INVINCIBLE CHURCH

THE TRUTH IN THE BIBLE

THE TRUTH IN THE BIBLE

Invincible Church Sermon Notes 2/25/2024 How to be a True Follower of Jesus pt 3 1 Thessalonians 5:12-25 Beginning to End … Pray like Jesus! God’s got a plan! He created us for His glory and pleasure! Sin separates us from God, but if we choose to receive the free gift of salvation from Jesus, He saves us from our sin and reconciles us to God. Then, we become citizens of heaven and we’re just passing through this life on earth! Our identity is "IN" Jesus and we become a follower of Him. So, God includes us in His plan. We’re an ambassador, warrior, servant or saint for Jesus! And, if we want to honor God, we’ll follow the instructions that Jesus gave us when God raised Him from the dead! The instructions are called the Great Commission and Jesus gave them to us right before He ascended into heaven to be seated at God’s right hand! It’s the basic outline for the life and work that Jesus expects all His followers to be doing until He returns or He calls us home. We know the instructions for life Jesus gave us are to LOVE – PRAY and BE THANKFUL for all things… GO – MAKE – and TEACH disciples… ASK – SEEK – and KNOCK on the doors of opportunity that God gives us to serve. These 9 action items are the way every follower of Jesus brings glory to God! Last week we started with the greatest command in God’s plan and the instructions from Jesus which is to love God and others unconditionally and sacrificially! It’s the entire foundation of God’s law! So, the 10 Commandments from God are based on God’s love! Now, the second part of God’s plan and the instructions from Jesus is to pray continually… and pray according to God’s will! Praying according to God’s will includes asking Him for wisdom, word and ways to get His kingdom work done, so we can all accomplish His will! Also, we pray for the faith to trust the will and way that God gives us to accomplish the work He has for us to get done! And, when we pray for wisdom, we have to trust that God is always gracious and willing to answer our prayers for His glory, which is always good for us! So, when the instruction is for sure from God, He’ll always give us the right thing to do at the right time. And it’s always right, no matter what the world says or what our own prior experiences tell us! So, how do we know for sure it’s from God? We pray and we discern! 1 Thessalonians 5:12-25 NIV – 12 Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in The Lord and who admonish you. 13 Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. 14 And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. 15 Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else. 16 Rejoice always, 17 Pray continually, 18 give Thanks in all circumstances … for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 19 Do not quench The Spirit. 20 Do not treat prophecies with contempt 21 but test them all; hold on to what is good, 22 reject every kind of evil. 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. 24 The One Who calls you is Faithful, and He will do it. 25 Brothers and Sisters … Pray for us! … Think about this… The Bible isn’t going to tell us what to do or what not to do that isn’t the right thing to do... or something that’s not the will of God! So, why wouldn’t we be working hard to do it? The best life practice is to pray continually, which means consistently and constantly! So, as for a follower of Jesus, we have to make prayer a way of life! We pray, learn and train how to be in a continual attitude of prayer from our heart! Not just a programmed activity or kneeling and reciting some form of pre-printed prayers! True followers of Jesus ought to recognize that our natural power is insufficient against the super natural forces of darkness. So, we’re okay being totally depended on the Holy Spirit of God to help us fight spiritual battels. It’s why we have to be in a constant attitude of prayer. Because everything in this life is prone to be impacted by the enemy in spiritual battle! The Good News is that prayerful followers of Jesus, who trust in the power of the Holy Spirit can have true joy and peace in the midst of spiritual battles and the struggles of life! The ultimate example of the right attitude we ought to strive for in prayer is the prayer of Jesus on the night before His crucifixion! He petitioned the Father for relief from the suffering, but He stayed faithful, loyal and obedient to endure it for God’s will and glory! Luke 22:42 NIV – 42 “Father, if You are Willing, take this Cup from Me; yet Not My Will, but Yours be done!” So, the urgent advice and encouragement from Paul to all believers is “pray continually”! It’s a mandate from God! The Greek word for prayer in the New Testament encompasses all the aspects of prayer: praise, submission, confession, intercession, petition and thanksgiving! The disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray the way He prayed… and He gave them a template or outline for how we should form prayer in our heart as we talk to God! We see the response Jesus gave the disciples in… Matthew 6:9-13 NIV – 9 “This, then, is how you should Pray … “‘Our Father in Heaven, Hallowed be Your Name, 10 Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done, on earth as It is in Heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. We know that Jesus perfectly practiced what He preached (100%). So, we need to follow His lead and gain the wisdom to pray like Jesus prays! The best way to do it is to look at the circumstances Jesus faced… listen to the words He spoke… and learn from His positive attitude! Pray Like Jesus 1) Follow His Example! Jesus was fully God and fully human! He had a physical body and a human mind. His human body and mind wasn’t somehow absorbed into Him being God… which means he experienced everything we do: pain, suffering, emotion, temptation – everything! So, Jesus was completely human! The Bible says, “He was as we are, but without sin!” As a human, Jesus exuded a positive attitude as a leader, teacher, friend and an authoritative miracle worker… but sometimes His soul was very sorrowful… … especially on the night before His crucifixion! We know it’s cold that night because the servants of the high priest had built a fire to huddle around. But Jesus is sweating profusely! And it’s not because He’s afraid to suffer horrific torture and be murdered. It’s because of the reason He’s being subjected to all this! The reason is because God’s creation… God’s people... haven’t loved God the way He’s loved them! They’ve egregiously sinned against God and separated themselves from Him! So, Jesus has not saved us from ourselves! The burden of His mission is putting “intense pressure” on His emotions… and the only way to be at peace with it is to pray! He cries out to God in prayer! God gives His answer… and Jesus carries on with the decision with confidence, courage and peace. It’s overwhelming to think about the weight of the responsibility on Jesus… the creator of the universe… and the physical suffering He’s about to endure… plus the sorrow He feels for people who dishonor God in such a disrespectful way. But He’s going to follow the will of God no matter what! So, yes, we need to prayerfully follow His perfect example! Then, 2) Listen to His Instruction! Jesus is reminding us that God always gives the right thing to do at the right time, no matter how difficult or wrong it might seem to us at the time. Jesus was in intense distress when he prayed for God to allow this responsibility to pass! But God had His reasons for not granting the request made by Jesus… and Jesus obeyed because He wasn’t relying on the prayer itself. Prayer is just the means of communication. Jesus was trusting God to answer His prayer according to God’s wisdom! Jesus is telling us that our faith doesn’t need to be in the fact we prayed. That makes it about us. Our faith and trust is in the Father who answers the prayers! Then, we’re to be obedient in taking the action God gives because God gives good things to those who ask Him. Then, 3) Learn from His Teaching! Jesus was the perfect person… and He’s the perfect God. So, we need to try our best to be the perfect student and learn from His perfect teaching! We’re going to look at 3 ways to learn from His teaching so we can pray like Jesus prays! I. Learn from The Person of Jesus (His Incarnation). Jesus isn’t a detached Savior! He’s involved! His willingness to identify with sinful man got Him in trouble with the religious leaders, but only because He is who He says He is… the eternal sovereign God in human flesh! He came in human flesh and lived among disease, death, blasphemers, poverty, sadness – all of it! He was a social and religious outcast among the religious elite! He faced everything bad that humans could face! He was exactly what He calls us to be… salt and light! He did real ministry among real people! We’ll never reach people with the truth if we refuse to understand what they’re faced with… and help them understand the supernatural forces they’re being manipulated by! Religion doesn’t save people… Jesus does! II. Learning from The Passion of Jesus. Jesus understands turmoil! When we’re under intense pressure… or overwhelmed with any kind of emotion… or there’s something we can’t get settled in our soul, we learn from and then lean on praying with the passion that Jesus prayed with in the garden! Jesus experienced everything He experienced and endured it because it was the Father’s will! Jesus is always with us, so we don’t have to endure the struggles, distress, suffering trials and temptations alone! We’ll always find relief when we look to Him! He may not deliver us from the storms or problems, but He’ll be right beside us through every bit of whatever it is! It’s because of His sufferings that we can have confidence, courage, certainty and faith! Prayer is how we rejoice through it all and it’s with Him! III. Learning from The Petition of Jesus. This might be the most important one because we learn that God doesn’t grant all requests… even from Jesus! When Jesus prayed to ask God if there was any other way, He encompassed His prayer in His affection for God… and inside the will of God! Jesus knew before He prayed and asked that “In God’s wisdom”… He doesn’t always give us what we ask for! And praise Jesus that He doesn’t because sometimes what we ask for isn’t the best thing for us! In God’s economy the things we think are “good” might actually turn out to be bad! And what we think might be bad could be an important part of God’s plan to train and equip us to be a better follower of Jesus! If we don’t take into consideration how faithfully Jesus prayed during His earthly ministry, then we won’t understand and fully benefit from the Biblical command to pray continually. The New Testament gives us all kinds of examples of the consistent prayer life of Jesus and here are… 7 Biblical Instructions for Praying like Jesus 1) Pray for The Things The Bible Commands us to Pray for! The Bible tells us to pray for our enemies, for missionaries, protection from temptation, for messengers of the Word, for government leaders, for relief from affliction and for the healing of fellow believers! So, where God commands prayer, we can be confident that we’re praying according to His will! 2) Learn from The Prayers of Godly Characters in Scripture! Paul prayed for the salvation of Israel! David prayed for mercy and forgiveness when he sinned! The early church prayed for boldness to witness! All of these prayers were according to the will of God, just like our prayers ought to be today! 