Keys to Operating in the Blessing Part 4

Last week we talked about faith as a key to operating in the blessing.  Today we are talking about the role of confession in operating in the blessing.  We talked about natural faith (faith in our faith, confessing to have it), vs God-like faith (confessing to help change our believe and know that it has already been done).  Romans 12:2 says we are to be ruled by what is inside of us, rather than what we see/sense outside.  Romans 10:17 says faith comes by hearing the word of God.  Confession is not convincing God to do something, but to convince ourselves that the Word is true.  Your spirit believes more than anyone else, so speaking to yourself is important.    

Hebrews 3:1 says to fix our thoughts on Jesus.  Hebrews 12:2 says to fix our eyes on Jesus.  What do these statements mean?  What we see and what we think about must be fixed on Jesus.  Our flesh is addressed in the eyes and our soul is addressed in our thoughts.  Our soul is our mind, will, and emotions.  The will is what we control by controlling the input that goes in.  We do not change the will.  It changes things.  By fixing our eyes and thoughts on Jesus, we are giving the will nothing but good input.  John 1:1 says Jesus is the Word.  If we keep our thoughts and eyes on the Word, we will be going in the right direction.  When we see God’s Word come to pass is when we finally believe it has already come to pass.  We all have some areas where this flows freely and others where it does not. 

To listen to the entire sermon go to http://ahwatukeechurch.com/ and click on online media.  To learn more about Living Word Ahwatukee, visit http://ahwatukeechurch.com/.

Keys to Operating in the Blessing Part 3

Today we are talking about faith as a key to operating in the blessing.  Anything that is truly blessing can only come from God.  Everything from God operates by faith.  We obtain grace through faith, then we function in the blessing by love. Faith is having full confidence in God.  Abraham considered Him faithful who made the promise.  We want to be like that.

James 2:14 and forward shows the balance that comes in our faith walk.  One extreme is name it claim it ( I believe it, I get it), and one is leaning entirely on your own works for what you get (God blesses the work of our hands, but it is not the only way God blesses us).    Sometimes we just have to believe and other times we have to set our hand diligently to things (step out and start moving and trust God to steer you).

There are two types of faith.  Natural faith is believing in yourself.  It is based in the natural.  It will work sometimes but not always.  This is not the kind of faith that moves mountain.  Here our faith is in our faith and our ability to believe.  This is “praying and believing for God to do this” instead of believing God already did it.  Instead of trying to get God move, we are supposed to get on board with God and see done what has already been done for us.  The other type of faith is God-like faith.  Luke 17:20,  1 Timothy 1:14, and  John 15:4-8 say that we are in and surrounded by Christ, and He is in us as well.  What is God kind of faith.  When He created the universe, did He wonder whether it would happen when He spoke it?  We are required to believe the Word is true and act like it is true.  Confession of the scripture is important in order to change what is inside of us (our thoughts and beliefs), so it is easier for us to believe.  When mountains in your life move and give you victory as a result of faith in God, it brings glory to God.  My trust is not in my strength, but in the fact that Christ is in me.  God gave you enough faith to overcome whatever may come at you in life.  He knows what will come against you.

I can prove to you that you have God kind of faith.  1 John 5 says that if we know you have eternal life and are saved then we have that kind of faith.  We just need to apply it to the rest of God’s word.  If you can be talked out of what you believe, it was natural faith.  A fact is truth based on what is known.  Facts can change.   The truth of God’s word does not change.  We pull on the God faith Jesus planted in us.

To listen to the entire sermon go to http://ahwatukeechurch.com/ and click on online media.  To learn more about Living Word Ahwatukee, visit http://ahwatukeechurch.com/.

Mother’s Day—Moms Who Changed the World

1 Samuel 1 tells about Hannah, the mother of Samuel (who eventually anointed King David).  They are going to the Feast of Tabernacles, which was to celebrate and remember God’s provision when they were in the wilderness before they came to the promised land, and to thank God for God’s blessing to make their land fruitful for the coming year.  But Hannah is barren, which at that time was considered a curse.  Hannah was being teased by Peninah, who was jealous of her husband’s love for her despite her having no children.  Hannah makes a vow to God that if she has a son, she will give Him back to God all his life (usually priests served age 25-50 only).  It mentions her moving her lips and not speaking.  In Numbers 23, it says a woman’s father or husband can nullify her vow if they hear it and disagree.  So she does not want him to disagree.  Eli makes sure she has not been drinking (the Bible says not to make a vow when you have been drinking).  He prays that God would grant her what she wants.  She got pregnant and called him Samuel—2 words meaning “God” of “of God” and “to hear” or “cause to hear”.  She named her child “I asked, and God gave.”

