackdexproductions@gmail.com with your thoughts, requests and comments. You deserve what you desire. Have a great day.

Markus Ezel

UNSEEN ARMY2Kings 7:1 There is a story in the Old Testament about the prophet Elisha and how the unseen world of spiritual light and spiritual darkness operates. It is the story of Elisha and the four lepers of Samaria. This is a story of the limited power of darkness when it faces up to the unlimited power and purpose of God and his goodness. The spiritual world is an unseen world, the real world of God’s activity, the world dominated by light and faith, and alas, darkness inhabits this realm also but with faith we learn to withstand it and overcome.The king od Israel was ruling over a fortress city in the high region of Samaria. The city was put under siege by the king of Syria, and because there was a great famine in the region, the people of the city were starving, and the Syians had cut off any food supply lines that might have existed from down in the more fertile region of the Jordan. It got to the point that after a time even a donkey's head sold for fifty dollars and a cup of dove's dung brought three dollars! This angered the king and he was trying to find someone to blame for all of this disaster.Elisha was sitting at home, the elders sitting with him. The king had made up his mind that Elisha the prophet must be to blame because he had not organized God to come to the rescue, and he finally decided to blame God as well. He had already dispatched his attendant to take Elisha’s head off, but before the man arrived Elisha told his friends he knew what the King was planning and said shut the door and lock it. While he was giving his instructions, the king showed up with his attendant, making charges against God; ‘This trouble we’re in has been sent from GOD! And what's next? I'm fed up with GOD! The Syrian army is outside and the people inside the walls are starving to death and paying exorbitant amounts of money for something to eat, a donkey's head is selling for fifty dollars and a cup of dove's dung costs three dollars!Then Elisha brings a word from God to the king. ‘by this time tomorrow two gallons of flour or four gallons of barley grain will be sold in the markets of Samaria for a dollar!"But the king’s attendant tells everyone not to believe it ‘Do you think God is going to open trapdoors in Heaven and pour food though them?  Meanwhile four lepers who are sitting just outside the gates wondering what their fate might be. ‘Well. what are we sitting here for, just waiting to die "We will starve if we stay here and we will starve if we go back into the city; so we might as well go out and face the challenge – we’ll present ourselves to the Syrian army, and they might even feed us and let us live, if so then so much the better; but if they kill us, we would have died anyway. So that evening they went out to the camp of the Syrians, but there was no one there!  To understand what was really going on here we have to look at the previous chapter and see what had happened to the previous king of Syria with regards to Elisha a year åor two beforehand. That king had been marauding the outposts of Israel whenever Israel sent an army to protect the people, but Elisha knew from God what the Syrian king was up to so he warned the king of Israel every time so that they escaped attack. When the Syrian king found this out he sent his army out to capture Elisha who was not living in the fortress city at that time but in another area of Samaria called Dothan. When the Syrian army surrounded Dothan to take Elisha, Elisha’s servant, Gehazi, woke up one morning to see Dothan surrounded by the Syrian army and collapsed in panic, but Elisha prayed for God to open Gehazi’s eyes to see the Unseen Army of the Lord arrayed against the Syrian army, and said to him ‘greater are they that are with us than they that are with them’ and the servant calmed down. Then Elisha prayed for God to put blindness upon the Syrians so that they were groping around in the dark, then he walked and asked the commander of the army who he was looking for, and when the commander told him, Elisha said Oh, he doesn’t live here any more but I’ll lead you to where he lives, and he led them all to the fortified city of the king of Israel (the one in our current story). When they all arrived he prayed to God for the eyes of the Syrians to be opened, and they found they were in the hands of the king of Israel, who wanted to take them all into captivity, but Elisha told the kings to give them a good feed and send them home (he obviously knew there were better things to come). So getting back to the four lepers finding the Syrian camp deserted the Bible tells us (2Kings 7:6) that God had made the whole Syrian army hear sounds of a host of  a great army approaching and the clatter of speeding chariots and a loud galloping of horses. "The king of Israel has hired the Hittites and Egyptians to attack us," they cried out. 7. So they panicked and fled into the night, abandoning their tents, horses, donkeys, and everything else. 8 When the lepers arrived at the edge of the camp they went into one tent after another, eating, drinking wine, and carrying out silver and gold and clothing and hiding it.  9 Finally they said to each other, "This isn't right. This is wonderful news, and we aren't sharing it with anyone! Even if we wait until morning, some terrible calamity will certainly fall upon us; come on, let's go back and tell the people at the palace." 10 So they went back to the city and told the attendant what had happened--they had gone out to the Syrian camp and no one was there! The horses and donkeys were tethered and the tents were all in order, but there was not a soul around. 11 Then the attendant shouted the news to those in the palace.12 The king got out of bed (trying to guess what had happened – and guessing wrongly!) and told his officers, "I know what has happened. The Syrians know we are starving, so they have left their camp and have hidden in the fields, thinking that we will be lured out of the city. Then they will attack us and make slaves of us and get in." 13 One of his officers cautiously replied, "We'd better send out scouts first to see. Let two charioteers of take chariots out with our four remaining horses and if something happens to them all it won't be any greater loss than if they stay here and die with the rest of us!" 14 So the king sent out two charioteers to see where the Syrians had gone. 15 They followed a trail of clothing and equipment all the way to the Jordan River-- thrown away by the Syrians in their haste. The scouts returned and told the king, 16 and the people of Samaria rushed out and plundered the camp of the Syrians. So it was true that two gallons of flour and four gallons of barley were sold that day for one dollar, just as the Lord had said! All the players in this story had an opinion about what was going on, and they had a reaction to it or a response in it. Some were panicking, some had given up all hope, some were weighing it all up, and like the king, suspicious and getting it wrong, some decided to act with due diligence and caution like the officer who suggested to do a scout patrol. What were they seeing? Did they see that God was at work with the Angel Armies – greater are they that are for us than they that are against us …. These are the things we ask ourselves when there is a crisis – are we being driven by fear or are we being inspired by faith, or guided by wisdom with ears to hear… The four lepers had to make a choice. They could sit around in despondency and wait to die or they could face the challenge of facing the enemy, so they went into the enemy camp and saw with their own eyes that God had been at work. God had not only supernaturally defeated the enemy but he had poured out his provision for his people. If they had not taken this initiative no one would had moved in the entire city and they all would have starved, despite the fact that they had the word of blessing from the prophet. Elisha had done his part - he had shared the Word of the Lord. We have the word of blessing, the good news of God’s goodness to us through Jesus. We have to move on that and take initiative against the bluff of the devil. All Satan has in his armory are the weapons of darkness and deception. Satan has no creative power. He is a deceiver and a confuser. The battle between light and darkness is not hanging in the balance. The battle has been won. God is not in a defensive position against darkness – He has defeated it. Darkness can only work on us, and the Bible says that when we align ourselves with God and his authority and resist the devil the darkness HAS to flee (James 4:7). His target is our minds and our hearts where he wants to plant confusion and deception and fear (2Cor. 4:3). We have to take the initiative and withstand him. The Bible says the whole world lies in darkness, and we have all experienced that. But if we have the truth the darkness cannot harm us. Satan likes to put himself on display but when his bluff is called he has to back down. We are to walk into the darkness bravely and confidently.The four lepers walked boldly into the enemy camp, and we are to do the same. The risk for us is NOT in being harmed by the enemy – the risk for us is in NOT putting our trust in God that his goodness will come to us. That is not a good path for us to go down.The word of God about the blessing and the relief of the famine had been spoken by Elisha and was already in operation. The name ELISHA means ‘God of Blessing’. The word of spiritual blessing has been spoken over us in Jesus (Eph 1:3) and we are to trust that it is working in our lives and it will come to pass in every situation.  We accept that the current adverse or confusing situation is being used for God’s greater purpose and we give thanks in purposeful prayer. That is so that we can be strengthened in our faith in times of sometimes painful uncertainty, rather than going in to negative resistance like Israel’s king did and look for who to blame (He blamed God and God’s messenger or like many people do we just blame the devil!). No, instead we accept that God is at work in the Unseen, with his Unseen Army, even when the uncertain situation discomforts us. This strengthens our faith. Paul said he did not run aimlessly or fight to beat the air but his commitment to spiritual fitness was by taking on reality with hope and faith.That will always lead to our finally seeing the supernatural effect of his working in our lives and in those we bring before him in our prayer. We realise that the battle is ongoing until God’s a victory is apparent for all to see.  Ephesians 6:12 tells us to throw down the spiritual powers. Then it tells is what armor to put on. Truth, peace, faith, love, which will overcome anything the devil throws at our We are not feebly struggling against a powerful dark force but aligning ourselves with a powerful God force – and throwing down the darkness..We assume our place of authority with Jesus ABOVE the powers of darkness.We declare that we are serving the purpose of God in our generation. 2 Cor 10:4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds

God's power is used o behalf of those who follow him. It is based on (and demonstrated in) the work of Jesus Christ.

It would be strange indeed to go to a sporting event and hear no cheering. Yet in a sense, that’s what happens when Christians receive “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” in Jesus (Eph. 1:3) but then fail to give praise to God. In this sermon, we consider two more blessings we have in… The post The Inheritance Blessings appeared first on Atlantic Evangelical Free Church.

We are Saved by Grace through FaithWe are sinners who need a SaviorGod’s grace covers our sins (Rom. 13:14)We receive that gift through faith in Jesus (Eph. 2:8-9)The Law still stands (Rom 13:9)Temptation abounds (Matt. 18:7)Sin is serious! (Matt. 18:8-9)Fulfill the LawPractice the obedience of faith (Matt. 5:16)Love one another (Rom. 13:8, 10)

Obvious Limitations Resources can be scarce We often underestimate our supply Limited Expectations The disciples understood their limitations (Matt 14:15, 17) They had limited expectations of Jesus Do we expect God to act powerfully? A Compelling Demonstration Jesus fed the crowd (Matt. 14:19-20) We can trust in the power of Jesus (Eph 3:20) Gracious Invitation We can bring our needs to God (Philippians 4:6) We are invited to serve (Matt. 14:17-18)

In summary, Christ's Kingdom (politics) is not of/from this world but is for this world. Thy Kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven. We see the historic divisions in the Church and in the world. This longing for wholeness, unity, integrity is found in the person of Christ, the fully integrated human being. Paul, under house arrest is enthralled with the grandeur of God. He, thus, illustrates how to transcend one's circumstances in the practices of prayer and contemplation. His theology has become doxology.