3) Pray with The Right Motive! The Bible says selfish motives won’t be blessed by God! Also, we’re not supposed to pray just so people get to hear our religious words and see how spiritual we are! We’re mostly supposed to pray from our heart… according to God’s will. Then, we’ll be blessed! 4) Pray with a Spirit of Forgiveness Toward Others! The Bible says a spirit of bitterness, anger, revenge or hatred toward others doesn’t allow our hearts to pray in total submission to God! Just like we’re told not to give offerings to God to try and resolve a conflict with a fellow believer. God doesn’t want us offering prayer for petitions until we reconcile conflicts with our brothers and sisters in Christ! 5) Pray with Thanksgiving! We can always find something to be thankful for, no matter what or how bad we think things are in our life! We don’t have to like bad things, but we have to find a way to be thankful! It’s not easy, but it’s possible because all things are possible through Christ who strengthens us! 6) Pray with Persistence! Just like every good thing in life, we should persevere in prayer! Never quit or be depressed/dejected because we don’t get an immediate answer or the answer we want! Part of praying in God’s will is believing in God’s perfect timing. His answer is Yes – No – or wait! We’re going to accept His judgment, submit to His will and keep on praying! 7) Rely on The Holy Spirit of God in Prayer! The Bible says… when “We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will”! We have the Holy Spirit’s help in praying! So, at the times of our deepest depression or sorrow … and we feel like we just can’t pray… we have the promise of knowing that the Holy Spirit is actually praying for us! Man!! God is AMAZING!! God’s got stuff for us to do! So, we need to always be in an “attitude of prayer” from the heart. While we’re praying, we need to keep the belief, faith and trust that God’s working all things together for our good… no matter what our current circumstances happen to be! Romans 8:28 NIV – 28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who Love Him, who have been called according to His Purpose. So, if we really do want to accomplish God’s purposes… and we really want to pray like Jesus, then we’ll submit our will to God, The Father’s will, in every circumstance and situation, with the attitude of prayer that Jesus taught us when He said to God, “Not My will, but Yours!” How do we get the stuff done that God’s got for us to do? We start by loving God unconditionally, loving others sacrificially… and praying like Jesus continually! Next week we’ll talk about being thankful in “all things”! Let us pray…

Invincible Church Sermon Notes 2/18/2024 How to be a True Follower of Jesus pt 2 Romans 13:8-10 Beginning to End So last week we started this series talking about the first step in the process of being a true follower of Jesus is making the personal decision to receive the gift of eternal life in heaven by submitting to Jesus as Lord, Savior and King. It’s called salvation. Jesus said in… John 10:27-30 NIV - 27 My Sheep Listen to My Voice … I Know them … And they Follow Me! … 28 I Give them Eternal Life … And they Shall Never Perish … No One will Snatch them Out of My Hand! ... 29 My Father … Who has Given them to Me … Is Greater than All … No One Can Snatch them Out of My Father’s Hand! … 30 I and The Father Are One!” … So, there's a process that starts at our salvation in Jesus! Our eternity in heaven is 100% secure from this point forward because we’ve received the sacrificial gift Jesus gave when He shed His blood and died on the cross on our behalf. His acts of obedience and love for the Father paid the full price of our entire sin debt, which was death and separation from God. The Bible says in… Romans 6:23 NIV - 23 For the wages of sin is death, but The Gift of God is Eternal Life in Christ Jesus our Lord! Our identity in Jesus is established at the point of our salvation. Likewise, a person who never makes the decision to receive the gift of salvation through Jesus is separated from God. They basically concede to spend their eternity in hell. It’s the only other option for people who reject following Jesus. Once we decide to receive salvation, we’re immediately ready to start the sanctification process of following and serving Jesus on mission and in ministry! We should also publicly declare our love for Jesus and our decision to follow Him by following His example of baptism by emersion in water. At salvation we belong to Him. Now it’s time to go to work… and we ought to be excited about it because He paid the highest price that could ever be paid to get us! So, no matter what anybody else tries to tell us, we’re extremely valuable! And we’re locked and loaded with Holy Spirit power! Which means we’ve got the potential to become an elite high speed operator as an ambassador, warrior, servant or saint for the Kingdom of God! We’re covered on the outside by the blood of Jesus and filled on the inside with the Holy Spirit power of God! So, there’s no excuse! We have to stand up and fight for what’s good, right, holy and pure. We’re invincible against the weaker supernatural forces of evil and darkness. Sometimes it will be fun. Most times it will be a battle, but there’s always going to be sacrifice! Matthew 10:38-39 NIV - 38 Whoever does Not Take Up their Cross and Follow Me is Not Worthy of Me! ... 39 Whoever Finds their Life will Lose It … And whoever Loses their Life for My Sake will Find It! If we love Jesus, then we’re going to follow Him… and the way we follow Him is to follow His instructions. We know that His instructions are to love, pray, and be thankful for all things...go, make and teach disciples… ask, seek and knock on the doors of opportunity that God gives us to serve. Today we’re going to cover all that. So, for a follower of Jesus, Love isn’t just a once a year kind of thing! It’s a daily process of self-sacrifice. And the only way to fulfill the Law of God is to learn how to love God the way He loves us… and love others the way we love ourselves. In other words, loving the way God loves is the only way to fulfill the law of God! Romans 13:8-10 NIV - 8 Let No Debt Remain Outstanding … Except The Continuing Debt to Love One Another … For whoever Loves Others has Fulfilled The Law! … 9 The Commandments :> - “You Shall Not Commit Adultery!” - “You Shall Not Murder!” - “You Shall Not Steal!” - “You Shall Not Covet!”- and Whatever Other Command there may Be … Are “Summed Up” in this One Command … “Love your Neighbor as yourself!” 10 Love does No harm to a Neighbor! ... Therefore Love is The Fulfillment of The Law! … In this passage Paul is saying that at our salvation, Jesus changes our sin debt into love debt. He gives us 4 of the 10 commandments as examples. The 7th, 6th, 8th and 10th! But we know that all 10 apply to the principle of love debt because he says in (vs 9) and “Whatever other command there may be.” So, God’s law is summed up in one statement! “Love your neighbor as yourself!” The key to obeying the law is love! If we love, then we’re going to obey the law. It’s just that simple! To declare, “You shall not commit adultery!” is a moot point if we truly love somebody! People never come to me for counsel and say, “I committed adultery because I love my spouse too much!” No… the problem is they committed adultery because they don’t love “Jesus and their spouse” enough! Unconditional/sacrificial love doesn’t defile the covenant of marriage! True love doesn’t steal purity or rob holiness. That’s what lust and selfishness does. People don’t commit adultery and fornication when the love others too much. They can’t control their lust, so they do things like that because they don’t love God and others enough. Same thing goes for murder. If we really love somebody, we don’t have to be reminded not to murder them. And if we really love people the way Jesus does, then it’s a moot point to say, “You shall not steal!”… because we’re not going to take things that don’t belong to us and… If we really love God and others, were not going to covet the things other people have. So, love doesn’t replace the law… love fulfills the law. In other words, love gives us the bottom line goal for understanding how the entire plan and law of God can be fulfilled. Paul’s telling us that God’s not just after our outward obedience. The pharisees all bragged about never committing adultery, murder, stealing or coveting. But they were full of it in their hearts! They hated Gentiles so much that they had murderous thoughts about them. And they coveted things they didn’t have! They’d justify stealing things in their minds by creating false narratives against other people just like they did with Jesus. So, they were committing adultery against God in their hearts and minds. Sound familiar? Think about it… We’ve got all kinds of laws with legal definitions, but people are continually scheming ways to skirt the law so they don’t have to fulfill the true intent of it. The Bible says, God’s intent for us is to love others sacrificially and unconditionally so we don’t want to commit sin against them. The motivation for a lot of people to obey the law is trying to meet some kind of religious expectation or obligation. Other people are just afraid of getting caught and being punished. Now, the fear of getting caught works sometimes, but it’s not complete. Some people just obey God’s law out of self-interest. They feel like if they live a moral life, then God will have to reward them for it! That’s not a pure motive. It’s selfishness… and then the thought of God’s wrath does keep some people from doing evil things… All of these reasons might keep people from doing bad things. And maybe even motivate some of them to do good things but all of it is incomplete if they don’t love God unconditionally and love others sacrificially because they’re not fully obeying God’s law. If we really want to honor God, then we’ll want to keep His commands out of love for Jesus! Not because we feel like we have to. We just really want to! God’s intention for the law is to help us develop true love in our heart. It’s the way God designed His law to be fulfilled inside His plan. So, the foundational principle of God’s plan is unconditional/sacrificial love. To help us understand it, we’re going to look at how the 10 commandments are all about the Law of Love. The first four relate to the love for God. The other six relate to our relationship with each other. The 10 commandments are in Exodus 20: 3-17. And I’m not going to read them all right now because we’re going to go through them individually. So, we can expand on how God has imbedded… 1) Love is Loyal – (vs 3) … 3 “You Shall have No Other gods Before Me!” Loyalty to Jesus is a perfect description of love! Love is true. It’s single-minded. It’s not fickle. True love for God means there’s no higher love for some other deity or some other worldly pursuit. If we really love God, we’ll be faithful to Jesus and loyal to God! 2) Love is Faithful – (vs 4-6) … 4 “You Shall Not make for yourself an Image In The Form of Anything in Heaven Above … Or on The Earth Beneath … Or in The Waters Below! ... 