A Christmas Story Part 2

This week I continued our Christmas series entitled, “A Christmas Story.” We started in Luke 2 noting some things about the story.  Mary took a tough journey to make it to Bethlehem because of the census requirements that Joseph return to his home tribe of the line of David.  An angel appears to shepherds.  Why shepherds?  Jesus is the shepherd (pastors help the shepherd but are not the shepherd).  His job is to keep the Word out there and keep the sheep straying into darkness.  These particular shepherds in this particular hill just outside of Bethlehem kept the flocks that were used as sacrificial lambs in the temple.  This was kind of like their notice that they would be out of a job soon. 

In light of the events in Connecticut last Friday, I included some additional thoughts to the sermon I planned.   Whether we are asking ourselves the question or are being asked the question by others, when things like this happen we attempt to reconcile the “why?” I saw a friend post on Facebook that he understands that God created us with free will, but shouldn’t He reserve the right to do something to stop things like this from happening?  At Living Word we, without a doubt, believe that God is ALWAYS a good God. So, then how do we explain something like this?

The Christmas story itself helps us understand a little bit about how God has established His interaction with man and the earth. As I was praying in preparation to teach the Lord showed me something about His character that literally brought tears to my eyes. That gut-wrenching feeling we have over senseless loss; He has felt that EVERY time any man suffers, dies, is devastated, is sick, or lives hungry and in poverty. It is just as senseless to Him.    When God created this earth and put man here, He gave man dominion and authority. He knew what would happen when Adam and Eve chose to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But mankind chose it.

 God is bound by His own Word. Look at every time that God needed something big to happen on earth. He has always had to find a man willing to be obedient to His Word – because that is how things operate on earth.  It was that care and concern that God has for us that drove Him to do what HAD to be done to begin to fix what man broke. He came to earth as a MAN to set things straight. Could God just have thrown Satan in the fiery pit and been done with it? Yes, He has to power to do it. But He would have acted in opposition to His Word in doing so. His Word is the very power that holds the universe together. His Word is Who He is.  He is bound to His Word or nothing He says is true.

 The good news is that the enemy has the same limitation. You know that Satan cannot not simply kill anyone he desires. If he could none of us would be here. He also works through man like God.   There are two kingdoms at work on this earth and all of mankind is empowering one or the other with every thought, word, and action. Whatever we do in agreement with God’s Word will empower His kingdom. Whatever we do that is contrary to His Word will build the enemy’s kingdom. The main things that empower the enemy’s kingdom are fear and lies.  It is as simple as that.

 We must also settle on the idea that God had nothing, and I mean nothing, to do with what happened in Connecticut. It wasn’t part of His perfect plan and He didn’t need a few more angels in heaven (that’s not how it works anyway). The enemy’s victories become greater when we take what he does and attribute it to the One Great God.  God will redeem and use everything Satan does for good, but God would never take people’s children or “take someone because He needed them in heaven.”  These statements may make us feel better, but really they build misconceptions about God as a doer of evil.  He cried even before it happened because He knew it would before it was ever conceived. 

 Until the day that Jesus comes back and the enemy is thrown into the lake of fire, horrible things will continue to happen on this earth. But God is not the one doing the destroying. He is full of light and life. Jesus was sent to be a light in this world – to push back the darkness. Darkness cannot exist where there is light and it cannot drive back light.  Darkness is simply an absence of light (like cold is an absence of heat).  The ONLY thing that will push back this darkness in our world is more light shining through God’s people – not more religion, judgment and condemnation, but more light, grace and love.

 In Luke 2, the Angels speak to the shepherd in the fields about a great and joyous light that had entered the world.  Their first words were “do not be afraid.”  Joshua 1 echoes this same charge.  John 1 tells us why meditating on the Word was important, as well as being strong and courageous.  The good news was that the advancement of the enemy’s kingdom could be halted. This Christmas, take hold of that light and let it shine through you and to a world in darkness.

 

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/.

A Christmas Story Part 1

Last Sunday we began a three-part Christmas series called, "A Christmas Story." If we truly know and understand the story of just what happened on that first noel, we can have peace and joy all the time.  A 19th century skeptic once said that every church in the world should have three words engraved above its entrance – Important if True. That is a very true statement. If what we believe about Christmas and the Word as a whole is true, then it is very important. But, if we do not really believe it, it is all a bunch of religious pageantry — which is how much of the world views Christianity. 

 

Isaiah 9:2-7 tells us about what was coming to humanity when God's Son, Jesus, arrived.  The “land of the shadow of death refers to Psalm 23, which is a prophetic passage.  Before Christ, we lived in the shadow of death, but now with Christ we can go through it.  A side note, for all the prophecies simply surrounding the birth of Jesus to come true, the probability of that happening would be about the same as winning the powerball 18 times in a row.  This scripture says that Satan is not our oppressor any longer and that we can rejoice like the victorious Israelites when they divided the plunder of the people God defeated before them.   This passage also says that God’s kingdom is always increasing and always working to give us Shalom peace (nothing missing, nothing broken) with no end, in a kingdom that lasts forever.  When we choose to step out of the kingdom, bad things can happen.  But we can always go right back in.

 

When the angel speaks to Mary in Luke 1:31-33, that promise is fulfilled.  Another side note, Jesus is Yeshua—the Lord almighty saves.  Yet, many Christians have not allowed the Christmas story to truly change their lives the way it was intended. 

 

A poll done by World magazine in 2003 said that 26% of professed Christians believed all religions were basically equal, 35% did not believe Jesus actually rose from the dead and 45% didn't believe Satan really existed. These are foundational things that they did not believe.  If we do not take what is in the Bible as truth, it does not change us.  It is no surprise that Christmas (when it is even allowed to be called that) has been dumbed down to a commercialized fictional man in a red suit who delivers toys. We can get mad at what the world has done to Christmas, but if we believers knew and lived what the Christmas story was all about, no one would care about a commercialized holiday.

