Let's Grow! Part 20 - Pastor Sean & Erica R. Moore

i know they just got to turn the machine down or something though amen or it might be the glory of god [Laughter] amen all right well i trust uh i hope you got something out of service so far i hope you hope you've been touched during worship or you were encouraged of course uh by the uh by by the choir singing hope you were your buttons were pushed but minister greg did the offering and hopefully your heart is ready for the word today all right well let's buy our heads for word of prayer father in the name of jesus we honor you we bless you we thank you for the opportunity to come boldly to your throne that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need and god as we come we come in faith we come trusting and believing that both your grace and your mercy has been made available for us and as we come today we join ourselves in agreement to believe that fathers something will be said something will be shared today that will impact your people's lives in a significant way god we thank you for transformative truths we thank you lord for making us like flies on the wall let us speak today with specifics and details that transcend our human comprehension but speak specifically into the hearts and the lives of those that are here today and father we just thank you so much for the work that you're doing on the inside of people's hearts may it continue all the way up until the time of christ's return we thank you so much father for allowing us to be a part of the body of christ calling us into the kingdom for such a time as this help us god weekend and week out to see more and more what our role is what our part is what you have called us to do what you have anointed us to do how you want to use us as a faith community and god we just thank you so much that lives are going to be impacted by what you do through your people here at faith christian center we thank you so much for it and we give you praise and glory for it in jesus name and everybody in agreement with this prayer they said amen well you can be seated well praise god i couldn't get enough of having my wife sitting up here next to me amen so praise the lord decided to invite her back again amen no actually we have a lot of questions that we didn't get through and and i i love sharing the stage with her this is my my my uh my partner amen my baby i love her with all of my heart and uh she's fine but she's anointed as well and uh i am grateful to god grateful to god that i get to do life together with no one else that i would rather do life together with them we've been together now for we've been together since what well i'm talking about yeah yeah so it's been 20 years 20 years we've been together amen we have grown up together well listen we've been in a series entitled spiritual growth this is actually week 13 of the series uh this is uh last week we did part 18 of 19 18 at the first service 19 at the second today we're going to do part 20 at the first service part 21 at the second service and that's going to be the end of the let's grow series so we bringing it on home this week so in talking about spiritual growth we talked about what spiritual growth is spiritual growth is the process of becoming more and more like christ so everything that we do from reading the bible to spending time in prayer to attending church to serving in church to you know what we do concerning our giving how we raise our children it really should all be for the purpose of you and i becoming more and more like christ we begin this process of spiritual growth when we receive jesus christ as our personal lord and savior when we say jesus come into my heart come into my life at that point we become a babe in christ but you know just because we start there that's not where we're supposed to stay spiritual growth is supposed to lead us to spiritual maturity where we are no longer children tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine by the slight of men now no matter how long you have been in the things of god none of us ever get to a place where we have arrived so if you've been saved for one year you've been saved for 25 years the reality is that you should still be growing and maturing in your relationship with christ and the moment that you get to a place where you feel like you have arrived and there is no more growing to do then then i'm gonna just caution you right now the bible tells us that pride comes before destruction destruction and a holy spirit before fall amen as long as we are in this tabernacle holy spirit is doing a work on the inside of us and he's going to be working on it all the way up into the time of christ's return which means there is still work and still transformation that needs to take place on the inside of us we talked about how spiritual growth it is a choice it is a discipline it is a process and it requires intentionality so a few weeks ago we uh we solicited questions from the congregations you guys sent your questions in we started answering those questions a few weeks ago we had so many questions come in uh that uh that we've had to continue over these last few weeks to answer those questions so we're gonna do our best to try to get through all of them today and um and so we're gonna pick right up where we left off a a few weeks ago and uh it's actually on the other uh the other document so we're gonna pick up where we left off a a few weeks ago we left we got through let's see about 12 of them so we're picking up in question number let's see well while you're looking for that i just we're talking about growth our oldest daughter turned 14 years old today and she's back there with the pink sweatshirt on on the camera so if you could wish a happy birthday to heaven with me happy birthday heaven [Applause] all right now that we've embarrassed her real good we'll get into that first question [Laughter] the first question says gifts how do you find out what gifts you have and how to use them all right that's a great question and so uh one of some of the ways that you find out