5 You Shall Not Bow Down to them … Or Worship them … For ~I~ … The Lord your God … Am a Jealous God … Punishing The children for The Sin of The Parents to The Third and Fourth Generation of those who Hate Me … 6 But Showing Love to a Thousand Generations of those who Love Me … And Keep My Commandments! True love keeps it’s promise! It’s devoted to and trusts it’s objective. True love is obedient. And where it applies, love is devoted to its subjects… and the most important thing is “faith and trust” in Jesus takes love to a whole other dimension. 3) Love is Reverent – (vs 7) … 7 “You Shall Not Misuse The Name of The Lord your God … For The Lord will Not Hold anyone Guiltless who Misuses His Name! If we love God, we won’t curse His name. If we truly love God, we won’t use His name as a “cuss word”! It’s just disrespectful! For us to love God in the manner He deserves, we have to love Him in a deeply respectful way! It’s also the way we demonstrate the true love of God to others! 4) Love is Holy – (vs 8-11) … 8 “Remember The Sabbath Day by Keeping It Holy! ... 9 Six Days you Shall Labor and Do All your Work … 10 But The Seventh Day is a Sabbath to The Lord your God! ... On It you Shall Not Do Any Work … Neither you … Nor your Son or Daughter … Nor your Male or Female Servant … Nor your Animals … Nor Any Foreigner Residing in your Towns! ... 11 For in Six Days The Lord made The Heavens and The Earth … The Sea … And All that is In Them … But He Rested on The Seventh Day! ... Therefore The Lord Blessed The Sabbath Day … And made It Holy! True love sets apart a time for pure, uncompromised, devoted, undefiled worship! Love recognizes the place of God! If we say we love God, we’re going to worship, serve and honor Him! We’re going to be faithful to Him, His commandments and His entire Word! So, the first four commandments sum up what Jesus told the Pharisees in Matthew 22… that the greatest commandment is to, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength! If people would love God this way, it would fulfill all the law. It’s just that simple! It’s part of our job to show them and teach them how. Now, the next six commandments are the ones that speak about love toward others. And the four commandments that Paul refers to back in our primary passage for today are part of these six! Paul didn’t use #5 in the passage, but it tells us that… 5) Love is Respectful – (vs 12) … 12 “Honor your Father and your Mother … So That you May Live Long in The Land The Lord your God is Giving you! So, true love yields to authority. It respects those who are worthy of respect… whether it’s in title, office, position or action. If we love our “Mother and Father,” we’re going to honor them. Honor is a deep reverential respect! So, true love is respectful. 6) Love is Protective – (vs 13) … 13 “You Shall Not Murder! God gives life… and makes everyone in His image. So, true love believes every life is sacred! True love doesn’t abort, slaughter or commit genocide against human life. God’s design for love is to protect. 7) Love is Pure – (vs 14) … 14 “You Shall Not Commit Adultery! True love doesn’t defile other people! God’s love glorifies all that is holy, pure, good and virtuous! God’s love honors, trusts and endures covenants and promises! 😎 Love is Unselfish – (vs 15) … 15 “You Shall Not Steal! True love doesn’t take what belongs to somebody else! God’s love is all about being humble… and willing to give people things they don’t have… not taking things that don’t belong to us. 9) Love is Truthful – (vs 16) … 16 “You Shall Not Give False Testimony against your Neighbor! True love doesn’t spin up false narratives about other people for purposes of gaining power and control. God’s love doesn’t lie about people to tear them down. People who bear false witness and give false testimony about others are going to answer to God one day and it’s going to be extremely bad for them! 10) Love is Content – (vs 17) … 17 “You Shall Not Covet your Neighbor’s House! ... You Shall Not Covet your Neighbor’s Wife … Or his Male or Female Servant … His Ox or Donkey … Or Anything that Belongs to your Neighbor!” True love is thankful and satisfied in all circumstances and situations. We have to learn to be content when we have very little or a whole lot! Whether things in our life are good… or bad. We’re not supposed to be jealous of what other people have. The point to all this is true love fulfills the entirety of God’s law. So, numbers 5 through 10 fulfill the second part of the greatest commandment that Jesus quoted to, “Love your neighbor as yourself!” In other words, what Paul is saying is love sums up and fulfills the entire Law of God! So, the entire law of God in the 10 Commandments is summed up in two things… “Love God… Love Others!” That’s it! That’s the fullness of the law! It’s all right there in those two simple things! People say, but the Bible’s so thick, complicated and hard to understand. So, how are we supposed to know all the rules, instructions, commands and principles? Let alone abide by them! It’s very simple… love God… love others… then just do what’s right! Then people say, “You’ve got to be kidding me!” Nope… that’s exactly what it means! “Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength… love your neighbor as yourself.” If you can live with that mindset and in those conditions, what we want will be exactly what God wants! It’s how God’s law is fulfilled! Love people unconditionally and sacrificially. And loving ourselves isn’t talking about some kind of psychological “self-love”! It’s not saying we need to learn how to have a healthy self-image. He’s just saying that we tend to take care of ourselves “more and better” than we take care of anybody else! So, we should be as concerned about the comfort, happiness, peace and joy of others as we are about our own! It’s what the Bible is talking about when it says Jesus didn’t come to abolish the law or the prophets but to fulfill them! As His followers, we’re supposed to fulfill God’s law as well, but it has to come from a heart of love inside us… and that only comes when we trust in the work of Jesus Christ at the cross! Jesus fulfilled God’s law obediently, perfectly and prophetically, which is also the perfect expression of God’s love! Every way Jesus was called to fulfill God’s plan, He fulfilled it with perfect love! So, we’re called to love and if we love we fulfill God’s law! John 13:34-35 NIV - 34 “A New Command I Give you … Love One Another! ... As I have Loved you … So you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.” So, I want to read a paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 13 that John MacArthur got from a mission group in South Africa! And it clearly explains how a true follower of Jesus is to think about the “Love of God and others”! Paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 13 from a Message by John MacArthur “If I know their language perfectly and speak like a native, But don’t have God’s Love for them, I’m nothing. If I have diplomas and degrees and know all the up-to-date methods and technology, But don’t have The Mercy of God’s understanding Love, I’m nothing. If I am able to argue successfully against the false religions of the people and make fools of them, But don’t have God’s Compassionate Love, I am nothing. If I have :> - strong faith - great ideals - and magnificent plans, But don’t have The Love of Jesus that :> - sweats - bleeds - weeps – prays - and pleads, I’m nothing. If I give my clothes and money to them, But don’t explain The Unconditional Love God has for them, I’m nothing. If I give up all my plans for worldly wealth, leave my home and friends, make the sacrifices of a missionary career, But turn sour and selfish because of the daily annoyances and slights that the world throws at a follower of Jesus, And don’t have God’s Love that requires me to give up my :> - rights – leisure - and preferred plans, I am nothing. My Virtue will have ceased to exist. If I can heal all kinds of sickness and disease in an attempt to show that God’s Love is kind, But in the process I wound hearts and hurt feelings, I am nothing. If I write articles or publish books that win applause … But fail to Deliver The Truth of God’s Word and The Gospel of Jesus Christ with The Language of God’s Love, I am nothing.” We owe a “debt of love” to Jesus and the only way we can repay Him is to love God and others the way He does! It’s possible because we have a new capacity. We’ve been given a new command, and the new command is that we love sacrificially and unconditionally! God’s design is for us to fulfill His law! But His intention isn’t that we fulfill it through obligation, it’s that we fulfill it through the love Jesus provides us at salvation and then the sanctification we build the kingdom work we do through the Holy Spirit of God! If there’s anything that marks a true follower of Jesus, it’s the expression of God’s sacrificially and unconditionally love from Him… through us… to the world! And the world is watching us … and so is Jesus! It’s why it’s so important that our love of God and others aligns with Jesus in both the little things and the big things! It’s how God’s law is fulfilled through us… and our part of God’s plan is complete! We can be 100% confident that we have the ability to get it done because the Bible says… Romans 8:38-39 NIV - 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from The Love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord! We know that the greatest example of love is our Lord Jesus Christ Himself! His love is the model… and His love is fully unconditional and sacrificial. He even gave Himself for those people who refuse “the gift”!