 

It begins with us as parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles. We make a feigned effort to "remind" the kids of the real meaning of Christmas by forcing them to listen to us read the nativity story. We hold their presents hostage until we read it. So, we end up actually making them hate the story because it only delays them opening the presents :)  Instead of mentioning the story on Christmas day alone, perhaps we need to instead really meditate on this all season and share it with our children throughout the season.   Now, I'm not entirely down on Santa or whatever traditions we all participate in during this season. There are a lot of "non-religious" aspects of Christmas that are great because they bring family together and build memories. But, let's take the time to learn what it is about Christmas that sent shepherds rejoicing and brought kings bearing priceless gifts to pay honor to a child king – the King of Kings!

 

We looked at Psalm 8 and Hebrews 2:6-8.  Adam and Eve were given authority over the earth but then gave it to the enemy.  Jesus had to come to take it back.  This passage seems to say that Jesus was a little lower than the angels, which does not make sense.  In the New Testament, the Greek word for “little lower” means to be made lower in terms of dignity.  That makes more sense for Jesus.  In the Old Testament, this “little lower” in Hebrew means to be lacking in relation to, which certainly applies to man because we are not in God’s presence like them.  We and Jesus are not lower in authority.  We are lower in glory, and Jesus is lower in dignity. 

 

Here are some reasons Christmas was the only way

1.      Jesus had to become like us in nature in order to become Immanuel, God with us. 

2.      He had to overcome the power of death by suffering the penalty of sin while sinless in order to give us life.

3.      He had to come in the form of man to take back the dominion and authority man had given the enemy.

4.      He uses man’s sin to defeat the enemy. God took what the enemy planned for evil and turned it to good.  He uses the mistakes of ours to defeat our enemy.  Remember, God uses bad things to cause good things to happen, but He does not cause those bad things to happen.  God does not do things like the enemy, but He uses what the enemy does for His glory. 

Ways that God used our sin to defeat the enemy:

1. Mary had to risk her life to accept the call (she could have been stoned to death for being pregnant out of wedlock.

2. An emperor had to institute an oppressive tax (as a result of the census).  The census allowed Jesus to be born in Bethlehem and fulfill prophecy.

3. A king had to demand the murder of babies.  Jesus had to go to Egypt in order to fulfill some of the prophecies.

4. A friend had to betray Him for greed.

5.  A very close friend had to deny Him.

6.  Nine more of His close friends had to abandon Him.

7.  The very people he came to save, as well as the religious leaders of His day had to hate Him so much they wanted Him killed.

8.  A murderer would have to go free to ensure His death.

 

We can see that the Christmas story even shows that despite the mistakes we make, God can use those things to defeat the enemy in our lives.  This will make our life all year more meaningful.

 

 

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/.

prayer and unforgiveness

This is a one-part series before I start a 3-part Christmas series.  Last Sunday we discussed one of the major hinderances to answered prayer — unforgiveness. I think it is also a major hindrance to Christmas joy.  Mark 11:25 tells us that when we stand praying that we must forgive anything we hold against one another so that we will be forgiven ourselves. I do not believe this is talking about salvation because other scriptures related to receiving salvation do not add this stipulation. When we ask God to forgive, He is faithful and just to forgive.  However, if we do not forgive others, we walk around this world AS someone unforgiven. Our eternity may be changed already, but our life on earth will be like someone who is not forgiven.   Being right before God does not give us more favor with God, but it does give us faith to receive from Him.  It’s hard to go before someone to whom we owe money and ask them for something with any hope that they will say yes.

 

A note on the statement that we should forgive 70x7 times.  The number 7 in the Bible indicates perfection, which means we should forgive to perfection, until they no longer need to be forgiven.

 

We looked also at a parable Jesus tells in Matthew 18. There is a servant forgiven of a debt of 10,000 talents. A talent was made up of about 3000 shekels of silver. A shekel was worth about $0.50. So 3000 would be about $1500. Then he owed 10,000 talents — about $15 million. That is a huge, insurmountable debt (just like our sin).  In the Bible, servants were to work for the lender (them and their family) until the debt is paid back. 

 

After he pleads with his master the debt is completely forgiven. Then he turns and immediately finds a man who owed him about 100 dinari. A dinari was worth about $0.15. So the man owed him about $15. He demands the man pay and, when he cannot, has him thrown into jail. Now this course of action was perfectly legal. But the picture we see is that we CAN choose to live by the law or we can choose to live by grace.

 

When word gets to the man's master he is called back to face him. The master was angry and had him turned over to the jailer to be tortured. The jailer can be a picture of the enemy, but I also believe it is the results we deal with when we carry around bitterness and unforgiveness. 

 

Many physical and psychological studies have shown the terrible effects on the human mind and body related to hatred and bitterness.  Our body is prevented by our unforgiveness from being able to heal ourselves and fight disease.  Proverbs 17:22 reiterates this as well.  The bone marrow is where the white blood cells, which fight disease, are produced.  There was a study that had people think about something someone had done against them.  Within minutes, their blood pressure increased and chemicals known to cause pain and disease were being produced.  Proverbs 18:14 echoes this as well.  Philippians 3:13 emphasizes that if we are to fulfill God’s purpose, we must forget what is behind and press on toward the things of God.  God is not saying the things that occurred in our lives are not important, but we should not continue to let those things rule us or dictate how we behave.  Ephesians 4:26-27 tells us to not let the sun go down on our anger. How many of us have let MANY suns go down on our anger? When we sleep, the subconscious continues to dwell on those thoughts! 

 

The Bible also says that this gives the enemy a foothold in our lives. Footholds will eventually become strongholds! We may be putting on the full armor of God every day and fighting the good fight of faith, but we continue to fail because we've actually allowed the enemy a base IN our camp — our hearts and minds!

 

Remember also we should refrain from picking up the offenses of others.  2 Corinthians 2:10-11 includes a command to the Corinthians from Paul to forgive since he has already forgiven them.   He was referring back to a person from 1 Corinthians 15 who was causing problems in the church.

 

In order to supernaturally forgive, there are three important steps (since there ARE things that will require supernatural forgiveness. We just can't do it on our own). First, choose to forgive. That is the hardest part. We aren't willing to give it to God because we're afraid He won't give them what they REALLY deserve. That is probably true. He doesn't do that with you (Remember the story in Matthew 18?). He actually desired to fix whatever it is in them that causes them to hurt others. We have to be OK with however God deals with it.  Remember that forgiving does not mean we allow them back in so they can hurt us again, but that we leave the situation to God to handle and stop letting it hinder us.  I would encourage you to read the story in 2 Kings 5 about a girl who was hurt but then is the means by which her master is healed of leprosy by Elisha.

