An Ash Wednesday sermon.

What role does faith obedience play in our experience of God's Kingdom? Christ is clear in his invitation to follow him, that we must take up our cross. The goal of discipleship then is that we would die to ourselves in a walk of faith obedience. Apart from Holy Spirit, this is an impossible task, but in him we can live a life of obedience to Christ, experiencing his Kingdom fully.

Pastor Stan Roberts continues his series Walking in The Kingdom, with Part 2.

God has delivered us from Egypt!  Though He is faithful and delivered His people from Egypt, we, His people still need to get Egypt out of us to be fully free, and the freedom comes through God's promises.  Exodus 6:6-7 addresses 4 things 1) God brought us out of bondage 2) God rescued us 3) God redeemed us 4) God adopts us as His people and this is reassurance, we are The Kingdom of God.  We might say, that was then, how do I know I can see The Kingdom today?  Luke 10:9-11 tells us when you see the healing The Kingdom of God is nigh!  The Kingdom is still here and happens not just in Heaven, but here in this life, not in any region, not south, north, east or west, but is within us!  Luke 17:20-21.  Because The Kingdom of God is inside of you, you can experience peace and safety right here, right where you are, today.  How does God release Kingdom rule here and now today?

Matthew 18:18-19 tells us whatever we bind or loose on earth is bound or loosed in Heaven.  How does this work?  What we are binding such as spirits, evil, illness, etc must already be bound in Heaven and what we are loosing, healing power from The Cross, the authority of Jesus over all evil, etc, must already be loosed in Heaven.  In order to bind or loose and take the authority that Jesus left for us,  we have to know what is in place in Heaven.  Where do we find what is already in place in Heaven?  The Word!  Which tells us we are seated in Heavenly places, we are The King's Kids!  And once we know, we can speak out, what are you speaking out?

When we follow God and take the steps He lays out in 2 Peter 1:4-11 we work into our lives a maturity and at some point in that maturity, when we look back, we will not remember the things of our immaturity.  In this message Pastor Stan wraps up with an overview of the steps we can take, as we exercise our faith, virtue is added, as we exercise virtue, knowledge is added.  Join Pastor Stan in Walking in The Kingdom, Part 3 for the amazing conclusion to this series.

Should we walk in just enough to be a good person, or should we walk as more than a conqueror?

In our walk, we need to progress, which comes  by adjusting our thoughts and actions.  God has given us everything we need to adjust, grace and peace 2 Peter 1:2, which are multiplied through the knowledge of The Lord Jesus Christ and Father God.  Knowledge comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.

God's Word is perfect, our understanding at times is not, we can calibrate our understanding through applying knowledge and mixing it with faith.  Starting with a firm foundation of faith, we can build our spiritual muscle, beginning right where we are, no matter if we start at zero or have been building for decades, progress is always available.

Like going to the gym, you don't start out at the perfection, you set the target and small goals, continue to progress at each goal, with diligent exercise, and keep moving towards the intended result.  "It's easier to give diligence to something when we know the outcome", and by 2 Peter 3:17 we know the outcome is we will not fall from steadfastness, the ability to keep exercising, when we diligently pursue goals.

This introduction to 2 Peter 1:5-8 from Pastor Stan set the goals before us to exercise as we progress toward the target.

"The Divine becomes partakers of the human in order that the human may partake of the Divine" - Alexander MacLaren

To be partaker of the Divine is to give all diligence, all effort, to pay attention.  To attend to the Divine at one time was to ascend to a holy place, in the same way Pastor Terry Brown describes 7 rungs of a ladder, practical "steps" from 2 Peter 1:5-8 to partake of the Divine.

This was a message about the New Testament Believer becoming a part of the divine nature of God at salvation.

By virtue of our salvation as a promise we become this partaker. By virtue of the promise of the Holy Spirit we have power to live this. We are partakers of the divine nature according to 2 Peter 1:4

As Mary poured out fragrant and costly oil upon Jesus, she was pouring out worship, adoration and love at any cost, with complete focus,  ignoring the stirs around her because she was in the moment and nothing other than to please Jesus was on her heart and mind.

The oil was not only costly but rich in fragrance.  When Mary wiped Jesus' feet with her hair, experiencing such closeness and sacrifice of praise, she left that moment transformed and smelling like Jesus, so that all who came into her presence were experiencing His sweet fragrance as well.

While onlooking Judas was focused on what Mary's act cost him and completely missed an opportunity to pursue the greatest, the ONE thing, Jesus.  While Mary gained from worship, Judas called it a waste.

Watch this teaching from Pastor Antonette Weatherly and discover the blessings of pouring your oil out and the cost of not pouring your oil out.

What hurts worse? The trip or the impact of hitting the ground? The simplest way to avoid having to recover from a trip and impact is to be mindful of the hazard, what causes me to stumble and fall while walking towards Jesus?

Following God's Word, renewing my mind with the truth, believing the truth, no matter what the circumstance looks like and starting right where I am, upright and walking or having to pick myself up, dust myself off and get moving again, is how to overcome every obstacle in my path.

The common denominator for all believers is faith. Faith that what The Bible says about me is true. If I am lacking courage, The Bible says I am strong, fight the trip hazard of fear with this truth! The Bible says I am able to accomplish all things through Christ, this overcomes the trip hazard of doubt and pride.

Many things are available to us. Where we set our feet, God gives us that ground! Do we realize we have it? If we don't realize we have it, and take hold of that truth, we have fallen over the trip hazard of theft from the enemy, of stolen blessings. God wants us to prosper, we can only do so by stepping into what He has set before us and blessed. It takes courage to step in.

The courage to know my own heart (2 Corinthians 13:5). The courage to humble myself, it is not God's job to humble me, it is my job (James 4:10). The courage to be a spouse, a parent or a friend. God will give us a chance to grow our faith (Deuteronomy 8:16) and when we keep a good attitude, like Joseph, we avoid the trip hazard of being disheartened.

Discover how we keep our eyes open to avoid tripping and it's impact in this message from Pastor Stan.

How do we know when a Church is healthy?

What is the quick fix to becoming mature? To quickly leave immaturity. And from there begin the process of growing from a tiny cornstalk with only leaves and dirt to a fruit producing, tall cornstalk, with leaves, dirt and corn.

Along the way you are sure to experience markers that indicate your growth, and when you notice the markers are going the other way you can know you got turned around. What do you do when you don't recognize where you are? You turn back and head to where you came from and get back on the right road.

There are 3 words to help you grow and keep developing.

Confidence

Competence

Chemistry

There are 3 questions to ask to assist you in these 3 areas.

There are 3 goals to reach in these three areas.

Let us follow Jesus' new commandment in John 13:34 and love one another, as Jesus has loved us. When we love one another well, in every circumstance we are on the right road, heading towards maturity, we are growing and poised to be propelled forward.