what your gifts are what you discover what your gifts are uh one obviously you can do assessments i think assessments are always good uh assessments really are help that they help us to be able to discover what god has already put on the inside of us uh another way is through your vocation i mean through our work we learn not only what our strengths are but what our weaknesses are we find out what we enjoy doing but we also find out what we don't enjoy doing and i want to say this that discovering your gifts and even uh even bigger is discovering your calling or your purpose uh it is a it is a uh it is a journey that you you and i are on and it's not just about always knowing what to do sometimes you discover what your gifts are and what your calling is by finding out what you are not called and what you are not anointed to do let's say for example like years ago when i first got into the ministry it was just expected that anybody that was in ministry would also counsel members that were in need well you know i've been in ministry now for 20 20 20 uh almost 20 let's see 1999 so 22 years and so over the course of time i began to discover that you know what counseling is not my calling i don't enjoy it i don't like doing it uh i feel like i don't even think that i'm really that good at it i can do it because i've been trained and i've learned some things over the years but after a while i started to realize that is not my grace there is a grace on some people to do counseling and when they say that they are anointed and called to do it especially here at faith christian center we want to use them in jesus name but i've come to realize that is not my strength that's not my anointing and i've discovered that through doing counseling and then thirdly i would say volunteering volunteering is another way that you discover kind of what your gifts are and i just encourage you you need to be involved doing something that you do not get paid for as a christian as a believer money cannot be your motivation for absolutely everything that you do you shouldn't have the mentality that people need to pay me for what i do well if that's the case there are certain things in the kingdom you're never going to discover because there are just some stuff god's going to call you to do pro bono because he wants to see where your heart is at regarding what it is that he has gifted your hands to do next what i would say is you need to get involved doing something ecclesiastes tells us whatever your hands find to do do it with all your might and i would dare to say that i would not be in ministry today if i did not act on that verse of scripture i started serving in the parking lot 20 some odd years ago not because i loved it not because i was called to be the parking lot attendant of the united states of america i started serving in the parking lot because i wanted to find something for my hands to do and you many of you have heard my story before where where the lord said to me he said son if you get in the car he said and you turned the wheel to the left and to the right but you never put the car in drive where is that car going i said god nowhere he said well son your job is to get in the car put the car and drive and then i'll tell you whether or not i want you to turn to the left and turn to the right so whatever your hand finds to do you need to do it with all your might get busy doing something and then lastly you know and i'm not putting these in in order of importance but that is prayer go to god and ask god lord what have you gifted me to do what have you graced me to do what is my purpose what is my calling which leads me to my final point and that is in romans chapter 11 verse 29 it says that the gifts and the calling of god are without repentance i would encourage you to focus on finding your purpose and your calling and then you will better understand what your gifts are going to be used for just because you're gifted in an area doesn't mean that that's what you're called to so you want to find out your calling and then you'll better understand your gifts so let's say for example i don't use it very often but i can rap but listen to me i'm not called to be a rapper hey man you you only gonna see that gift like every once in a blue moon how many of you want him to break that right back there are other people that god is using in that area you're sitting on your gift sir you need to step out [Applause] now the holy spirit comes with gifts too right and so as you get close to the holy spirit what i found personally is that you'll start operating in a spiritual gift and you might not even know what that spiritual gift is called you might not even know exactly what this is um and then as you study the word you'll say oh so that's what happened when i all of a sudden knew that person's name that was a word of knowledge wow i operated in a spiritual gift and didn't even know it so it's really cool how god does that he introduces spiritual gifts and natural gifts to his kids and it's an adventure it should be fun amen amen how do you trust god and follow him when what you see in front of you does not look like what he's asking of you or calling you to all right so listen faith isn't the evidence of what you do see faith is the evidence of what you don't see now when god tells you to do something he's not asking you if your circumstances align with what he's telling you you're gonna find that oftentimes throughout your life god will prove to you that he is not only lord over your life but he is also lord over your circumstances that god does not have to subject himself to you the condition of your circumstances but your circumstances will bow down to the lordship of jesus christ amen and so second corinthians chapter 5 verse 7 tells us that we walk by faith and not by sight i hear believers say this a lot and we really have got to get to a place we stop determining the will of god based on what our circumstances look like on the outside otherwise the enemy will use physical circumstances natural circumstances to try to either discourage