Willpower vs Grace New Year s Resolutions or Goals
Resolution A promise to yourself to do or not do something, an official decision. It is good to set goals for yourself. Aim at nothing and you will surely hit nothing. Where there is no vision, the people perish: Proverbs 29:18 Most people see things as they are and ask why, I see things that never where and ask why not. JFK I have a dream. MLK
2017 Goals - Resolutions Personal relationship with Jesus (body, soul, spirit) Personal relationships with Family Relationship with community Return Ministries The Dream Center Career/Job Other interest
2017 Goals - Resolutions Body (Good Health) Lose 26 lbs., get weight down to 210 lbs. Strict diet and exercise Monitor sugar regularly Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. 2 keys to good health: Diet and Exercise. Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come. I Timothy 4:8 NLT
2017 Goals - Resolutions Soul: I want to be transformed, to be like Jesus. Identity bad habits, replace them with good habits Discover any deceptions or lies in my ideologies Repent of all wrong thinking Fast and pray, hunger and thirst after God Spirit: To abide in Christ, to live from my new identity Work on my personal love relationship with Jesus Become more intimate with Jesus To hear Him and obey 2 keys to good health: Diet and exercise
Willpower vs Grace To keep tough resolutions it takes tremendous willpower. Willpower can accomplish some things like diet and exercise. You can will yourself to do some things. When you come to the end of willpower, you are ready for grace. Willpower cannot change the sinful heart, only grace can. The grace of God will change you, help you, transform you. The grace of God will give you the strength and power to succeed when willpower runs out. Trying to use willpower to overcome sinfulness produces self-righteousness.
The Law vs Grace God did not give us the Law so we could try hard to keep it while comparing ourselves with others to feel good about ourselves, but so we would see our helpless sinful condition and rely on God s grace. For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Titus 2:11-12
To Will and to Do Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Philippians 2:12-13 Work this out on your own. God will give you both the desire and the power to do His will.
Goals or resolutions 2017 Personal relationship with God Personal relationships with Family (body, soul, spirit) Work on each one, set goals, make a plan. Relationship with community Return Ministries The Dream Center Career/Job Other interest
Relationship with community Return Ministries Goals or objectives for 2017 To experience a true revival, a great awakening, a movement of God. To have a healthy, growing, vibrant church. To get everyone involved in some type of outreach and discipleship. To improve in each area of ministry, we can do better. To pay off the church debt.
How to have Revival? Revival is an outpouring of God into His people. It is experienced when believers Hunger and thirst for God Invest time in prayer Confess and repent of sin Renew their first love and commitment to God
Hunger & Thirst for God Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Matthew 5:6 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. John 6:35 Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Isaiah 55:1 Fasting from natural bread will help you hunger for spiritual supernatural bread. Sometimes great tragedy or pain comes before revival.
Disunity and Certainty I as your pastor, believe we have two main sins that are hindering us and need to become aware of them so we all can repent, including me. Disunity I never realized how important to God unity is. Most of us came from a culture of dis-unity. Unity is something we have to learn to value. Unity is something we have to diligently work on. Unity is more important than being right. Certainty
Unity of the Spirit With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Ephesians 4:2-3 Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other s faults because of your love. Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. Ephesians 4:2-3 NLT
Unity of the Faith And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: Ephesians 4:11-13
One Mind Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Philippians 2:2-5
One Accord And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. Acts 2:1 Revival does not come 1st, then unity, instead unity comes 1st, then revival. Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. I Corinthians 1:10
The sin of Certainty Who is among you that feareth the LORD, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God. Isaiah 50:10..If you are walking in darkness, without a ray of light, trust in the Lord and rely on your God. Isaiah 50:10 NLT
Who instead of What Our faith should not be in what we believe, but in whom we believe. If we are so certain that our belief system is absolutely right, then we putting God in a box of what we are able to comprehend about God. We are making our own god, a mental golden calf. For years I would dig my heels in, being certain I was right. Trusting my thoughts and beliefs more than trusting God. Trusting and resting in the fact that I was certain that I was right, instead of placing my trust in Jesus Christ.
The sin of Certainty True faith is a personal relationship with Jesus. Not a list of what we believe. You can have an impressive list of beliefs, doctrine or dogma, and not have love in your heart. We need to practice trusting God more than trying to believe everything absolutely right. This changes the focus and our center from us to God, from our beliefs to trusting Jesus. Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. Proverbs 3:5
I am certain that I am Right Some people think they know everything about God. They know which church God prefers Which Bible translation God prefers Which songs God wants us to sing Which political party God prefers Which books God prefers us to read How a worship service should be run If God is not greater than what we think about Him, He is not very great, just look in the mirror. Look at the universe to see God is much bigger than our knowledge of Him.
Doubt Sometimes the only way you can grow or advance in your faith is to suffer doubt, darkness or unbelief. This will challenge you. We must let go of certainty (dying to self), and grab hold of the hand of Jesus, put our trust in Him instead of our ability to believe correctly, which is nothing more than faith in ourselves. It is scary moving from certainty to uncertainty, I know, because this is my experience.
Balance Of course we are certain of many things. The The The The The The The The virgin birth of Jesus Christ perfect sinless life of Jesus Christ. crucifixion, the sacrifice of Jesus resurrection of Jesus atonement, The ascension coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost second coming of Jesus Christ immutable Holy Bible is God s Word But 99.9% about God, I am not certain of! That is why our trust in Jesus is called Faith.
The Latter Rain Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month. Joel 2:23 Ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain; so the Lord shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field. Zechariah 10:1 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. James 5:7
Revival I believe that God wants to pour Himself out on us, not because we are special, but because of His desire to have an amazing relationship with us. It s a matter of how much do we want Him. Are we willing to pay the price of: Hungering & thirsting after God s presence Prayer Repentance A renewed commitment and first love to God
Revival When Revival comes, it will simply be God pouring out Himself upon us. God will manifest Himself to us through the Holy Spirit. Revival is not man trying to manufacture a move of God, but God simply shows up and His Spirit is poured into us. People shouting is a poor substitute for revival. When revival comes, it will cause you to shout and to demonstrate. Divine signs and wonders, miracles, healings will occur. The latter rain is about the Harvest. Revival begins with the church, but it reaps a harvest of souls.
Revival If we are going to experience a true revival, it must begin somewhere, with someone, why not you? Why not here at Return? God is looking for a people that desire Him.
Returns 2017 Goals Return Ministries Goals or objectives for 2017 To experience a true revival, a great awakening, a movement of God. To have a healthy, growing, vibrant church. To get everyone involved in some type of outreach and discipleship. To improve in each area of ministry. To pay off the church debt, at least to $1.3, so we can then begin to get serious about outreach.