Our God is an Awesome God!

Here is a link to the song we sang at the end of yesterday's sermon!  Be inspired!

Our God is an Awesome God

Radical with sin - Deut 7:1-6

How do we tackle sin? Especially that sin which "so easily besets us". One key to dealing with that issue is to be radical, 100% for eradicating it from our lives.  Here are the notes to yesterday's Freedom Fellowship sermon about being radical with sin:  http://pastors-sermons.blogspot.com/2013/03/drive-out-sin-radically-deut-71-6.html

What is a Stronghold? - 2 Cor 10:4

What is a stronghold? Why is it that certain hangups seem to have a life of their own, they pull us down ever so strongly? While we can choose to not give in to them, there is a continual pull to do the wrong thing.  Follow this link to see the notes to this evening's sermon. http://pastors-sermons.blogspot.com/2013/03/what-is-stronghold-2-cor-104.html

Our theme song!

Here is a link to the Freedom  Fellowship theme song - "Who I Am to You!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSIVjjY8Ou8

Getting to know ourselves - 1 Thes 5:23

Getting to know ourselves!
February 10, 2013
1Th 5:23

Introduction

• Sometimes we read in the news about someone who went hiking in the mountains, but without adequate clothing
• Often they become a statistic, dying from hypothermia
• Having the right clothing for the weather can be a life or death matter
• Can you imagine going out in a rainstorm without your umbrella?
• Imagine walking out in the freezing cold, teeth chattering, wishing you had made sure you were protected from the weather
• There is nothing you can do about the weather, it is beyond your control
• But you can make sure you are protected from its effects
• Having adequate protection is totally important
• But just as I had to learn how to prepare myself for storms in the mountains, we also need to learn how to live under God's protective covering.
• This requires knowing who we are, what we are made of
• So today we will continue finding out about our basic make-up
• And next week we will start to discuss this protection

Spirit soul and body

• A few weeks ago we discussed the way that we have been made by God
• We saw that we have been made in God's image
• This means that we are like God in some respects
• We think, so does God
• We have emotions, so does God
• We have a form or shape, and so does God
• But God is spirit, and there is a part of us that is spirit
• 1Th 5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
• So we have a part of us that is spirit
• Spirit by its very nature is invisible to our five senses
• And yet we have it
• This human spirit is what enables us to connect to spiritual things
• I can relate to a person who is like I am
• I cannot relate to something which is not like me
• For example this wall
• So because we have this spiritual component, we are able to relate to God, who is spirit

Before we were saved

• Eph 2:1-3
• We used to be like everyone else
• We did not know about God nor did we care to know him
• Our human spirit was there, but it was dead
• It took Jesus to bring life to our spirit
• That life comes through the Holy Spirit
• 2Corinthians 3:6 Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
• So now we are alive through the dwelling of the Holy Spirit

But what about the other parts to us

• 1Th 5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
• What about our body?
• We know what that is, it is our physical substance of which we consist
• It is what gets up every morning, and goes to sleep every evening
• So it is a part of living things
• But when our human spirit goes back to God who gave it, our body remains
• Our body is the temporary shell in which our spiritual life is played out
• 2 Cor 5:1-2 For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven:
• This body is temporary

So what have we not yet spoken of?

• We are spirit soul and body
• What is left is our soul
• The soul must relate to those parts of our physical experience we have not yet discussed
• What would they be?
• Our mind, our ability to think
• Our emotions and our personality
• And our ability to evaluate and make choices
• This soul is the area in which we have our struggles
• Our spirit has been surrendered to Jesus, no problem there
• Our body may not be healthy as we would like, but this does not affect our eternity - it is temporary
• But it is in our thought life that the battle rages
• Paul speaks of this in Romans 7
• Rom 7:15-25 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.

So where do we go from here?

• How do we win this battle?
• How can we be conquerors as Paul calls us in Rom 8:37
• Romans 8:37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
• Come along next week when we will discuss how we can walk in the spirit, rather than being subject to our human nature
• It is when we put all these pieces together, that we will see the way to live under God's protective umbrella

Baptism - an expression of faith - Matt 28:19-20

Baptism - an expression of faith!

February 3, 2013

Matt 28:19-20 

Introduction

• This evening we will be baptizing a number of people
• But why do we baptize?
• Why is it important to take this step?
• Today I want to talk about different aspects of baptism, and then we will witness 7 people taking this step of obedience

A commandment

• The new testament church recognizes two ordinances given by Jesus
• These ordinances are each a commanded ceremony, which pictures the saving work of Jesus
• These ordinances were instituted by Jesus, taught by the apostles and practiced by the early church
• They are:
• The ordinance of communion
  • Commanded - Mat 26:26-29
  • Taught - 1 Cor 11:23-26
  • Practiced - Acts 2:42 (breaking of bread), 1 Cor 11:17-33

The ordinance of baptism

• Commanded - Matt 28:19-20
• Taught - Rom 6:3-4, Acts 19:1-5
• Practiced - Acts 2:41, 8:36-39

What is the meaning of baptism?