 

Remember that the forgiveness is mostly for us, but also when we keep the offense to ourselves, God cannot act however He wants to toward that person (the debt is owed to us until we give it over).  BUT we have to give it not expecting Him to “get them” but knowing that God may instead just fix the root problem so they will not do it again.  Romans 10:14 tells us to bless (speak well of) our enemies).   We rely on God to fix us because the person who wronged us can’t fix us

 

The next step is to allow the Holy Spirit to do the work and help us. John 16:7 and 16:13 and 1 John 1:5 talk about the Holy Spirit being our helper and teacher.   God tells us to do many things that are impossible in the natural but none that are impossible in the Spirit.  He will do what you are incapable of doing. You can't forgive and forget, but He can. 

 

Last, remain obedient to do what you know to do. Pray for your enemy. Speak blessing over them. This will keep you from falling back into the trap of offense. James 1:12 speaks what happens when we hold evil desires in our heart.  Evil desires will always result in action or frustration, neither of which we want.  Romans 12:17-21  talks about praying for and blessing our enemies.  Heaping hot coals may sound nice, but in the day people put hot coals on their heads in order to keep warm, so it actually means that their needs will be tended to.

 

 

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/.

Thanksgiving Message

For Thanksgiving, we talked about what it means to be thankful in all things. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says it is God’s will for us to do so. It does not say that we are thankful FOR all things, but IN all things. He shows us throughout the Word HOW we can do that. 

In Leviticus chapters 1-7, there are instructions given on how and what to present in five types of offerings. These offerings, what they represent, and the order in which they were to be presented give us the picture of what it is we are truly thankful for.  The five offerings were the burnt, grain, peace, sin and guilt offerings.  Below is a summary of the offerings with details on their purpose, etc.

·         Burnt—bull, ram, certain types of birds—act of worship (voluntary act of worship) and sign of devotion and surrender to God

·         Grain—similar to burnt offering, similar to tithing, returning to God out of the thankfulness for the goodness of what He has provided (bringing a portion of crops)

·         Fellowship and Peace—lots of animals acceptable (perfect and flawless animals only), thanksgiving offering

·         Sin offering—different animal for each situation, sacrifice for sin, cleansing and atonement (usually made once a year)

·         Guilt offering—also called trespass offering, for unintentional sin and the guilt of sin (guilty conscience attached to sin

If there was more than one offering, there was an order to be followed.  The Sin and guilt offerings were always done first. They atoned for sin –sin had to be dealt with first. The next would be burnt offerings, which related to our devotion to God. Last would be peace and grain offerings. These related to fellowship and communion with God and with each other.

 The peace offering had two parts, fellowship and thanksgiving. Strangely enough, the thanksgiving offering was to be eaten together with all the “church” family. It was a communal offering.  The fatty portion belonged to God in this setting.  God takes the part that is most delicious, but it is also the part that is not good for us.  In this offering, God took the part that wasn’t good and left us with what was good and nourishing for us.  So, we are thankful for the following, in order of importance:

1.       God deals with our sin (what separated us from Him and brought death and destruction to our lives)

2.       God made a way for us to fellowship with Him

3.       God has made available to us His power, blessing and provision

In the Old Testament, these were obtained through the Law and the offerings. For us, they are purchased eternally through Christ Jesus – the final and greatest sacrifice. That is something to be thankful for! When we get focused on being thankful for the right things, in the right order, we will see all of them begin to operate in our lives.  We should always be thankful for the tangible things in life, but those things come and go. Living a lifestyle of thankfulness IN all things requires knowing what you are thankful for.

Philippians 4:6 is the instruction on how to pray, and the emphasis is to do it with thanksgiving.  We are not trying to by thankfulness manipulate God but thank Him for what has already been done but that which you have not seen.  The thankfulness changes the way we ask, with confidence that He did it, rather than begging or pleading.  2 Corinthians 3:13 and forward says that as more grace goes out and more people connect to and receive that grace, then more people will truly by thankful people. Colossians 2:6 speaks again that if we get rooted in God’s power and who Christ is, we will overflow with thankfulness

 In Luke 17:11-19, Jesus has an encounter with 10 lepers. They call out to Him and He tells them to go to the priests to show them they are healed. This is how God operates. He didn’t just tell them they were healed, but told them to do something and, as they did it, they were healed. This was a very risky thing for these men to do as lepers for they would have been banished from the town as unclean. Anyone who touched them would also be considered unclean, so going into town around many people showing themselves to the priests (who by being near them would become unclean) was also an issue.

 It says that all 10 were healed as they went, yet only one of them came back and thanked Jesus. Jesus makes a point that the other nine were healed, but only this one was thankful. He tells the man that his faith has made him well. I believe Jesus was talking about more than just the leprosy. For all the men had already been healed of that. I believe He is talking about the idea that his thankful heart would not only make him well, but serve him well his entire life. A thankful heart is the will of God (remember 1 Thess 5:18).

 Finally, the most important part of thankfulness is receiving the gift. If someone gives you a gift and you never even open it,that is the epitome of ungratefulness. In Philippians 4:6 we are told to be anxious for nothing, but with thanksgiving and prayer we make our requests knows and then we receive peace from God. God gives us the gift of peace in all situations, but we can choose not to open to gift and stay in fear and anxiety.

 At its core, thankfulness is an act of faith. Praying with thankfulness is not to manipulate God into doing something. You see, He has already done it all. So, being thankful for those things we are praying for is connecting to the spiritual realm where the promise already exists.

 

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/.

Burst of Power—Unwrapping the Gifts of the Spirit—last part, part 5

 

 

This is the wrap-up of my series on the Gifts of the Spirit. Hopefully we broke down some misconception and misunderstandings about the gift of tongues and interpretation. Remember, in 1 Corinthians 12:1, Paul began this discussion by stating his desire that we not be ignorant about these things.  We started with public speaking in tongues but mostly talked about the power of praying in the Spirit.

