Immerse: More Than Conquerors

Romans 8:18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.  NIV. 

A Conquerors Mindset

 Romans 8:26-39

26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.  NIV. 

Relies on the Holy Spirit’s help.   

28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to His purpose.  29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. NIV.  

Trust God’s purpose in the pain.  

31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:  “For your sake we face death all day long;  we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”   NIV. 

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.   NIV. 

Understands we’re not fighting for victory, but from victory.  

38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  NIV. 

Has a revelation of God’s love. 

When God is Your Father

…Your Identity is defined and your value is affirmed

One of the greatest longings of the human heart and most critical issue in our day is for someone to tell us who we are and that we have worth.

One of the central aspects of becoming a Christian – is that God not only “defines” for us “who we are – in Christ” but also “affirms” our value – not based upon our merit, but upon His mercy.

When God is Your Father….Your Identity is Defined

1. We become children of God when we believe and receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.

John 1:12-13

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. 

1. We experience a second birth into the Kingdom and God’s family

John 3:5-7

5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again

1 Peter 1: 3

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead..

1. Water Baptism is a public funeral for our sinful identity and also birth announcement our new identity in Christ.

Romans 6:3-11

3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 

5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. 

1. In Christ… We are no longer free agents, we are redeemed.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body

When God is Your Father…Your Value is Affirmed   

Ephesians 1:3-8

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us

1. You are chosen, not tolerated.
2. You are now holy and blameless in His sight.
3. You have been adopted into His family.
4. You are accepted and no longer rejected.
5. You are redeemed and no longer a slave.
6. The price was Jesus’s blood. = God’s Son.
7. God has lavished His love on you, because He poured out His wrath on Him.

A large crowd followed and pressed around him. 25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26 She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” 29 Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. 30 At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” 

31 “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ” 32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.” 

Mark 5:25-34 NIV 

Faith is the gridwork by which we allow the Lord to move in our lives

Our view of Faith is determined by how we view our Father and ourselves

The outcome of our Faith is not controlled by us

20 But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. 

Jude 1:20-21 NIV 

Immerse: A Ready Heart

5.17.26

Mark 4:13-20. Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? 14 The farmer sows the word. 15 Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. 16 Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. 17 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 18 Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; 19 but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. 20 Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.”  NIV. 

4 Degrees of Readiness

Path: A heart where nothing sinks in. 

Rocky: An emotional response with no roots.  

Thorns: A heart contaminated by life’s distractions.  

Good soil: A heart the follows & obeys God’s word. 

Cultivating Our Hearts

1.  Read & obey God’s word. 

2 Timothy 3:15-17  and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.   NIV. 

2.    Pray daily.

Colossians 4:2 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.  NIV.

3.   Pay attention to what is influencing your soul.

Mark 4:24  “Consider carefully what you hear…” NIV. 

4.   Protect your heart from spiritual weeds.

Immerse: Demolish Strongholds

5.10.26

2 Corinthians 10:3-5  For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.  

What Is A Stronghold

Stronghold: A false refuge that protects our pain while imprisoning our soul. 

Diagram of Stronghold.

Demolish Strongholds: Recognize the lie, renounce the lie, replace it with God’s truth.  

3 Common Lies We Believe

Lie: I’m not good enough. 

Truth: You are deeply and completely loved as a child of God.

Romans 8:15-16  So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” 16 For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. NLT 

Lie: I can’t forgive, the injury is to great.   

Truth: Forgiveness releases us from the chains of our injury. 

Matthew 18:21-22  Then Peter came to him and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me?  Seven times?”  22 “No, not seven times,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven!   

Lie:  God’s forgotten me. 

Truth: God’s with you, He sees you, and fights for you.  

Hebrews 13:5-6 because God has said,  “Never will I leave you;  never will I forsake you.” So we say with confidence,  “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.  NIV

Immerse: Spiritual Gifts Pt2

4.26.26

1 Corinthians 14:1-5   Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy. 2 For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands them; they utter mysteries by the Spirit. 3 But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort. 4 Anyone who speaks in a tongue edifies themselves, but the one who prophesies edifies the church. 5 I would like every one of you to speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be edified.    NIV

Discerning Gifts

Word of knowledge: A supernatural revelation of information pertaining to a person or event.

Discerning of spirits: Ability to discern the true source of circumstances or motives of people.

Word of wisdom: A Devine answer or solution for a particular event or situation.

