Matthew 7:1-12

3 WAYS TO EVALUATE HOW I TREAT AND VIEW OTHERS

1- If you only notice specks in others and can’t remember the last time you recognized a log in yourself… there will be a “vision for your life” problem. We overestimate how much we can change others and under estimate how much we can change ourselves. Until you have learned to fix yourself with the lord, you won’t be entrusted to fix others for the lord.

2-Stop asking for good things if the only thing that comes out of your mouth about God's creation is bad. Your treatment and view of God's creation has a direct connection to God’s treatment of you. Karma was in the scriptural story before it was ever on an instagram reel, or in an easter religion. How you treat others is how you will be treated.

3- The fulfillment of the old is the foundation of the new. We receive grace to give grace, we receive forgiveness to give forgiveness, we receive love to give love… ‘we love for he first loved us..’. You wont get new revelation if you can’t follow old instructions. We serve a God who wants to deal with the logs of our hearts before we deal with the specks of those around us and the society we live in. The fulfillment of a mature follower is as follows; how well do I give love? How well do I walk in love?

Matthew 6:25-34–

Three Ways to unlock the jaw and drop the RPMS of Stress and Anxiety

1- The bible says not to be worried, however… If you're undisciplined, you should be worried… because YOU WILL end up LIVING WORRIED. The only way we live without worry is to root our lives deeply in the one who clothes, feeds, and provides for our souls. If we do not have discipline, we will have stress, worry and anxiety.

2- Anxiety is an issue of worth. Jesus' response to man's need for food and clothing is to point to the birds and flowers and say, "are you not worth more than they?"... Rooting yourself into the ways of Jesus is designed to remind you of the worth you have in his eyes. If you know who you are to him, you know his capability.. Anxiety comes from a view of our own ability and control… peace comes from a life that knows i'm tied to his ability, and he’s in control.

3- There is a difference between what you seek, and what God knows you need. Our seeking should look different than the worlds seeking, and if it doesn't you may have an anxiety problem. We must realize it is seeking first His kingdom, and His righteousness... that the problem of "all things" is taken from our hands and placed into His. If you want God to take care of all things in your life, but won’t seek first the kingdom and righteousness.. You will have anxiety.

Mark 16: 1-13

Hebrews 12:7-11

4 Details from His Victory to Help Get Your Mind off of Your Defeats.

1- The stone has been rolled away. It is easier to act like the stone is still there than to live like the grave is empty. Only you can decide if you will live like the grave is uncovered… or if you cover the victory of Jesus with the stones of defeat and death you have had to walk through.

2- Where they laid him to die became the place he stands alive. Death has only ever been a symbol of defeat, Jesus makes it a symbol of victory. Are there areas of your life others have laid you to die… or you have even laid yourself to die in… that Jesus wishes to turn into a place you stand in victory.. What are you laying in today that Jesus wants you to leave behind by the power of his spirit, truth, grace and forgiveness?

3- The discipline to develop your beliefs will determine your perspective of God's power available to you, that you then walk in. The rhythms of your behavior will dictate if you live in defeat or walk in victory. Doubt happens when healthy discipline isn't present, and a disciplined life in Christ determines if you see death every time you encounter a grave moment in life, or an opportunity to press into God for victory.

4- If the enemy can get you to think you serve a victorious king with a defeated mind and undisciplined life then he wins and he knows it. Our life in Christ is tied to the victory of the cross and the discipline of following the one who overcame it. A defeated and undisciplined mind and heart to the ways of Jesus rolls the stone in front of the grave, and places ourselves inside a dead existence. He rose, so you too may rise from whatever grave you have found yourself in.

Matthew 21:1-10

John 12:18-19

Matthew 21:12-14.

4 WAYS TO ENSURE YOU'RE NOT A PALM TREE WAVER AND COAT GIVER THAT MISSES THE MESSAGE AND KILLS THE MESSENGER.

1- Don’t forget “your king is coming to you” when you feel like you cannot come to him.. A gentle disposition is his heart for you.. Do you view him this way in your walk?

2- Salvation and suffering have been hand in hand since the blood purchased the life.. If you have a view of God that omits any type of suffering or hardship this is an incorrect view, for our faith is founded upon life, light and beauty that comes from death, darkness and ashes.

3- JESUS IS LORD OF ALL, NOT A POLITICAL HEAD OF STATE. We have too narrow a view of power, and narrower still of how God uses his.. If your heart is connected to an institution or person more than him, don’t be surprised if you're caught in the wrong place after you thought you gave your coat and waved the palm branch.

4- If we wanna wave the palm branches and lay our coats down, we are saying you have permission to reorient and reposition our personhood to the ways of being a faithful follower of only Jesus. Your no strings attached, full hearted trust in Jesus will be tested the moment you wave the branch and drop the coat... press into it.