 

We found in 1 Corinthians 14:2 that public speaking in tongues is spoken to God, not men. The purpose of it is not for someone to interpret what God is trying to say to the people present. Instead (as was the case in Acts 2:11), the message is to bring glory to or worship God. When it is interpreted it reveals something great about God that draws those who hear it to God.  That is how we will know whether the interpretation is accurate.  In Acts the apostles spoke in tongues and the people heard in their own tongue.  I experienced this when I was in India.  People came up to pray and I decided that since I could not speak their language that I would pray in tongues.  Many of them wanted to talk back to me or showed through their eyes that they understood something God was telling them.  I know my prayer language is not Hindi, so I know God was helping them hear in their tongue like in Acts.

 

I know that is not what I have experienced in many church settings. The prayer in tongues may have been correct, but the interpretation was an admonition or was condemning of the people present — “turn or burn.”  According to what Paul said, that is not what the message of tongues is for.  That is more like the gift of prophesy — which would normally be delivered without a "tongues" version first.  Prophecy also would never be condemning and never be in conflict with the Word in any way. The prophetic message is never an addition to the Word, but an amplification.  It is meant to exhort,

 

We spent most of our time though talking about the importance of praying in tongues. We may or may not ever give a public tongue or interpretation, but praying in the Spirit is a tremendous benefit to all believers. It is a powerful tool that many do not use because they don't understand it.

 

1 Corinthians 14:2 also said that when we speak in tongues we utter "mysteries." In the Greek, that word mean "secrets between friends" and "information available only to the initiated." There are secrets about God that He only reveals to we "friends of God" that allow us to know Him more deeply and intimately.  When we pray in the Spirit, we disconnect our flesh and our soul (mind, will and emotions) and allow the Spirit to pray a pure prayer — unaltered by our own perceptions, beliefs and experiences.  We can pray a powerful prayer for someone else by praying in the Spirit for them as opposed to from our flesh.   It is also the way God creates through us. Once He gave man authority on this earth, He then "rested" and ceased directly creating. When we allow the Spirit to speak through us, we give Him permission to create in this world through us.  It is also a way we can “pray it forward.” You and I do not know what tomorrow or even the next minute holds, but God does. Make it a habit to begin every day with prayer in the Spirit. You'll be praying the prayer that will prepare the way for the day that God already knows is coming. It will help you avoid many stressful situations.

 

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/.

I want to Believe part 2

We continued talking about the gift of faith. We looked deeper at the faith of Abraham as accounted in Genesis 17. God speaks to him after 13 years of silence. At 86 years of age, he had Ishmael by the maidservant Hagar. He may have thought at the time that he had received the promise God had made of a child, but he had not yet received it.  Now, at 99 years old and his body (as well as Sarah’s) no longer capable of creating a child, God speaks to him again about the promise as yet unfulfilled— which means Ishmael was NOT the promise.  Note that He does not mention Abraham’s prior failings but just reiterates that His promise still stands and will be fulfilled.

 

In Genesis 17:1, God introduces Himself to Abraham with a new name, God Almighty or El Shadday (aka Shaddai) in Hebrew (LORD in all capitals in your Bible always means this name). Understand that names are very important in Hebrew — names of God and names of people. So, let's look at the meaning of El Shadday. El means "God" and is made up of the letters Aleph (picture of strength and power) and Lamed (picture of a shepherd's staff or leader). Shadday (spelled Shin [picture of two front teeth meaning structure], Dalet [door or entryway], Yod [arm or closed hand signifying man’s work] in Hebrew) means almighty and most powerful, the God of ability. 

 

The name El Shaddai is used to describe God as One who has the power to overrule, speed up, slow down or suspend any NATURAL law in order to fulfill a Spiritual promise. God’s word has higher authority than natural law.   The truth of His Word is always more powerful than the natural laws. He never changes His Word, but natural laws are subject to His Word and promises. If a natural law is in the way of God's promise, He will overcome it if we will believe.  This is what Abraham was going to need to have a child at this point in his life. It was physically impossible for he and Sarah to have a child. They needed El Shadday to make it happen.

 

Next, God tells him to walk before Him and be perfect or blameless. Until we look at the original Hebrew for this word, we don't get the complete picture.  God is telling Him to walk where God was and follow Him in all we do.  The rudder, which steers the boat, is in the back.  So we walk with God directing us as we go.  Abraham lived prior to the institution of the law. God was not telling him to keep the law or to be sinless. The Hebrew word here for blameless or perfect is tamiym. What it means is "complete, whole, entire, healthy, unimpaired and innocent." The picture here is that God needed Abraham to walk before Him seeing himself as God sees him — complete, healthy and whole.  It takes faith to see yourself as God sees you when everything in the natural tells a different story. Then, to emphasize His point, God changes Abraham's name. His name was Abram which meant exalted father. God renames him Abraham which means father of many nations. He changes Sarah's name as well, from Sarai to Sarah.

 

Now, when they speak to each other, they are speaking what God sees! Not only that, the same Hebrew letter was added to both of their names — Hay, the fifth letter in the Hebrew alphabet (alephbet). Among other things, this fifth letter is related to grace. Grace was being added to Abraham and Sarah. It takes faith to believe that, by the grace of God, He sees you as whole, complete and innocent.  When all of these changes happened and Abraham did as God told him — the work attached to his faith—he received the promise.  The promise includes circumcision, a picture that we produce together with God, and we believe God is who He says He is.

 

We are all given a measure of faith.  What we do with it is up to us.  Faith is a powerful thing, but no faith is more powerful than that which is in God's Word! The supernatural gift of faith comes by the Holy Spirit and frequently is used to believe for someone else's miracle, not necessarily ours (isn't that just how God would work?!)

 

 

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/.

I Want to Believe Part 1

We began discussing the spiritual gift of faith. Before we can get into understanding the supernatural gift that comes through the Holy Spirit, we need to understand a little bit about faith in general and what it is NOT.

 

According to Hebrews 11:1-3, faith is the connection between the unseen promises of God and the "seen" world we live in. But operating and living by faith is much more than just confessing the Word or "naming it an claiming it." To understand what faith is, we need to understand what it isn't. We all speak and create based on what we believe and have faith in, but we need to speak and create what is in the Word.  Many people think they are living by faith, but are actually living in foolishness of presumption.