• Romans 6:3-4
• Just as Jesus died and was buried, carrying the sins of the world, when we go into the water it symbolizes us burying our old way of life, with all its sins, in a watery grave
• Just as Jesus was resurrected from the dead, our coming up out of the water represents our being raised to new life!
• The ceremony of baptism represents the salvation that happened inside us when we accepted Jesus

How should we be baptized?

• The new testament example of baptism is always by immersion, in other words by being dipped or submerged in water
• The greek word baptizo is used for this, around 80 times in the new testament. It means to immerse or submerge. No other greek word is ever used for baptism
• The greek word rantizo is used 4 times in the new testament (Heb 9:13, 19, 21, 10:22). It means to sprinkle and is never used for baptism
• Examples are:
  • Jesus baptism - Mat 3:13-17
  • Ethiopian eunuch - Acts 8:36-39

Why be baptized?

• To be obedient to Jesus commandment
• As a public testimony that we have repented of our sins, and are now followers of Jesus
• Sometimes we may feel the need to be rebaptized
  • if our original baptism was not understood at the time
  • if we were not baptized in the new testament manner
  • if we have walked away from the Lord and want to rededicate our lives to him

Prerequisite for membership in a local church

• Just as receiving the Holy Spirit adds believers in our Lord Jesus Christ to the Church which is His body (1 Cor 12:13), so water baptism is the means by which believers are publicly inducted into discipleship (Matthew 28:19-20) and added to the local church.
• The New Testament teaches the following order of events: people heard the message regarding Christ, responded in saving faith, were baptized and united with the local body of believers - Acts 2:41-41

Conclusion

• Baptism is is an outward expression of the change that happened in our heart when we repented of our sins, and asked Jesus to be our personal Lord and Savior
• It is a ceremony Jesus commanded
• It is a public testimony that we are followers of Jesus

Prayer

Awesome potluck with a movie!

We had an awesome potluck last night!  It was great to see our whole family come together and get to know each other a little (and the food was awesome too)!  We watched the movie/documentary "God of Wonders", an incredible answer to those who do not believe in a Creator God. Here is a link to the youtube version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAH8suospuc

Potluck meal tonight - 1/27/13!

We will have a potluck meal this evening, downstairs at Grace Fellowship!  All are welcome, bring along some item of food or drink and come and enjoy!  Bring along a friend!  After the meal we will watch a movie together in the sanctuary...

Declaration - Who You Are In Jesus Christ.

Who You Are In Jesus Christ.

I am a child of God
I am redeemed from the hand of the enemy
I am forgiven
I am saved by grace through faith
I am justified
I am sanctified
I am a new creature in Christ Jesus
I am partaker of God’s divine nature
I am redeemed from the curse of the Law
I am delivered from the power of darkness
I am led by the Holy Spirit
I am a child of God
I am kept in safety wherever I go
I have the divine favor of God in whatever I do and wherever I go
I am getting all my needs met by Jesus
I am casting all my cares on Jesus
I am strong in the Lord and in the power of His might
I am doing all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens me
I am an heir of God and a joint heir with Jesus Christ
I am an heir to the blessings of Abraham
I am observing and doing the Lord’s commandments
I am blessed coming in and blessed going out
I am an heir of eternal life
I am blessed with all spiritual blessings
I am healed by the stripes of Jesus
I am exercising my authority over the enemy
I am above only and not beneath
I am more than a conqueror
I am establishing God’s Word here on earth
I am an overcomer by the blood of the Lamb and the word of my testimony
I am daily overcoming the devil
I am not moved by what I see
I am walking by faith and not by sight
I am casting down vain imaginations
I am bringing every thought into captivity in Christ Jesus
I am being transformed by the renewing my mind
I am a laborer together with God
I am the righteousness of God through Jesus Christ
I am the light of the world
I am blessing the Lord always and will continue praising Him with my mouth
I am the head and not the tail
I am putting on the mind of Jesus Christ
I am a continuous blessing to my brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ
I am free from all bondages because the bondage destroying anointing; the Spirit of God dwells inside of me; therefore I am bondage free.