you you know from from moving forward or encourage you in continuing on a path that may not even be the will and plan of god for your life i mean you'll remember in the book of genesis the bible says when lot looked at sodom and gomorrah and saw that it was green like the garden of eden that was the determining factor that that that caused him to move forward and say well this is where i want to plant my family not realizing that god was going to destroy the city with fire and brimstone later on abraham when there was a famine in the land left the land of promise to go to a place where he felt provision was at which was in egypt that was not the will of god for his life so you guys if we determine what the will of god is solely based on our circumstances then it is easy for us to be led astray we've got to be led from the inside out and not from the outside in that's why romans 8 tells us as many as are led by the spirit of god they are the sons of god now if you are still unsure about you know which path you ought to take which decision you want to make which route you ought to go then i would encourage you to bounce what you're getting off of someone else that you believe is following god bible tells us in the multitude of counselors there is safety whenever i have to make a major decision i am never the only person making that decision i am always going to bounce it off of somebody else that i trust and ask them how do you what are you getting in your heart what do you feel in your spirit do you feel like god is do do you feel good about what i'm sharing with you about what i believe i'm being direction i'm kind of being led in and if somebody that i trust says to me i don't know if i don't know about that then it's going to give me a little bit of pause before i move forward with that decision uh lastly sometimes i think we try to make sense out of something that god just wants us to believe and obey so we engage the realm of reason when god is like i just want you to believe in trust right and that's so good the thing i love about the bible especially the old testament stories is that if we ever have a weak moment in faith we can always go and look at someone's example of god telling them to do something that sounded really crazy but see how it worked out in their favor i mean how would you like to be 13 years old and an angel appears to you and tells you that you're going to have a child and this child is going to be the son of god that sounds crazy that had never happened before right how was my fiance going to exactly believe this right um but mary said be it unto me according to your word and she had jesus without ever knowing a man so god throughout history has always asked men and women to do seemingly impossible things and there are tons of stories abraham go to atlanta we'll show you can you tell me now where i'm going please and can you give me the coordinates to get there no i'll tell you when you get there thanks a lot okay so you're not the first one and you won't be the last one that god's going to share something seemingly impossible but he wants to do big things in our lives amen now i will say this if anybody comes to you and says and i'm pregnant and and and the baby that's in me is of the holy spirit they are lying to you amen there's only one immaculate conception and there will never be another one amen how can we help a backslidden spouse come back to god while chaos is happening around you all right so what i would encourage is um what i would encourage you to do is is to pray over your spouse to pauline prayers and i'm going to give them to you ephesians chapter 1 uh verses 16 through 23 ephesians chapter 3 verses 16 through 21 philippians chapter 1 verses through 13 is that am i going too fast he's going fast right okay ephesians chapter 1 verses 16 through 23 ephesians chapter 3 verses 16 through 21 philippians chapter 1 verses 9 through 13 and then philippians chapter 1 verses like 9 through 13. might be a few verses off of that one and this is when you talk to your neighbor and you make friends and you get the verses you missed right i would pray the pauline prayers over them and i also would spend time praying in tongues over them uh especially if if you have not received this gift i'm telling you it's a gift that will really benefit your life because the the limitations that we have concerning prayers that we can only pray for what we know and so how do you pray for a spouse assuming that you know everything that's going on on the inside of them well one of the most beneficial ways to do that is to spend time praying out mysteries and praying out secrets i mean especially when you're frustrated you know with your spouse you know you and your spouse are mad at each other you know sometimes we can pray prayers that really align with what we want more so than praying prayers that align with what god wants and so the blessing and praying in the spirit is now i can get out of my own way and now i can pray the perfect will of god over that individual and trust and believe that god is speaking over them and speaking over their situation exactly what they need and not so much what i want and what i think that they need uh what i would also encourage is to lead by example do what the scripture teaches regarding marriage even if even if they don't return the favor i mean you should we should we should do what's right concerning our spouse not because they deserve it that's law we should do what's right regarding our spouse because we love god that's grace and i'm you know we need grace in our marriage and not just law in our marriage you know when our spouse you know crosses a certain line now it is time for the judgment now the ground must open up and all your favorite outfits must be sucked down into the ground and you will start your wardrobe but over from scratch for the lord has judged you all of your heels will fall off of your favorite shoes in the closet for the lord has judged you all of your jewelry will tarnish that's that's law we need we need grace in our marriages amen