Church Sermon Notes 2/4/2024 God’s Promises 1 Timothy 4:4-11 God has a plan and the components of His plan include His creation, truth, power, presence, revelation, words, will, ways and promises! His plan also includes us! He allows us to know, experience and encounter Him at a very high level, if we choose to do so! He created us in His image and He’s given us the freedom to choose to love Him or not… because it’s the only way to prove true love is authentic and unconditional. If we really love Him, then we’ll want to do what He says. Not to “have to” but “get to” a.k.a. want to. 1 Timothy 4:4-11 NIV - 4 For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5 because it is consecrated by The Word of God and Prayer. 6 If you point these things out to The brothers and sisters, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished on The Truths of The Faith and of The Good Teaching that you have followed. 7 Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be Godly. 8 For physical training is of some value, but Godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and The Life to come. 9 This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance. 10 That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in The Living God, Who is The Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe. 11 Command and teach these things! … (vs 11) Tells us we’ve all got a responsibility to command and teach the truth! God created us with a very powerful brain so that we’d have the ability to do anything and everything He’s called, commanded and designed us to do for Him! So, we should want to serve our King Jesus in the role of ambassador, warrior, servant, saint or all the above! And as a follower of Jesus, God’s plan includes everything we need physically, spiritually and emotionally to be successful in life for His purposes and for victory in spiritual battles for His glory! The tools and weapons He provides for us include His: word, will and ways! Another reason God gave us a powerful brain is so we can experience and encounter Him. And, if all that isn’t enough for us to want to love and serve Him with 100% loyalty, confidence, courage and obedience, “God’s promises” for us are also included in His plan. Neuroscientists (experts who study the brain and nervous system) have somehow determined that the average person has between 6,000 and 80,000 thoughts per day! That’s a wide range of thoughts! And even though it’s hard to trust what experts say these days… We’d all agree that our minds do a lot of work! We’ve got a lot of thoughts! Now, as a follower of Jesus, we’re supposed to stay focused on Him. So, the question is, how many of our daily, hourly, by the minute thoughts are grounded and based on God’s promises!?! We’ve already determined God’s plan included us… (vs 4) He created us to have a physical life here on earth. Then, Jesus spiritually equips us with the power of the Holy Spirit… and God also gives us a means of emotional support through our relationships with other brothers and sisters in Christ. Inside God’s plan and design for our life are a lot of different relationships and purposes He has for us. One of the most important purposes we have in life is to fight spiritual battles waged against us by the supernatural enemies of God. We want to be as successful and productive as possible in winning a lot of victories for Jesus and advancing God’s Kingdom. So, we have to stay true to the process of following Jesus and always be discerning our spiritual condition with God as an individual, family, church, community and nation! All of this seems like a lot of stuff to be getting done and a lot of responsibility …and it is! But if we’re following Jesus, He’s with us every step of the way. And the power of the Holy Spirit is inside us, waiting for us to call on Him whenever we need Him! So, we don’t have to be overwhelmed or worried about the scope of God’s plan. The secret to success is the better we get to know God, the easier it gets for us to follow and fulfill His plan. Some people don’t care about God’s plan, which means they’re rejecting Jesus! Some are just oblivious to it! Others are aware of it… and may even try to follow it. But it still overwhelms them. So, they only get involved at a bare minimum… they never submit to Jesus! It’s a shame because they’ll never fully experience the true peace, joy and fulfillment that God desires and designs for us in His plan when we submit to Jesus as our Lord and Savior! God doesn’t want us to be overwhelmed and uncertain… He wants us to be encouraged and confident! So, He’s made us a bunch of promises that we can trust with 100% certainty He’ll be faithful to keep! That’s why it’s super important for us to know, believe and trust in all of God’s promises! The Bible gives us more than 3,000 of God’s promises! And, like I said, we can bank on all of them with 100% confidence! God’s promises include… 1. God has a Good Plan for us … to Bless us … and Make us a Blessing to Others! 2. God will Give us Rest! 3. God will Give us Strength Equal to The Task He Assigns us! 4. God will Provide our “Daily Bread”! 5. Nothing will Separate us from God’s Love! 6. He Bears our Burdens … and He Fights for us. 7. He Delights to Give us Access to The Kingdom! 8. The Holy Spirit Prays Things that we Don’t Know to Pray for ourselves! 9. He will Never Leave us or Forsake us! 10. He will Supply All our Needs According to His Riches in Christ Jesus! That’s only 10. So, there’s 2,990 more to go and we’re going to cover all of them today! (Not really!) But we’re going to look at a few more! And for a homework assignment that will benefit us if we’ll do it… find the Bible address of the 10 promises we just covered! Then, in the rest of the message I’m going to give some addresses, but not always the complete verse. So, look up these verses as well! Now, think about it, even if those were the only 10 promises from God, we ought to feel pretty good about his plan for us! No wonder King David said in… Psalm 139:17-18 NIV - 17How precious to me are Your Thoughts, God! How vast is The Sum of Them! 18 Were I to count Them, They would outnumber the grains of sand … When I awake, I am still with You! So, if we truly believe God, have faith in Jesus, and trust in the Holy Spirit… why is it that when we’re faced with a problem or an ongoing bad situation, we dedicate the bulk of our thoughts to the problem and give very little (if any) thought to the promises of God? The answer is that we give in to our selfish, human, sin nature instead of pursuing Jesus with everything we’ve got to find out what God wants us to learn from the situation. God has promised to deliver us, but it only benefits us if we’ve learned the lesson. So, God will leave us in the equipping classroom until we’re either fully broken, submitted and humbled to His plan or truly content in our heart with our situation no matter what it happens to be! And He knows the difference! We don’t get a free pass on the lessons of life. Jesus said it would be hard. We “get to” suffer with Him. But God promises a peace that goes beyond our understanding when we pursue Jesus with all our heart! And He’s always faithful! And it’s real! Somebody testify! Our confidence, security and joy in life will be in direct proportion to our awareness of the promises of God! It’s why we need to read, learn, understand, meditate on, memorize, believe and trust in God’s promises! Moses said it best in… Deuteronomy 32:47 NIV - 47 They are not just Idle Words for you … They are your life! … By Them you will live long in the land you are crossing The Jordan to possess.” God’s promises are kind of like pre-answers to our prayers. So, we need to trust in them… because standing on the promises of God not only gives us peace in our soul. It also connects us to the power that God’s ready to give. Again, it’s why we need to hide the promises of God’s Word in our heart by reading, studying, meditating on and basically saturating ourselves in them. And whatever we do, we don’t lose heart and give up! Jesus never does and He’s right here now… listening! There’s a whole lot of God promises in scripture and when God pledges that He’s going to do something… or not do something… or something will come to pass … or not come to pass. These aren’t just casual promises like we make sometimes. God’s promises are rock solid, unequivocal, faithful commitments that are made by Him to be fulfilled by or through Him. So, as the recipients of His divine promises we can have full assurance that what God has pledged will indeed be fully realized in His perfect timing. Good or bad. The Bible says in… Numbers 23:19 NIV - 19 God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that He should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? Now, let’s look at just a few more of the promises that God has made… Promises of God in the Old Testament! Genesis 12:2-3 … God promised to bless the whole world through Abraham and his descendants. It’s called the Abrahamic covenant… and pointed to the coming of the Messiah (Jesus)! It correlates with John 8:56 in the New Testament. Leviticus 26:12-13 … God promised Israel He’d be their God and makes them His people. Old Testament history is full of examples of God fulfilling this promise. Deuteronomy 4:29 … God promised that if we seek Him, we’ll find Him! God’s not playing hard to get. Deuteronomy 4:7 says, “Our God is near us whenever we pray to Him!” Psalm 121 … God promised protection for His children! He’s the vigilant watchman over all Israel! 1 Chronicles 16:34 … God promised that His love will never fail. He’s faithful in every way! 2 Chronicles 7:14 … God promised Israel that their sin could be forgiven, their prosperity restored and their nation healed! Repentance opened the door to fellowship and blessing! Deuteronomy 30:15-18 … God promised prosperity to Israel under the terms of Mosaic covenant for obedience… and destruction for disobedience! Unfortunately, Israel eventually chose to disobey and the nation was taken captive and destroyed by Assyria and Babylon! Psalm 1:1-3 … God promised blessing for all who will delight themselves in His Word. Simple faith has its rewards! Promises of God in the New Testament! Romans 1:16-17 … God promised salvation to all who believe in His Son! There’s no greater blessing than the free gift of God’s salvation! Romans 8:28 … God promised that all things will work out to the good for His children who love Him. This is the bigger picture that keeps us from being discouraged by bad circumstances! 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 … God promised comfort in our trials. Remember, He has a plan and one day we’ll be able to share the comfort that Jesus is preparing in heaven for those who follow Him! 2 Corinthians 5:17 … God promised new life in salvation through Jesus! It’s the beginning of a brand new existence! Ephesians 1:3 … God promised every spiritual blessing in Jesus! Whereas in the Old Testament, Israel had the promise of physical blessing! The church today has been promised spiritual blessing. 1 Peter 1:4 says our inheritance is reserved for us in the heavenly realms! Philippians 1:6 … God promised to finish the work He started in us. God doesn’t do things half way. He started the work in us and He’ll be sure to complete it! Philippians 4:6-7 … God promised peace when we pray! His peace is protection! It will guard our hearts and minds in Jesus! Matthew 6:33 and Philippians 4:19 … God promised to supply our needs! Not that we get everything we want, but our needs will be taken care of! Matthew 6:26 says, “We are more valuable than the birds… and our heavenly Father feeds them! Jesus’ promises in the Gospels! Matthew 11:28-30 … Jesus promised us rest! Our burdens are lifted at Calvary! John 10:10 … Jesus promised abundant life to those who follow Him. Following Jesus brings us more spiritual fulfillment than we could have ever anticipated. There’s nothing boring about it! John 4:14 … Jesus promised eternal life to those who trust Him! As the Good Shepherd, He also promised to hold us securely! John 10:28 says, “No one will snatch them out of my hand!” Acts 1:8 … Jesus promised His disciples power from on high! In His power, Acts 17:6 says, “They turned the world upside down!” John 14:2-3 … Jesus promised that He’ll come back for us… then we’ll always be with Him! There’s a whole lot more of God’s promises we could list! All of them have their ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Christ! Hebrews 1:3 says, “Jesus is the radiance of God’s glory,” and 2 Corinthians 1:20 says, “No matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ! Trying to choose the greatest promises in the Bible is completely subjective. The greatest promise of God in the Bible for any particular person is going to depend on the needs and feelings of that individual at a given time. But we’re going to look at the promises of God that would probably be high on the list for most people. Sometimes the promises in the Bible are taken out of context… and people end up thinking the Bible says something it doesn’t really say. For instance, does the Bible tech that we can have everything we want in prayer? No, John 14: 13-14 must be kept in context. Does God promise every individual alive a hope and a future? No, Jeremiah 29:11 must be kept in context. Some of God’s promises in the Bible have great scope and impact. The first promise that God gave Adam and Eve was very great indeed. Genesis 2:16-17, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” This promise Satan flatly denied, and in unbelief Adam and Eve ate from the fruit, and sin and death entered the world. All of us, being descended from Adam and Eve ratify their decision to disobey God, and so that promise applies to us as well in Romans 5:12! This is probably the most terrible promise in the Bible, and it is the greatest in scope—it applies to literally everyone! … But … God did not leave humanity under condemnation with no way out. He entered the human race as a man (Jesus Christ), lived a perfect life, and died, taking the death we deserved. He then rose again. When a person is united with Christ in faith, another promise applies. This promise is repeated over and over in places such as … Romans 8:1-4 NIV - Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus The Law of The Spirit Who gives Life has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His Own Son in The Likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that The Righteous Requirement of The Law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to The Spirit. By any standard, the promise of salvation by grace through faith is the greatest promise in the Bible. Once a person submits to Jesus and becomes a child of God by faith, the other promises come into proper context. A lot of the promises that people pull out of context really only apply to the child of God. The person who is not in Jesus is still under the deadly promise of punishment and that’s the promise that a lost person needs to hear and understand. It is misleading for a follower of Jesus to apply the promises of God to somebody who’s not saved in Jesus! The two most important promises to know and heed are summed up in… Romans 6:23 NIV - For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Which leads us to what most followers of Jesus would consider God’s greatest promise. John 3:16 NIV – For God so loved the world that He gave His One and Only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have Eternal Life. The day is coming when we will experience answers to every prayer we’ve ever prayed in faith. Whatever we’re going through, I can assure you, God is listening. So don’t give up.

