JOY STORY 4

Break Up

Joy is a supernatural delight found:

In the person of God

In the purposes of God

In the people of God

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Relationship with God changes our perspective of our relationships with others.

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The co-existence of our will and God’s will is God’s ultimate desire.

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God would rather see His own son die than break a covenant!

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We can be as passionate as we like about relationships but we still may find that they slip through our grasp. 

Isaiah 58 – highs and lows

What erodes?

What undermines?

Choices 

Choices quickly and easily impact every aspect of our lives.

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Eve made choices.

Adam made choices.

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Are the choices you are making expressing the kind of covenant God has with you? Are the choices you are making expressing that covenant with your spouse, your family and your church?

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Every choice effects your covenants

You are not devoid of relational consequence

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Jesus had the capability of completely setting aside His will to do the will of the Father.

John 6:38 (NLT)

For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will.

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He knew that He had completely surrendered to the Father because He could not plan a better outcome. He could not suppose a better consequences.

World seeking rights and free choice BUT…

The best consequences come from the choices of the Father not our own.

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Love right – loving like Jesus

Choose right – thinking like Jesus

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OUR RELATIONSHIP (COVENANT) WITH GOD IS ENHANCED THROUGH THE CHOICES WE MAKE

Break up with GOD and we break up with OTHERS

1 Corinthians 2:16 NLT

For, “Who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Who knows enough to teach him?” But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.

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Making choices devoid of the Father we are directly undermining the possibility of joy in our relationships

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Jesus Made choices that aligned to His purpose (the will of the Father)

.

When we have no purpose we drift and lose focus from the Word of God.

Joy – found is the PURPOSE of God

MAKE CHOICES 

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1. THAT PLACES PURPOSE OVER POPULARITY

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PURPOSE OVER POPULARITY

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LIVING FOR THE APPROVAL OF PEOPLE (commonality  of the masses) KEEPS YOU FROM THE PURPOSES OF GOD.

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Hebrews 11:24-26

By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.

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THE POWER OF PURPOSE

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PURPOSE DIMINISHES DISTRACTIONS. 

PURPOSE PUSHES YOU THROUGH THE PAIN.

PURPOSE EMPOWERS YOU TO PLEASE GOD.

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Acts 5:29

 Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings!

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2. DISCIPLINE OVER REGRET

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GOD HAS GIVEN US A SOUND MIND

2 Timothy 1:7 (NLT)

For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and sound mind (self-discipline).

CHOOSING the Pain of DISCIPLINE rather than living in the pain of REGRET and SHAME. 

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DISCIPLINE IS CHOOSING BETWEEN WHAT YOU WANT NOW AND WHAT YOU WANT MOST. 

Romans 7:15, 18b-19, 24-25 NLT

I don’t really understand my

Get the grow notes here

JOY STORY 4

Break Up

Joy is a supernatural delight found:

In the person of God

In the purposes of God

In the people of God

===========================

Relationship with God changes our perspective of our relationships with others.

===========================

The co-existence of our will and God’s will is God’s ultimate desire.

===========================

God would rather see His own son die than break a covenant!

===========================

We can be as passionate as we like about relationships but we still may find that they slip through our grasp. 

Isaiah 58 – highs and lows

What erodes?

What undermines?

Choices 

Choices quickly and easily impact every aspect of our lives.

===========================

Eve made choices.

Adam made choices.

===========================

Are the choices you are making expressing the kind of covenant God has with you? Are the choices you are making expressing that covenant with your spouse, your family and your church?

===========================

Every choice effects your covenants

You are not devoid of relational consequence

===========================

Jesus had the capability of completely setting aside His will to do the will of the Father.

John 6:38 (NLT)

For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will.

===========================

He knew that He had completely surrendered to the Father because He could not plan a better outcome. He could not suppose a better consequences.

World seeking rights and free choice BUT…

The best consequences come from the choices of the Father not our own.

===========================

Love right – loving like Jesus

Choose right – thinking like Jesus

===========================

OUR RELATIONSHIP (COVENANT) WITH GOD IS ENHANCED THROUGH THE CHOICES WE MAKE

Break up with GOD and we break up with OTHERS

1 Corinthians 2:16 NLT

For, “Who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Who knows enough to teach him?” But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.

===========================

Making choices devoid of the Father we are directly undermining the possibility of joy in our relationships

===========================

Jesus Made choices that aligned to His purpose (the will of the Father)

.

When we have no purpose we drift and lose focus from the Word of God.