Sermon Overview: Jesus is the King of heaven and earth. Scripture Reading: Psalm 110

Jesus’s Power for Mission Luke 4:14-21 Exegetical Main Point: Today is the day of salvation. Jesus, full of the Spirit, came not to condemn but to set captives free to serve him in the power of the Spirit. Main Point of the Sermon:Jesus fulfilled his mission in the power of the Spirit and empowers us to do the same. Intro Me: I grew up hearing stories from my parents about times of revival when God’s Spirit was so active in a room that people would grip the back of pews in conviction of their sin, they would sometimes run to the altar before the preacher could finish his message. Bars would be emptied, and churches filled with sinners seeking mercy from God in Christ. I heard the stories and with some hesitation wanted to see God move like that. I wanted to be used as a preacher of God’s Word like that, and yet I wondered if it were ever possible for me. When I looked at my life, my capacity, my track record with sin or faithfulness with the Word and prayer, let alone sharing the Good News with others, there seemed to be some disconnect with me and these powerful Christians who were seeing so much fruit. The reality is the Spirit of God is still alive and active among us and around the world today. The Christian message is believed by over 2 billion people and literally millions more are coming to faith daily around the world – sometimes spreading most quickly in the most unlikely places like Iran, China, and North Korea. People are daily gripped with conviction over their sins as the living Christ continues to show up to people and call them by name through faithful witnesses. I believe this, and by God’s grace, in my short life I’ve gotten to see and be a part of God’s work to save the lost and heal the sick both here and abroad. But sometimes, still, I doubt God will use me, that he wants to work through me. Our Tension: Maybe you’re like me. You hear the stories, and you believe that God is at work, but you wonder… “could God ever use me… Could I ever be the kind of Christian that walks in the kind of boldness and power that the early disciples walked in?” Do any of you resonate with that? Some of you may even say outright, “That’s not me and will never be. I’m just not one of those radical Christians.” Maybe like me you understand the mission of God, you like the idea of making disciples, but don’t quite understand the how behind what God promises to accomplish through his Church. I want to answer the question today how did Jesus accomplish his mission and how do we now accomplish the mission he has given us? My prayer today is that every one of us would believe that we, every believer in this room, have access to God’s Spirit like Jesus, his apostles, and all the heroes of the faith for powerful, bold, and effective ministry. Let’s pray to that end. Here’s where we are going: 1) Jesus’s Mission 16-19 2) Jesus’s Power 14, 18 3) The Church’s Mission 4) The Church’s Power Text: Scope:Before we dive in you need to know that my goal today will not be to track the narrative Luke is telling in this section which goes until verse 30, but to focus on the first section of this text where we see Jesus’s relationship with the Spirit of God for mission. Ross will pick up on this text next week and more closely follow the narrative of Jesus being rejected in his hometown. That being said, let’s look at the first point. Jesus’s Mission Verses 14 and 15 record that after Jesus was baptized and tempted in the wilderness for 40 days by Satan he returned to Galilee, the region where he grew up and he was teaching in the local synagogues. Synagogues were Jewish places of worship and prayer, where groups that averaged around 20-30 locals would gather, primarily on Saturday – the Jewish Sabbath. They gathered to hear the Scriptures read and taught, and to sing Psalms and hymns to the Lord. After giving us a little snapshot of Jesus’s activity in his first days of ministry Luke records one instance of Jesus’s synagogue teaching ministry in verses 16 and following: 16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. 17 And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. Jesus returns to Nazareth his hometown, and we are told, Jesus stood up to read, and that day the scroll of the prophet Isaiah happened to be given to Jesus – this seems like no coincidence – and Jesus found the place where it is written… Let’s read verses 18-19 again: 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaimgood news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaimliberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to setat liberty those who are oppressed, 19 to proclaimthe year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19). Jesus is reading from Isaiah 58:6 and 61:1-2. Luke says that after he read these passages, Jesus rolled up the scroll and sat down, and everyone’s eyes were fixed on him, waiting to see what he would say. Verse 21: 21 And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Jesus “began” to say to them… this implies that Jesus taught other things along with this promise of fulfillment but Luke seems to sum up the point of the teaching in this phrase of Jesus. When you read this, you should be asking “how”, how are these Isaiah passages fulfilled in Jesus life? The people that day didn’t literally see Jesus setting captives free or giving sight to the blind before their eyes, so what was he saying? Jesus was making the claim that in him the kingdom of God had come. He was making the claim that he was the Servant of the Lord prophesied about in Isaiah 42-66 who would bring about the renewal of God’s kingdom on earth, like it once was in Eden. From the fall of man, God promised that he would make a way for man to dwell again with God like they did in Eden, but even better – without any form of evil! So, from the first promise of salvation in Genesis 3:15 until this moment, people were waiting for the promised Seed who would crush the deceiving serpent, overcome death, and bring people back to Eden. This is what Israel was waiting for. This was their hope, and Jesus says that it was fulfilled that day. IN HIM. What a moment for this little Nazarene synagogue. The king of Israel didn’t announce his appearance and mission in the streets of Jerusalem, at the temple court, or in the palace of Herod, but at a small town rural church, as it were, with a simple sermon. Not only does Jesus announce who he is, he announces what he came to do. These words from Isaiah capture his mission. What was the mission? When you read these words from Jesus, what would you think his mission was going to be? Is it good works or helping suffering people? If that’s your thought, that would be a good guess. The mission of Jesus was to set captives free through the proclamation of the Good News of the coming of the Kingdom. The Kingdom had come because the King had come! I want you to notice the verbs (or more precisely, the infinitives, for you grammar nerds) in this passage. Jesus came “to proclaim” listed three times in these two verses and “to set” once. This is important for several reasons. Jesus’s mission is not first a charity mission, in which he comes to make the poor rich and healthy. It is first a reconciliation mission. Let me explain. The problem with mankind is not first our poverty or our death, but rather our sin, which leads to poverty and death. Sin separates from God who is the source of life. Thus the answer to our problems is reconciliation with God. But in order to be reconciled to God sin must be dealt with. We need to understand. The “poor” in Luke is a major theme, and while it does include economic status, the primary emphasis is on the heart posture of the poor. It is the poor “in spirit” (Mt. 5), those who recognize their need for God that will receive God’s powerful rescue. Isaiah, and now Jesus, expounds on this spiritual poverty with several other pictures: captivity, blindness, and oppression. These are the results of sin. Do you know that you are captive to the sin nature, blind to your need for God, and oppressed by Satan, the father of lies? This is why Jesus came preaching. His primary mission was not healing, not multiplying bread, or raising the dead. He came preaching a message of Good News to the spiritually poor, blind, and captive, a message so powerful that it would raise the spiritually dead! One commentator notes that the word “freedom” (aphesin) always refers to the forgiveness of sins elsewhere in Luke-Acts.[1]Jesus is focusing on the sin problem. So then, what is the Good news of Jesus? “I will give you spiritual sight. I will set you free from your slavery to sin! I will deliver you from you Satan’s oppression and bring you to God through forgiveness of sins. I was sent to rescue you if…if you will believe in me, the King.” How is one set free? By believing on the one sent from God, Jesus (Jn 3:16). Jesus came preachingthis message and this same message is what will set you free today. Our main problem in this world is not poverty, hunger, or even justice issues, but rather, our sin, which has separated us from God. Let me show you a little bit more evidence from our text that Jesus’s primary mission is to overthrow sin. Notice where Jesus stops reading in Isaiah 61. What’s missing that Jesus’s didn’t quote in verse 2? “2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; Jesus stops reading before the comment about God’s vengeance on sinners (see Is 61:2b). Why? Jesus has been sent not first to condemn the world but that the world might be saved through him (John 3:17). Jesus’s first coming is not about wrath for sin, of destruction of Israel’s enemies, but about mercy for sinners who deserve wrath, even the Jews. If he came for final judgment and the removal of all sin and suffering in this world, every man would perish in sin. But Jesus didn’t come for vengeance. He came for salvation for all who would believe in him. He came “TO SET” at liberty those who are oppressed by sin and Satan. How? By himself taking on the vengeance of God at the cross on behalf of those who would believe. Those who believe in him will not have to perish for sin like Jesus, but rather live eternally in God’s presence. But you also need to know that those who do not believe are already condemned. Implied here is the reality of God’s coming vengeance. Jesus didn’t stay in the grave. He rose again, and is coming again. Jesus will in the end have victory over Satan, his angels, and all who are in accord with him. He will take vengeance in the future, but this is the age of grace, the day of salvation. There is still opportunity to enter into God’s rest as long as you are alive and Christ hasn’t come, but that window is closing quickly. When Jesus returns or if you pass into eternity today without knowing him, there will no longer be an opportunity to repent, and how terrible it will be to fall into the hands of the living God (Heb 10:31). If you don’t know Christ today, come to him. Please come to him. Escape the punishment that is coming on you. All he requires is a movement of trust towards him. You may feel utterly chained and imprisoned by sins and addictions, but all he calls you to do is lift up your weary head, look to him, and say I’m yours, Lord. If you want healing, if you want rest, find your peace in God through Jesus. Today is the day of salvation. Soul only? So, I’ve said that Jesus mission was first to deal with sin. But this leaves us with an important question. If Jesus’s first mission is to deal with sin, does this mean that God doesn’t care about the suffering in the world? Should we ignore physical needs? No, you need to know that the Good News of Jesus is not only dealing with the sin of the heart, but also with the effects of sin. As humans we are made up of body and soul, we are not just spiritual or just physical, but we are physical and spiritual. If we focus only on the needs of the body our soul will perish without God. But if we focus only on the needs of the soul we neglect the beauty of God’s good design in the material world. God’s salvation plan to restore all things that sin destroyed on earth includes body and soul, physical and spiritual. But you have to know that without dealing with the root of all the evil we experience, the effects could never be dealt with. But if sin is overcome, the effects will be undone. God’s kingdom advances first in human hearts, but it will ultimately bear fruit unto everlasting life in new resurrection bodies in a new heavens and new earth where this is no more suffering, pain, or death. Jesus models this for us in his ministry. Though his primary work was to preach the message of forgiveness of sins, he healed, he cast out demons, and raised the dead in order to show us what the kingdom he was going to bring was like. But the question remains… how? How did Jesus fulfill his mission. This leads us to our second point. Jesus’s power Luke emphasizes more than most authors of the New Testament, that Jesus’s power for completing his mission was the Holy Spirit. If we back up in our text to verse 14, we read these words, “And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee…” Who is the Holy Spirit? Briefly, he is one of the three divine persons of the Godhead, who is biblically described as the empowering figure behind every prophet and teacher of the Word as well as the inspiration for the Word. The Spirit puts God’s will and word into action and completes it in creation, salvation, and recreation. The Spirit is one with God the Father and God the Son in such a way that he can do nothing but what the Father and Son are doing. What is Jesus’s relationship with the Spirit? Let’s review what Luke has shown us up to this point. It all began before Jesus was born, when the angel prophesied to Mary in Luke 1:35 that Jesus would be born of the Holy Spirit. In 2:40, we are told that Jesus as a boy was “filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him.” This was pointing to the Spirit’s presence in Jesus’s life. In 3:16, Jesus is prophesied to be one who would “baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire”, before he himself would be baptized and have the Spirit descend on him in bodily form. Then, after the baptism we are told in 4:1 that“Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness 2 for forty days, being tempted by the devil.” Now in verse 14, today’s text, we are told that Jesus returns in the power of the Spirit to teach, and that the Spirit of the Lord was upon him for the fulfillment of his mission as shown in Isaiah 61. Luke, who is also the author of Acts – which is a memoir of the living Christ by the Spirit working to build his church through the Apostles – is trying to show the church where power for mission comes from. How did Jesus overcome Satan in the wilderness? It was not only knowledge of the Word that helped him overcome, but the presence of the Spirit. How did Jesus know what to say and do? Luke shows us that Jesus “returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee.” His miracles, his teachings, his daily direction, even the effect of his work on the cross – offered by the Spirit (Heb 9:14). – was ruled and empowered by the Holy Spirit. This is why you see Jesus saying things like – “the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does” (John 5:19). Jesus lived every moment in dependence on the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. Maybe this is confusing to you. Well, you’re in good company. The church has wrestled to understand these mysteries now for two millennia. You might ask: Daniel, if Jesus is God, he is the essence of power. What other power could he need? In other words, how do we reconcile what we see Jesus doing as the divine son of God with his limitations and dependence on the Holy Spirit in all of life? The Scriptures teach that in the mystery of the incarnation, Jesus remained divine though he took on human flesh. He did not lose any of his divinity or even his divine attributes, but in this position and in his role as the Son of God he willingly limited himself in a human body, and submitted himself to the Father as the perfect son of God that Adam, Israel, and we were supposed to be, only utilizing his divine attributes according to the Father’s will. Gerald Hawthorne, a longtime Greek professor at Wheaton college wrote extensively on this subject in his book The Presence and the Power: the significance of the Holy Spirit in the life and ministry of Jesus. He writes, “[Jesus] faced life precisely like any other human being faces life—not as some colossus striding unfeelingly over the earth, but as a person limited physically and mentally, exposed to all kinds of diseases, subject to all sorts of temptations…” (p. 230). Why? Luke sprinkle these statements about the Spirit leading, resting upon, and empowering Jesus because Jesus was living as humanity’s representative and example! He was going before his people whom he would set free so that we also could live in the power of the Spirit on earth. Jesus’s life fulfilled the Law of God perfectly, as well as his mission presented in Isaiah 61, and the power for that fulfillment was the Holy Spirit. So here’s the million dollar question: What does this have to do with us today? To say it frankly, Everything!Here is the third point. the church’s mission: Jesus’s mission will be fulfilled ultimately through the Church. Before Jesus went to the cross he said to his disciples, 21“Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. (John 20:21-22). Before Jesus ascended he told his disciples that he was going to give them the Holy Spirit so that they would be his witnesses to the ends of the earth (Ac 1:8). And on the day of Pentecost, God’s Spirit was poured out on 120 believers who were gathered together praying. Guess what? It led to… 1) a proclamation of the Good News of the Kingdom in Jesus 2) and it lead to 3000 people being set freefrom sin and baptized into the church that day. That day the church was birthed and until now the message of the Kingdom coming in Christ’s life, death, and resurrection continues to be proclaimed and spread in the power of the Spirit by the Church of Jesus Christ. The Church’s mission is the same as Christ’s! In the power of the Spirit, through us, the living Christ wants to set captives free. How? Through a proclamation of the Good News of the Kingdom come in Christ. Church, you need to know that God didn’t set us free as an end in itself. Israel fell into the trap of believing that their deliverance was an end in itself, that they could go be whoever they wanted to be and however they would to be it. But no, he set them free so that they would be God’s priests on earth, reconciling the world to God. Now, similarly, he has set the church free and given us the Holy Spirit so that we could be priests of God in the Holy Spirit, reconciling the world to God as his ambassadors. When people encounter God’s people, it should feel like they are encountering God himself. They should be met with the powerful fruit of the Spirit of God, characteristic of God’s children, so that your words and your life as an ambassador of God would be calling them to be reconciled to God. This is Jesus alive in you by the Holy Spirit. So for my final point, let me ask you, what (or who) is the Church’s power? The Church’s power I hope you know the answer to this question. THE HOLY SPIRIT. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, church. When you believed in Christ, you were empowered by the same Spirit that empowered Jesus (Eph 1:20). You have become the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:19). God dwells in me and in you! God’s presence was opened through the curtain of Christ’s own broken body on the cross so that we could dwell with God again in this intimate way, that we would become the temple of the Holy Spirit in Christ, and so that we could fulfill his mission on earth. Being united to Jesus, every Christian could claim Isaiah 61 as your own because of Jesus. In him, you have been anointed with the Spirit for setting captives free. But here is my question for you today. Is this practically, functionally true of you? Are you 1) aware of the Spirit’s empowering presence for mission in your life 2) are you living in the Spirit’s power for mission? Are you aware? I must first say if you are in Christ you already have the Holy Spirit. You have everything you need for holiness and powerful witnessing in Jesus name. However, I think many of us are ignorant to the Spirit’s role in our life for mission? We talk more often about the Spirit’s role in helping us walk in holiness, but not often about the Spirit’s empowering presence for evangelism, bold witness, and good works for the spread of the Kingdom beyond the walls of the church. It’s like we are living off the grid without the power of electricity even though it is available to every Christian. I forget this every day. The enemy wants us to live in fear, and he often fires darts of temptation that attack my identity as a spirit-filled son of God, equipped to do his will and work in the world. If you know this is true, are you living in His power for mission? This is the day of salvation and we have a small window to set captives free who are condemned to hell for rejecting the Kingdom of Christ. Maybe you want to step up in boldness in your spheres of influence in your life, but you simply haven’t known how. I believe the answer starts first with asking God for this gift by his Spirit. As we diligently seek to be equipped with God’s Word to effectively proclaim the Good News like Jesus modeled for us, we must never neglect the Spirit. We could know the Bible front and back, but if we do not rely on the Spirit for powerful witness than we are missing what was central to Christ’s power. If you know and believe that you have the Holy Spirit, let me ask you, have you ever asked God for a fresh filling of the Spirit for mission? As you read Acts, I hope you are following along with us in our daily Bible reading plan, you will see that the disciples, who had the Spirit of God just like we do are described many times over as receiving fresh fillings of the Spirit of God for particular mission. Here’s one example in Acts 4:31, which came after the first baptism of the Spirit. 31 “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.” The pastors at All Peoples Church believe that the Baptism in the Holy Spirit is received by every believer at conversion. But we also believe Scripture teaches that those who are actively submitting to God as his servants on mission will receive many additional fillings of the Spirit for effective mission (We covered this more robustly in our Midweek podcast a few weeks back). Wayne Grudem offers a helpful analogy with regards to asking for fresh fillings of the Spirit. Every Christian has the Spirit like a balloon which has air in it. But at times that balloon is fuller than other times. How? Through God’s grace, through greater surrender to him and hunger for him. But at times it is less full. We quench the Spirit by our failure to surrender areas of our lives to God. So, our prayer for you is that you would be aware of this great reality, and that you would seek God today for a greater measure of the Spirit’s power in your life through surrender to Christ. I’ve tried to show you today that Jesus fulfilled his mission in the power of the Spirit and empowers us to do the same. Response: Here’s what we are going to do for the rest of our time. We are going to spend the next several moments to seek God’s Spirit for empowering for mission. Here’s what you need to realize as we go to prayer. The devil and his servants love to remind God’s children of their unworthiness before God and of their inadequacies for ministry. The truth is you are unworthy of more of the Spirit because of your many sins. BUT… praise God, he is not measuring your worthiness before him, but Christ’s! In him you are worthy as one of God’s children. He has already given you his Spirit in Christ, and he is eager to give more of the Spirit to those who ask him (Lk. 11:13). But for some of us getting more of the Holy Spirit means greater surrender to Jesus. What I mean is that some of us have areas of our lives that are not yet in accord with Jesus life and commands. If you want God to have more space in your life, then you have to let him clean house for you through surrender of those things to him. Is there any sin that you are coddling? Don’t you know that you are quenching the Spirit and opening the door to the enemy?! So for some of us tonight getting more of the Spirit will look like a greater spotlight on areas of our life that need repentance. But the goal of removing sin is getting more of God. So don’t let sin have a place in your life anymore and let’s ask God to have all of us for the sake of the dying world and for our great joy. [1]Stein, R. H. (1992). Luke(Vol. 24, p. 156). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.