MATTHEW 6:16-24

LUKE 4:1

LUKE 4:14

HOW TO BE A “DO IT WHEN IT HURTS” FOLLOWER OF JESUS

1- WHATEVER YOUR DEPENDENT ON, GOD WILL TEST. HE LONGS TO SHOW YOU THAT YOU ARE NOT WHAT YOU HAVE, RATHER YOU ARE COVERED BY WHO YOU SERVE. FASTING IS ABOUT LOOKING AT THE THINGS WE NEED TO SURVIVE, AND SAYING I NEED TO HEAR GOD'S VOICE EVEN MORE SO. THE REWARD OF A LIFE THAT RHYTHMICALLY FASTS IS A MEMORIAL OF MOUNTAINS CLIMBED, AND BATTLES WON.

2- WHERE MY HEART IS, IS WHERE MY MONEY IS. WHERE MY HEART IS NOT.. IS WHERE MY MONEY IS NOT. IT REALLY IS THAT SIMPLE. ONLY YOU KNOW IF YOU HAVE A VIEW OF GOD AS YOUR SOURCE, SUPPLIER, SUSTAINER, AND PROVIDER... OR IF WE SING IT, AND SAY IT, BUT BACK OFF WHEN IT COSTS US (NO PUN INTENDED).

3- IF YOUR FAITH DOESN'T COST YOU RHYTHMICALLY, I WOULD CHALLENGE THE PERCEPTION OF HOW DEEP YOUR FAITH IS. IF GOD DOES NOT HAVE ACCESS TO MY BANK ACCOUNT, HE DOESN'T HAVE FULL ACCESS TO MY HEART. THE WORS PLACE YOU CAN BE IS DEPENDING ON YOURSELF, THE BEST PLACE YOU CAN BE IS DEPENDING ON GOD... "THROUGH YOU" COMES BEFORE "TO YOU".

Join us as we hear from members of our community share testimonies, advice, and wisdom from their personal walks with God.

Amanda: "Following the Voice of the Holy Spirit"

Parker: "How to Trust the Lord Through Hardships"

Jarell: "How Discipline Helped Me Press In"

Noah: "How to Make It Through Difficulty"

Matthew 6:1-15

3 TESTS OF HIS KINGDOM HIS WILL OR MY KINGDOM MY WILL

1- Your secret relationship with money will determine A LOT about your secret relationship with God. Money is a tangible test of if I believe in building his kingdom, and submitting to his will… or if I’d rather focus on my kingdom and my will. There is a reward for those who will repeatedly do in secret what others do not see, because there is a promise that HE SEES AND HE REWARDS.

2- Your prayer life is not what others see, it’s what you do alone, in the quiet. There is a reward for this quiet, rhythmic, faithful commitment to a life of prayer. If you can remember more acts of sinning in secret than praying in secret there may be a “his kingdom but my will” theology present. Rewards from the secret will always be better than the affirmations of being seen.

3- The war you will fight everyday your eyes open; whose kingdom and whose will do you pursue? If it's his kingdom and his will, we must do the things he commands; both in public and in secret. Committing to the things that bring transformation, and pushing through the tension of sanctifying our flesh with his spirit and word. If it is our kingdom we want to come, and our will we want to be done.. Don’t be surprised if Jesus feels empty, boring, and distant. If we will not practice, he cannot produce.

Matthew 5:21-48

HOW TO RAISE THE BAR ON MOTIVES, DESIRES, AND HEART POSTURES WE MUST CONFRONT ON THE JOURNEY TO KNOWING JESUS.

1- The bar is not too high, your view of yourself is too small. We drop the standards when we view them as unrealistic, not realizing we filter our reasoning through our own lens of what's possible or not, not God’s. The spirit has given you a new ability to become a new creation, it's your choice if you believe the lie of the flesh that says you can't change, this is just who you are.

2- You can fake words and actions; you can't fake motives, desires, and heart postures, this is why Jesus is this direct in this passage. Going through the motions and knowing the words to say doesn't show a changed life... it’s the little things we won't let slide anymore, the development of our desires to match his, developing our motives to not be purely selfish over time… It feels like perfectionism because it's so countercultural; this is the way of Jesus Christ.

3- Perfect is attainable; God wouldn’t set a target if he believed you couldn’t hit it. What we have to realize is the sight we aim through towards the target of perfected living is Jesus. The spirit that leads us in righteous/perfected living, the word that reveals the perfect law of God, and then following Jesus' model as a perfect person… Jesus didn't pay a high price for a low bar.

Matthew 5:13-20

Jeremiah 31:33

Ezekiel 36:27

3 TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS PASSAGE

1- Salt can lose saltiness; and light can become darkness. Discipline is when you are regulating what the salt of your personhood tastes like, and if your light shines bright enough to be seen by those around you. You can’t go anywhere if you do not know where you are to start. The key to everything in the beginning is self awareness; becoming aware of what you need, and developing a plan to develop the weakness of the flesh into a strength of the spirit.

2- Good works are the measuring stick of how bright a light shines; those who carry out action that accomplishes something attractively good, inspiring, and beautiful. Would the works of your faith be described in this way?

3- How close you get to God will be no one else's choice but yours. There is no gatekeeper of the spirit, no select few who are allowed to read scripture. The old covenant was selective and controlled… The new rules allow all the right to become a child of God. It will be your choice how faithful you want to be, how deep you want to go, how close you want to get… how fixated you wish to become.

Part 2 - Matthew 5:7-12 NASB