Invincible Church Sermon Notes 1/28/2024 God’s Plan: Purpose / Life / Battle / Victory Romans 12:1-2 We’re living in a season of extreme instability and distrust right now. The world has never seen anything like the unmitigated evil that’s all around us! But the reality is there’s nothing new under the sun! It’s just that the scope and levels of it are mind blowing! Because there’s never a break from it! The internet and social media gives us instant access to every single perversion, crime and evil act out there. But still we shouldn’t be afraid of it or stressed out about it. We’ve got to keep fighting it because… …we’re God’s people and God’s got a plan for us! So, we ought to be responding with courage and confidence! If we’ll remind ourselves every day that our only purpose in life is to bring God glory and pleasure by faithfully following Jesus… period… and if we’ll do what Jesus says, then there’s nothing to fear or fret about! Paul tells us how and why in… Romans 12:1-2 NIV - Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, Holy and Pleasing to God … this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by The Renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is … His Good, Pleasing and Perfect Will. Followers of Jesus know that tests and trials are part of God’s plan, which means we know that our stability and provision doesn’t come from the government, a political party or an elected leader! Our identity is in Jesus, so our stability and provision comes from Him! We know Jesus is our Savior from sin… and the Bible also says He’s the Lord of everything we need for life and Godliness. He made all of it available to us through His sacrifice on the cross! So, we need to stop, look, listen and hear what Jesus has been saying to us all along, which is… God’s given us a plan of action that we “get to do” for everything we’ll ever face in this life! So, we have to be discerning, understanding and prepared for what God’s doing in the world right now… and how He’s going to work in and through us in the process for all of it! We have to guard against becoming complacent in the process of following Jesus because of worldly influence! We have to be great listeners and overcomers! Our prayers are the key to success and the instructions Jesus gave ought to be the foundation of our prayers! We have to remember the root cause of most all problems are spiritual in nature, so public heath officials, politicians and economists don’t have the answers, which means our prayers are essential and critical in fighting the spiritual battles of this world! The church has to respond in humble obedience to God’s action plan if there’s ever going to be peace, safety and prosperity! But no matter what happens or what the initial outcome is, we have to keep fighting and keep a positive attitude because the Bible tells us in… 1 Thessalonians 5:17 NIV - 16 Rejoice always … So, for us to be in the best spiritual condition for getting our part of God’s plan done, we have to stay positive, always praise Jesus and be joyful… no matter what’s happening around us! It’s not easy, but we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us! There’s no excuses so stop making them because the foundation of God’s action plan for us is really simple… LOVE – PRAY – THANK – GO – MAKE – TEACH – ASK – SEEK and KNOCK! Now here we go again… more reps… because we need to LEARN them – MEMORIZE them – and LIVE them out! It’s the plan Jesus spells out for us in the Bible which brings glory and pleasure to God! There’s the preparation for bringing God glory and pleasure… 1) LOVE Matthew 22:37-39 - 37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ To love the way God tells us to love will always conquer evil! Also, note that the Greek word for neighbor includes family, friends, strangers, enemies. The entire Bible expands on it all through the New Testament. It’s an agape love for all of God’s creation! 2) PRAY 1 Thessalonians 5:17 – Pray continually! This part of the instructions can’t be any more plain and clear than that! 3) THANK 1 Thessalonians 5:18 - 18 give Thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. We have to find a way to give thanks in “all circumstances” … not just the circumstances we like or we feel good about! God’s will for all believers always starts with these 3 actions: loving God and others with joy – praying continually – and always giving thanks, regardless of our circumstances! Then, there’s the implementation for bringing God glory and pleasure… 1) GO Matthew 28:18-19 - 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit … Every day… everywhere we “go”… in all of our circles of influence… we’re on a mission from God to deliver the truth! 2) MAKE Matthew 28: 18-19 - 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit … We’re supposed to use our gifts, experience and resources to equip, produce and prepare other followers of Jesus to do “His work” as obedient disciples! 3) TEACH Matthew 28:20 - 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” We’re also supposed to use our knowledge, wisdom and experience to teach them the truth of God’s principles, promises and patterns from the Bible! Obedient followers of Jesus who intentionally live by the guidance of the Holy Spirit will have a positive influence on the world for all that is good! Then, there’s the strategy for brining God glory and pleasure… 1) ASK Luke 11:9-10 - 9 “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. We ought to continually be petitioning God for clarity in all things He wants us to give, receive, speak and do for Him and others! 2) SEEK Luke 11:9-10 - 9 “So I say to you … Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. When we diligently and intentionally seek to know God better, God is faithful to give us opportunities to serve Him! Our responsibility in the process is to pursue Jesus in obedience, then the opportunities are going to happen! 3) KNOCK Luke 11:9-10 - 9 “So I say to you … Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Once the opportunity is available… and we discern and confirm it’s from God, we have to take action to get the process started! Knocking is taking the first step in initiating what God wants done! Then, the power of the Holy Spirit inside us empowers and guides us to reflect the glory of God to a lost and dying world! It’s a spiritual battle that God wants us to fight for Him! So, not only has He given us access to His power through the Holy Spirit, He’s also given us all the tools and weapons we need in the battle to bring God glory and pleasure. 1) GOD’s WORD 2 Timothy 3:16-17 - 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2) GOD’s WILL 1 Peter 4:2 – 2 As a result, they do not live the rest of their earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for The Will of God. 3) GOD’s WAY James 1:2-4 - 2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your Faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If we’ll follow God’s plan, then we’ll never, ever, never, ever have to worry about what the enemy is going to do! Now, we certainly need to be aware of the enemy, but we don’t have to worry about him! We have to stop focusing on and worrying about what others aren’t doing for God… and stay focused on getting to know God better and doing more of what we can do for God! The Bible tells us that Satan’s never going to stop the lies and deception! It’s his strategy! Jesus warned us… we’ll be attacked and the enemy will get more clever with it. So, we have to be prepared to fight the good fight! And if we want to fight effectively, we have to be keenly aware of what we’re up against from the enemy… this time… and every time! Basically, spiritual attacks have been happening since the Garden of Eden. Every attack proves that our struggle isn’t against humans (flesh and blood)… but against rulers, authorities, supernatural powers of darkness and evil spiritual forces in the heavenly realm! The enemy’s battle strategy has always been to create temptation, anxiety, distrust and fear! A lot of times, the deception is done by generating false evidence that’s made to appear real. And with every step of Satan’s plan, the false evidence is presented to be true! But if we’re faithful to God’s plan, the truth will always will out over time! The enemy’s plan is to try and gain power and control over people’s decisions. Most importantly, he wants to confuse people about who they’ll decide to truth for eternal salvation and where they’ll go to pursue their spiritual conviction… which includes the church! This causes fear in a lot of people and urgency in others… or a feeling of some kind of required mandate in others! False religions demand that people go through ceremonies, rituals, traditions or customs to “get right” with God, which is all a lie from hell! So, it’s past time to put down our idols of comfort and convenience and follow God’s plan, which Jesus said is to pick up our cross daily and follow Him, making whatever sacrifice we have to make along the way! God’s given us a process and strategy for His action plan so that we’ll be fully equipped to fight the good fight as well! We’ve got to take all 9 of the action words from Jesus, apply them to our life and then get to work living what we believe! We have to be strong in the Lord. We have to put on the whole armor of God, trusting in His undeniable and undefeatable power so we can stand firm against the devil’s strategies because it’s foolish to rely on our own weak and worldly ways! Evil is here! In boldness, forms and fashions like we’ve never seen before! It’s easy to discern what’s been happening! We’ve been bombarded with a relentless wave of lies and deception! The world is pretty much in total chaos! We’ve got a few leaders with sound moral values, but evil is so rampant in every shape, form and fashion. The only way we can defeat it is with God’s action plan, based on Biblical truths and principles, working in unison with the power of the Holy Spirit! How we respond to God’s action plan going forward is critical! We’ve got to develop better habits and patterns! And if the government, economy, border, health and security finally stabilize, we can’t just go back to our old way of life and habits… … because there’s a message of truth and discipline that God has intended for us to realize and learn in all this! We have to make the most of this season of training God’s has us in! Not just say we’re able to endure it… we can’t to be able to fight better with the training and equipping! So, let’s be determined to be good leaders! Our old routines aren’t going to work for getting the new assignments done. God’s prepared us by giving us the opportunity to go through a season where we had to pray and believe like never before! We need to realize that the enemies’ original plan for this was to be devastatingly deadly… to generate the most fear and distrust in God as possible and try to force others to rely on government! But God is faithful to his plan, promise and principle (as always) and He responds to the prayers of His people in only the way God can! Only God knows how much worse this could be if He doesn’t intervene! He’s always been with us through it all.. and He always will be! As His people, we need to be thankful for that… no matter how it impacts us because we know what a lot of people don’t know… Those who aren’t His people will answer for it on judgement day! It’s easy to see who rejects Jesus… especially now! We need to love them enough to pray for them and keep speaking the truth to them as well! It’s part of God’s action plan for us! Pagan leaders may say that “Prayer didn’t do it… God didn’t do it… We did it”! But those are evil and wicked people who reject Jesus and are going to answer for it one day! They don’t even realize how much prayer they need… and they don’t care! That shows us the only way to untangle all this intentional/evil web of lies, deception, manipulation, suppression and oppression is through the power of the Holy Spirit! We have to live the truth and respond with God’s wisdom, courage, confidence and boldness! We are the ambassadors and warriors for the lion of the tribe of Judah! It’s time to go beyond speaking God’s truth to start roaring it! It’s the only way to put a stop to the confusion, fear, hatred and distrust among the people! So, we need to be extremely thankful that He’s trusting us by putting us here for just such a time as this! It’s an honor and privilege that we “get to” do this for Him! When God surveyed the span of all time and all possibilities and all the critical turning points, He chose us! God looked at this season of attack from the enemy with all the manipulation, dishonesty, confusion and hate… and God called our name to be used by Him to stand and pray and speak the truth of the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! We won’t be silenced and we won’t be stopped! Not because of us, but all because of Him and His power! We’ll pray until we see the name of Jesus exalted… and His glory fills the earth! We’ve got an assignment! God’s still calling us to live in truth and righteousness! Followers of Jesus are gaining momentum around the world through prayer and truth! A lot of believers are realigning their priorities to get in sync with God’s will and waking up to the magnitude of the mission that God’s given us! We’re in a battle and it has nothing to do with the military, economy or politics! It’s all rooted in the spiritual realm! We have to maintain constant spiritual awareness now… our prayer and humble submission to God are the only weapons that will make a difference! God is aware of all who stand on his behalf and we’re extremely valuable to Him. Jesus proved that at the cross! The church that is aware, awake and involved is more essential now than it’s ever been! Our nation’s heritage, founded on a Christian worldview, and the constitution that was written to protect our right to worship God are systematically being dismantled! The best news is God’s still in control and He’s purifying His people! We want to make sure that we respond to Him with humility and determination! And if we’ll faithfully repent and pray, we’ll keep seeing the grace, mercy and deliverance of our God! We won’t stop! God’s given us an action play! When the church (God’s people) step up and put it into practice, it always