Pastor Jason Knapp is continuing his series in the book of Ephesians titled Life In Christ! This week is all about how to "Walk in Harmony." Here is the sermon outline: Life In Christ: Walk in Unity Ephesians 4:1-16 I. The giving of gifts (v 7-10) A.Each gift is measured by Jesus (Eph 4:7) B. Each gift is distributed by the Spirit (1 Cor 12:4-8) II. The receiving of gifts (v 11) A. Gifts of responsibility (Eph 4:11) B. Gifts of activity (1 Cor 12:4-11) C. Gifts of Service (Rom 12:3-8) III. The use of gifts (v 12-16) A. Maturity (v 12-13) B. Stability (v 14) C. Accountability (v 15-16) Be sure to check out our website (www.KMCC.org), Podcast, Facebook, and Instagram to stay up to date with upcoming events and everything else going on at Kettle Moraine Community Church

Life is shaped by your thoughts. Dr. Norris will be discussing how to keep your mind in line with the truth of God's word.  Proverbs 23:7 'For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. Let me share with you who you are in Christ Jesus. God did a finished work in the beloved. Now we are heirs.  He made Him (Jesus) who knew no sin, that we would be made the righteousness of God in Him.  We are accepted in the beloved (Jesus)Eph 1:6 Jesus was the perfect lamb that was presented for you and me.  Now we are seated in heavenly places. We are kings and priest rule and reigning on this earth.   God doesn't call the qualifies. He qualifies the called.  you are not a sinner saved by grace. you are a child of the King.  This is The Beauty of Grace. Support the show

Life is shaped by your thoughts. Dr. Norris will be discussing how to keep your mind in line with the truth of God's word.  Proverbs 23:7 'For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. Let me share with you who you are in Christ Jesus. God did a finished work in the beloved. Now we are heirs.  He made Him (Jesus) who knew no sin, that we would be made the righteousness of God in Him.  We are accepted in the beloved (Jesus)Eph 1:6 Jesus was the perfect lamb that was presented for you and me.  Now we are seated in heavenly places. We are kings and priest rule and reigning on this earth.   God doesn't call the qualifies. He qualifies the called.  you are not a sinner saved by grace. you are a child of the King.  This is The Beauty of Grace. Support the show