The next woman we are going to look at is Sarah.  Again, she had to have patience and faith to see God’s promises come to pass.  Exodus 2 tells the story of Moses’ mother.  She has courage to defy the king in order to protect her child.  The word for the basket she put Moses in is only used one other time, for the ark, God’s protection for Noah and his family.  She figures out how to save Moses AND take care of him.  Her name in Hebrew is “Jehovah is honored.”

The last is Mary, the mother of Jesus.  She was willing to be stoned or ostracized in order to see Jesus born. 

To listen to the entire sermon go to http://ahwatukeechurch.com/ and click on online media.  To learn more about Living Word Ahwatukee, visit http://ahwatukeechurch.com/.

Keys to Operating in the Blessing Part 1

We’ve been talking about what blessing is and how it operates.  Now we’re going to start talking about keys to experiencing and operating in the blessing of God that will help us run our race. 

The process of how blessing works is the following:  It goes from God to man, and the priest blesses the church.  We are also to bless other people, and through those things we bless God.  This is what we are talking about today.  How do we bless others?  The blessing is equipping to run their races.  That means when we bless others we find out what they are doing and help them run their race.  Sometimes it is physical help.  Sometimes it is earnestly praying for them.  Sometimes it is other things.

Genesis 12:1 and forward.  God not only blessed Abraham but also said he would be a blessing to others.  God says He will bless those who bless us…So we also should bless those who are blessed.  What does this mean?  Who does God say are blessed?  Matthew 5 in the beatitudes  shows who Jesus says is blessed in God’s eyes.  We are going to learn how to identify those who are blessed and learn how to bless them.  The blessed are not the chosen but those who God is equipping for something.

The first one is blessed are the poor in spirit.  The best meaning for this is those who are selfless.  How do we bless someone who is selfless?  By investing in whatever they are working to help with and equip them in what they are focused on.  The next one I want to focus on is blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.  Mourn in the Greek means those who cry out to God, those who are faced with a difficult circumstances and seek God’s aid in getting through it.  The comfort that comes is the Holy Spirit.  Note in John 14:26 says the Holy Spirit will remind us of what God said and what He has provided for us.  John 16:7 reiterates this.  The Spirit takes from what belongs to Jesus and gives to us to equip us.  How do we bless those in mourning?  Remind them of who God is, what He said, and what He has done. 

The last one is blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.  Meek means those who operate in humility.  The problem is that we think of humility as people who are always beating themselves up and being beaten up by others.  Humility is someone who is teachable and does not think they already know it.  Confidence is not pride.  Pride is when you think you know more than everyone else.  They feel that in every circumstance and from every person, even if we fail, we can learn.  How do we bless the meek?  We teach and equip them to learn and gain wisdom.  We don’t offer expecting them to listen to everything we say but just offering to help with wisdom from our experience.  If the word of God is on your tongue, you are a teacher.

To listen to the entire sermon go to http://ahwatukeechurch.com/ and click on online media.  To learn more about Living Word Ahwatukee, visit http://ahwatukeechurch.com/.

The Blessing Part 5

The blessing part 5

Today we’re talking about the way that we begin operating in the blessing.  We will be studying 2 Peter 1:3-4.  His divine power has given us everything we need.  We have to remember that by God’s grace we don’t have to earn God’s favor by doing or not doing certain things.  What has He given us these things for?  For life (John 10:10) and Godliness (this is righteousness).  Remember, we receive these through faith, because they are from God and not from us.  Both of these things are also a gift from God.  How did we get these?  Through our knowledge of God.  We were called by God because of His glory and goodness.  It’s not about us but about Him.  We can either “feel” blessed or we can know we’re blessed (which means it doesn’t matter whether we feel blessed or not). 

What is the reason we get the promises?  So we may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption of the world.  What is corruption?  What if we “corrupted” apple pie by adding curry or chili powder?   We miss out on what God really wants for us by doing what “sounds” right instead of God’s best.  Corruption is subtly different from what God has for us.  There are four basic needs we have:  food, sleep, physical intimacy, and the presence of God.   All of these are good desires, but they can be corrupted.  The desire for food can be corrupted by becoming the center or by being a desire for the wrong kind of food.  We want to be as effective as we can be for Him.  God’s perfect plan is what we want to stay in.  His blessing gives us what we need to choose that over the way the world does it, which is corrupted.

To listen to the entire sermon go to http://ahwatukeechurch.com/ and click on online media.  To learn more about Living Word Ahwatukee, visit http://ahwatukeechurch.com/.

The Blessing part 4

 We have been talking about the purposes of the blessing.  One is fruitful multiplication.  Today we are talking about how the blessing is there to help us inherit the promises. Psalm 37:22 is referring to the Israelites and how they were blessed and empowered to inherit the land God has promised them.  When they left there were 3 million people.  The Bible says not ONE of them was sick, and that they left with the wealth of Egypt.  How does that work for us?  We’re not headed for a physical promised land.  In Luke 2, Jesus says the promises of God will change from physical to spiritual.  The promised land is our heart.  It is what produces all the good things in our hearts.  The promised land contained and produced everything the Israelites needed.  That is what Jesus does in our hearts now.