works! And it always has! But we have to learn to use the weapons God’s given us for warfare and stand strong against the devil’s schemes! Our nation and the world needs spiritual change, not political alignment! We can’t compromise, even for a short season of personal gain and worldly acceptance! We’ve got to decide whom we will serve! It’s our choice! God is faithful to His people and if we’ll continue to stop, look, listen and hear, He’ll direct our steps and secure our future! Because down the road, we’re going to face greater threats than pagan politicians! Lawlessness keeps growing exponentially… open boarders aren’t God’s design! He’s separated us from each other in the past, for our own good, but we keep failing to follow His plan. It’s called illegal for a reason! The media compounds the problem by mocking and criticizing those who stand for what’s right! Law and order are in jeopardy! We’ve been betrayed by a lot of our corporate, political and in some cases, even church leaders! They don’t put the interest of God and His people first! They don’t even put the interest of the nation first! They keep us divided by propagating something they call racism… … which isn’t even a valid term! Racism is people hating other people… not ethnicity hating ethnicity! There’s only one “race” in God’s design and it’s the human race! These pagans refuse to celebrate the good in our heritage and only highlight the weakness! They’re narcissistic, materialistic and hedonistic! They surround the capital building with maximum security, even calling in the national guard to protect themselves, while the stop construction of the boarder walls and condemn and hinder the boarder patrol who are supposed to be and trying their best to protect us! It’s betrayal! But even more concerning than that is the apathetic church that’s been more concerned with comfort and convenience than the purposes of the kingdom! A lot of churches have treated the blood of Jesus with a casual contempt that’s very sad and scary! The reality is… … we’re approaching the end of the age! There’s not a timeline for it, but the way things are unfolding now can be seen highlighted in scripture! Victory in Jesus is real and attainable for us because our Lord, Savior and King Jesus has defeated Satan and every evil power of the world! Praise Him! There’s been an awakening among a lot of believers! God’s message can’t be stopped. That’s why we’re invincible… on this rock… every Sunday … and every day… His truth gets proclaimed… always has… always will! God has set love, peace, joy and prosperity in front of us! The alternative is death, deception, depression and destruction! It’s our choice! Please choose Jesus to be your Lord and Savior today! It’s the most important decision you’ll ever make! Your life literally depends on it! To call Jesus “Lord” only gives Him a title… To submit to Jesus as Lord, Savior, and King… and then serve Him in faithful obedience brings glory and pleasure to God! Jesus died on the cross to pay for our sins, which is the only way we could even have a choice to be with God in heaven! There’s no doubt Jesus wants everybody who will to be with Him in heaven!

Invincible Church Sermon Notes 1/21/2024 Discerning Spiritual Condition – Part 2 The Book of Amos Remember, the truth behind the real reason we exist is because God wants us to be in an unconditional love relationship with Him. We only have life because God created us and made us in His image, which is all for His glory and pleasure… and it’s all based on relationships. By His design we’re triune beings. We operate in a physical realm, which is our body driven by our brain… An emotional realm, which is our soul driven by our mind… And a supernatural realm, which is our spirit driven by our connection to or separation from God! So, God is love and God is a God of order and structure. He has a master plan for all His creation and wants us to be a part of the process for getting it done! He doesn’t demand or expect us to get it done on our own, He’s given us His Word of truth in the Holy Bible! Also, He gives us His truth individually through divine revelation sometimes as He sees fit! All of this only happens through the power of the Holy Spirit, who’s sent by Jesus to reside in us as soon as we’re submitted to Him in a salvation relationship as our Lord and Savior! So, God will share almost everything with us…His creation, truth, power, plan and even His son Jesus! But the one thing He will not share with us is His glory. And why would anybody expect Him to? But somebody did and that somebody is Lucifer a.k.a. Satan! God created Lucifer as an angel in heaven who got to be in charge of worship. But Lucifer was selfish and he couldn’t find a way to be obedient and thankful for that. He was jealous of God and he wanted to receive God’s glory through being worshipped by the other angels. This angered God, so God cast Lucifer out of heaven, giving him access to the earth! This made Lucifer angry and he somehow convinced 1/3 of the other angels to go with him (becoming demons). But even now, Lucifer a.k.a. Satan still thinks he can be God! So, Satan has a strategy too! He’s always trying to counterfeit, disrupt and destroy everything God has created! That’s why Satan went to the Garden of Eden, disguised as a serpent to tempt Adam and Eve to disobey God. He lied to them, convincing them they could be like God! They believed the “fake news” and they made the decision to sin against God! Once Adam and Eve sinned against God, they became spiritually separated from God… and because all mankind are descendants of Adam and Eve, we’re all born with a sin nature. But because God is also a God of grace, mercy and patience, He made a way for us to choose Him… and have our sin eradicated by the power of the blood of Jesus! It’s our choice! We can choose Jesus, who is love, truth, light and righteousness or… We can reject Jesus, which leads us towards hate, lies, darkness and wickedness! Sin separates us from God… Satan knows it… and is continually trying to deceive, tempt, mislead, influence and manipulate people into choosing sin. It puts us in jeopardy of compromising a right spiritual condition with God! It’s the content of the spiritual battel of good vs evil – right vs wrong – truth vs lies – light vs dark – liberty vs restraint – freedom vs suppression – and capitalism vs communism! So, the reality is this life is only about Jesus vs Satan and we “get to” choose who we’ll align with and serve! Choosing to submit to Jesus puts us on His team! If we don’t submit to Jesus, then by default, we reject Him which puts us on Satan’s team! Sin and Satan are the 2 primary factors that have us in a spiritual battle! If our focus in life only consists of comfort, convenience, pleasure and wealth… instead of Christ and Him crucified, then we’ll always be in a spiritually compromised condition! We take ourselves out of position to be in the ultimate use of God, which means we won’t have the greatest impact we could have on God’s Kingdom for His glory and pleasure! It’s the only way we have to show Jesus we love Him… by doing what He says. It’s why a true follower of Jesus always needs to be able to discern the spiritual condition of ourselves, others, families, churches, communities, nations and the world in relation with the Holy God of the Bible! Starting in the book of Amos last week, we see the different… Spiritual Conditions of Men and Nations 1) “PAGAN” - Enemy of God! Depraved, Wicked, Evil; Completely Rejecting Anything to do with Jesus! 2) “LOST” – Religious Enemy of God! Not Submitted to Jesus in a True Salvation Relationship and Possibly Involved in One of The False Religions of The World! 3) “SAVED” – Professes Faith in Jesus as being Submitted to Him as Lord and Savior, But is Out of Alignment with God’s Word, Will, and Ways! 4) “DISCIPLE” – A Faithful Follower of Jesus, Obediently Working “The Process” of God’s Plan in Order to Know Him Better and Advance His Kingdom! Israel’s 2 primary sins were absence of true worship and a complete lack of true justice. This same spiritual condition of disobedience is seen today in the open boarder policy of the pagan political leaders of our nation. Anything out of alignment with God’s plan opposes God’s justice. We touched on this last week. Look at… Deuteronomy 28:43-45 NIV - 43 The foreigners who reside among you will rise above you higher and higher, but you will sink lower and lower. 44 They will lend to you, but you will not lend to them. They will be the head, but you will be the tail. 45 All these curses will come on you. They will pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the Lord your God and observe the commands and decrees He gave you! … The world has tried this before. After the flood, God commanded humanity to increase in number and fill the earth, but people stopped seeking God and started seeking other providers, protectors, provision and resources. Humanity decided to build a great city and all congregate there. Noah’s great grandson (Nimrod) even convinced them to build a great tower in case God decided to flood the earth again! (Which God already said He wouldn’t.) So, the spiritual condition of man became corrupt in their disobedience to God! It’s just one of the many decisions that people make in opposition to God, His plan and the process for following Jesus. So, it will help equip us for winning the spiritual battles we fight if we know and understand these… 5 Biblical Principles Concerning The Spiritual Condition of Humanity 1) God will Punish those who Exploit The Poor! Amos 2:6-7 NIV - 6 This is what The Lord says … “For three sins of Israel, even for four, I will not relent. They sell the innocent for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals. 7 They trample on the heads of the poor as on the dust of the ground and deny Justice to the oppressed. Father and son use the same girl and so profane My Holy Name. The phrase, “for three sins… even for four” is a common phrase in Amos! Three sins represent fullness or completeness… four represents an overflow or a spiritual condition that’s the tipping point for God’s judgment. 2) God’s Plan for Humanity Demands Biblical Justice! Amos 5:14-15 NIV - 14 Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then The Lord God Almighty will be with you, just as you say He is. 15 Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts. Perhaps The Lord God Almighty will have mercy on The Remnant of Joseph. Choose to do what’s right! 3) True Worship always Includes God’s Justice and Righteousness! Amos 5:21-24 NIV - 21 “I hate, I despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to Me. 22 Even though you bring Me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. 23 Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. 24 But let Justice roll on like a river, Righteousness like a never-failing stream! Not just show and tell… or our preference! 4) Do Not become Complacent about Following God’s Plan! Amos 6:1-7 NIV - Woe to you who are complacent in Zion, and to you who feel secure on Mount Samaria, you notable men of the foremost nation, to whom the people of Israel come! 2 Go to Kalneh and look at it; go from there to great Hamath, and then go down to Gath in Philistia. Are they better off than your two kingdoms? Is their land larger than yours? 3 You put off the day of disaster and bring near a reign of terror. 4 You lie on beds adorned with ivory and lounge on your couches. You dine on choice lambs and fattened calves. 5 You strum away on your harps like David and improvise on musical instruments. 6 You drink wine by the bowlful and use the finest lotions, but you do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph. 7 Therefore you will be among the first to go into exile; your feasting and lounging will end. We have to believe in Him first and pursue Him first! 5) God will Restore those who Remain Faithful Followers of Jesus! Amos 9:11-15 NIV - 11 “In that day “I will restore David’s fallen shelter … I will repair its broken walls and restore its ruins … and will rebuild it as it used to be, 12 so that they may possess The Remnant of Edom and all The Nations that bear My Name,” declares The Lord, Who will do these things. 13 “The days are coming,” declares The Lord, “when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman and the planter by the one treading grapes. New wine will drip from the mountains and flow from all the hills, 14 and I will bring My people Israel back from exile. “They will rebuild The Ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit. 15 I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted from The Land I have given them,” says The Lord your God. So, what do we take from this? Answer – the big picture plan given to use by Jesus for fighting spiritual battles… and advancing God’s Kingdom is to speak the truth of the Gospel to all people so that the good news of Jesus resonates around the world! No matter what the rest of the world is doing, if we’re being obedient to God and working the process of following Jesus, standing strong in the spiritual battles we face, not tolerating sin and love the lost people He put in our path enough to present them the truth… ...then we can look forward to hearing, “Well done good and faithful servant” when we stand before Him in heaven! The plan goes like this… >Preparation :> – LOVE – PRAY – and BE THANKFUL! *Implementation :> - GO – MAKE – and TEACH! >Strategy :> - ASK – SEEK – and KNOCK! *The Tools and Weapons :> - WORDS – WILL – and WAYS of GOD! … The presentation – (present the hard truths in love: right vs wrong – good vs evil – and positive vs negative! If the presentation is wrong, i.e. anger, judgmental or chastisement… the message probably won’t be heard! Note – as a follower of Jesus, we can’t tolerate sin! But because we’re commanded to love others the way we love ourselves, then we tolerate (love) the sinner and continue speaking truth into their lives for as long as it takes to help them see the truth, turn from their sins and submit to Jesus as Lord and Savior! Our identity is in Jesus, so the success of all this depends on how much we involve God! The key to being in the proper spiritual condition for experiencing and encountering God is to faithfully and diligently pursue Jesus with all our heart, mind, soul and strength!