This is a continuation of last weeks sermon and the notes are the same but they are included below. We have been physically born into a life that we cannot live because our only option in handling the problems of life is to do so sinfully. We must die to this life, and that is only possible by placing our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. When we are born into this world, we are dead to the things of God (Eph 2:1-2). But God makes us alive to Him at the moment that we believe in Jesus (Eph 2:5). This means that we have, in turn, died to sin, and have been raised to a newness of life.The believer in Jesus Christ is placed “in Christ” at the moment of faith. This establishes the believer with a new identity, being a new creation, and now having a glorious standing of righteousness before a holy God. Jesus’ perfect provision is our distinct privilege.Do we reallybelieve this? Our answer is predicated on our belief in the truthfulness of God’s Word, for in it are the factsof all history, seen and unseen, natural and supernatural, past, present, and future. Reality finds its meaning and purpose only in God’s holy Word.Why are we Missing the Power to Live the Christian Life?For many, Scripture seems disconnected from the “reality” of our modern age causing us to reluctantly dismiss the biblical record of the Holy Spirit’s work as borderline fiction. Such unbelief in the Bible’s accuracy has robbed us of the Spirit’s power in our lives. If we are not believing in what God has already said, why would we believe that He would work gloriously among us? When we render the Word of theLord as being mundane and ordinary, the Lord passes us by, just as He did in Nazareth. We are told haunting words by Matthew, “And He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief” (Matt 13:58). However, the Spirit’s power has been freely given to all who believe in Christ being freely available in abundance, and yet it lies dormant because of our unbelief, and more particularly our unbelief regarding what God has said in His holy Word. The believer in Christ is already “in Christ!” Thus, our position before God is one that is established in victory because Christ is victorious over sin, death, and the grave. His win is the provision for our lives to “win” also. Van Gelderen explains, “As children of God, Christ is living in each of us right now… Faith turns what is true provisionally into experience practically. We simply must choose to depend on the reality of the words declared by God in order to access the benefit of what God says is so.”[1]“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you” (John 15:7). Believing His Word, moment by moment, is what it means to “abide,” and abiding in Christ is the answer to our power problem. Jesus references His own abiding in the Father in John 15:10. He tells His disciples, “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just asI have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love” (emphasis added). Just as Jesus’ life was a model of constant obedience to the Father, so our lives in abiding in Christ must be one of constant obedience to Him. This is not a “do more, try harder” approach, but a “trust Him fully” way of thinking. No one obeys a command without believing it to be true. So it is with the relationship of “believing” and “obeying” in the Christian Life. This means that His Word is paramount and there are no worthy competitors. With His Word being our chiefconviction, we find our lives full of the Spirit’s power because all has come under submission to His will.[2]R.A. Torrey brings understanding to Jesus’ words regarding the power that is available when the believer is abiding in Christ. He writes, “If we are to obtain from God all that we ask from Him, Christ’s words must abide or continue in us. We must study His words, fairly devour His words, let them sink into our thought and into our heart, keep them in our memory, obey them constantly in our life, let them shape and mold our daily life and our every act.This is really the method of abiding in Christ. It is through His words that Jesus imparts Himself to us. The words He speaks unto us, they are spirit and they are life (John 6:63). It is vain to expect power in prayer unless we meditate much upon the words of Christ, and let them sink deep and find a permanent abode in our hearts. There are many who wonder why they are so powerless in prayer, but the very simple explanation of it all is found in their neglect of the words of Christ.”[3] Power in the Christian Life is NEVER our power, but the power of the Spirit flowing through us because we are in full dependency of the Word of the indwelling Christ. We must well-remember that Truth is a Person, Jesus Christ, and this Person operates and is who He is in complete consistency with His Word. This is a sound and consistent factto rest ourselves upon.Factshave power, and those facts are found ONLY in God’s Word. When we speak of facts, we are speaking of authority. Understanding this, every situation, decision, and concern must have an authority in place. Therefore, it must be brought to the Word of God. It is the engine that provides the power for the F-Train to move forward. The remaining cars of faithand feelingshave no real power. Therefore,they only lead in wrong directions and to wrong responses. Their proper place is in submission to the authority (facts), for only the authority has power.Sadly, there are many instances in life where God’s Word is not the authority. This finds the other cars of faithand feelingscompeting for the lead position, and in turn, stalling all progression and growth in the Christian Life. Let’s look at the problems that are created when God’s Truth is removed from the forefront of our lives.When “Faith” is the Lead CarThis is a particularly sensitive area for many people because it strikes at the core convictions that one holds dear. Some have “grown up this way,” or “that’s just the way we do it,” or “It’s a Jeep thing, you wouldn’t understand.” You get the picture. Using the above rationales are really a defense mechanism to excuse sin. Some of the common phrases that are identifiers of this are:· I believe…· I think…· You ought to…· You shouldn’t…· Well, everybody does/believes/etc.· Well, they say… (who are “they”?)All of these have one thing in common: they are rooted in man’s opinion, having no foundation for their assertions, stemming from the biased minds and corrupted hearts of created, fallen beings. Each statement makes a man-centered assumption about how life should be or how situations and relationships should be handled, but fall seriously short when asked to provide a greater reason for these convictions other than, “Well, that’s just what I think ought to happen.” Life’s decisions should not be based on shaky ground.Only God is True. Only God is Eternal. Only God is the Creator. Therefore, His commentary and interpretation of existence, as foundin the Bible, is the final authority, telling us the Truth (facts) about everything.Though the person is obviously “believing” in something (faith), the object of their belief is not the Word of God. Therefore, it is considered unbelief, regardless of motives or heartfelt sincerity.Paul stresses the maturity that comes from a church body that is benefiting from the implementation of the Word of God as they are being taught it. He writes, “we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming” (Eph 4:14). The “trickery of men” and “deceitful scheming” are the false convictions (faith) that stem from a sinful mindset. The Word of God must be at the forefront if we are to think correctly about life, existence, relationships, eternity, etc.“I’m Religious”Many people portray a sincere “faith” and they communicate this by stating, “I’m religious,” “well, my faith is my own,” or something like “you believe in your god and I will believe in mine.” Another favorite is, “I think that god would…” In each of these statements their convictions about deity are revealed, demonstrating a god who has been fashioned according to their personal expectations. The very idea of deity has been diluted seeing that man is really in control. This is exactly the type of deity that the human race clamors after… one that can do or not do, be or not be, everything that the person who worships it wishes that it would do or not do, be or not be. Who is REALLY superior in this relationship?The self-serving nature of such diminished faithhas shown itself in all religions, being nothing new. Looking at Acts 17:22-27, we find Paul’s words to the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers at Mars Hill. He notes that they are “very religious” (17:22). Faithis not their problem. They very much believe in a whole lot of gods, beings, and deities (17:16b). But as stated before, because their belief was not placed in the Wordof God, it is actually unbelief. Paul also notes one altar that was “to an unknown god” (17:23). Notice that this was a place of “worship” (feeling) that had an ascribed object as its focus (“an unknown god”) who is without identity or substance, having no foundation (unlike the factsof God’s Word). Yet, they were “very religious” (faith). How does Paul correct the F-TRAINof the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers?Paul tells them the facts. Follow the train of thought (no pun intended): 1. God made the world (17:24a). He is the Creator of all things. 2. He is the “Lord (Master) of heaven and earth” (17:24b) who is beyond temples, structures, and altars (17:24c). 3. He is not served with human hands because He is self-sufficient and is in need of nothing (17:25a). 4. He is the one who gives the human race life and breath. He is the Life-Source (17:25b). 5. God created them, and every man who has ever lived (17:26a), and He alone determines the when and where of their existence (17:26b) so that every person would know Him personally (17:27). Paul gave these “very religious” people an engine (facts) to get their F-TRAIN moving. He immediately identified the problem that Athens was facing. They had faith, though it was faithin the wrong object (unbelief), and by worshiping these “unknown” gods and having an air of superiority (Acts 17:21), they had feelings(worship) that were being dictated by their misdirected faith/unbelief. What they needed was something worth believing in; something sure and certain; something worthy of devotion. So, Paul introduces to them their Creator (facts) so that they can believe in Him (faith) and worship (feelings) the right and true Object. It is essential for faithto always be found in the facts, for faithwill always have worshipas the primary feelingthat follows it. “Worship” (literally “worth-ship”) ascribes value to an object. If you are enthralled with a celebrity, it is because you believe (faith)that they have done well and you are ascribing a higher value to them. The feelingthat proceeds out from that conviction (faith)is elation, pride,or what have you, because worth has been ascribed to this object. Faith will always have worshipas the primary feelingthat follows it.Misplacingfaith in something other than God’s Word leads to worship being ascribed to something other than God. This is the fabrication of idolatry in the heart, leaving one’s affections unchecked with trust and worth being issued to an object of complete inferiority. All things are less than God. Jeremiah the prophet exclaims, “There is none like You, O Lord; You are great, and great is Your name in might” (Jer 10:6).Identity CrisisOne of the greatest cries among this current generation is “Who am I?” This question is a result of banning the Creator God from the education of children, and thus banning His given purpose for our identities. Today we are seeing a flesh-led quest for identity in YouTube videos, Facebook posts, Snapchat, Instagram, etc., as well as the gay, lesbian, and transgender movement. Shock and awe are the calling cards of the culture and conformity is demanded in the name of originality (notice the contradictions that these worldviews create).It was obvious that the Spirit wanted us to know our identities up front. Only twenty-six verses into the first chapter of the Bible we read, “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth’” (Gen 1:26-28).With His Word, God established the unchanging factof our identity. Every person is made in His likeness and in His image. This Truth holds great weight and significance, showing the Creator to be full of care and creating us for a purpose. Yet, our nation’s suicide rate among young people is skyrocketing. Could it be that the quest for “Who am I?” has already been answered by God, but the problem is that many are led to believe (faith) something else, leading to feelingsof inferiority, insignificance, and marginalization?This is a factthat is true for the Christian as well as the non-Christian. For the believer, they have an extra advantage, with the Holy Spirit residing in them and leading them into all Truth (facts- John 16:13). These factskeep us grounded in trying times, for we have the risen Lord hiding us with Himself in the Father (Col 3:3). The believer has died to this life of sin and has been raised to a newness of life, being given a new identity by being “in Christ!” How helpful this is in such confusing and trying times. Handley Moule captures this, writing, “In temptation, in spiritual languor and decline, in care and perplexity and toil, let me draw upon the fact – not the feeling but the fact – of ‘Christ in me.’”