i would also encourage you to don't make your whole relationship about their backslidden status you know sometimes we get so focused on the one thing that we don't like that we can't even enjoy the rest of the things about our spouse that we really enjoy and lastly i would encourage you remember that their spiritual state is above your pay grade [Applause] them being in a backslidden state is really an issue between them and god and so you can influence your spouse but you cannot control your spouse and force them to make a decision that in their heart before god they haven't even made a decision that they want to make themselves oh that's so good next question how do you use your pain to grow how do you grow in times of pain suffering and sadness and heartbreak i'm going to answer that one too you want me to start first oh you can read 17 okay and the next one is like it what do you do when you feel that trauma is only coming after you after you have fully dedicated your life to the lord so um what i'll say about pain there are a lot of parallels between the natural realm physical world and the spiritual world so when you're working out with lifting weights in order to build muscle your muscles actually have to tear and that is why you're sore particularly the next day or day two because there actually was a tear within the muscle but that's a good thing because if it doesn't tear then it won't grow and a lot of us we want to grow without experiencing the tear that's good you know in order for a plant to grow the seed must first be buried and it literally dies in order for new life to come in order to bring a baby into the world it hurts there is shedding of blood there is pain there is tears but wow look at the result a new life has come into the world so we can't skip the process of pain and expect to experience beauty look at christianity it was birthed through a crucifixion that was painful that was horrible but look at the beauty okay so we have to discipline ourselves not to run from pain and push through it understanding that the reward is on the other side and i think we have to change the way that we see painful moments and the reason and the way that we do that is first of all we've got to find out what does god say about these things and so uh james chapter one says my brother encountered all joy when you fall into diverse temptations knowing that the trying of your faith works patience but let patience have its perfect work so that you may be perfect and entire wanting and lacking nothing so in order to get to a place where we lack nothing we first of all have to count it all joy when we're tempted to quit or back out of a difficult situation 2 corinthians chapter 4 paul said for our light affliction somebody say light affliction for our light affliction which is but for a moment working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory so we've got to get to a place where we stop seeing affliction as affliction and we start seeing it as something light we got to have the attitude that if it's in front of me then it's going to work for me come on say that with me say if it's in front of me say it with some attitude if it's in front of me if it's in front of me it's going to work for me it's going to work for me and that's what paul was saying this light affliction working for me a far more exceeding and eternal way to glory i love first corinthians 10 13 where it says there is no temptation that has taken us but such as is common to man but god is faithful who will whiff the temptation also make a way of escape that you may be able to bear so in other words if it's on my plate and if it's something that i have to deal with but the only reason why it's there is because god knew that i have the ability to be able to deal with it and come out on the other side god is faithful so you grow by doing by you grow by being a doer of the word even when you don't feel like it you got to stay faithful to what god said in the midst of it all and then you'll get to a place where romans 8 28 becomes true which says and we know that all things work together for good to them that love god to them that are called according to his purpose what i found is god does not just use good situations god uses man hellish situations and finds a way to cause heaven to come out of a very dark situation and so i encourage you don't become what you go through become what you believe [Music] yeah and just to piggyback on what you said about pain it's important that we remind ourselves that god is not an evil dad he doesn't put pain on us to teach us lessons we have the bible to teach us lessons so he doesn't push us in front of the car let's let's us get hit and then says see that's why you look both ways before you cross the street god doesn't do things like that and it's important to remember that because if god forbid one someone you love gets diagnosed with cancer the first thought a lot of times that comes is what is god trying to teach me god is not giving people cancer to teach them anything cancer is a sickness sickness is a result of sin sin came from the devil okay so it's important because as we go through life we will be tempted to question god's character to question who he is is he really good when we go through a pain that we feel like you can remove this and why haven't you okay so it's very important again we've been saying this week after week understand biblical truth and settle that with finality in your heart no matter what you see going on god is good and he only has good gifts for his children amen one of the things the lord told me years ago is the son anytime you go through something you need to always look for what you can learn life doesn't stop just because life becomes difficult all right so there's always an education that is available anytime we go through anything and when you fully commit your life to christ to kind of answer the second part of the question about you know what you do when you feel that trauma is only coming after you after you fully dedicated your life to the lord when you