Who Am I? - 1 Thes 5:23

FF-Who am I?
January 20, 2013
1 Thes 5:23

Introduction

• Who am I?
• Sometimes we wonder at the things we have done, and ask ourselves, how could I have done this or that, what made me do it, etc.
• I used to have a struggle with using foul language
• When I was in high school, using the f-word was commonplace.
• I was a Christian, I knew it was wrong and dishonoring to Jesus, and yet I could not seem to kick it
• It made me wonder about myself, what caused this thing to have such power in my head?
• At the same time I was struggling to not view pornography
• Was I the worst person around?
• I felt like a failure, and my adult life had barely started
• I was a Christian who had given his life to Jesus
• Yet, somehow, sin had found a foothold in my thinking, and each time I used the language, or was tempted with pornography I felt as low as could be

I couldn't understand why

• I tried to be a good Christian
• I had been baptized, I served in my church
• I tried to pray regularly, I read the Bible
• And yet I had these major struggles
• Why?

God's intention for us

• Jesus told us that the good shepherd, speaking of himself, has come that we might have life, and that more abundantly
• Jesus wants us to have an abundant life, not a life that is totally short-changed because of constant struggle and disappointment in ourselves
• He contrasts this with the thief who comes only to kill, steal and destroy

So, who am I?

• I am a mixture of good and bad
• God created us good, but we have allowed sin into our lives
• Adam was the first one to fall for the enemy's sweet-talk
• He listened, believed the lies, and rebelled against God
• As a result, we all have the same battle to fight - to not believe the enemy's lies, and instead to be 100% loyal to God

What were we like when God created us?

• Gen 1:26 - Let us make man in our image, in our likeness
• So in what ways are we created in God's likeness?
  • we think
  • we have emotions
  • we are creative
  • we have a basic shape

But we are told God is spirit (Jn 4:24)

Does man have a spirit component?

You can't weigh or measure spirit

And yet it is there

1 Thes 5:23 - "May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."

We are made up of three parts

Spirit, soul and body

What is this spirit part of us?

• Each of us has been created with a human spirit, which makes us living, thinking, living human beings
• When we become alive as an embryo, that spirit is what makes us alive
• Gen 2:7 God breathed into man the breath of life (breath, spirit of man)
• At the end of our lives that human spirit returns to God
• Ecclesiastes 12:7 - dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it
• Our human spirit is that part of us that is dead or neutral before Jesus gives us life
• 2Corinthians 3:6 "Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter kills, but the spirit gives life."
• It is through our spirit that we are able to connect to God
• When we accept Jesus he comes to make his home with us
• John 14:23
• He comes to dwell in our spirit, and he makes us alive spiritually
• A relationship is started which will never be extinguished

The enemy

• But through this spirit we also have connection with the dark side
• These are fallen angels who rebelled against God, and lost the battle
• God is still stronger than they think they are
• They try to rob us of our joy, they torment us, they tell us lies and threaten us and try to control us
• But God is stronger than they are

 

Conclusion

• Recognizing that we have a spiritual component, is a part of recognizing who we are!
• When we understand our makeup as people, we can understand why it is that we have had such struggles to do the right thing
• God's intention is for us to live abundantly, as His children!
• So there is a way out of this tormented struggle
• Come along next week for more about who we are: spirit, soul, and body
• If anyone here tonight wants to be set free from demonic oppression, and be prayed for, come and see me afterwards.
  
  

God loves you! - 2 Thes 2:16-17

Here are notes to this evening's first Freedom Fellowship meeting! Was awesome!

God loves you!

January 13, 2013

2 Thes 2:16-17

Introduction

• Book "The Secret Life of the Unborn Child"
• In this book it explains and shows how responsive the unborn child is
• The way in which the unborn child is treated impacts the child's personality and its future life as an adult
• What would it be like to be born without love from our parents!
• And yet, many children do grow up that way
• What are the results of growing up without love?
• An inability to show love, because it has not been modeled to them
• A view of themselves that they are less than they should be
• A basic insecurity and lack of foundations
• An insatiable search for love
• Looking for love in all the wrong places
• So many of us know what I am talking about, from personal experience
• I do as well
• I grew up in a family where love was a rare commodity
• Love was expressed through correction, shouting and pain rather than by praise and closeness
• Bad stuff happened in our home
• I grew up in terror of the next beating and I grew up knowing deep down inside myself that I was not good enough, that I would never measure up and that I would never amount to anything
• Sure enough, that is the way my life went, until God stepped in, and changed me

Jesus loves you

• I asked the Lord what to speak about this evening
• The word he gave me was "Tell them that I love them"
• So, that is the word for you tonight - God loves you
• What does it mean that God loves us?
• 1John 4:19 We love him, because he first loved us.

How does God love us?