Joy – found is the PURPOSE of God

MAKE CHOICES 

===========================

1. THAT PLACES PURPOSE OVER POPULARITY

===========================

PURPOSE OVER POPULARITY

===========================

LIVING FOR THE APPROVAL OF PEOPLE (commonality  of the masses) KEEPS YOU FROM THE PURPOSES OF GOD.

===========================

Hebrews 11:24-26

By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.

===========================

THE POWER OF PURPOSE

===========================

PURPOSE DIMINISHES DISTRACTIONS. 

PURPOSE PUSHES YOU THROUGH THE PAIN.

PURPOSE EMPOWERS YOU TO PLEASE GOD.

===========================

Acts 5:29

 Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings!

===========================

2. DISCIPLINE OVER REGRET

===========================

GOD HAS GIVEN US A SOUND MIND

2 Timothy 1:7 (NLT)

For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and sound mind (self-discipline).

CHOOSING the Pain of DISCIPLINE rather than living in the pain of REGRET and SHAME. 

===========================

DISCIPLINE IS CHOOSING BETWEEN WHAT YOU WANT NOW AND WHAT YOU WANT MOST. 

Romans 7:15, 18b-19, 24-25 NLT

Join Pastors Craig, Frankie, and Joey as they discuss the past weekend’s message – The Joy Story – “I Say Yes”.

You can email your podcast questions to [email protected]

Grow study notes

JOY STORY 3

I Say Yes

Joy is a supernatural delight found:

In the person of God

In the purposes of God

In the people of God

Relationship with God changes our perspective of our relationships with others.

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The co-existence of our will and God’s will is God’s ultimate desire.

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We live in a society that has forgotten to let their Yes mean Yes and their No mean No…

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FORGOTTEN DEFINITION OF COVENANT

A solemn agreement between two parties  for the purpose of creating and maintaining relationships

We say what we want to get what we want in the moment that we want it!

Hosea 10:4

They spout empty words and make covenants they don’t intend to keep. So injustice springs up among them like poisonous weeds in a farmer’s field.

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Matthew 5:37 (NKJV)

But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.

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SOURCE

Understanding Covenants With God

God would rather see His own son die than break a covenant!

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Made a promise to Adam

Noah

Abraham

Moses

You (Holy Spirit)

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God would stop at nothing to see His side of the covenant through!

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Hebrews 10:36

You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.

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There is fruit to intentional commitment but there is fall out from empty promises.

An Empty promise is still a promise but it is a promise with no substance. In the moment it seems like the right thing to agree to but no intention of following through.

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Story of Gibeonites (Joshua 9)

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Joshua 9:16-18

Three days after they made the treaty with the Gibeonites, the Israelites heard that they were neighbors, living near them.

So the Israelites set out and on the third day came to their cities: Gibeon, Kephirah, Beeroth and Kiriath Jearim.

But the Israelites did not attack them, because the leaders of the assembly had sworn an oath to them by the Lord, the God of Israel.

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STORY OF HOSEA

Francine Rivers – Redeeming Love

The biggest covenant we can break is breaking covenant with the FATHER – SOURCE

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If we break from the source of who we ought to be we will never be who we need to be.

He is the source of our character

He is the backbone of our morals

He is the instigator of life giving relationship

He is the one who gives shape to our God honoring relationships

He is the one who brings peace in our relational madness

If we break covenant with Him we will have no idea how to be in covenant with others – (look around at the world)

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WHAT WE NEED TO FULFILL COVENANT

He gave the Israelites everything they needed to fulfill their end of the agreement

Lacked nothing in being able to keep covenant

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What makes us break covenant with God?

1. We deem a covenant with someONE else more important

We desire to be with someone else more than being with our source

2. We deem a covenant with someTHING else more important

We change the focus of our worship!

We worship naturally and not supernaturally

We worship the moment and not eternity

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WE ARE IN COVENANT THAT CALLS US TO SOMETHING HIGHER

We follow through with everything we have when we say YES

AND we keep to our character even when it is tough and we have to say NO…

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INTENT

God had every intent on keeping His covenants with us because He knew His covenant with us would bring us stability and peace i

Join Pastors Craig, Frankie, and Joey as they discuss the past weekend’s message – The Joy Story – Choosing to Love Right.

You can email your podcast questions to [email protected]

Get The Grow Notes For This Message

Joy Story 2

Choosing to Love Right

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY

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Joy is a supernatural delight found:

In the person of God

In the purposes of God

In the people of God

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Reltional Containers

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Relationship with God changes our perspective of our relationships with others.

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AT LAST!

Genesis 2:18-25

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.”

So the Lord God formed from the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would call them, and the man chose a name for each one.

He gave names to all the livestock, all the birds of the sky, and all the wild animals. But still there was no helper just right for him.