fully commit your life to christ your life becomes a threat to the enemy so we've got to adjust our perspective consider the attack a compliment he didn't have to come after you when you were lost he already had you that's it you you were already in self-check when you before you knew the lord now that you've come into the knowledge of the truth the last thing he wants to happen is for your life to your light to shine in a greater measure than it is right now and so it's just like for example when shaquille o'neal was playing during his nba days if shaq stepped behind the three-point line and decide he wanted to be steph curry one game i promise you the opposing team would have let him shoot all of those shots why because shaq is no threat behind the three-point line and why says you weren't a threat as long as you were living in sin and continuing in sin and under the bondage of the enemy but the moment you decided to play your game to do what you were created to do what you did were divinely destined to do you became a threat to the enemy and now he's guarding you so consider it a compliment now you are a threat to the kingdom of darkness amen next question how do i overcome lukewarmness verse 19 and then number 19 and 20 says how do you pull yourself out of a season of apathy and how do we know when our growth is stunted so jude 1 verse 20 says build yourself up on your most holy faith praying in the holy ghost you can pray yourself out of lukewarmness i think sometimes we know the answer but we're waiting for something more sophisticated right and it amazes me how many people come in for counseling and we tell them the same things in counseling that we say across the pulpit okay pray get in your word maybe you should fast get an accountability partner they're like is that it uh-huh they say well i tried that it didn't work i tried that and it didn't work well that's like saying i did one sit-up and i don't have a six-pack you're gonna need to do way more than one sit-up you might need to cut sugar you might need to cut eating at 3am you might need to drink more water you might need to detox you might need to do a few more things in just one sit up to get that crunch and to get that six pack and when you get the six pack you have to work to maintain that six-pack right so it's the same thing here we don't you know it's not about oh i prayed in 1979 for god to save my family and i never have to warn the spirit for them ever again no no no they might start acting crazier after you pray for them because the devil hears you and so now you might need to pray a little bit more for your relatives just keep going the answer to a lot of these questions are just don't give up just stay at it keep doing what you know to do pray get in god's presence first samuel 30 verse 6 david encouraged himself in the lord he encouraged himself in the lord when there was no one to encourage him sometimes we wait for other people to encourage us and sometimes they're there but sometimes they're not and we have to have enough on the inside of us enough time with god that those deposits come up when we need them i like how they stated in the question how do i overcome lukewarm lukewarmness and they said it perfectly lukewarmness is something you must overcome romans chapter 12 verse 11 it says never lag in zeal or in earnest a endeavor be a glow burning with the spirit serving the lord but why in the world would god tell us to never lag and zeal if it was impossible for us to never lag in zeal uh in revelation chapter 3 we know the story of uh the church of laodicea the lead one of the seven letters jesus wrote to the seven churches and jesus said uh in in revelation 3 14-17 he said to the angel of the assembly of the church and lao to see it right these are the words of the amen the trustee and faithful and true witness the origin the beginning and author of god's creation i know your record of works and what you're doing you're neither cold nor hot i would that you were cold or hot so because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot i will spew you out of my mouth for you say i'm rich i've prospered i've grown wealthy i'm in need of nothing see this is the this is the church that felt that they had arrived all right and you do not realize and understand jesus said that you are wretched pitiable poor blind and naked dang jesus he said in verse 19 he said those whom i dearly and tenderly love i tell their faults and convict and convince and reprove and chasten i discipline and instruct them so be enthusiastic and in earnest and burning with zeal and repent changing your mind and attitude now watch this he didn't say if you feel it get enthusiastic and i'm gonna say this is a part of what growing spiritually is stop trying to wait to get excited when a feeling comes over you make a decision that you're gonna live your life on fire for god with a zeal in your heart burning on the inside stop waiting for an emotion to throw you down on the floor and take you over that's not the way it works jesus said be enthusiastic somebody said that's a choice come on we've been talking about this whole series spiritual growth is a choice being enthusiastic is a choice you gotta stir yourself up now one of the things that i would encourage is uh you want to know what it takes to push your button how long does it take for you to get excited for me you you give me i mean to kind of depend on what's going on but like let's say for example if i let's say i'm i'm in a in a state where i've been in a funk all right well it's going to take me a few minutes give me give me a few a few times of prayer time with god and i know how to push my own butt i do it through a confession i put some worship on uh i'll start speaking the word of god over my life and i got enough word on the inside of me that i know how to push my own button now watch this we always talk about how other people push our buttons well watch this you need to get rid get rid of all of the other buttons that people push put a button on yourself that you can push so that you can stir