 

Foolishness would be belief that you can obtain the promises using your own method or that following God’s principles is unimportant.  The example we looked at was of King Saul in I Samuel 13. He set out to do the right thing, but got impatient waiting for Samuel (the man of God)  to do what he promised. So he took things into his own hands and did what he thought was good to do. But it was NOT what he was supposed to do. When Samuel arrives he rebukes Saul and tells him that he has acted foolishly.

 

Presumption is receiving the Word of God but stepping out beyond the faith that is in you (faith in your faith).   Many times it happens because we think we have earned the promises — I've prayed and confessed and I give my tithes and serve at the church, so God will do ________. This is not faith in God, but faith in our own faith.  We forget that the breakdown is not in God not doing things but things hindering us from receiving what has already been done.  We do not earn the promises of God. They HAVE been given. What we do is live by the principles that produce the promised results.

 

The example we looked at was with the Israelites in Joshua 7. They had just defeated Jericho by following God's instructions. God had told them that all of the plunder from Jericho belonged to Him (they would get all of the plunder from all the future victories), but, unbeknownst to Joshua, someone had taken some of the plunder for himself. Then,

Joshua sent a force onto Ai and they were defeated. We can look at that defeat and think that God punished them for withholding something that belonged to Him. However, God did not tell them to go to Ai. Joshua, in his overconfidence from defeating Jericho so easily, went out beyond what God told Him to do.  God does not set us up for defeat to teach us a lesson. He didn't tell the Israelites to go to Ai, but they decided to go. After Joshua dealt with the "sin in his camp," God then told him to go to Ai. This time they routed Ai. In fact, God used the mistake they made the first time to their advantage to bring victory. God uses our mistakes to our advantage if we will allow Him to.  That does not mean that God meant for them to be defeated in order to be victorious later, but instead God used their defeat to bring victory when they operated in and followed God’s direction.

 

So, we don’t want to operate in foolishness or presumption. We want to operate in faith. We began looking at Abraham's faith. He finally obtained the promise when, at 99 years old (and after making mistakes), he came to the conclusion that it was impossible for him to obtain the promise on his own. It was then that he knew that only God could make it come to pass. It was in that same year that he finally had the child God promised — Isaac.  The more impossible the promise became, the greater faith Abraham had to believe God would do it.  Often we do the opposite and let our faith wane when it goes beyond our ability.  When we know we have to do something we can't do on our own, we know God has to do it.

 

 

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/.

How Did You Know That?--Unwrapping the Gifts of the Spirit Part 2

We are continuing our series on the understanding of the gifts of the Spirit — specifically word of Knowledge.   This involves having supernatural knowledge for ourselves or to impart to someone else.  In 1 Corinthians 12:1 Paul exhorts us to not be ignorant of the gifts. Ignorance can be a lack of knowledge and it can also be misunderstanding. Misunderstanding can cause us to shy away from the gifts or it can cause us to misuse the gifts. We don't want to have either type of ignorance.

 

 First we need to understand the meaning of “word of knowledge.”  Word (Logos in Greek) means a word uttered by a human voice, not just a written word or thought.  Knowledge in the Greek means knowledge of the thing.  When we add the gift of the Spirit to it, we come up with this definition “received from the Holy Spirit in you, enabling you to more effectively minister to the needs of people; to know or understand situations, circumstances, and strategies of the enemy; it enables you to know how and what to speak with a knowledge that can surprise, baffle or disarm, bringing answers, healing or understanding.”

 

Keys to Operating in Word of Knowledge:

1. Have a desire to do so--God will not make you do things He wants you to do, but if you are a willing vessel, He will use you.
2. Recognize His voice (which comes by knowing His Word)--If a “Word” does not line up with the Word, it is not God.
3. Understand timing (not all words are for right now but some are).--Pray and find out when to share it.
4. Desire to edify the body through this gift.  Our desire and motivation should always be to edify, exhort, and comfort and never to tear down, embarrass, or condemn.
5. Be open to fine-tuning, teaching and correction from those over you in the Lord (the Spirit is perfect, but we're not!  Sometimes we’ll make a mistake—just apologize, ask for forgiveness, and move on). 

A note, with Word of Knowledge, you usually will not know what you are talking about.  It is not wisdom into something you know about, but only God and the person will know what it is about.  We also can’t imitate others.  We need to be ourselves.  We can learn from what others do, but we have to let God flow uniquely through us. 

A major factor in effectively flowing in any Spiritual gift is doing so through love. 1 Corinthians chapters 12 and 14 both deal with operating in these gift. But chapter 13 is all about love and how, without it, the power of the gifts is totally useless.  1 John 4 is another good reference.

 

Remember also that your role in delivering a word of Knowledge is simply that of a postman. You have nothing to do with the message, understanding it, adding to it or taking away from it. You simply deliver it. I find that in almost every case, the deliverer of the message knows nothing about its significance or its meaning. You are simply delivering a message.  We can confuse or delay or cause misunderstanding if we add or take away from God’s clear message.  The errors I have made in this gift has either been not doing it or not telling the complete message I am given.

 

Ways We Receive a Word of Knowledge (not the ONLY ways — just some ways):

1. In your own prayer time (a person or situation comes to mind)
2. You may get a sudden witness in your spirit
3. You are shown something as you study the Word
4. Seeing or hearing something moves you (Jesus was moved by compassion to see a need in people that was not naturally perceivable in Matthew 9:36)
5. In a vision (sometimes a complete picture and sometimes simply a single word)

We must learn to discern when we are receiving a word of knowledge and when it is something else. If you could have perceived it on your own, then it probably is not. Not every random thought or dream is a vision or word of knowledge. They may be, but they may not be.  

 

What to do when you believe you've received a word of knowledge:

1. PRAY – ask God if it is a Word from Him
2. PRAY — If it is, ask Him what He wants you to do with it

                                - is it a simply prompt for me to pray?

                                - is it something to be shared with an individual?

                                - is it something to be shared with the congregation?