[4]When “Feelings” are the Lead CarThe idea that “feelings” can be the lead car are more of an excuse than a reality. What is meant by this is that all feelingsare actually a result of what it is that we are truly believing (faith), or what we are valuing as the “most true” concept at any given time. By believing something other than God’s Word, we have settled for a lesser truth that is really no truth at all because it is not God’s Truth (facts). In a situation where a heinous crime is committed because of someone’s reaction to something that they were surprised with, we may describe such rash actions as a “blind rage” (feelings). However, if the police believe that the person had pondered this crime for some time before committing it, they would call this “premeditated,” meaning that they had been believing (faith) this to be the right response for some time.We often phrase the reasons for our beliefs about something as “well, I feelthat…” when feelings are actually the result of our faithin a matter. When a reason is asked for why we did something wrong, we usually respond with a feelingsanswer: “I felt like I had to…” Many times, we find that the only way that we can express ourselves is in terms of feelings.It would seem that the three most prominent feelingsthat we are faced with are doubt, anger, and revenge.DoubtInMatthew 11:2-6, we return to the moment where John the Baptist struggled with doubts (feelings) about Jesus being the Promised Messiah. Though he himself had been His forerunner, John’s present situation made his susceptible to doubts (feelings), finding himself in a prison at the order of King Herod, all because he stood up for the truth (facts). “Are You the Expected One,” he asked through his disciples, “or shall we look for someone else?” (Matt 11:3). John’s feelingsabout his current situation had taken the place of the lead car, causing unbelief (faith) in who Jesus is. When we find ourselves in difficult situations, and especially in situations that are going to go on for some time, we may be tempted to lose faithin the facts. As a model example, Jesus does not scold John for his doubt (feelings), but turns his attention to the factsof Scripture: “the blind receive sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them” (Matt 11:5). All of this was happening in John’s day, yet, knowing the Scriptures, John would have understood that the prophecies of the Messiah as told by Isaiah were being fulfilled (Isa 29:18-19; 35:5-6; 61:1). Therefore, Jesus was placing the facts at the front of the conversation so that John would have faithin them, and in light of this new stability, his feelingswould change.AssuranceThis is true for those Christians who are struggling with an assurance of salvation. Whether it is where they are in life, their past sins creeping up to beat them down, or some ongoing sin in their lives that they just can’t shake, many Christians, who are eternally secure in Christ, frequently doubt their salvation. They feellike they are not saved. Because they are not willing to conclude that they are lost shows that they are not fully buying in (faith) to the idea, but they are struggling, nonetheless. In this case, feelingsare leading the train, faith is being placed in those feelings, which will ultimately cause a reinterpretation of the facts, concluding in something like “Jesus will only keep me saved if I am a good person who only commits little sins.” By letting their feelingstake the lead car, and by believing those feelingsas truth, the F-TRAINis now traveling backwards with the factsbeing reinterpreted by their feelings. Is this factual? What does the Truth (facts) say about this matter?There are many verses and whole passages that could be cited that speak to the eternal, forever security of the believer in Christ, but we will only choose two, and with minimal elaboration. First, Romans 8:38-39states, “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Nothing, not even ourselves, can separate us from the love of God. This is a fact; a Truth with power to propel us forward if we would only believe (faith) what God is telling us. If we do, we will not just feelsaved, we will feelblessed!Another good passage that needs little explanation is 2 Timothy 2:13. It reads, “If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.” The word “faithless” here actually means, “to have nobelief, disbelieve.”[5]This means that even if we are unbelieving in our lives, the Lord remains faithful to His promise of eternal life to us. Lea and Griffin explain this writing, “Paul was asserting that despite human unfaithfulness God’s saving purpose has not retreated. Timothy and all those with him were to continue their endurance that they might experience God’s blessing. Paul did not state these words to open the door to apostasy and disobedience but to soothe a troubled conscience and to provide encouragement to return to God.”[6]God is always faithful to His promises (facts) and He has promised us eternal life.AngerAnger is a big one! Everyone struggles with getting mad, and sometimes at the littlest things. However, being angry is not the real issue. As stated above, anger is the result (feeling) of a conviction (faith) that we are holding tightly. For those who seem to have a habitual problem with anger, their ultimate issue is the need to have control in situations. This is derived from a pride problem that believes (faith) that they are right and everyone else is wrong. Only their way is the correct way, and everyone else is “ignorant, stupid, uneducated,” or “means well, but they really don’t know what they are talking about.” This is pride, and when pride does not get its way, and a situation is not able to be controlled in the manner that “we think” (faith) it should be controlled, we get angry (feeling).Pride is the exact same sin that the devil had/has (Isa 14:13-14). It is a natural conclusion to see that this should have no part in us. Pride asserts one’s rights and fosters entitlement (faith). We feellike we deserve something or should be listened to because of who we are or what we have done, but these are really the convictions that we hold dear (faith). None of this is acceptable before the eyes of the Father. Instead, we are to humble ourselves before Him. How do we correct the problem of our cars getting out of order when it comes to anger?James 1:19b-20states, “Everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.” Being rash (feelings) never works. What we should seek in every situation is for God’s righteousness to shine forth and be the center of attention. Only He is right (facts), we are not. Our anger (feelings) will not accomplish His righteousness in any situation. Therefore, anger must be abandoned as a suitable option in handling conflict. By holding fast to this Truth (fact) and believing (faith) that it is in fact true, our feelingswill come to a place of humility knowing that it is possible for God’s righteousness to be displayed in every trial. This is not a “maybe” situation, but a certainty that rests upon our submission to His Word (facts). Will He not do what He has said?Biblically speaking, it is not wrong to be angry if you are angry about the right things. Ephesians 4:26-27says, “Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity.” You can be angry about something and not sin. But the way to allow for anger to become sin is if you are not dealing with it properly. If it is prolonged, the devil will grab a foothold in your life. Being angry because of the abortion problem in the United States is a real and right reason to be angry. Being angry because you were lied to is a legitimate reason because truth (facts) has been bypassed for falsehood. But each of these situations needs to be addressed in the heart and brought before the Lord. They are not to fester and grow to an unhealthy dynamic. You see, feelingsare not bad when they are properly placed at the end of the train because of the faiththat you are exercising in the Truth of God’s Word (facts).RevengeWe’ve all been there. When someone has wronged us, they need to pay! So, we devise ways in our mind that they are going to pay, how we wish to see them pay, or how we are going to make them pay(feelings). The factis, we have been wronged and we will not allow ourselves to be treated in such a horrible fashion (feelings). So, obviously revenge is the best option… or is it?In Romans 12:19, Paul writes, “Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord.” This is Truth (fact). We may feeldisenfranchised in some way, but we must remember that the Lord knows all things and that He will bring all situations to justice. By claiming (faith) this Truth (fact), we can now rest (feeling) in God’s care, knowing that He will take care of what or who has wronged us with much greater precision than we would ever be able to muster in our sinful flesh.______________________________________Q: Do you believe what God has said about who you are, your current situation, the choices that you are making, or the handling of your future? If not, why not? Q: Where did God get it wrong? Where has His Word misspoken? How has He failed you in the past convincing you that you cannot trust Him anymore? Such questions should expose the root of the real reason why we are not trusting what He has already said in His Word. We are either convinced that there is a greater truth than what He has said about a particular matter (faith)or we know that His Word will keep us from the excitingly sinful situation that our flesh wants to participate in (feelings). Such conclusions dismiss the factsaltogether, exchanging God’s revealed Word for our sinful desires. ___________________________________It is possible to abide in Christ. We can experience the fullness of who He is because He is in us. In looking to Him as the Truth, and therefore looking to God’s Word as given through Him, we are submitted to His facts. He is so much more than many of us initially think or believe. Let’s close by illustrating this with a personal account of this grand realization. Charles Trumbull (1872-1941) was the editor of the Sunday School Times periodical. He was a committed and devout man, constantly championing the cause of Christ for some twenty years before He fully grasped the significance of Christ in him. He obviously knew the Word and all that it taught of Christ and the Christian Life, but he came to realize that he was not confidently convinced of what it was actually saying to him about the nature of Christ’s Life in relationship to his person. In the profound little booklet The Life That Wins, we find his personal testimony in coming to this profound realization. He writes, “I had always known that Christ was my Savior, but I had looked upon Him as an external Savior, one who did a saving work forme from outside, as it were; one who was ready to come close alongside and stay by me, helping me in all that I needed, giving me power and strength and salvation. But now I knew something better than that. At last I realized that Jesus Christ was actually and literally withinme and that He had constituted Himself my very life, taking me into union with Himself- my body, mind, and spirit- while I still had my own identity and free will and full moral responsibility. Was not this better than having Him as a helper or even than having Him as an external Savior? To have him, Jesus Christ, God the Son, as my own very life. It meant that I need never again ask Him to help me as though He were one and I another, but rather simply to do His work, His will in me and with me and through me. My body was His, my mind His, my will His, my spirit His- and not merely His but literally a part of Him. What He asked me to recognize was that ‘I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me.’ Jesus Christ had constituted Himself my life- not as a figure of speech, remember, but as a literal, actual fact, as literal as the fact that a certain tree has been made into this desk on which my hand rests. For ‘your bodies are members of Christ,’ and ‘ye are the body of Christ.’”[7]The F-TRAINis a simple illustration that points to this greater truth. Christ, the Word of God, is telling us the Truth (facts) about life, reality, and Himself. His Word is giving us the answers, the factsabout every situation. By believing (faith) upon what He has already told us, we find heights previously unknown and provision much deeper than first assumed. How can humility and gratitude (feelings) not be the result of such amazing grace? “God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son” (1 John 5:11b). To live our lives in the light of His Truth (facts) is to have Him live His Life through us. This is most certainly a Life worth living![1]John Van Gelderen, Experiencing Jesus: Personal Revival Through the Spirit-Filled Life(Ann Arbor, MI: Revival Focus, 2017), p. 105-106.[2]See H.C.G. Moule, Practicing the Promises (Chicago: Moody Press, 1975), p. 65-71.[3]Reuben Archer Torrey, How to Pray(Chicago; New York: Fleming H. Revell company, 1900), p. 71–72.[4]H.C.G. Moule, Practicing the Promises (Chicago: Moody Press, 1975), p. 54.[5]Thayer, A Greek-English Lexicon, p. 57.[6]Thomas D. Lea and Hayne P. Griffin, 1, 2 Timothy, Titus, vol. 34, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1992), p. 211.[7]Charles G. Trumbull, The Life That Wins(Fort Washington, PA: CLC Publications, 2015), p. 20-21.