yourself up whenever you need to i thank you for that one amen over here there's one hand clapped right here in this other hand club over here and listen i don't know if the rest of you are waiting for something to stir you up but i'm gonna tell you you're gonna be waiting for a while when you mature in the things of god god is not going to just give you whatever your flesh uh you know needs the feeling in order to kind of move forward that'll come sometimes but i remember listen when i was dealing with my depression the lord was like listen uh you don't listen to your own sermons he was like you tell the people it's not about what they feel but for you it's all about what you feel he basically was like brother you need to shake yourself loose yeah second timothy second timothy 1 6 paul told timothy to stir up the gift of god that was on the inside of him that he received when he first came into the ministry we can stir ourselves up we can stir ourselves up with anxiety or we can stir ourselves up in faith by getting in god's presence and getting in his word next question am i not spiritually mature if i am dealing with anxiety guilt and self doubt and my simple answer to that is no it means you're human yeah that's real talk i mean i i and i don't know that i would focus so much on you being spiritually mature as much as i would ask you what does god's word say about anxiety guilt and self-doubt you know we anxieties become a buzzword now you know no different than mental health has become a buzzword god's word has been speaking to the spirit the soul and the body for years you know and the thing about it is that he's he's given us wisdom regarding anxiety a long time ago god told us in philippians 4 listen be anxious for nothing come on but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known on the god then he tells us in the peace of god which passes all understanding will guard your heart and mind in christ jesus all right so be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication that means every time you feel anxiety come on you pray about it that means if one time in a day you end up praying 57 times just to let anxiety know how serious you are about the fact that i am not going to worry about anything that's how you get anxiety off of you to the place where it doesn't end up becoming a mental health issue yeah and jesus demonstrated this in the garden of gethsemane he was so anxious that it said that he sweated sweat like great drops of blood um some medical scholars believe that he broke the capillaries behind his his eyes and it can literally be blood that's coming out because you're so stressed at that moment so i'm sure all of us would agree that jesus was spiritually mature him having to pray the same prayer three times him asking his disciples to pray with him and him sweating great drops of blood did not mean he wasn't mature it meant that he was in a human body and so are we and god can empathize with our humanity he just wants us to come to him and let him help us with it how do i encourage others to grow spiritually how do i encourage my children to pursue a relationship with god and to set it as a priority well one of the words in the in the new testament uh for lifestyle is conversation and i mean y'all know our lives preach first timothy chapter four verse 12 says listen let no man despise your youth but be an example of the believers in word and conversation that where conversation means lifestyle in charity in spirit in faith and impurity and i think the best way to encourage others to grow spiritually and the best way to encourage our children to pursue a relationship with god is by living your faith with such conviction that they want what you have amen even jesus said listen if you're not going to believe the words that are coming out of my mouth at least believe the works that confirm the words that i've been sharing with you matthew chapter 5 verse 16 says let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven the disciples watch the way that jesus prayed and they said shoot teach us how to pray now i would dare to say that you know parenting is parenting is probably the hardest thing in the world that i have ever done it's harder than pastoring the church it's harder than just about anything in the world and that's just because you can't control what decisions your kids make you know the only thing that you can do is try to do your best to lead by example you know pray pray obviously god's will and plan be done in their life but ultimately their free will their free moral agents just like we are they have to make their own decisions that they are going to follow god and god just won't be the god of my parents amen but the thing about it is that you know one of the things i i know i would mention from time to time is that listen have you not seen enough in your mother and i to believe the things that we're saying and even if our kids have not chosen to do certain things what they cannot deny is that there is enough fruit to back up and support what you've been telling us over the years amen uh in deuteronomy chapter 11 8 verses 18 through 20 it says therefore you shall lay up these words in your minds and hearts and in your entire being and bind them for a sign upon your hands and as forehead bands between your eyes and you shall teach them to your children speaking of them when you sit in your house when you walk along the road when you lie down and when you rise up now for some of us it would have been and you shall teach them to your children when you go to church on sunday and when you attend first wednesday night every now and then but god told us to do a whole lot more than he said you shall write them upon the doorpost of your house and on your gates so what we endeavor to do is we try to keep the word in front of our children you know be it if it's just worship songs playing in the house it's you know making it a point to pray as a family we take communion every night as as a family and and pray over certain things going on in the family and in the nation uh