Father's House Church Sermon of the Week

Guest speaker Perry Marshall shared with us this past Sunday about the effortful process of learning to hear God speak to us and it being one of the highest valued skills that there is. Learning to listen to God is a high value! He also shared with us how important it is to cultivate this. Perry grew up in church and his dad was a minister but hearing the Holy Spirit wasn’t something Perry was used to. In learning to hear God we are going to deal with ambiguity and it is often in this zone that God meets us in.

Guest speaker Lynn Swart shared with us that connection is a powerful word. In life we see more and more the importance and need for connection. We live in a society and a world that is marked by disconnection. People need people, we need each other. We are to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. We love being able to connect with God, but there is an importance for us to connect with Him and connect with the world. We’re not just doing church... we are the church.

Perry Marshall shared an encouraging testimony with us this past Sunday morning on how prophecy in many ways has changed his life. We can all draw great encouragement from this testimony and see that God is really interested in speaking to us even in our everyday lives. For us to create space to invite God to show himself in our own lives and to manifest his presence in ways that will be tangible and create a space for others to be invited in that will bless them.

In life we are bound to have problems. We need to endure and persevere and grow in Him. How much fear and worry do little toddlers carry? We have to believe as children when the Bible says that God will look after us. When we feel defeated we need to stand upon the promises of God. If we will believe and persevere we will come to a place where we are lacking and missing nothing.

What does the Bible say about church? The church is people! People from around the world make up the body of Christ. Church is family, sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters having each other backs. Church is an army taking ground for the King and His Kingdom. It’s His body and we need to function together. It’s a place where we find wholeness. Most of all it’s His beautiful bride. We have been given a specific mission and purpose to uplift the lost and broken and to give them a safe house to live out their lives in. The church is the great commandment and the great commission.

Who has all authority? Jesus said that all authority in heaven and earth has been given to him. So how much authority does the enemy have? As much as you and I give him. Life is demanding and often at time overwhelming and if we don’t have our hearts and souls aligned with God it could end up costing us. Father means - Source. God is our provision our provider our everything. God is really big, nothing is going to upset, or disturb him. He is complete, perfect in every way. Nothing can be added or taken away from Him and you and I are complete in Him.

Everything in our lives should be about a continual connection with God. The problem is most of us grew up in a christian or church understanding that we spend our whole life trying to do what is right or trying to not mess up. God is saying there is so much more and He has made a way for us to have that continual connection. This past Sunday we looked at the parable of the “Waiting Father” from the passage in Luke 15

God has a purpose and a plan for our lives. Its easy to place our trust in our hopes and dreams, but God is wanting us to take our eyes off the things around us and place them on Him. We don't lay our lives down and trust Him to get what we want, we lay our lives down and trust Him because He is all we need. He provides as we trust in Him alone!

What do we do when we read something in the Bible and experience something different. How do we process that? The honest question we need ask ourselves is does our lives line up with what God intends for us. The day is coming when the body of Christ is going to look like Jesus and nothing the enemy throws at us will effect us. This past Sunday we looked at 5 images or postures of what a Christ follower’s life should look like. Abide in Christ, God's presence is with us, sharing His love, servanthood and that we are in a fight. When we get this right and live in this way the enemy will be under our feet.

In Part 1 we looked at how Jesus came to teach us a different way of living. The truth is that there is a space in God that we are meant to live in and that is in the fullness of who He is. The challenge is that not everyone believes it or that it’s even possible. So we live in default mode, rather than design. The question is how do we get from default to design? Everybody has a belief system and because of it we live a certain way. What we believe about God, ourselves and the reason why we are on this planet will greatly impact and influence the way we live. We are to be who God designed us to be.