We have been physically born into a life that we cannot live because our only option in handling the problems of life is to do so sinfully. We must die to this life, and that is only possible by placing our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. When we are born into this world, we are dead to the things of God (Eph 2:1-2). But God makes us alive to Him at the moment that we believe in Jesus (Eph 2:5). This means that we have, in turn, died to sin, and have been raised to a newness of life.The believer in Jesus Christ is placed “in Christ” at the moment of faith. This establishes the believer with a new identity, being a new creation, and now having a glorious standing of righteousness before a holy God. Jesus’ perfect provision is our distinct privilege.Do we reallybelieve this? Our answer is predicated on our belief in the truthfulness of God’s Word, for in it are the factsof all history, seen and unseen, natural and supernatural, past, present, and future. Reality finds its meaning and purpose only in God’s holy Word.Why are we Missing the Power to Live the Christian Life?For many, Scripture seems disconnected from the “reality” of our modern age causing us to reluctantly dismiss the biblical record of the Holy Spirit’s work as borderline fiction. Such unbelief in the Bible’s accuracy has robbed us of the Spirit’s power in our lives. If we are not believing in what God has already said, why would we believe that He would work gloriously among us? When we render the Word of theLord as being mundane and ordinary, the Lord passes us by, just as He did in Nazareth. We are told haunting words by Matthew, “And He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief” (Matt 13:58). However, the Spirit’s power has been freely given to all who believe in Christ being freely available in abundance, and yet it lies dormant because of our unbelief, and more particularly our unbelief regarding what God has said in His holy Word. The believer in Christ is already “in Christ!” Thus, our position before God is one that is established in victory because Christ is victorious over sin, death, and the grave. His win is the provision for our lives to “win” also. Van Gelderen explains, “As children of God, Christ is living in each of us right now… Faith turns what is true provisionally into experience practically. We simply must choose to depend on the reality of the words declared by God in order to access the benefit of what God says is so.”[1]“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you” (John 15:7). Believing His Word, moment by moment, is what it means to “abide,” and abiding in Christ is the answer to our power problem. Jesus references His own abiding in the Father in John 15:10. He tells His disciples, “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just asI have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love” (emphasis added). Just as Jesus’ life was a model of constant obedience to the Father, so our lives in abiding in Christ must be one of constant obedience to Him. This is not a “do more, try harder” approach, but a “trust Him fully” way of thinking. No one obeys a command without believing it to be true. So it is with the relationship of “believing” and “obeying” in the Christian Life. This means that His Word is paramount and there are no worthy competitors. With His Word being our chiefconviction, we find our lives full of the Spirit’s power because all has come under submission to His will.[2]R.A. Torrey brings understanding to Jesus’ words regarding the power that is available when the believer is abiding in Christ. He writes, “If we are to obtain from God all that we ask from Him, Christ’s words must abide or continue in us. We must study His words, fairly devour His words, let them sink into our thought and into our heart, keep them in our memory, obey them constantly in our life, let them shape and mold our daily life and our every act.This is really the method of abiding in Christ. It is through His words that Jesus imparts Himself to us. The words He speaks unto us, they are spirit and they are life (John 6:63). It is vain to expect power in prayer unless we meditate much upon the words of Christ, and let them sink deep and find a permanent abode in our hearts. There are many who wonder why they are so powerless in prayer, but the very simple explanation of it all is found in their neglect of the words of Christ.”[3]Power in the Christian Life is NEVER our power, but the power of the Spirit flowing through us because we are in full dependency of the Word of the indwelling Christ. We must well-remember that Truth is a Person, Jesus Christ, and this Person operates and is who He is in complete consistency with His Word. This is a sound and consistent fact to rest ourselves upon. Facts have power, and those facts are found ONLY in God’s Word. When we speak of facts, we are speaking of authority. Understanding this, every situation, decision, and concern must have an authority in place. Therefore, it must be brought to the Word of God. It is the engine that provides the power for the F-Train to move forward. The remaining cars of faithand feelingshave no real power. Therefore,they only lead in wrong directions and to wrong responses. Their proper place is in submission to the authority (facts), for only the authority has power.Sadly, there are many instances in life where God’s Word is not the authority. This finds the other cars of faithand feelingscompeting for the lead position, and in turn, stalling all progression and growth in the Christian Life. Let’s look at the problems that are created when God’s Truth is removed from the forefront of our lives.When “Faith” is the Lead CarThis is a particularly sensitive area for many people because it strikes at the core convictions that one holds dear. Some have “grown up this way,” or “that’s just the way we do it,” or “It’s a Jeep thing, you wouldn’t understand.” You get the picture. Using the above rationales are really a defense mechanism to excuse sin. Some of the common phrases that are identifiers of this are:· I believe…· I think…· You ought to…· You shouldn’t…· Well, everybody does/believes/etc.· Well, they say… (who are “they”?)All of these have one thing in common: they are rooted in man’s opinion, having no foundation for their assertions, stemming from the biased minds and corrupted hearts of created, fallen beings. Each statement makes a man-centered assumption about how life should be or how situations and relationships should be handled, but fall seriously short when asked to provide a greater reason for these convictions other than, “Well, that’s just what I think ought to happen.” Life’s decisions should not be based on shaky ground.Only God is True. Only God is Eternal. Only God is the Creator. Therefore, His commentary and interpretation of existence, as foundin the Bible, is the final authority, telling us the Truth (facts) about everything.Though the person is obviously “believing” in something (faith), the object of their belief is not the Word of God. Therefore, it is considered unbelief, regardless of motives or heartfelt sincerity.Paul stresses the maturity that comes from a church body that is benefiting from the implementation of the Word of God as they are being taught it. He writes, “we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming” (Eph 4:14). The “trickery of men” and “deceitful scheming” are the false convictions (faith) that stem from a sinful mindset. The Word of God must be at the forefront if we are to think correctly about life, existence, relationships, eternity, etc.“I’m Religious”Many people portray a sincere “faith” and they communicate this by stating, “I’m religious,” “well, my faith is my own,” or something like “you believe in your god and I will believe in mine.” Another favorite is, “I think that god would…” In each of these statements their convictions about deity are revealed, demonstrating a god who has been fashioned according to their personal expectations. The very idea of deity has been diluted seeing that man is really in control. This is exactly the type of deity that the human race clamors after… one that can do or not do, be or not be, everything that the person who worships it wishes that it would do or not do, be or not be. Who is REALLY superior in this relationship?The self-serving nature of such diminished faithhas shown itself in all religions, being nothing new. Looking at Acts 17:22-27, we find Paul’s words to the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers at Mars Hill. He notes that they are “very religious” (17:22). Faithis not their problem. They very much believe in a whole lot of gods, beings, and deities (17:16b). But as stated before, because their belief was not placed in the Wordof God, it is actually unbelief. Paul also notes one altar that was “to an unknown god” (17:23). Notice that this was a place of “worship” (feeling) that had an ascribed object as its focus (“an unknown god”) who is without identity or substance, having no foundation (unlike the factsof God’s Word). Yet, they were “very religious” (faith). How does Paul correct the F-TRAINof the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers?Paul tells them the facts. Follow the train of thought (no pun intended): 1. God made the world (17:24a). He is the Creator of all things. 2. He is the “Lord (Master) of heaven and earth” (17:24b) who is beyond temples, structures, and altars (17:24c). 3. He is not served with human hands because He is self-sufficient and is in need of nothing (17:25a). 4. He is the one who gives the human race life and breath. He is the Life-Source (17:25b). 5. God created them, and every man who has ever lived (17:26a), and He alone determines the when and where of their existence (17:26b) so that every person would know Him personally (17:27). Paul gave these “very religious” people an engine (facts) to get their F-TRAIN moving. He immediately identified the problem that Athens was facing. They had faith, though it was faithin the wrong object (unbelief), and by worshiping these “unknown” gods and having an air of superiority (Acts 17:21), they had feelings(worship) that were being dictated by their misdirected faith/unbelief. What they needed was something worth believing in; something sure and certain; something worthy of devotion. So, Paul introduces to them their Creator (facts) so that they can believe in Him (faith) and worship (feelings) the right and true Object. It is essential for faithto always be found in the facts, for faithwill always have worshipas the primary feelingthat follows it. “Worship” (literally “worth-ship”) ascribes value to an object. If you are enthralled with a celebrity, it is because you believe (faith)that they have done well and you are ascribing a higher value to them. The feelingthat proceeds out from that conviction (faith)is elation, pride,or what have you, because worth has been ascribed to this object. Faith will always have worshipas the primary feelingthat follows it.Misplacingfaith in something other than God’s Word leads to worship being ascribed to something other than God. This is the fabrication of idolatry in the heart, leaving one’s affections unchecked with trust and worth being issued to an object of complete inferiority. All things are less than God. Jeremiah the prophet exclaims, “There is none like You, O Lord; You are great, and great is Your name in might” (Jer 10:6).Identity CrisisOne of the greatest cries among this current generation is “Who am I?” This question is a result of banning the Creator God from the education of children, and thus banning His given purpose for our identities. Today we are seeing a flesh-led quest for identity in YouTube videos, Facebook posts, Snapchat, Instagram, etc., as well as the gay, lesbian, and transgender movement. Shock and awe are the calling cards of the culture and conformity is demanded in the name of originality (notice the contradictions that these worldviews create).It was obvious that the Spirit wanted us to know our identities up front. Only twenty-six verses into the first chapter of the Bible we read, “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth’” (Gen 1:26-28).With His Word, God established the unchanging factof our identity. Every person is made in His likeness and in His image. This Truth holds great weight and significance, showing the Creator to be full of care and creating us for a purpose. Yet, our nation’s suicide rate among young people is skyrocketing. Could it be that the quest for “Who am I?” has already been answered by God, but the problem is that many are led to believe (faith) something else, leading to feelingsof inferiority, insignificance, and marginalization?This is a factthat is true for the Christian as well as the non-Christian. For the believer, they have an extra advantage, with the Holy Spirit residing in them and leading them into all Truth (facts- John 16:13). These factskeep us grounded in trying times, for we have the risen Lord hiding us with Himself in the Father (Col 3:3). The believer has died to this life of sin and has been raised to a newness of life, being given a new identity by being “in Christ!” How helpful this is in such confusing and trying times. Handley Moule captures this, writing, “In temptation, in spiritual languor and decline, in care and perplexity and toil, let me draw upon the fact – not the feeling but the fact – of ‘Christ in me.’”