faith projects that we're working on that we involve them in so that they get a chance to see what happens when you turn your faith loose uh showing them then this is huge showing them how the word ties in to what's going on in our world today this is huge we have to be able to connect what's happening in the world with what god has said in the scriptures and in order to do that you're going to have to do more than just study your new testament i'm gonna say that again in order to do that you're gonna have to do more than just study the new testament your your study is gonna have to get beyond just encouragement verses on how to make it through your day if you want to find out what's going on in the world you want to understand what's going on in the world you need to read the old testament and look at how god dealt with israel and what was going on in israel that was precedence for what's happening with the church on today that's really good the other thing um there are so many tools available so you could literally just google um christian cartoons for kids put your kids ages in there we like what's in the bible amazing go to what's in the bible dot com it not only explains what's in the bible but it explains church history it explains how the bible was written what is the canon how were certain books included and why weren't they included it explained that you have a dvd called why do we call it christmas why do we have christmas trees what does the reef represent is is christian a pagan holiday because your kids are going to hear all of these different things from different um philosophies and schools of thought and they do a great job not just breaking down the verses but explaining church history why we believe what we believe why others believe what they believe okay so that's what's in the bible there's veggie tales of course veggie tales was sold to a secular company so the newer veggie tales are more based on morality whereas old school fizzy tales literally has bible stories so you can show them both and explain the difference right and you can and and here's the thing when we parent a lot of us want to shield the bad from our kids but the reality is they see it it's it's everywhere right and so when bad or something that's not favorable or kind of sinful or oh i wish my kid hadn't seen that or been exposed to that um you could be in a grocery store in magazine covers it's like oh my what in the world we're in fries you know um talk to them about it be real i have bought magazines where the the cover or the the the headline story was completely unbiblical and i've bought it and let's sit and read this and what does this say and what do you think about it what are your friends saying about it do you guys talk about this in school and let's see what the bible says about it we've turned on the news look what's going on wow they're burning the whole city what do you guys think about this people are angry what does god say that we're supposed to do when we're angry do people have a right to be angry what's forgiveness do you have a hard time forgiving your friends and just have real life conversations with your kids because the enemy is going to try to convince them especially when they are a college age that the bible is antiquated and has nothing to do with life today and it's old and it's outdated and god is out of style but if they have literally been seeing through their entire childhood how the bible speaks to every aspect of life he's not going to be able to trick them into that deception [Applause] next question what can or should i be doing to stay in god's will when i just want to give up but that little feeling just won't let me well honestly listening to that what you call little feeling is the holy ghost on the inside and listen to me it's not the devil telling you you know to not quit that that is that's that is the holy spirit and responding to the god that lives on the inside of you is what being a christian is all about god lives in here but the question is do we respond to the god that nudges us and prompts us on the inside that's what christianity is so i would encourage you to stand prayer stay in in the word stay around other believers and listen to me i cannot emphasize enough stay in church folks you want to be around people that are going to that are pointing you towards your faith pointing you towards the cross and not people that are pointing you away from it as a solution to your problems lastly galatians 6 9 says let us not get weary and will doing for and due season we shall reap if we faint not so at the times when the pressure is at the greatest that's when i remind myself that's probably because things are getting ready to turn around we'll take one last question how do you continue to grow when it feels like your prayers aren't being answered all right so the first thing i would want you to ask yourself is what does the bible say about prayer and hear me when i say this if your prayer life is not built on scripture then you might be making it up as you go should i say that again if your prayer life is not built on scripture then you might be making it up as you go ephesians chapter 6 tells us there are many different types of prayer you know there's a prayer petition there's the prayer of faith there's a prayer of praise and worship there's a prayer of consecration there's a prayer supplication there's a prayer of intercession there's praying in the spirit and then there are different laws governing each of them scripture tells us that prayer requires perseverance prayer requires patience prayer requires thanksgiving prayer even requires faith the bible tells us concerning prayer that if you ask it will be given if you seek uh it then you'll find if you knock the door will be opened unto you jesus told us that if you ask anything in my name i'll do it for you in john 15 7 he said if my words abide in you if you abide in me and my words about you you can ask me for whatever you want and it'll be done for you but then in james 4 and 3 it says or you do ask god for them and yet fail to receive because you ask with wrong purpose and evil selfish motives your intention is when you get what you desire to spend it on sensual pleasures so it is possible for us to ask amiss and the other thing the bible talks about if you come to the altar or you come into god's presence and you realize that you have ought against somebody or there's an offense against a brother or sister of yours you need to leave your offering right there and go make it right with that person because if you're not forgiving other people of their sins against you then god doesn't forgive us our sins right so sometimes there's an unforgiveness there that could be a hindrance and what she said it was perfect because that that is mark 11 25 it comes right after the prayer of faith in mark 11 24 what things so ever you desire when you pray believe that you receive them and you have them another example is over in first peter chapter three with husbands and wives the bible tells us as husbands we ought to dwell with our wives according to knowledge showing honor to them as unto the weaker vessel and then god goes on in the verse and says to us as husbands that your prayers be not hindered so one of the things that hinders prayer is when we don't dwell with our wives according to knowledge and then we're not showing honor to one another within that marriage relationship other things to consider is maybe it's not time for what you're praying to come to pass also is maybe there's more to it than than just getting the answer that you're looking for yeah and then lastly and maybe you've not considered this maybe it's not the will of god for your life sometimes you i think we're going to get to heaven we're gonna find the lord gonna be like remember all that stuff he was praying for this is the reason why it didn't come to pass oh thank you jesus hey thank you lord thank you lord you didn't send them thank you they were never my spouse thank you god that relationship did not work out praise the lord whoa thank you lord i didn't get that job thank you i never moved to that city oh i give you praise and glory lord just take into consideration that what you're asking for may not be the will of god for your life so at the end of the day we all need to adapt the attitude of jesus this is what i want but nevertheless not what i will but your will be done that's the safest way to live amen so let's let's say a prayer of review today father we just thank you so much for this series god everything that we've talked about over these last 13 weeks everything that the speakers have shared over the last 13 weeks god my prayer is that we would be faithful stewards over the messages that we have heard that people will go back and listen to these messages again and again and again and again and continue to grow in their faith and be transformed into the image and the likeness of christ we thank you father for what you've done in our hearts we thank you for what you have done in our families we thank you for what you're doing in our faith community and god we want to continue to see your will being done on earth as it is in heaven we give you praise god and we give you glory for it and we and we magnify you for it today would you lift your hands and would you magnify god with me today let's praise god for this word that we've received over these last 13 weeks come on let's thank god for it we declare that it's fallen not on deaf ears but it's fallen on the good well-adapted soil that will produce 30 60 and 100 times as much as what we have heard god we pray over this congregation we pray over those that are here today and god we just pray they will grow may the eyes of their understanding be enlightened may the bible come alive in their hearts like it never has before god we pray in the name of jesus that the things that people have been struggling with that areas that they've been challenged in we pray that something has been received something has been shared god to help unlock that bondage in their life as a matter of fact we pray right now that bondages are broken in people's lives as they fully commit and fully surrender their hearts and their lives to you holy spirit we believe you desire to lead us into the whole the full and the complete truth so the people that have questions that need answers we pray god that you are speaking to them right now then as they go back to their cars into their homes and throughout this week may they recognize the voice of the holy spirit leading them guiding them and directing them and providing clarity in the areas where there are questions we thank you so much god for what you're doing in people's hearts and in their lives and father we ask that you give them the tips if there are things that they can do that uh like jesus just like jesus spoke to the the rich young ruler and said it's just one thing that you lack god we pray that you're speaking to people about those few things that they may need to do in order to take their lives spiritually to the next level i pray that they won't fight you i pray god that they will not shake their head no i pray they will not be resistant they will not kick against the pricks but they will be willing and they will be obedient to what you are asking of them in jesus mighty name and everybody in agreement with this prayer they said amen well did you get something out of this let's grow series over the last few weeks [Music] praise god all right well listen we have enjoyed uh this series with you guys like i said we're going to go over different questions at the next service it'll be the the last and final segment of the series uh so if you can hang out you want to hang out go ahead and hang out with us for one more service and and uh if you can't then uh you'll be available on youtube and online later on today so invite you to stand to your feet if you're a first time guest

Channel: Faith Christian Center

Views: 220

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: n3YAN9nNUjE

Length: 50min 9sec (3009 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 28 2021