As we prepare for victory, we have to put some skin in the game.  Why?  Because, too many people want the benefits of adoption, without the sacrifice of relationship.  Pastor Ford says that often we want full time benefits from Jesus, while treating Him like He’s our part time job.

As we look at how God prepares us for victory, Pastor Ford explains that sometimes God takes us the long way to our destination, because it has the shortest problems.  If He took us the shortest way, we would turn back.  But by taking us the long way, He can build us up gradually, until we’re ready to possess what He wants us to possess.

Pastor Ford says that in 2 Corinthians 8, here’s what Paul is saying, "The reason, the Macedonians have become your example is because your thinking about giving is wrong.  You don’t have the right motivation for giving.  They do.  And so, you need to have the Macedonian Mindset.” Find out what that mindset is on today’s Treasured Truth.

We have to remember that our attitude is crucial when we are seeking forgiveness from another person.  People generally judge the seriousness of our asking forgiveness based on the way our words come from our mouths.  If we don’t approach the conversation with humility, then it will definitely complicate the whole process.

As we continue to look at seeking forgiveness from others, Pastor Ford will explain how we often will make excuses for ourselves.  But he will remind us that Jesus died for our sins, not for our excuses. And we need to remember what we’re talking about when we seek forgiveness—it’s not what we feel about what we did to the other person.  Rather, it’s about how they felt about what we did to them.

Pastor Ford will explain that forgiveness is a dialogue and saying you’re sorry is a monologue.  In other words, when we say, “I’m sorry,” there’s nothing else to say about what’s happened.  But, when we say, “Forgive me,” now we’ve included the other person and it’s going to take a dialogue to deal with what the issue is.

We often wonder why there are shadows in our lives.  Pastor Ford will explain today that it’s sometimes because we’ve let some moon come in between us and God.  What is a moon?  A moon doesn’t possess its own light, it only reflects what the sun gives it.  So he’ll ask us, “What is it that God has given to us, that we’ve now allowed to replace Him?”

Pastor Ford will remind us today that when things get out of control, Jesus is still in control.  In this passage we will study today, Jesus will show His deity through His sovereignty, and His exercise of power over all of creation.

Pastor Ford will encourage us today to put ourselves, and everything we have into the hands of God.  Because He takes it in His hands and He multiplies everything that we give Him. Maybe you don’t have what you need because it’s still in your hands and you haven’t put it in His hands yet.  Learn more on today's Treasured Truth.

When God allows challenging circumstances to enter our lives He’s probing our faith. Those challenges are designed to bring out something in us, that we don’t even know we have, until that circumstance we face activates it. We’ll see how this happened for the disciples through the challenge they faced in John 6, on today’s Treasured Truth.