 Just like the promised land the Israelites went to, we find the promises of God are not easily obtained.  Sometimes God shows us the picture of the promise, but He doesn’t show us right away the things between here and the promise.  Don’t we appreciate things we had to fight to obtain more than those there without any struggle?  Why didn’t God tell the Israelites about the struggles they would have to go through to get the promised land?  Of course He knew about them, but they don’t matter because He has already won.  That is all that matters to Him.  Numbers 13 tells the account of the men sent to explore the land.  Note the parenthetical note about Joshua’s name change.  Note that Hoshea, his old name, meant salvation, Joshua meant “the Lord saves,” also the Hebrew root of Jesus.  Note Moses’ command to the Israelites. 

God told him to have people explore the land, but Moses says to determine what the people are like, whether the land is good or bad (is that really a question?), whether the land is fertile or poor (really?), whether there are trees...  This is a reminder to be careful and not live in a “wait and see attitude” about the promises.  Not only did he seemingly have doubts, but he potentially instilled these doubts into the community.  They brought back a single cluster of grapes that had to be carried by two men on a pole.  They mention fear of the people.  Caleb speaks up and says they can do it, but others spread a bad report about the land among the people.  Joshua and Caleb alone were allowed to enter because of their faith. 

Here are some key points about Joshua and Caleb (see why church series for more on this).  The tabernacle was the place where the holy of holies was.  The temple, which was a tent, was always set up east to west (entrance on the east and holy of holies in the west).  In Genesis, the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil were on the west side and that the garden was sealed off on the east side.  When they travel into the promised land, they go from the east side of the Jordan to the west side.  The twelve tribes of Israel would camp around the tabernacle in a set pattern.  Joshua (same name as Jesus) was part of the tribe of Ephraim (which means fruitful).  They camped on the west end of the tabernacle.  Caleb was part of the tribe of Judah (Jesus is also a descendant of this tribe).  They camped on the east side of the tabernacle.  Caleb is the one who eventually leads them to defeat the giants in the land.  Caleb means to bark or shout like a dog, or attack.

We have giants, things in our heart, that we have to overcome in order to experience the blessing—anger, depression, wrong thoughts, misperceptions, lack of understanding of grace, etc.  Sometimes we make deals with our giants instead of letting God defeat them.  We have to remember we have already won.  Jesus already beat the giants for us.  If you’re having trouble defeating a giant, figure out the purpose on the other side of that and focus on that.

To listen to the entire sermon go to http://ahwatukeechurch.com/ and click on online media.  To learn more about Living Word Ahwatukee, visit http://ahwatukeechurch.com/.

Easter 2012

We are talking about the end of the story today, being Easter.  We started with Ephesians 3 starting in verse 12.  God’s love for us is the key to this.  Ephesians 1:17 and on is our prayer for our church on a daily basis.  We can enter into the authority of Jesus and the power of Jesus through what Jesus has done.  Genesis 2:8 shows us the power Jesus restored.  Note that there is Eden and within it a garden.  The two trees were in the center, the tree of life (direct connection with God) and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (knowledge as in knowing in the Biblical sense, an intimate knowledge of good and evil).

The problem here was faith.  They had direct and constant access to and communion with God.  The enemy was able to convince Adam and Eve that they should not believe what God said.  In Genesis 3, the enemy deceives Eve.  Eve mentions not touching the fruit, and the enemy sees that she does not understand what God says.  This is the opportunity he takes to deceive them.  Instead of running to God when they make the mistake, they run and hide.  This illustrates the lost of the power of grace.  The decision they made resulted in a curse because they essentially chose law over grace.  Adam had to be banished because in our sinful and fallen state, living forever would be punishment. 

This is why in the temple, the Holy of Holies, containing the ark of the covenant (representing the presence of God) was unable to be accessed by man directly.  In the tabernacle, only the high priest, after an extensive cleansing process, could enter God’s presence.  The veil that separated this area from the rest of the temple was 6 inches thick.  This veil was torn from top to bottom when Jesus died.    Jesus said “It is finished.”  Man can now live in grace again.  Romans 8:1 illustrates what has occurred with us because of Jesus. Note that some translations in Genesis use the word condemned to describe why Adam hid in the garden.  Remember that grace gives us forgiveness of sin and teaches us to say no to ungodliness.  We are now free to live in the Spirit and not be condemned.  Hebrews 4:14 sums up this change.

To listen to the entire sermon go to http://ahwatukeechurch.com/ and click on online media.  To learn more about Living Word Ahwatukee, visit http://ahwatukeechurch.com/.