Gospel Ramah Church Sermon of the Week

Worship is about loving the father through Jesus Christ. Make sure you are filled with the Holy Spirit and he will lead you to worship. There is a parallel between worship and marriage. Submit yourself to be a true worshiper of God - Are you part of His bride or are you a partner? Key things to worship is to be thankful and to say thank you. Put on the garment of praise - praise does not come naturally. You have to put it on every day. If you want to see things move in your life or see progress in your life - Be thankful

Any great work of God begins with God doing a great work in somebody. He makes the recipient different so that he/she may make a difference. Life is not only about success, it is primarily about significance:living beyond self. Life begins to mean a lot when we touch lives.

You can succeed in life as a child of GOD because you have been given all the resources you need. 1) Precious Faith. Faith is similar, costly and to be cherished. True faith affects attitude and behavior. 2) Precious Spirit. Holy spirit is the river of life (Genesis 2:8-14). 3) Precious and Great Promises. "Many things are great which are not precious. On the other hand, many things are precious but are not great. But the promises of GOD are both great in scope and precious in value". 4) Paradox of Faith. Like any foundation, faith is at the same time extremely useful and useless. 5) Power to Develop. The christian life is a trusting and toiling. Things you need to build on top of your faith a) Courage b) Practical knowledge c) Patience d) Godliness e) Brotherly love f) Love. Lastly 6) Precious Fruits - To be effective and productive in life, stability in life, spiritual vision and glorious entrance into the eternal kingdom of our LORD. For you to succeed is not what GOD has given you but what are you doing with it.

Everything depends on our attitude toward GOD. Our attitude toward our opportunities as well as our oppositions reveals our attitude toward GOD. Four Cardinal Spiritual Lessons.1. GOD is dynamically alive. Omnipotent - All things are under his control and inspiration. His purpose will always prevail.

2. GOD is never silent. The word of God is the most potent instrument ever in the history of humankind. 3. GOD is relational. He is personal and he can be related to; though transcendent he’s very much immanent. But the relational bridge between man and his GOD is faith. An

unshakable trust in his character and capacity. 4. GOD is empowering. The most empowering thing you can ever receive is the grace of God

through Christ.

Do you have what it takes

to start strong again? 1. YOUR ABILITY TO GET GOING AGAIN. Your ability to find the drive in the midst of

calamity, pain, and suffering can only stem

from A CORRECT UNDERSTANDING OF

GOD’S PROVIDENCE. The issue of suffering. Four kinds of suffering - Retributive, Educational or disciplinary, Doxological and Revelatory. “Even in humiliation

God’s purpose is the

elevation and perfecting

of man himself. 2. YOUR CAPACITY TO KEEP GOING. Your strength to keep putting one foot in front of the other in your race of faith will almost depend on your UNDERSTANDING OF GOD’S NATURE. The revelation of the heart of God - Loving, Compassionate, Faithful and Merciful. 3. YOUR DETERMINATION TO GET THERE. Your capacity to remain motivated will come from believing that GOD IS COMMITTED TO YOU.

From Luke’s narrative we can extract five most valuable life-lessons:

1. God overrules the affairs of men. “External circumstances are something, but they’re not everything.” “God governs creation as a loving father, working all things for good.”

#Trust fully in divine providence.

2. Life is first and foremost a matter of attitude. #Adopt a godly attitude. 3. Growth is a process that needs to be embraced and fully cooperated with. #Submit joyfully to the process of growth, 4. Greatness is not necessarily bigness. #Walk simply in humility. 5. Worship of God is universally an individual choice. #Choose to be a true worshiper of Yahweh.

Growth requires discomfort and if growth is of God then discomfort is of God. When God pushes us, we will experience some uneasiness but it is for our good. God will continue to make us uncomfortable until we are obedient (Acts 11:1-2; 15-18).

1. Discomfort is a part of growth, you cannot grow without it. If you value the end result you will endure and enjoy the discomfort.

2. Make sure that every discomfort is God ordained – through prayer and His word. Because God does not speak to one person he always confirms his word.

3. Learn to appreciate the discomfort. Do not hold on to anything tighter than you hold on to God. God needs to have the primary place in your life.

The reason God causes discomfort in our lives is for us to be obedient.

God has a secret place and anyone who steps in there and stay, there will be growth. There are things that God gives to everyone but there are things He gives to those who are in His secret place.Jesus Christ is the perfect place for growth. We must hide ourselves in Jesus Christ. Drivers of spiritual growth, 1. Prayer, 2. Meditation (Gen. 24:63), 3. Solitude (Gen. 32:25). Growth is two dimensional - spiritual and physical. Growth is a positive change. We need to assess ourselves and check how much change is in the positive direction.

One cannot plan for growth without knowing where they are. Growth is measurable or measured from somewhere to somewhere. What are my strength that can take me where are need to be?

What are the weaknesses that could hinder me from achieving my growth and how to improve or outsource them?

Occasionally God will ask you to do things that you are not comfortable with. You find yourself stuck and start second guessing your act of faith and obedience of the Lord. You are not alone, God is Lord over every storm you might be facing. When you are going through the problems your view is distorted but you need to see with your eyes of faith, fix your eyes on God. You need to move from a place of fear and desperation to worship. Not every storm is orchestrated by the enemy. The purpose of every trial you encounter is that you mature in your faith - acknowledge the supremacy of God in all situations.