 

Finally, what should you do if someone shares a word of knowledge with you — to ensure it truly IS a word from God:

1. PRAY – ask God if it is from Him.  Remember, God, like in the Word will confirm more than once (two or three witnesses often).
2. Does it line up with His Word and His character? (should not be condemning or exposing sin – it should edify)
3. Does it confirm something God has told or shown me or has been trying to tell me? Does it confirm a question I had?
4. Could the individual have known what the significance of what they told me was (were they simply stating something based on what they see) or was it clearly God-revealed knowledge?

Always confirm any word by 2 or 3 witnesses (your own spirit being one). Most times the word is confirming something God has already shown you. Very rarely is it something totally out of left field. If it is, then be very diligent to pray and confirm before acting on that word.

 

There are many great examples of how God uses this gift to do amazing things (John 4:4-42, Acts 9:10-18, Acts 10:1-8, Acts 10:9-17)

 

Understand the gift and allow yourself to be used to be powerful. Remember, Jesus wasn't weird or fruity. He was powerful!

 

 

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/.

A Wise Man Once Said---Unwrapping the Gifts of the Spirit Part 1

Last week, we began a series on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The gifts are powerful tools given to us to be able to do extraordinary things. Many believers shun them because they view them as something weird or fruity.  We want to tap into the power Jesus used and which is available to us.  Certainly we have seen good-intentioned believers do strange things with the gifts, but we should not fault the gift or the giver when the gift is used in a way that is foreign to us or which may seem to be a misuse of the gift. Our example for what the gifts are supposed to look like is Jesus. He wasn't weird or fruity. He was powerful. People wanted to be around Jesus because He was powerful.  The enemy has used the strangeness of some uses of the gifts to generally reject the gifts that can allow us to have the power to do the supernatural things He wants us to do.

 

We all are familiar with the story of King Solomon in 2 Chronicles 1. He has the opportunity to ask anything of God. He uses "wisdom" in knowing to ask for wisdom. He knew that leading God's people would require God's wisdom.  Of course, God tells him that since he did not ask for riches or fame, he would get them. It was not as a reward for making the right choice. It was because making wise choices would naturally produce those things. You see, we do not seek God's wisdom so we can be wealthy. We seek His wisdom so we can successfully run our races — the wealth and abundance is a by-product of wisdom.  Romans 11:33 says that if we operate by God’s wisdom, riches are often a by-product….but it is, again, not WHY we do it. 

 

 

We began this study looking at the first of these gifts listed in 1 Corinthians 12; the gift of wisdom. I believe this one is listed first because all of the others should operate through it (much like love being listed first in the fruit of the Spirit).  Wisdom is a very broad topic, but like all gifts from God, they are designed to help us run our race. Godly wisdom is needed in order to do the things He has called us to do. Wisdom helps us know whether a use of the gifts of the Spirit is from God or not.  Is it giving glory to God and bringing people closer to Him?  Then the answer is yes. 

 

My definition of wisdom is “seeing life from God’s perspective.”  The Greek definition of wisdom in the passage in Corinthians is sophia, which means “broad, full of intelligence, knowledge of very diverse matters.”  It also means “devout and proper prudence in intercourse with men who are not disciples of Christ; skill and discretion in imparting Christian truth.”  If we have the Holy Spirit gift of wisdom, we will be very effective in sharing the truth of the  Gospel with others.  Colossians 4:4-5 says that we start with love and grace and season (not overwhelm) with salt.  We receive righteousness when we are saved, but we grow in wisdom over time.  Luke 2:40 and 52 says this about Jesus as well, and indicates that His stature (influence) grew as His wisdom grew.  Again here, grace and wisdom are tied together.  Perhaps wisdom is knowing when to apply grace and when to season with salt.  A lot of what the church does fails because it is full of the truth of God's Word, but lacks His wisdom in how we present it.

 

 

 

Finally, in Proverbs 4:7 we are told that we should gain all the wisdom we can, but in all that gaining, get understanding. What does that mean? God, by the Holy Spirit, will give you supernatural wisdom. When we get it and apply it we succeed. We also set ourselves for even greater future success when we then seek God for the understanding of that wisdom. 

 

Colossians 2 says God hides wisdom, not to keep it from us, but because it is VERY powerful and can lead people in weird directions if they are not already in Christ.  It also says God reveals it to us by His Spirit.  His wisdom goes beyond our understanding but, if we ask, He will help us understand so that what was to you powerful, supernatural wisdom before can become natural and you can press in for even greater, supernatural wisdom.  Wisdom is knowing what to do (do not confuse this with the word of knowledge, which we will explore later).

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/.

 

 

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/.

self-control

 

Last Sunday we wrapped up our series on the Fruit of the Spirit with a discussion about self-control. Throughout this series we have discussed the importance of understanding that these are the fruits of the Spirit living inside of you — not YOUR fruit.  We talked about how we have 3 votes for each decision we make…the Spirit, which is in line with God’s word, the flesh, which always votes against God’s word, and our soul, the deciding vote.   So it’s our soul we need to train to choose the things of God and let His Spirit flow through us to move us toward the Spirit in our decisions.  Titus 2:11 is one verse we have been focusing on in regard to this.   God’s grace erases our mistakes and at the same time teaches us to say no to ungodliness so we can experience all the blessings God wants us to have in our lives.

 

The Greek word for self-control (or temperance) throughout the New Testament is engkrateia — which means "virtue of one who masters his desires and passions, especially his sensual appetites. In essence, what it means is that we allow the Spirit to have it's desires instead of the desires of our flesh.

 

When you break down the word engkrateia, you also find it is made of of two Greek words. The first is en, which means "in" and second is kratos, which means "power or strength."  Kratos is also the world used for democracy.  So, from a human standpoint, self-control is inner strength. But we know that God sees it as more than just will power. Your will can't withstand all temptations, but the Spirit can! To be successful your self-control cannot simply be self controlling self. It needs to be Spirit controlling self.

 

Acts 1:8 Jesus tells us that there is a power coming, in the Holy Spirit, when we are born-again. In Acts 2:38 we are told it is a gift that comes as part of salvation. You were unable to overcome certain dangerous temptations in your life before you were born again. But, because you now have the Spirit in you, you DO have the power to overcome ANY temptation.  You may not be tempted by sexual immorality or the love of money. But you may be tempted by the desires of your stomach. Whatever the temptation is, there is power inside of you to say "no" to it (Titus 2:11-13).   Self-control is basically about letting the soul decide to submit to the Spirit’s leading.  The power and all the self-control we need is inside us, but we have to pull on and receive God’s grace to access it.