[4]When “Feelings” are the Lead CarThe idea that “feelings” can be the lead car are more of an excuse than a reality. What is meant by this is that all feelingsare actually a result of what it is that we are truly believing (faith), or what we are valuing as the “most true” concept at any given time. By believing something other than God’s Word, we have settled for a lesser truth that is really no truth at all because it is not God’s Truth (facts). In a situation where a heinous crime is committed because of someone’s reaction to something that they were surprised with, we may describe such rash actions as a “blind rage” (feelings). However, if the police believe that the person had pondered this crime for some time before committing it, they would call this “premeditated,” meaning that they had been believing (faith) this to be the right response for some time.We often phrase the reasons for our beliefs about something as “well, I feelthat…” when feelings are actually the result of our faithin a matter. When a reason is asked for why we did something wrong, we usually respond with a feelingsanswer: “I felt like I had to…” Many times, we find that the only way that we can express ourselves is in terms of feelings.It would seem that the three most prominent feelingsthat we are faced with are doubt, anger, and revenge.DoubtInMatthew 11:2-6, we return to the moment where John the Baptist struggled with doubts (feelings) about Jesus being the Promised Messiah. Though he himself had been His forerunner, John’s present situation made his susceptible to doubts (feelings), finding himself in a prison at the order of King Herod, all because he stood up for the truth (facts). “Are You the Expected One,” he asked through his disciples, “or shall we look for someone else?” (Matt 11:3). John’s feelingsabout his current situation had taken the place of the lead car, causing unbelief (faith) in who Jesus is. When we find ourselves in difficult situations, and especially in situations that are going to go on for some time, we may be tempted to lose faithin the facts. As a model example, Jesus does not scold John for his doubt (feelings), but turns his attention to the factsof Scripture: “the blind receive sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them” (Matt 11:5). All of this was happening in John’s day, yet, knowing the Scriptures, John would have understood that the prophecies of the Messiah as told by Isaiah were being fulfilled (Isa 29:18-19; 35:5-6; 61:1). Therefore, Jesus was placing the facts at the front of the conversation so that John would have faithin them, and in light of this new stability, his feelingswould change.AssuranceThis is true for those Christians who are struggling with an assurance of salvation. Whether it is where they are in life, their past sins creeping up to beat them down, or some ongoing sin in their lives that they just can’t shake, many Christians, who are eternally secure in Christ, frequently doubt their salvation. They feellike they are not saved. Because they are not willing to conclude that they are lost shows that they are not fully buying in (faith) to the idea, but they are struggling, nonetheless. In this case, feelingsare leading the train, faith is being placed in those feelings, which will ultimately cause a reinterpretation of the facts, concluding in something like “Jesus will only keep me saved if I am a good person who only commits little sins.” By letting their feelingstake the lead car, and by believing those feelingsas truth, the F-TRAINis now traveling backwards with the factsbeing reinterpreted by their feelings. Is this factual? What does the Truth (facts) say about this matter?There are many verses and whole passages that could be cited that speak to the eternal, forever security of the believer in Christ, but we will only choose two, and with minimal elaboration. First, Romans 8:38-39states, “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Nothing, not even ourselves, can separate us from the love of God. This is a fact; a Truth with power to propel us forward if we would only believe (faith) what God is telling us. If we do, we will not just feelsaved, we will feelblessed!Another good passage that needs little explanation is 2 Timothy 2:13. It reads, “If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.” The word “faithless” here actually means, “to have nobelief, disbelieve.”[5]This means that even if we are unbelieving in our lives, the Lord remains faithful to His promise of eternal life to us. Lea and Griffin explain this writing, “Paul was asserting that despite human unfaithfulness God’s saving purpose has not retreated. Timothy and all those with him were to continue their endurance that they might experience God’s blessing. Paul did not state these words to open the door to apostasy and disobedience but to soothe a troubled conscience and to provide encouragement to return to God.”[6]God is always faithful to His promises (facts) and He has promised us eternal life.AngerAnger is a big one! Everyone struggles with getting mad, and sometimes at the littlest things. However, being angry is not the real issue. As stated above, anger is the result (feeling) of a conviction (faith) that we are holding tightly. For those who seem to have a habitual problem with anger, their ultimate issue is the need to have control in situations. This is derived from a pride problem that believes (faith) that they are right and everyone else is wrong. Only their way is the correct way, and everyone else is “ignorant, stupid, uneducated,” or “means well, but they really don’t know what they are talking about.” This is pride, and when pride does not get its way, and a situation is not able to be controlled in the manner that “we think” (faith) it should be controlled, we get angry (feeling).Pride is the exact same sin that the devil had/has (Isa 14:13-14). It is a natural conclusion to see that this should have no part in us. Pride asserts one’s rights and fosters entitlement (faith). We feellike we deserve something or should be listened to because of who we are or what we have done, but these are really the convictions that we hold dear (faith). None of this is acceptable before the eyes of the Father. Instead, we are to humble ourselves before Him. How do we correct the problem of our cars getting out of order when it comes to anger?James 1:19b-20states, “Everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.” Being rash (feelings) never works. What we should seek in every situation is for God’s righteousness to shine forth and be the center of attention. Only He is right (facts), we are not. Our anger (feelings) will not accomplish His righteousness in any situation. Therefore, anger must be abandoned as a suitable option in handling conflict. By holding fast to this Truth (fact) and believing (faith) that it is in fact true, our feelingswill come to a place of humility knowing that it is possible for God’s righteousness to be displayed in every trial. This is not a “maybe” situation, but a certainty that rests upon our submission to His Word (facts). Will He not do what He has said?Biblically speaking, it is not wrong to be angry if you are angry about the right things. Ephesians 4:26-27says, “Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity.” You can be angry about something and not sin. But the way to allow for anger to become sin is if you are not dealing with it properly. If it is prolonged, the devil will grab a foothold in your life. Being angry because of the abortion problem in the United States is a real and right reason to be angry. Being angry because you were lied to is a legitimate reason because truth (facts) has been bypassed for falsehood. But each of these situations needs to be addressed in the heart and brought before the Lord. They are not to fester and grow to an unhealthy dynamic. You see, feelingsare not bad when they are properly placed at the end of the train because of the faiththat you are exercising in the Truth of God’s Word (facts).RevengeWe’ve all been there. When someone has wronged us, they need to pay! So, we devise ways in our mind that they are going to pay, how we wish to see them pay, or how we are going to make them pay(feelings). The factis, we have been wronged and we will not allow ourselves to be treated in such a horrible fashion (feelings). So, obviously revenge is the best option… or is it?In Romans 12:19, Paul writes, “Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord.” This is Truth (fact). We may feeldisenfranchised in some way, but we must remember that the Lord knows all things and that He will bring all situations to justice. By claiming (faith) this Truth (fact), we can now rest (feeling) in God’s care, knowing that He will take care of what or who has wronged us with much greater precision than we would ever be able to muster in our sinful flesh.______________________________________Q: Do you believe what God has said about who you are, your current situation, the choices that you are making, or the handling of your future? If not, why not? Q: Where did God get it wrong? Where has His Word misspoken? How has He failed you in the past convincing you that you cannot trust Him anymore? Such questions should expose the root of the real reason why we are not trusting what He has already said in His Word. We are either convinced that there is a greater truth than what He has said about a particular matter (faith)or we know that His Word will keep us from the excitingly sinful situation that our flesh wants to participate in (feelings). Such conclusions dismiss the factsaltogether, exchanging God’s revealed Word for our sinful desires. ___________________________________It is possible to abide in Christ. We can experience the fullness of who He is because He is in us. In looking to Him as the Truth, and therefore looking to God’s Word as given through Him, we are submitted to His facts. He is so much more than many of us initially think or believe. Let’s close by illustrating this with a personal account of this grand realization. Charles Trumbull (1872-1941) was the editor of the Sunday School Times periodical. He was a committed and devout man, constantly championing the cause of Christ for some twenty years before He fully grasped the significance of Christ in him. He obviously knew the Word and all that it taught of Christ and the Christian Life, but he came to realize that he was not confidently convinced of what it was actually saying to him about the nature of Christ’s Life in relationship to his person. In the profound little booklet The Life That Wins, we find his personal testimony in coming to this profound realization. He writes, “I had always known that Christ was my Savior, but I had looked upon Him as an external Savior, one who did a saving work forme from outside, as it were; one who was ready to come close alongside and stay by me, helping me in all that I needed, giving me power and strength and salvation. But now I knew something better than that. At last I realized that Jesus Christ was actually and literally withinme and that He had constituted Himself my very life, taking me into union with Himself- my body, mind, and spirit- while I still had my own identity and free will and full moral responsibility. Was not this better than having Him as a helper or even than having Him as an external Savior? To have him, Jesus Christ, God the Son, as my own very life. It meant that I need never again ask Him to help me as though He were one and I another, but rather simply to do His work, His will in me and with me and through me. My body was His, my mind His, my will His, my spirit His- and not merely His but literally a part of Him. What He asked me to recognize was that ‘I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me.’ Jesus Christ had constituted Himself my life- not as a figure of speech, remember, but as a literal, actual fact, as literal as the fact that a certain tree has been made into this desk on which my hand rests. For ‘your bodies are members of Christ,’ and ‘ye are the body of Christ.’”[7]The F-TRAINis a simple illustration that points to this greater truth. Christ, the Word of God, is telling us the Truth (facts) about life, reality, and Himself. His Word is giving us the answers, the factsabout every situation. By believing (faith) upon what He has already told us, we find heights previously unknown and provision much deeper than first assumed. How can humility and gratitude (feelings) not be the result of such amazing grace? “God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son” (1 John 5:11b). To live our lives in the light of His Truth (facts) is to have Him live His Life through us. This is most certainly a Life worth living![1]John Van Gelderen, Experiencing Jesus: Personal Revival Through the Spirit-Filled Life(Ann Arbor, MI: Revival Focus, 2017), p. 105-106.[2]See H.C.G. Moule, Practicing the Promises (Chicago: Moody Press, 1975), p. 65-71.[3]Reuben Archer Torrey, How to Pray(Chicago; New York: Fleming H. Revell company, 1900), p. 71–72.[4]H.C.G. Moule, Practicing the Promises (Chicago: Moody Press, 1975), p. 54.[5]Thayer, A Greek-English Lexicon, p. 57.[6]Thomas D. Lea and Hayne P. Griffin, 1, 2 Timothy, Titus, vol. 34, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1992), p. 211.[7]Charles G. Trumbull, The Life That Wins(Fort Washington, PA: CLC Publications, 2015), p. 20-21.