Invincible Church Sermon Notes 1/7/2024 True Spiritual Leaders - Part 2 Matthew 23:1-39 It’s a New Year and as a follower of Jesus, it’s important that we remind ourselves every day the real or true reason we exist. We only have life because God created us and made us in His image to be a part of His master plan, which is all for His glory and it’s based on relationships! Most importantly for us is our relationship with Him through Jesus. Then our relationship with others through Him. By God’s design, relationships are only authentic and valid when actions toward one another by both parties in the relationship are grounded in true unconditional love. He also allows us to be part of… … the process for working out His master plan. The process has responsibilities that apply to all of us, which are general, fundamental and foundational. Then He has unique, specific and special operative responsibilities inside the process for each one of us! Also, by His design, we’re triune beings. So, we operate in a physical realm, which is our body, driven by our brain… and emotional realm which is our soul, driven by our mind… and a supernatural realm, which is our spirit, driven by our connection to (or separation from) God! We can only be connected to God through the power of the Holy Spirit… and we’re only indwelled by the Holy Spirit if we’re in a true love, salvation relationship with Jesus. Since relationships are only valid when both parties take actions based on true, unconditional love, then… … it’s our choice whether we want to take the action to be in a true love, salvation relationship with Jesus. He’s already done His part in the relationship process by being obedient to God’s command to come and sacrifice His perfect life on our behalf, which paid the price for our sins! So now it’s up to us to do our part in the relationship by taking the action of submitting to Jesus as our Lord and Savior! When we make this conscious decision, then we’re connected to God through the Holy Spirit and we start the process of showing Him we love Him by being obedient to His instructions. It’s called the sanctification process! We work to know God better by learning His Word, discerning what’s true and right – and putting our faith into action! The goal is to continually become more like Jesus so that we’re true spiritual leaders for God’s Kingdom. I know this already seems like a lot of truth to digest, but it really is simple. The Bible says the truth of the Gospel is simple enough for a child to understand. You either love Jesus or you don’t! You’re either in a relationship with Jesus or you’re not! There’s no middle ground! Understanding the supernatural realm is the challenge. We operate in the physical realm right now, so the only power we have as a human is natural. But as part of God’s creation, we’re in a supernatural battle against the dark spiritual authorities, powers and forces of evil! It’s literally supernatural battles of good vs evil… right vs wrong… truth vs lies… pure vs perverted… integrity vs corruption… generosity vs greed… selfless vs hedonistic… and holy vs pagan! The Good News is, when we decide to follow Jesus, we’re indwelled by the Holy Spirit. So, we have something that the enemy doesn’t… and it’s access to God’s supernatural power! Now, in this life of spiritual battles, there are true spiritual leaders and false spiritual leaders. Being able to identify a false spiritual leader is a valuable skill in our role of being a true spiritual leader because sometimes it’s hard to tell if a person is a false spiritual leader! They can be religious extremists who say a lot of right things… … but they’re the wolves in sheep’s clothing that Jesus warns us about! Their deception might be intentional or ignorance… it could be aggressive legalism or passive tolerance! Whatever evil attempt at manipulation or influence it is, Jesus wants us to recognize it! So, last week we started… Matthew 23:1-12 NIV - Then Jesus said to the crowds and to His disciples … 2 “The teachers of The Law and The Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. 4 They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. 5 “Everything they do is done for people to see … They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; 6 they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; 7 they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others. 8 “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. 9 And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and He Is in heaven. 10 Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, The Messiah. 11 The greatest among you will be your servant. 12 For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted! Jesus gives us… 6 Ways to Identify True vs False Spiritual Leaders 1) Spiritually Authentic – True spiritual leaders are called by God… false spiritual leaders are not! 2) Spiritually Simple – True spiritual leaders are only committed to and bound by the parameters of the revealed Word of the Living God… false spiritual leaders add various human requirements to the faith that are not from God! 3) Spiritual Integrity – True spiritual leaders live what they preach and profess to believe… false spiritual leaders may say the right things, but they don’t do the right things. 4) Spiritually Sympathetic – True spiritual leaders patiently witness to and serve lost people in both word and deed… false spiritual leaders load people up with unnecessary burdens. 5) True Spirituality – A true spiritual leader’s heart is controlled by the Spirit of God… false spiritual leaders primarily do things for their own external show! 6) Spiritually Humble – True spiritual leaders have an outward spiritual strength with an internal spirit of meekness that is evident in their words and actions… everything a false spiritual leader does focuses and centers on them. Then in (vs 13) Jesus changes gears… from this point in the passage on, Jesus isn’t talking about the character of these false spiritual leaders but their condemnation. He knows the judgment that’s going to come down on them if they don’t change their ways. So, in… Matthew 23:13-31 NIV - 13 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. [14] Some manuscripts include words here that are similar to Mark 12:40 and Luke 20:47 which reads ... 47 They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely.” 15 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are. 16 “Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath.’ 17 You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? 18 You also say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gift on the altar is bound by that oath.’ 19 You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20 Therefore, anyone who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. 21 And anyone who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. 22 And anyone who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it. 23 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. 24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel. 25 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean. 27 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. 29 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. 30 And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ 31 So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. 8 Sins that False Spiritual Leaders are Judged On 1) Exclusion (vs 13) – They keep people out of the kingdom of heaven by misleading them. This is a direct contradiction in spiritual work that Jesus commands us to do! We’re supposed to lead people into God’s Kingdom by speaking the truth of the Gospel! 2) Exploitation – (vs 14) – They take advantage of poor, lonely, hurting people who’re in desperate need of spiritual truth! They mislead people who’re in all kinds of vulnerable situations with manipulative messages of false hope! 3) Perversion – (vs 15) – They mislead and corrupt everybody who comes to them for spiritual truth with the false spiritual counsel of the devil! People who’re broken, hurting, suffering, questioning, doubting, weak-willed, panicked and are struggling with all kinds of problems are looking for answers and hope. So, they’re easy targets for false teachers, so they manipulate them into corruption and perversion. It’s how a person searching for spiritual truth ends up becoming like a child of hell, which is a person whose character and deeds cause them to deserve eternity in hell! Our job as ambassadors for Jesus is to get the Gospel of Truth to them before the enemy gets his hooks in! 4) Subversion – (vs 16) – They undermine God’s truth by developing a worldly system that allows them to live in sin and theoretically not violate their own falsely define moral code. This basically means they want to lie but they know that God hates a liar. So, they develop a subversive system of lying based on oaths and they’ve got the audacity to think that by design of their own subversive system, these lies don’t count against them somehow. It’s like when a little kid tells a friend that he promises he’ll do something that he knows he’s not going to do! Then, when the friend calls him on it, he says, I really didn’t have to do it because I had my fingers crossed behind my back! It’s that kind of system… sound familiar? 5) Inversion – (vs 23-24) – They ignore God’s command for justice, mercy and faithfulness while insisting people adhere to manmade rituals, customs, ceremonies and rites! They neglect the things that really matter to God and only pay attention to the things that are important to them! The Bible tells us that in the process of God’s plan, these little manmade things don’t really matter at all! 6) Extortion – (vs 25-26) – They abuse their false religious authority for the purpose of self-gain! On the outside, they appear highly religious to the world, but on the inside, they’re full of self-indulgence and robbery! The Greek word is even more severe because it means pillaging, raping, plundering! 7) Deception – (vs 27-28) – They deceive people in words and actions with false gospel, hypocrisy, legalism and fake news! The parallel here it’s Passover and if a Jew touches a tomb (even accidentally) they become ceremonially unclean! So, beforehand, they’d go through the city and whitewash all the tombs so visitors could see them. But there was nothing in scripture that mandated this. They just wanted everything on the outside to look like they had all their manmade religious priorities in order for visitors. But the reality was that on the inside, they were guilty of exclusion, exploitation, perversion, subversion, inversion, extortion and … 😎 Pretension - (vs 29-31) – They pretend to be holy, righteous, sanctimonious and better than everybody else! Paul points this out to Timothy when he says, “Evil men will grow worse and worse!” Paul knew it in his soul! They pretty much admitted that they were worse than their forefathers without even realizing it! And the reality is, their forefathers killed a lot of the servants of God but these guys were about to kill the Son of God! To tie this all together, when we think about our ministry as a follower of Jesus, we have to address things from a positive perspective… Even things that’re negative like the dangers of people being misled by false spiritual leaders! We have to spend more time focusing on being a true spiritual leader and speaking the truth about Jesus than we spend complaining and criticizing what others are doing wrong! The instructions Jesus gave us are to carry out God’s plan and are really simple to do… and will transform us into true spiritual leaders if we’ll do it: love, pray and be thankful for everything… to go, make and teach disciples… and to ask, seek and knock! The world's plan tells us we have to get educated, established and pursue a career first to be successful… which eventually leads to stress, worry, anger, depression, addiction, etc. God’s plan calls for us to pursue Jesus, which leads to peace, joy and glorifies God! While we’re pursuing Jesus, we discern from God through prayer what He would have our career to be! Because this life isn’t about pursuing comfort, convenience, ease or a high-class lifestyle. If we’re blessed by God to have those things, then praise Jesus! Our primary goal in this life is to pursue Jesus and follow His plan for winning spiritual battels in everything He calls us to do! If we’re faithful and diligent in that pursuit, we’ll become the spiritual leaders we’re called to be. So, I’ll close with this… We’ll never be able to lead people to Jesus unless we’re pursuing Him ourselves! And we don’t have to be in a full-blown sprint because it’s not a race, but it is a marathon. So, we do need to be in steady run for what’s right, which will be obvious to people around us. In the course of a battle, it’s always beneficial for a follower of Jesus to know where we stand with God as an individual, family, church, community and nation. The Bible gives us examples in all cases! So, next week we’re going to look at what the Old Testament book of Amos tells us about the current spiritual condition of our nation and us! We want to be successful in advancing God’s Kingdom in 2024. So, let’s be diligent in praying that God will help us be wise in recognizing what’s false and be faithful in respecting what’s true, so we CAN be the true spiritual leader He’s called us to be!