 

We discussed the three steps to operating in self-control. 

 

1) Take responsibility for your own life, thoughts and actions. Stop blaming everyone else! The devil didn't make you do it. He can't make you do anything. He can make suggestions, but you choose. Exercise self-control and resist his suggestions. God chooses not to make you do anything either. He directs you to His truth, and you must choose to submit to it.  We also don’t want to exalt ourselves and think that because we avoid “big sins,” we have a lot of self-control.  If you don’t have a desire in an area, you are not exhibiting self-control.  Instead, we need to seek to submit more and more to the Spirit each day.

 

2) Permit the Spirit in us to do His work.

 

3) We must do all we CAN do to resist, and let the Spirit do what we can't. 1 Corinthians 10:13-14 (one of the most frequently misquoted scriptures in the Bible) says that God will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you can withstand. It does not say God will not put more on you that you can handle as is often stated. James 1:13-14 tells us God is NOT the tempter. He is promising us that there is no temptation that will come your way that, if you allow the Spirit in you to work, you can't resist.

 

The other part we should do is FLEE from sinful situations. Don't set yourself up for failure by going where you know you will be tempted, reading or looking at what you know will tempt you, or being around people who will lead you toward temptation. If you are trying to take better care of your body for God's glory, stop going to McDonald's for lunch. Flee those things. Give yourself a fighting chance!

 
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/.

 

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/.

Goodness and Faithfulness

Last Sunday we talked about the "fruits" of goodness and faithfulness. Remember that these are the fruit of the Spirit. By all means, we should exhibit goodness and faithfulness to the best of our ability. But we also know that there is none good but God. What we talked about helped explain why that is the case.

We started at Psalm 23 where it says “Surely goodness and love (mercy) shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord all my life.”  Goodness and mercy have to follow us to clean up our messes and pick us up when we fall.  In the Old Testament, there are two Hebrew words generally that have been translated as goodness. The first is towb and the second is tuwb. In English, the only difference appears to be one letter. In fact, they are both very similar in defining goodness. The biggest difference is that towb defines the good things of this world while tuwb defines the same things, but in relation to God — or God's goodness. Towb can come and go, but tuwb is unchangeable.  In both cases, though, good means good.

In Romans 2: 4 and following, we see the results of goodness in our lives. God does not have a different definition of good than we do. Pain, loss and suffering are not good by God's standards. Something good may come in the end, but that is simply God redeeming the situation when we give it to Him.  This is towb, earthly goodness.  Sometimes it is consistent, but other times strange things happen. We looked at Joshua 23:14, where we find Joshua near the end of his life. Looking back, he is reminded and is reminding the people that God has ALWAYS been faithful and ALWAYS kept ALL His promises. God's faithfulness is what makes Him good.  This is the essence of tuwb.

No man is good because none of us has been 100% faithful. We have all said things that were not true or failed to do what we have promised. But God is always faithful to His Word. Faithfulness is not faithfulness if it is randomly applied. If God was not always faithful to His Word, He would not be faithful at all.  Sometimes we think that some people seem to have hit the lottery of God's goodness that we never seem to hit. But God's promises are not a randomly applied thing. Trust in Him and live by His principles and the promises will come to pass. There are a lot of things in us that keep us from fully trusting in His Word and many areas where we do not live by His principles. God’s grace should be continually teaching us to say no to ungodliness and YES to the His principles, more and more each day.  But He is always faithful and He is always good.

We also looked at the story in the book of Ruth. There are so many amazing pictures in this story that help us understand our relationship with God, through Christ. But what we focused on was that God was faithful to Naomi despite any mistakes her family had made. Her family left Bethlehem and traveled EAST to Moab during a famine (see previous messages for significance). Eventually, what was left of the family returned and found tremendous blessing.  Obedience to God does not guarantee you will not experience times of famine in your life. Disobedience also does not bring famine as a punishment from God. Famine is part of life in this world. What our level of obedience does is determine how hard the road through the famine will be (or IF and when and HOW we get through it).

While man is, himself, not good, we have the Spirit inside of us who is. If we pull on what is inside of us and allow Him to work through us, we can do truly good things. In our own strength we can do what seems good, but in the end can do more harm than good. The Spirit will always lead us to do what is truly good.

 
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/.


 

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/.

Kindness

Last week we studied the meaning of Scriptural kindness. Learning to operate in fruit of the Spirit kindness is a major factor in the success of spreading the Gospel. It doesn't take supernatural power to be kind to those "deserving" of kindness — those who are themselves kind. It is also the nature of most decent individuals to be kind to the downtrodden in life. We may not always excel in this area, but it is our natural desire.

 

We started in Colossians 3:5 and forward.  We are still being renewed and are always in the process.  This alone will help us to have more patience and kindness toward others.  Look on your own at Romans 12:2 (we are renewed by changing our way of thinking) and Hebrews 10:14 (we were already made perfect by the sacrifice but we are BEING made Holy).  It is important to note that God sees us the same, since He sees us all through Christ, and that we have to CLOTHE ourselves with patience and kindness…we don’t naturally have it.  Part of patience and kindness is forgiveness (remember God forgave us while we were yet sinners).  This means REALLY letting it go and letting God deal with the heart issue behind their sin (instead of waiting for God to “get even with them”).

 

God is concerned with the heart. He is not looking to punish our sins. He wants to help us overcome our sins. There are people who are "unredeemable" but God is the one who knows that — not you. We must find ways to look at people as God does — beyond the faults and into the heart. Most unkind people are acting that way because of heart issues that only God can fix.

 

In Luke 10 Jesus shares a parable about a man who had been robbed and beaten and left on the side of the road. A priest and a Levite (temple worker) walked right past him and did nothing. Contrary to what we expect, one who not only went and cared for the man, but also went above and beyond the call, was a Samaritan.  When Jesus chooses to make a Samaritan the hero of the story, He makes a profound point. The Samaritans were vehemently hated by the Jews based on a story that goes all the way back to the Old Testament in 2 Kings 17. They were seen as half-breeds and illegitimate children of God. In fact, Jesus had just had a run-in with them in the previous chapter — which makes His choice to use them in His parable all the more illustrative of Biblical kindness. Additionally in John 4, Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at the well.  Jesus used kindness by waiting for her to tell Him rather than calling her out on all the junk in her life.  This results in many people believing in Him.  She is also the first person Jesus told He was the Messiah.