Dynamic Gifts

Gift of Faith: An unusual measure of trust in the power of God for a situation.

Gifts of healing: A supernatural restoration of physical, emotional, or spiritual health.   

Gift of Miracles: A manifestation of God’s power that goes beyond the normal course of nature.

Proclamation Gifts

Gift of Prophecy: A message of encouragement to others imparted by the Holy Spirit.  

Gift of tongues: Speaking supernaturally by the Spirit in a language not known to the individual.

Interpretation of Tongues: The ability to express the meaning of a public tongue through revelation.  

What Our Attitude Should Be Toward Gifts 

Desire spiritual gifts.

Pray to be empowered by the Holy Spirit.

Seek opportunities to practice.

Immerse: Spiritual Gifts

4.19.26

1 Corinthians 12:1-11 Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. 2 You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. 3 Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.  

4 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. 5 There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6 There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.  

7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8 To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines. 

NIV 

What Spiritual Gifts Are

Spiritual gifts are the Holy Spirit’s empowerment expressed through believers.  

Spiritual gifts are given to every believer for the benefit of others.  

Spiritual gifts are not badges of honor or signs of spiritual maturity.   

Discerning Gifts

Word of knowledge: A supernatural revelation of information pertaining to a person or event.

Discerning of spirits: Ability to discern the true source of circumstances or motives of people.

Word of wisdom: A Devine answer or solution for a particular event or situation.

What Our Attitude Should Be Toward Gifts 

Desire spiritual gifts.

1 Corinthians 14:1 Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy. 

NIV  

Pray to be empowered by the Holy Spirit.

Luke 11:14 “…how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” NIV  

Seek opportunities to practice.

Immerse: Sexual Integrity

4.12.26

1 Corinthians 7:1-16 Now for the matters you wrote about: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” 2 But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband. 3 The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4 The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife.    

5 Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. 6 I say this as a concession, not as a command. 7 I wish that all of you were as I am. But each of you has your own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that.   

8 Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do. 9 But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion. 

10 To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband. 11 But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife.  

12 To the rest I say this (I, not the Lord): If any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her. 13 And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him. 14 For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. 

15 But if the unbeliever leaves, let it be so. The brother or the sister is not bound in such circumstances; God has called us to live in peace. 16 How do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or, how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?   NIV.   

2 Observations About Sexual Integrity

1. Everyone has a sexual standard.    

Corinthians 5:1-2 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man is sleeping with his father’s wife. 2 And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have gone into mourning… NIV.   

2.  God designed sex for marriage covenant between a man and a woman.    

Matthew 19:4-6 4 “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”  NIV

Easter Sunday

4.5.26

John 20:11-18  Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.  13 They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” 

“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.  

15 He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” 

Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”  16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”). 17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ”  18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.   NIV. 

How Do We Know The Resurrection Is True?

1.  There were hundreds of eyewitnesses.   

1 Corinthians 15:3-6 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.  NIV.  

2.  It’s supported by history, not only Scripture.   

3.  The ongoing evidence of changed lives.   

Why The Resurrection Matters

The resurrection has power to transforms us.  

2 Corinthians 5:17-19  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.   NIV

The resurrection produces hope in us.   

1 Peter 1:3  Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.  NIV

The resurrection is personal.    

John 20:31  But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.   NIV 

Immerse: Jesus Return

3.29.26

Opening Text: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-15 Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. 14 For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.

4 Truths About The Lord’s Return

Christ’s return will be sudden and certain. 

1 Thess. 4:16-17 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.  NIV. 

The exact day and hour is unknown.  

1 Thess. 5:1-3 Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, 2 for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.  NIV.  

Evil will increase before He returns.  

2 Thess. 2:3-4  Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. 4 He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.  NIV. 

There will be a final judgement.  

2 Thess. 1:7-9 This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. 8 He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might 10 on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.    NIV   

Romans 14:10-12 For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. 11 It is written:  “ ‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God.’ ” 12 So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.  NIV  

How Are We To Live Until His Return

Don’t live alarmed.  

2 Thess. 2:1-2 Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, 2 not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us—whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter—asserting that the day of the Lord has already come. NIV.     

Stand firm through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.  

 2 Thess. 2:13-17 because God chose you as firstfruits to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. 14 He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.  15 So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.  16 May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, 17 encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.  NIV

Stay focused on the mission. 

2 Thess. 3:1 As for other matters, brothers and sisters, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you.  NIV.