So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While the man slept, the Lord God took out one of the man’s ribs and closed up the opening. 

Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib, and he brought her to the man.

“At last!” the man exclaimed.“This one is bone from my bone, and flesh from my flesh!She will be called ‘woman,’because she was taken from ‘man.’”

This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.

Now the man and his wife were both naked, but they felt no shame.

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Genesis 2:23 ESV

Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”

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Genesis 2:23 NKJV 

And Adam said: This is now bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.”

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Hebrew – the tapping of ones fingers while waiting in eager anticipation?

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If Adam anticipated Eve, he must have at very least desired not to be on his own. He must have had some kind of imaginations of the heart. He must have felt incomplete.

God made him perfect, his own imaginations made him feel he needed more. His perfection was the ability to have free will that could miraculously align to God’s will.

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Genesis 2:16-17

The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. 

But the Lord God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden— 

except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.”

The completion of creation was manifest in mankind’s ability to desire more, dream of more, create more… within the incredible boundaries of God’s will.

When God saw man could choose and desire and dream with HIM, He called His creation VERY GOOD.

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The co-existence of our will and God’s will is God’s ultimate dream (Purpose and worship)

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OBEDIENCE

We have come to know this concept in a fallen broken world as obedience. But in relationship with God true obedience is freedom of exploring our dreams and desires within the wonder of God’s dreams and desires. 

Relational obedience: Ideating, dreaming and desiring WITH God.  “AT LAST…”

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AT LAST – JOY

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Made in His image – He has a will – We have a will

The wonder of God’s Love is that he wants to accommodate our will. He wants to see us express it and meander with Him in eternal discovery always marveling at His abounding never ending will and dreams for us.   “AT LAST…”

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Ephesians 5:21

…submitting to one another in the fear of God.

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Love is discovering how our dreams and desires can co-exist with one another (just as He

Join Pastors Craig, Frankie, and Joey as they discuss the past weekend’s message – The Joy Story – Relationships that Last.

You can email your podcast questions to [email protected]

Get The GROW NOTES FOR THIS MESSAGE

Joy Story

Relationships That Last

To Infinity and Beyond

When I feel loved I love others better!

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James 1:2-4 (NLT)

Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. 

For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 

So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.

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Joy is Supernatural

Joy is a supernatural delight found:

In the person of God

In the purposes of God

In the people of God

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IN THE PERSON OF GOD

Through Jesus

Colossians 1:15-16 (NLT)

Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.    He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,

for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see—such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him.

Life is found in relationship with God

Jesus came to present us with God so we could have life

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IN THE PURPOSE OF GOD

Being in close relationship with God is a supernatural process:

Relationship with God gives us purpose.(FAITH)

Purpose Gives us Identity. (BELONGING)

Identity Gives us PEACE (in relationship, peace is a good thing)

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Ephesians 1:3 (NLT)

3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.

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Faith is directly connected to your relationship with God because faith is directly connected to your purpose.

James 2:23 (NLT)

And so it happened just as the Scriptures say: “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” He was even called the friend of God.

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GOD IS LOOKING FOR A RELATIONSHIP WITH YOU BECAUSE HE WANTS YOUR PURPOSE TO BE EVIDENT

HE KNOWS RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM BRINGS PEACE TO YOUR RELATIONSHIPS

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John 4:23 (NLT)

But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way.

Genesis 3:8-9 (NLT)

When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man[a] and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees. 

Then the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”

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RELATIONAL AUTHORITY

Because our relationships with others are based on our relationship with God, He has authority over our relationships.

He defined the nature of all relationships in such a way that they would maximize our expression of our relationship with Him.

Ephesians 5:23-24 (NLT)

For a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of his body, the church. 

As the church submits to Christ, so you wives should submit to your husbands in everything.

1 Peter 3:7

Treat her as you should so your prayers will not be hindered.

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Being in close relationship with God is a supernatural process

Being in close relationship with God has supernatural consequences on our relati

grow study notes

Rhythms of Endurance – Spirit

Message Date: January 31, 2021

Rhythms of Endurance 4

SPIRIT

Now more than ever, we need to stand/endure.

Stand for what God truly is

Not just stand against human character deterioration.

More than just another human argument or reasoning

Stand for something that this world has never seen.

A church that can truly unite

………………………………………………………..

Faith = Trust and Obedience

Hope = God focussed imagination.

Love = You Have Been Loved from the Beginning!

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What must I add to my faith, hope, and love so that I can endure?

We have drifted so far from the source of these three that we have begun to believe that they are sourced from our strengths and imaginations…

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When we have “fo” faith, we experience plastic endurance.

When we conjure up hope based on our own imagination, we die because the fire is too hot.

