Bethel Church LJ Podcast

There will be moments when prioritizing the Kingdom feels costly. At times, God's instructions may not align with our reasoning. During these times, trust is crucial, and obedience remains the best course and the only true option for His people.

Proverbs 3:5 (ESV) Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

We honor God because He is truly God. By doing so, Scripture reminds us that we can trust the God who calls us to put Him first because He knows what we need and what is ultimately best for our lives.

What is God asking you to trust Him for today? What step of obedience have you been afraid to take because you cannot see how everything is going to come together? You do not have to have every answer before you obey. You need to know the One who is sending you.

And for some of you, that is where this begins. Before there is an assignment to fulfill, there is a Savior to follow. Jesus said, “Repent and believe in the gospel.” Maybe the step God is asking you to take today is simply to surrender your life to Jesus Christ.

Whether you need to say yes to Christ for the first time, or you know God has been dealing with you about something you need to step into, I want to invite you to respond.

First, we need to examine the messages we are listening to. Do they challenge the way we are living, or simply accommodate it? Do they call us to repentance, obedience, and change, or simply reassure us that God is going to bless us while allowing us to remain as we are?

Second, we must examine ourselves. If God’s Word is confronting something in your life today, don’t walk away from it. Don’t look for someone who will tell you what you want to hear. Repent where you need to repent. Surrender what you need to surrender. And if you have never truly given your life to Christ, you can call upon Him and receive His free gift of salvation today.

God’s answer was grace. Sometimes grace may give you a way out. Sometimes grace is God giving you what you need to go through.  Maybe you have been asking God to change something, remove something, or release you from something. You do not have to pretend to be strong. You need to come to the One who is. If you need strengthening, if you need fresh grace for what is in front of you, Jesus invites you to come Its’s the same Jesus who strengthens us. If you have never surrendered your life to Him, this invitation is for you too.

Ro 10:13 ESV ...everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved

Whatever your need, come and let God meet you here.

God has called each of us to follow Christ and faithfully live out the life He has given us. That calling will not always be easy. There will be disappointments, opposition, setbacks, and moments when we wonder whether it is worth continuing. Scripture today showed us how Jeremiah and Paul experienced them. Yet they kept going.

Maybe you have been knocked down. Maybe disappointment has caused you to stop doing something God called you to do. Maybe somewhere along the way you simply became tired and stopped moving forward. Then perhaps God's invitation to you today is simple: Get back up.

Get back up and keep following. Get back up and keep serving. Get back up and keep obeying. Get back up and continue faithfully walking out the calling God has placed upon your life.

God did not give His people His ways because He wanted to make life miserable. He gave them His ways because the Creator knows how His creation works. Sometimes God's way will make sense before we obey. At other times, we may not understand until afterward. Kingdom citizens learn to trust the King's wisdom. The King has a way, and His way is good.

The Word of God is our guiding standard, it's so important for us, as Kingdom citizens, to truly know it. We can't fully live by what we haven't read, stand firm on promises we don't know, or recognize errors without understanding the truth. The Bible isn't meant to be a book we only bring to church; it's meant to be read so it can lead and shape our lives daily.

We should not move backward to a flawed picture of the prophet as primarily a messenger of condemnation. New Testament prophetic ministry should begin here and move forward from here. Even when correction is necessary, the goal should be repentance, restoration, and the redemptive purposes of God.

The prophetic is not merely about saying, “Thus says the Lord.” It is about knowing the Lord. We know Him well enough to hear His Word and proclaim it. We know Him well enough to carry His heart and pray. And we know Him well enough to trust His purpose, even when the final outcome is not the one we desired.

The water is here, but being near the water is not the same as drinking from it. You can be around the presence of God and still need a fresh encounter with Him. Maybe familiarity has caused you to take for granted what God has made available. Maybe you have been drinking from other sources and have discovered that they cannot satisfy. Or maybe there is simply a fresh thirst rising in your heart for more of God.

The invitation of Jesus remains: “Let him come to me and drink.”

Jesus said whoever believes in me out of His own heart will flow rivers of living water. Do you ever wonder what that means? It means hundreds of other lives will be continually refreshed by what He pours into you. Because it’s pouring out of you, so it’s time to stop craving our personal benefits. And our personal satisfaction and spill those gifts out onto other people. The Lord is asking everybody in this room who will do that for Him. And just remember the gift is not for you

God created us in His image, and through Christ He is transforming us so that we increasingly reflect His character. Giving is therefore about more than money. It is one of the areas in which the character of our King is being formed within us.

 The purpose of this message is not simply to convince us to make a contribution. God is transforming us so that we increasingly reflect the character of our King. The NT teaches us that giving flows from the condition of the heart. So yield to the transforming work of God. Allow Him to change the way you view what you possess, the priority you give Him, and the attitude with which you give.