This Sunday, we reflected on the legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his wall-breaking, bridge-building work that challenges us to answer the call in our time. Like Jusus, Mlk Worked to make the world new even when the world around him was trapped in the old patterns and prejudices. Learn how Jesus' wall-breaking work overcame the old walls of separation, and calls us to continue breaking walls and building bridges in our lives.

Wer bin ich? Wer bist Du? Das sind Fragen die wir versuchen im Epheserbrief zu beantworten. In dieser Predigt geht es darum, dass Gott uns geschaffen hat, dass ER Gemeinschaft mit uns genießt und dass ER will, dass wir Ihn genießen. 

Aaron Etheridge // 07.16.17 // Cannery Campus || ethoschurch.org

Aaron Etheridge // 07.16.17 // Cannery Campus || ethoschurch.org

Aaron Etheridge // 07.09.17 // Cannery Campus || ethoschurch.org

Aaron Etheridge // 07.09.17 // Cannery Campus || ethoschurch.org

+An Intro to Ephesians+ Aaron Etheridge // 03.19.17 // Cannery || ethoschurch.org

Aaron Etheridge // 03.19.17 // Cannery || ethoschurch.org

Welcome back to the third episode of my brand new podcast: The Homemaking Foundations Podcast –Where we give you the tools, inspiration, and encouragement you need to craft a Gospel-Centered Home. In case you missed it, you can listen in to episode #1 here: What Does it Mean to be a Homemaker? and episode #2 here: Creating Simple Homemaking Routines That Work With Katie Bennett. The aim of my podcast is to give you the encouragement, inspiration, and tools you need to craft a Gospel-Centered Home and so one of the first things I want to talk about is setting the atmosphere in the home. I think this is where it all beings and where we can have the greatest impact as homemakers. What does the tone in your home say about you and your family? Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. In This Episode, You Will Learn: The importance of setting the atmosphere in your home How to set an UN-glorifying atmosphere in your home Why it's important to make your home a haven And 5 steps for creating a God-Glorifying atmosphere that points your family back to Christ! [Tweet "Conduct yourself and your home in a way that your family is constantly thinking about God and how they can serve Him!"] Episode summary What does it mean to be a homemaker who glorifies God within her home? What tasks and things should we be focused on, and what can we lay aside for the sake of our family? That's what we are going to dive into in this episode. This quote has become my guiding post in creating an atmosphere in my home: “The wife and mother who views life as a “cross to bear” influences the others in the home to think the same way. She easily robs everyone else of joy and like the yeast in the bread she bakes, her ungodly attitudes spread to everyone else.” ~ Martha Peace, The Excellent Wife {Page 77} Throughout this episode we will spend some time looking at why we should care as homemakers, wives, and mothers about the atmosphere in our home. Then we will briefly talk about some easy ways to set an UN-glorifying atmosphere within our home. And finally we will discuss 5 steps you can begin taking today to glorify God within your home by the tone and atmosphere that you set. Links & Resources Mentioned in This Episode: Episode #001: What Does it Mean to be a Homemaker? Sign up for my weekly podcast emails The Excellent Wife - Martha Peace Treasuring Christ When Your Hands Are Full - Gloria Furman Book of the Week: Treasuring Christ When Your Hands are Full - Gloria Furman This is one of my all time favorite books! If you are looking for some Gospel-Centered encouragement on the sometimes messy task of being a mother, then I highly recommend you go pick up this book TODAY! I love this quote from the book: “The Christian mother’s hands are full with every spiritual blessing in Christ (Eph. 1:3) and her work in nurturing children in the fear of the Lord is her privileged participation in God’s work in uniting all things in Jesus (Eph. 1:10). This Jesus, whom we gladly serve, offers rest to mothers and fills our hands with his blessings. Day and night, moment by moment, we must choose to rest in Jesus. That’s what it means to treasure Christ when your hands are full, whether you have one child or a dozen.” – Treasuring Christ, page 17 Other Related Resources: When Decorating Can Be Used for God's Glory A Beginner's Guide to Hospitality Three Specific Ways to Set the Tone in the Home Five Ways to Make Your Home a Haven Thanks for Listening! Thank you so much for listening in to my podcast. If you want to ask a question (that I will try to answer on the podcast) please leave me a voicemail below so I can feature you on the podcast and so I can cover what you want to hear! (Find out more about submitting a question here)

It is through the fellowship with Christ that a person understands God’s word and learns anything meaningful to his/her life. When you hear God’s word without the fellowship with Christ, you will fall into the same pitfall as the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law did by becoming legalistic in the way you interpret the Bible and apply it to your everyday life. For legalistic people, the Bible is something of the letter, not of the word that reveals the will of God concerning their personal life, or the message that God speaks privately to their hearts. You are able to learn God’s word only by coming personally to Christ. You do this spiritually, not simply by hearing about Christ through books and preachers, but by learning directly from him. You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus (Eph 4:20-21). To learn the truth in the Bible is to learn the person of Christ himself because he is the truth. He is not a theory nor a principle, but a living being. To know him is not like to learn something in school. Those who try to learn the Bible in this way often have no ears to hear. For them, it looks as though Christ is only a framed picture of him hanged on the wall. Even though you speak to the picture, it never speaks back to you. Or, he is like a movie star surrounded by a big crowd, some millions of people who wish to shake hands with him, but you feel that you are only one of many forgotten in the crowd. You call him, and pay all your attention to him, but you do not think he knows you. When a person comes to know Christ in a good way, you will always see a certain sign manifested in him/her. Read, for instance, the following words of Paul, and try to understand how he speaks of his relationship with Christ. For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again (2 Cor 5:14-15). But as you know, Paul was persecuting Christians until he met Christ on the way to Damascus. That time, he already had some excellent knowledge of the Old Testament. So, think how that experience changed the way he understood the Bible. Jesus said, at one time, to the Jews: You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life (John 5:39-40). After the on-the-way-to-Damascus experience, he came to realize that he had been making exactly the same mistake as described above. He was urged to re-interpret the whole Bible, so he did. Then, the conclusion he came up with is seen, for instance, in the following words: That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved (Rom 10:9). If you are a Christian, you must be very familiar with these words. However, concerning what we are very familiar with, we usually think we know what it means. But do we really know this one? What does the statement “Jesus is Lord” mean? Don’t you think that it is so crucial to know and understand what it means in order for us to be saved? The people of Nazareth, Jesus’ hometown, thought they knew him well, but did they really?

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls (Mat 11:28-30). In these words of Jesus, we should pay attention to the three imperatives: Come to me. Take my yoke. Learn from me. It is worthwhile meditating upon these three imperatives: what they mean and how they are connected with each other. Let us begin with the third one, “Learn from me.” Learning is different from studying, especially if its object is God’s word. Learning the Bible is more dynamic, and requires more dimensions than merely studying it. Yet, people today tend to have the attitude of studying it as they do in school. Although this type of studying is still an important part of learning the Scripture, this bias often leads us to miss the target, the message of what God intends to say, and not much wisdom is developed in spite of our time and effort. Think about the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, who were considered very knowledgeable about the Old Testament. Yet, they were the ones who came against Jesus and killed him. According to the Bible, Paul, before his conversion, was trained in the law under Gamaliel, a well-respected Pharisee of the time. He too belonged to the same sect that opposed Jesus, and later, his disciples. We know that he was there when Stephen was killed in Acts 7: he probably heard the entire speech that Stephen gave before the Sanhedrin. So, what happened to him? What made him go and preach the gospel in the midst of all the persecutions? Interestingly, Luke speaks of his blindness and the opening of that blindness with a metaphorical implication as follows: Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus (Acts 9:8). Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul's eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized (v. 18) … What really changed him was the experience of meeting the person of Jesus. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" "Who are you, Lord?" Saul asked. "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting," he replied (vv. 4-5). This changed the whole perspective on what the Bible, the Old Testament in his case, was all about. For the first time, he came to have ears to hear, and eyes to see. It all happened to him when he saw Jesus. This is what Jesus means by “Come to me.” Studying the Bible without going to him is meaningless and useless. Paul says in his letter to the Ephesians: You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus (Eph 4:20-21). Studying the Bible is learning the truth, and the truth is in the person of Jesus. So, we need to be taught “in him.” That is why Jesus said, “Learn from me.”

“Yes Lord, I will go! I will go to the nations - whatever the cost!” - Ashley Gabriel, elder in ARC Thurrock.A resounding call could be heard across the nations represented at our recent Four12 Conference in South Africa. Echoing that of Paul's pleas for us to live lives worthy of the calling we have received in Jesus (Eph 4:1), the Lord exhorted us to be a people who boldly GO in the name of the Gospel.While the cost may be great, the Gospel is worth it!

“Yes Lord, I will go! I will go to the nations - whatever the cost!” - Ashley Gabriel, elder in ARC Thurrock.A resounding call could be heard across the nations represented at our recent Four12 Conference in South Africa. Echoing that of Paul's pleas for us to live lives worthy of the calling we have received in Jesus (Eph 4:1), the Lord exhorted us to be a people who boldly GO in the name of the Gospel.While the cost may be great, the Gospel is worth it!