When we fake love, we are divorced before our first wedding anniversary

………………………………………………………..

Basing it on counterfeit faith, hope, and love.

Self conjured qualities.

Trying to walk through life without the real thing.

When we build our endurance on our own strengths, we will do life in a constant state of exhaustion.(natural)

Love, faith, and hope received and shaped from a divine source lift us from the mundane to the supernatural.

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We try to define it instead of receiving it.

We write beautiful stories about love, make movies about hope, and build religions with various expressions of faith.

A life of faith, hope, and love constructed on our own understanding never lift us to the expansive dream of God; it never inspires us behind what we can imagine and will never see us conquer that which is our greatest fears. But when we are willing to receive in humility a portion and definition of divine faith, hope, and love, our lives transcended the natural, and we are able to walk in an atmosphere of the supernatural. 

Pride prevents us from enjoying the wonder of covenanting with a divine being we cannot see, let alone want to obey!

Our lack of supernatural surrender is caused by our inability to receive faith, hope, and love that we have not defined and can comprehend.

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LIFE IS FOUND IN THE PRESENCE OF AND IN RELATIONSHIP WITH OUR SUPERNATURAL GOD

A pathway that God lays out so we can transcend this human conjured quagmire.

John 14:16-17

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever- the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.

“The born again experience results in a new heart and spirit that leads to a restored relation to God.” Joey Bishop

Ezekiel 36:26-27

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.”

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WHY ARE MANY LIVING A SPIRIT-LESS LIFE? 

SOME AREN’T AWARE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

 Acts 19:1-3

 While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”

SOME RESIST THE HOLY SPIRIT.

 Acts 7:51

“You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit! 

Pride

Blessings and Obedience.

Human society seems to be hell-bent on operating in an authority they have no right to take.

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 COUNSELOR HOLY SPIRIT

The Holy Spirit is here to help us get through (conqueror) but n

grow study notes

Rhythms of Endurance – Love with Joey Bishop

Message Date: January 24, 2021

Rhythms of Endurance – LoveGet Back Stay Back

Faith, Hope, and Love

1 Corinthians 13:13And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Endurance: The fact of enduring an unpleasant or difficult process or situation without giving way, the capacity of something to withstand wear and tear.

Pastor Craig: Faith is the ability to move imagination towards reality. Faith brings God’s dreams for us into focus despite our circumstances.

Pastor Frankie: Hope is a joyful expectation. A feeling of trust or being confident in God’s promise and faithfulness.

1 Corinthians 13:7-8a(Love)bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.Love never fails.

1. Love BELIEVES! – It stirs up our faith, wakes it up, breaths life into it!2. Love HOPES! – Love rekindles our imagination and helps us dream again.3. Love ENDURES! It cannot be stopped!

You Have Been Loved from the Beginning!

Genesis 1,2God demonstrated His love for mankind from the beginning. They were placed in a perfect world with a perfect God, lacking nothing.

Broken Relationship

Genesis 3:9-13Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”So, he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded (John 14:15) you that you should not eat?”Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”And the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

Afraid – 1 John 4:18They stopped allowing God to perfect them by His love.1. Insecurities2. God is mad at me3. I don’t deserve, healing, forgiveness, blessings etc…Don’t project your thoughts on God!

Commanded – John 14:15Humanity did not obey the command.1. Broken trust2. Where’s the love?Deceived – Colossians 2:8Humanity believed the lies of the enemy1. Lies we believe either about ourselves or God shift our focus off of His love.(desert)2. Believing a lie as if it is true will affect you as if it is true.

The sin of humanity did not affect God’s love for us, but it did affect our love for Him and each other.

Romans 5:7-9 TPT“Now, who of us would dare to die for the sake of a wicked person? We can all understand if someone was willing to die for a truly noble person. But Christ proved God’s passionate love for us by dying in our place while we were still lost and ungodly! And there is still much more to say of his unfailing love for us! For through the blood of Jesus we have heard the powerful declaration, “You are now righteous in my sight.” And because of the sacrifice of Jesus, you will never experience the wrath of God.”

John 15:13 TPT“For the greatest love of all is a love that sacrifices all. And this great love is demonstrated when a person sacrifices his life for his friends.”‭‭‬‬‬‬Psalm 136:26 NLT“Give thanks to the God of heaven. His faithful love endures forever.”‭‭ ‬‬‬‬Psalm 139:17-18 NLT“How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me!”‭ ‬‬Develop a rhythm of meditating on scriptures that declare God’s love for you.

Matthew 22:37-40“Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.””‭‭‬‬‬‬Deuteronomy 6:4-9““Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheart