…but by My Spirit XIV

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spirit

 

Sunday 09/18/16 

Series: …but by My Spirit Pt. 14

Message – Hunger for God ~ Memorial Stones II

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Hunger for God – Memorial stones…

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1Cor. 2:12, 

“Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit Who is from God, THAT WE MIGHT KNOW the things that have been freely given to us by God.”

So far we have established these three truths, the Holy Spirit…

  • Gives LIFE
  • Reveals our ONENESS with the Father through Christ
  • Creates a hunger for that union!

Php. 2:12-16

“Therefore, my beloved, as you 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 Who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”

Last week we covered two points regarding stirring up a HUNGER for Intimacy with God.

Point #1

Our “willingness” to realize our intimacy with God requires that we Co-operate with and respect His Spirit.

FOR IT IS GOD Who is at work in you!!!

Point #2

Our cooperation with Him requires that we remember….

  1. Who we are dealing with
  2. What He has done

Memorial Stones…remember

Story of Joshua found in Joshua 4:1-9,

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Isa. 64:1-9,

“(1) Oh, that You would rend the heavens! That You would come down! That the mountains might shake at Your presence— (2) As fire burns brushwood, As fire causes water to boil— To make Your name known to Your adversaries, That the nations may tremble at Your presence! (3) When You did awesome things for which we did not look, You came down, The mountains shook at Your presence. (4) For since the beginning of the world Men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, Nor has the eye seen any God besides You, Who acts for the one who waits for Him. (5) You meet him who rejoices and does righteousness, Who remembers You in Your ways. You are indeed angry, for we have sinned— In these ways we continue; And we need to be saved. (6) But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away. (7) And there is no one who calls on Your name, Who stirs himself up to take hold of You; For You have hidden Your face from us, And have consumed us because of our iniquities. (8) But now, O LORD, You are our Father; We are the clay, and You our potter; And all we are the work of Your hand. (9) Do not be furious, O LORD, Nor remember iniquity forever; Indeed, please look—we all are Your people!”

Q & A

They were to remember and stir themselves up to seek God as they asked God to NOT remember their sins ans stir up His anger.

Hosea 11:7-9,

“My people are bent on backsliding from Me. Though they call to the Most High, None at all exalt Him. (8) “How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I set you like Zeboiim? My heart churns within Me; My sympathy is stirred. (9) I will not execute the fierceness of My anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim. For I am God, and not man, The Holy One in your midst; And I will not come with terror.”

Q. What was stirring God’s sympathy? His Remembering

Luke 23:3-5,

“(3) Then Pilate asked Him, saying, “Are You the King of the Jews?” He answered him and said, “It is as you say.” (4) So Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowd, “I find no fault in this Man.” (5) But they were the more fierce, saying, “He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee to this place.”

Q. How was Jesus stirring people up? His teaching

2Peter 1:10-13,

“(10) Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; (11) for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. (12) For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth. (13) Yes, I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you,”

Q. How was Peter stirring these people up? What was he stirring them up to do?

This is when we broke into small groups of 3 or 4 and discussed some of our ‘Memorial Stone’ encounters with God so as to stir each other up to remember some of our own we may have forgotten. Then  we separated ourselves for about 5 additional minutes in closing to BEGIN the process of journaling our ‘Memorial Stones’.

In closing I encouraged the following passages to be read before next Sunday.

Psa. 77:1-15,

“(1) I cried out to God with my voice— To God with my voice; And He gave ear to me. (2) In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord; My hand was stretched out in the night without ceasing; My soul refused to be comforted. (3) I remembered God, and was troubled; I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah (4) You hold my eyelids open; I am so troubled that I cannot speak. (5) I have considered the days of old, The years of ancient times. (6) I call to remembrance my song in the night; I meditate within my heart, And my spirit makes diligent search. (7) Will the Lord cast off forever? And will He be favorable no more? (8) Has His mercy ceased forever? Has His promise failed forevermore? (9) Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has He in anger shut up His tender mercies? Selah (10) And I said, “This is my anguish; But I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High.” (11) I will remember the works of the LORD; Surely I will remember Your wonders of old. (12) I will also meditate on all Your work, And talk of Your deeds. (13) Your way, O God, is in the sanctuary; Who is so great a God as our God? (14) You are the God who does wonders; You have declared Your strength among the peoples. (15) You have with Your arm redeemed Your people, The sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah”

2Peter 3:1-18,

“(1) Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), (2) that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior, (3) knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, (4) and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” (5) For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, (6) by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. (7) But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. (8) But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. (9) The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. (10) But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. (11) Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, (12) looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? (13) Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. (14) Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless; (15) and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, (16) as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures. (17) You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; (18) but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.”

Blessings! 

 

 

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Blessings!

 

Hi my name is Mark and though I am opposed to titles, I am currently the only Pastor (shepherd/elder) serving our assembly right now.

I have been Pastoring in one capacity or another for nearly 30 years now, though never quite like I am today.

Early in 2009 the Lord revealed to me that the way we had structured our assembly (church) was not scriptural in that it was out of sync with what Paul modeled for us in the New Testament. In truth, I (like many pastors I am sure) never even gave this fundamental issue of church structure the first thought. I had always assumed that church structure was largely the same everywhere and had been so from the beginning. While I knew Paul had some very stringent things to say about the local assembly of believers, the point of our gatherings together and who may or may not lead, I never even considered studying these issues but assumed we were all pretty much doing it right...safety in numbers right?! Boy, I couldn't have been more wrong!

So needless to say, my discovery that we had been doing it wrong for nearly two decades was a bit of a shock to me! Now, this "revelation" did not come about all at once but over the course of a few weeks. We were a traditional single pastor led congregation. It was a top-bottom model of ministry which is in part biblical, but not in the form of a monarchy.

The needed change did not come into focus until following 9 very intense months of study and discussions with those who were leaders in our church at the time.

We now understand and believe that the Bible teaches co-leadership with equal authority in each local assembly. Having multiple shepherds with God's heart and equal authority protects both Shepherds and sheep. Equal accountability keeps authority and doctrine in check. Multiple shepherds also provide teaching with various styles and giftings with leadership skills which are both different and complementary.

For a while we had two co-pastors (elders) (myself and one other man) who led the church with equal authority, but different giftings. We both taught in our own ways and styles, and our leadership skills were quite different, but complimentary. We were in complete submission to each other and worked side-by-side in the labor of shepherding the flock.

Our other Pastor has since moved on to other ministry which has left us with just myself. While we currently only have one Pastor/Elder, it is our desire that God, in His faithfulness and timing, may bring us more as we grow in maturity and even in numbers.

As to my home, I have been married since 1995 to my wonderful wife Terissa Woodson who is my closest friend and most trusted ally.

As far as my education goes, I grew up in a Christian home, but questioned everything I was ever taught.

I graduated from Bible college in 1990 and continued to question everything I was ever taught (I do not mention my college in order to avoid being labeled).

Perhaps my greatest preparation for ministry has been life and ministry itself. To quote an author I have come to enjoy namely Fredrick Buechner in his writing entitled, Now and Then, "If God speaks to us at all other than through such official channels as the Bible and the church, then I think that He speaks to us largely through what happens to us...if we keep our hearts open as well as our ears, if we listen with patience and hope, if we remember at all deeply and honestly, then I think we come to recognize beyond all doubt, that, however faintly we may hear Him, He is indeed speaking to us, and that, however little we may understand of it, His word to each of us is both recoverable and precious beyond telling." ~ Fredrick Buechner

Well that is about all there is of interest to tell you about me.

I hope our ministry here is a blessing to you and your family. I also hope that it is only a supplement to a local church where you are committed to other believers in a community of grace.

~God Bless!