 

In the end, we find that there is a deep need for the world to see kindness operating both within the church (because we can be so unkind to fellow believers simply because we have theological differences) and in the world. The sinners of the world (those who do not yet know Christ) need us to spend a little less time pointing out their sin (they already know what we think!) and more time showing kindness and extending grace.  This doesn’t mean we say sin is okay, but that we show the heart of Jesus about their sin.  God sees the reason behind the sin and wants to deal with that.

 

Grace teaches us to say no to ungodliness — not overzealous Christians screaming "you're a sinner." Extend to others the same grace that God has extended to you. Let grace do its work. This is illustrated in Proverbs 3:3. We must bind both truth AND kindness around our necks. We seem to have no problem bringing the "truth" about sin, but we must also join it with kindness. We never want to approve of sin, but we do love people through it.  THEN we will have favor in the eyes of God and man.

 
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/.

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/.

 

Are We There Yet?--Patience

Last week we studied the topic of patience. As one of the fruits of the Spirit, it is something we need to operate in to drive the enemies out of the Promised Land (which is our hearts).   We looked at the story of Abraham, since he is credited in Hebrews 6 as a man who, through faith and patience, obtained the promises.

 

Throughout Genesis, from the end of chapter 11 to chapter 21, we see the progress of a man from receiving a word from God to fully realizing the promise of that word. We found that God reaffirmed the word to him nine times in various different ways before it actually came to pass.  At various times, He followed God’s direction only partially and got delayed in realizing God’s promise while he continued to develop faith and patience.

 

God makes a Covenant with Abraham…He uses a method Abraham will understand.  He has Abraham use a list of animals that are never used anywhere else in scripture. Other people in Abraham’s day would use these animals when a covenant was made, and the people would walk a figure 8 around the halves (infinity sign) to show it would last forever.  A firepot with a torch goes between the pieces.

 

When God’s promise finally came to full fruition, it was because Abraham had truly connected in faith. Along the way he made MANY mistakes — some of them huge (disobedience, fear, lying, adultery, laughing at God—which results in their son being named Isaac which means laughter…).  He renames Abram and Sarai along the way to add the name of God to each of their names.  When we read Paul's words in Romans 4 we see this story of a many who, without wavering and without considering the impossibility of God's promise, obtained all that was promised. As we read what Paul said, we have to wonder if he had read the same story we read. In fact, he did. He read the story from God's point of view. In the end, God is not concerned with all the mistakes we make along the way. He focuses on the moment where we persevered and obtained the promise. 

 

What does this have to do with a lesson on patience? Well, Abraham obtained the promises through faith and patience. Certainly his own faith and patience were instrumental. But, what I see in his story is the power and the depth of God's patience with us. He did not move on to someone else to fulfill His will when Abraham blew it. As long as Abraham continued to get back up, it did not matter how many times he fell.  God is truly patient with us, just like God was with Abraham, allowing him to sometimes make the same mistake more than once.  Yet, God still fulfills His word to Abraham.

 

But then how does this relate to us displaying the fruit of patience? Remember that the fruit of the Spirit is just that — of the Spirit. YOU don't have that kind of patience with yourself, with others, or with the Word of God. However, if you are born again, HIS patience is inside of you waiting for you to give it permission to do its work in you.

 

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/.

 

 

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/.

heart diagram we have been using in the current series

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/.

Give PEACE a chance

 

This week we talked about peace. It is among the "fruit of the Spirit" and something that has been given to us by God that we NEED in this life we live.

 

In John 14:27, Jesus tells us that, through the Holy Spirit, He would be leaving us HIS peace. He also says that He does not give like the world does — based on conditions of what is earned or deserved. The peace He gives us is a gift without condition. It is given by faith, through grace.

 

But what is peace? It is a lot more than a warm feeling. The Greek word for peace at is it used in the New Testament is eirene, which means security, safety, prosperity and felicity. It has the same meaning as the Old Testament, Hebrew word, shalom. The essence of the word shalom (health, wealth, peace, joy, highly favored) is "nothing missing and nothing broken."  This runs a lot deeper than an emotional good feeling. 

 

Romans 5:1 and following says we have peace with God because of what Jesus did.  We need to forgive ourselves because God forgave us.  We need to receive God’s grace in order to experience His forgiveness and the peace that comes with it.  We have access to peace because of Christ, not because of what we do or do not do. 

 

Psalm 119:165 tells us how we truly tap into this peace. It says that those who love the law will find great peace. Now, you are not earning peace by keeping the law. Firstly, it doesn't say that those who KEEP the law find this peace — but those who LOVE it. Loving the law means our heart’s desire is to follow God’s principles.  We are incapable of keeping all the law, but we can love it because of the fruit God’s principles can bring in our lives, and the ability we have from the Spirit to follow God’s principles despite our flesh. The more we know and understand about God's principles, the more we realize that they are designed to bring blessing to our lives. So, then our desire to obey Him is rooted in understanding His love for us and not religiousness.

 

 

When you learn to DESIRE to live by God's principles, you will make your own way prosperous. Obeying is not going to make God love you more, but it will cause you to experience more of the love He has for you.

 

Ephesians 6:14-16 talks about the armor of God.  The truth is the center.  Then the breastplate of Jesus’ righteousness is put on to cover our heart.  Our feet were fitted with the Gospel of peace.  Why does peace have to do with our feet?  Because the enemy is under our feet.   He is defeated because of  Jesus and the peace He gives us with God. 

 

Finally, like all of the fruit of the Spirit, you exercise it by making a choice to let it flow out of your heart (where it already is residing). Your flesh and your soul are not capable of having the "peace that goes beyond all understanding" (Philippians 4:7). Now peace can guard our hearts and minds through Christ (instead of us having to guard it like in the Old Testament).  Only the Spirit in you can bring that. It can allow you to have peace when it makes no sense that you would have peace.

 

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/.

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/.