• God loves us in many ways
• What does God's love look like
• God is a parent who loves his children
• We are his children when we have allowed him the key to our heart
• 1Jo 3:1-2 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
• God showed incredible love to us, by making us His children
• God did not need us
• He is not a needy God, who needs kids to have a sense of control and self-worth
• He is not a God who takes advantage of his kids and robs them of their childhood
• Instead, God is a God who nurtures and protects
• God provides for his children, in this life and in the life to come
• Eph 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
• Eph 1:4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
• Eph 1:5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
• Eph 1:6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
• God loves you

He loved you so much that he drew you back to him

• While we were without knowledge of God, we sinned just like every other person who has ever lived, besides Jesus
• Each sin we committed was like a nail in Jesus hands and feet
• God knew right from the beginning, that Jesus would have to die
• There was no getting around it
• But God loved us enough, right from the beginning, that he set everything in place so we could return to him
• That is true love
• We may have had parents who disowned us and wrote us off like black sheep
• But God never wrote you off, to Him, you are his precious child
• No matter where we have been, or what we have done, he never stopped loving us
• God wants you to know that He loves you

Conclusion

• Why is it that God wanted you to know that he loves you?
• I think it is because love is the basic building block of relationship
• God is is love
• "God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him." - 1 Jn 4:16
• God's love is purely outgoing, gracious love
• He just wants to love us
• Whatever he does in our life, comes as a result of His love
• That love is the foundation of our eternal existence
• That love will be the building block of our healing and recovery

Why did Jesus hang out with sinners?

Here are the notes to this evening's sermon at Crossroads!  Be blessed!

Why did Jesus hang out with sinners?
January 12, 2013

John 3:16
Crossroads dinner

INTRODUCTION

• Why did Jesus hang out with sinners, prostitutes and publicans?
• To understand that we need to understand why Jesus came in the first place
• John 3:16 God so loved the world
• He didn't only love Moses, Abraham and David
• He didn't just love the Israelites, or the Jews
• He did love each of these groups in a special way
• But God loved the whole world
• In fact, he loved all people so much, that he gave his only Son so that whoever believes in him will receive eternal life!
• So we say, yes, but that is after I die
• What about now!

 

OUR QUALITY OF LIFE

• Do you think that God doesn't care about our present quality of life?
• He does!
• When he created man, he placed man in the most beautiful place on earth!
• The Garden of Eden was known as such because it was a garden, a beautiful place.
• Adam was told to work it and take care of it.
• In other words, it was a nice place to be and worth keeping that way!
• God blessed Abraham Isaac and Jacob
• God blessed the Israelites, after rescuing them from slavery, and brought them to the Promised Land, a land overflowing with milk and honey!
• Under David and Solomon's reign, Israel became a world power, stretching from Egypt all the way across to modern-day Iraq
• God told the Israelites, that if they obeyed his laws, they would be blessed!
• This is God's intention for us.
• Jesus tells us that the thief comes but to kill, steal and destroy.
• But Jesus came to give us life, and that more abundantly.
  
  SO WHY ASSOCIATE WITH OUTCASTS?
  
• So, why did Jesus associate with the outcasts of society?
• It is because he wanted them to share in God's blessing, the blessing that comes from living right with God
• His intention is not that we remain in sin and the consequences of disobedience, but that we experience the joy and freedom of walking and living with Jesus and the Holy Spirit
• Romans 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
• The gospels tell us about Mary Magdalene, out of whom Jesus cast 7 demons - Mark 16:9.
  Jesus did not want Mary to continue living oppressed by the enemy, his intention was that she experience the freedom of the Christian life.
• So why did Jesus hang out with sinners? It was so that he could share the goodness of God with them
• This was evidenced by his compassion, by his feeding the multitudes, by healing the sick and setting people free, by standing up for them against the religious heirarchy, which was oppressing them, contrary to God's intention.
  
  CONCLUSION
  
• So, whoever you are, you may feel that God has dealt harshly with you.
• Naomi felt that way too. She lost her husband, she went to Moab in joy and she came back to Bethlehem grieving, a widow.
• She told the people of Bethlehem, don't call me Naomi which means pleasant, but instead call me Mara which means bitter
• Ruth 1:20-21 And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full and the LORD hath brought me home again empty: why then call ye me Naomi, seeing the LORD hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me?
• But God's intention is not to slam us down, but to raise us up. He restored Naomi and Ruth and he will take care of you
• Isa 44:24-26
• You may feel that you have gone through bad times, and we have done. Life is not easy.
• But God is speaking to you personally right now, and he is telling you personally, a personal word for you, whoever you are, " I will restore you"
  
  

Freedom Fellowship starts up!

Hello to all our friends! 

Freedom Fellowship will have its first service this Sunday January 13, at 6.00 pm.

The fellowship will be an outreach into the Susanville community, by Grace Fellowship Foursquare Church.  The intention is to provide a Christian healing community for those who seek recovery from the many things that mess up our lives.  Some of these would be discouragement, anxiety, grief, addiction, anger and any number of other issues.

Jesus desires that we live an abundant life, and these things rob us of the joy that He offers us!  His intention is that we be healed, and that we be able to move forward into the awesome purpose He has planned!

We hope to see you there!

In Christian love,

Pastor Gerry