April 4, 2020
Beginning of 9/23/18, I began a five part series entitled, "It's Not Over." The purpose of this series was to encourage and remind us that although there may be times when we find ourselves in a bad place, as long as we stay planted in God's Word, we are not defeated! Below you will find some of the key points from this series.
September 23, 2018 "It's Not Over " (Key Scripture - Psalms 1:3)
Being down doesn't mean that good times and good situations are over.
God can break self-imposed limits that we place upon ourselves. And if we allow God, He will get us to the place where we can be planted and where we can become everything that He has called us to be!
The place of death and the place of destiny can look the same for a season.Depending on our perspective and if we live a live of faith, the enemy can convince us that the place where God has curated our destiny is the very place where we should curl up and die. It’s dark in both places! It’s hard in both places! It’s isolated in both places! And we have to get the faith to believe that although we may be down, or in darkness, felling isolated, and in a place that is hard, it is not over!
September 30, 2018 "Getting Prepared " (Key Scripture - Psalms 1:1-2)
We have to identity whether we are in seed time or harvest time because our response and preparation will be different depending on which season we are in.
How are we walking? Our walk, how we are walking and who we are walking with determines so much in our lives.
Where are we standing? Blessed [fortunate, prosperous, and favored by God] is the man who walks and lives not walk in the counsel of the wicked or ungodly [following their advice and example], nor stand in the path of sinners.
When are we sitting? When are we sitting in the seat of the judge? When are we sitting in the seat of the mockers? Blessed is the person who does not sit on his or her prideful thought process while judging other people’s process.
If we are following the advice of the wicked, repent (turn away from it) and follow the advice of God’s word.
If we are standing in the path of sinners, repent (turn) and stand in the path of the Savior.
If we are judging someone else’s journey, repent and join a journey.
October 7, 2018 "Still Standing Under Fire " (Key Scripture - Daniel 3)
There will always be situations where it will be more convenient to bow than to live with integrity. Abandon our opportunity to bow!
When you are under fire, talk trash to the enemy. Abednego knew who was on their side because they stood in the face of the king and in the face of adversity, and in the face of being buried and they began talking trash to the king!
Choose obedience over outcomes. The Bible doesn’t say that we walk by promises! It says that we walk by faith! And there will come a time in each of our lives when we have to come to the place when we will have to decide between obeying God or bowing to something or someone else even when we don’t get the outcome that we want.
When we are under fire, when others are turning up the heat, remember that we are not alone and that God is with us.
October 14, 2018 "Planted in the Word and God and Still unappreciated" (Key Scripture - Genesis 29:16-34)
Obstacles are set ups for God to come through. Don’t allow the pain of a situation prevent you from producing.
Produce on purpose and not for the approval of others. No one will value you the way that God values you.
Turn your pain into praise.
October 21, 2018 "The Gideon Complex, Underqualified" (Key Scriptures - Judges 6:11-16; Judges 7:2, 7, 20)
If we are hiding what God has placed on the inside of us, we are still not hidden from God. God wants what He put on the inside of us to come out.
God doesn’t call people who are qualified! He qualifies those who answer the call.
God often ignores your questions in order to give you His instructions.
Setbacks can be setups.
God gets the glory every time we tell our story.
December 2, 2017 - Before the Birth (Matthew 1:1-18)
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No one gospel is supposed to give us an exhausted list of all of the details of the life of Jesus.
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Each of the gospel writers had an agenda and their agenda was influenced by their intended audience.
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How they told the story of Jesus depended on the crowd to which they were speaking to and trying to reach.
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Matthew is writing to a Jewish community. His agenda was in part to authenticate the Messiahship of Jesus Christ so that the Jews would accept that Jesus is the Messiah, of whom the Prophets spoke and of whom Israel had been waiting for.
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Matthew is structured around 5 major speeches that Jesus gave. They are
(1) The sermon on the Mount
(2) His speech on missionary work
(3) His long discourse on parables
(4) His teachings about the church
(5) His teachings about end times
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Matthew says that the genealogy of Jesus can be divided into 3 groups of 14 generations.
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We cannot properly see God moving in history and leave out the names of the women whom God put His hand on to bring about His glory into this world.
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God can use anyone.
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God can work through anything.
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God can redeem any story.
December 9, 2017 Give Me A Sign (Luke 2:1-7)
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We cannot grow in faith and not learn how to wait on God.
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When we walk with God, we may find that that there is a delay between revelation and manifestation.
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God intentionally makes us wait and Advent is a reminder that when we grow with God, and walk with God, we have to learn how to wait on God.
- Ways that God gives us signs that something is happening in our lives:
- Through the witness of others.
- Through the doubt and discouragement of others.
- When we are inconvenienced by things that are initiated by other people.