Invincible Church Sermon Notes 1/14/2024 Discerning Spiritual Condition The Book of Amos Sunday mornings are for hearing specific messages from God… then applying those messages to our life! It’s how we become better equipped and prepared to get His work done! Lately, He’s been sending His Invincible Church messages about His truth, power and the expectations He has for us! Remember the true reason we exist is because God wants us to be a part of His master plan. So, we only have life because God created us and made us in His image, which is all for His glory and it’s all based on relationships. The most important relationship we have is our relationship with God through Jesus. Then our relationship with others through Him. God has a process for getting His plan done and there’s a real supernatural enemy who fights against us while we’re working the process of following Jesus in God’s plan. One of Satan’s go to strategies is to try and get God’s people and nations divided… get them disagreeing and fighting amongst themselves, about everything from religion, economics, government, politics, moral values, marriage, family, sanctity of life, etc. It’s Satan’s attempt to take our focus off God and His Son Jesus. If we fall for Satan’s schemes, it hinders our work in the process of following Jesus, which is not good, because in our relationship with God, He’s designed us to have purpose and responsibilities for fighting spiritual battles! Thankfully, He doesn’t leave us on our own to get His work done! He’s given us His Word of truth in the Holy Bible… and He reveals His truth to us as He sees fit! He’s also given us access to His power through the Holy Spirit, which He wants us to access as a spiritual leader. Now, God is pleased with His creation. We know because when He was finished, He looked at it and said, “It is good!” God loves His children and all He wants from His children is for us to love Him the same way He loves us! Jesus said it was the greatest commandment… and the second one is life it. God gets angry when other people mess with His people and nations. God also gets disappointed when His children are disobedient. It’s because God’s a good Father! He’s given us boundaries and instructions to follow for our protection, well-being, training and equipping! He loves us enough to allow us to fail at times, which also works to mature, prepare and equip us for worse situations down the road, but it also helps train us to be ready to get His work done as an ambassador, warrior, servant or saint in the process of following Jesus! So, God is love, but God is also just… and the scary part is God’s justice comes with God’s wrath, if necessary! And because God is Holy, perfect and sovereign, His justice applies to all people and nations, whether they’re in a salvation relationship with Jesus or not! A lot of believers think that God’s judgement and wrath is only for the pagan or lost because if we’re God’s children, He loves us unconditionally… which is true… but God’s grace and mercy doesn’t override His justice and wrath for anybody! We have to understand and be able to explain to people that God can’t and won’t compromise His justice by withholding the discipline and consequences that come with sin! And the level of a person or a nation's spiritual condition can determine the severity of the consequences! That’s why, in the course of a battle, true followers of Jesus need to always be aware of our spiritual condition with God as an individual, family, church, community and nation! The Bible gives us examples of this in all cases. So, we’re going to look at what the Old Testament Book of Amos tells us about the current spiritual condition of the world, our nation, our families, churches, communities and us. We need to hear and understand this message because it’s very apparent that we’re in the exact same situation today. The context for it is… Israel had become a divided nation. (Goes back to Satan’s strategy!) The division came from a judgment on not keeping God’s commands which prohibited idolatry! There was also tribal discord and political unrest. The Biblical principle is that sin causes division! Amos wasn’t a prophet by vocation! He was a shepherd who God called to leave his flocks and go prophesy against God’s people! His home was in the southern kingdom of Judah. But God had him cross over into the northern kingdom of Israel to reach His message. God calls Amos even though He doesn’t have an education or a priestly background. Amos’ messages of impending doom and captivity for the nation because of their sins are unpopular and ignored, probably because things hadn’t been this good in Israel since the times of King Solomon! Amos can see that beneath Israel’s external prosperity and power, the leadership of the nation is internally corrupt to the core! The sins that Amos warns the people about are neglect of God’s Word, Idolatry, pagan worship, greed, corrupt leadership and oppression of the poor! God starts by having Amos pronounce a judgment on all the surrounding pagan or lost nations. Then on the nation of Judah where Amos is from … and finally the harshest judgment is given to God’s nation of Israel! The message that Amos gets from God is that judgment is near! Amos 1:1-15 NIV - 1 The words of Amos, one of the shepherds of Tekoa … The vision he saw concerning Israel two years before the earthquake, when Uzziah was king of Judah and Jeroboam son of Jehoash was king of Israel. 2 He said … “The Lord roars from Zion and thunders from Jerusalem; the pastures of the shepherds dry up, and the top of Carmel withers.” This is what the Lord says … “For three sins of Damascus, even for four, I will not relent. Because she threshed Gilead with sledges having iron teeth, 4 I will send fire on the house of Hazael that will consume the fortresses of Ben-Hadad. 5 I will break down the gate of Damascus; I will destroy the king who is in the Valley of Aven and the one who holds the scepter in Beth Eden. The people of Aram will go into exile to Kir,” says the Lord. 6 This is what the Lord says … “For three sins of Gaza, even for four, I will not relent. Because she took captive whole communities and sold them to Edom, 7 I will send fire on the walls of Gaza that will consume her fortresses. 8 I will destroy the king of Ashdod and the one who holds the scepter in Ashkelon. I will turn my hand against Ekron, till the last of the Philistines are dead,” says the Sovereign Lord. 9 This is what the Lord says … “For three sins of Tyre, even for four, I will not relent. Because she sold whole communities of captives to Edom, disregarding a treaty of brotherhood, 10 I will send fire on the walls of Tyre that will consume her fortresses.” 11 This is what the Lord says … “For three sins of Edom, even for four, I will not relent. Because he pursued his brother with a sword and slaughtered the women of the land, because his anger raged continually and his fury flamed unchecked, 12 I will send fire on Teman that will consume the fortresses of Bozrah.” 13 This is what the Lord says “For three sins of Ammon, even for four, I will not relent. Because he ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead in order to extend his borders, 14 I will set fire to the walls of Rabbah that will consume her fortresses amid war cries on the day of battle, amid violent winds on a stormy day. 15 Her king will go into exile, he and his officials together,” says the Lord! … So, we see the … à Spiritual Conditions of Men and Nations 1) “Pagan” Enemy of God – Depraved, Wicked, Evil! Complete Rejection of Jesus! Both Kingdoms of Judah and Israel are having to deal with hatred, violence and attacks from surrounding pagan nations – just like today, these nations perceive that the land of Israel belongs to them. A brief look at each of the images in Amos more fully explains what they indicate: - Iron teeth (1:3): “Iron teeth” were part of a threshing sledge, a farming implement drawn over grain to thresh it and cut the stalks. God pictures Syria’s cruelty toward Gilead (in northeast Israel) as a threshing sledge being run over His people. For their brutality, Syria is promised judgment. - Murdered pregnant women (1:13): The Ammonites would be judged for performing atrocities against Israel… The Bible confirms the reality of such horrific acts during war. - Burning bones (2:1): The Moabites would be judged for their sin of the disrespectful treatment of an Edomite king’s corpse in a culture in which a proper burial was of utmost importance, the burning of bones communicated a severe hatred. - Destroyed roots (2:9): This is a picture of God’s judgment on the Amorites, as the “fruit above” and the “roots beneath” were destroyed—in other words, the Amorites were completely wiped out. God reminds Israel of the Amorites’ fate in order to call His people back to righteousness and the fear of God. - Hooks (4:2): This is part of a prophecy against Israel, warning them that the Assyrians would one day take them captive. Israel would be led away as fish were carried away on hooks. It is believed the “hooks” could be literal, since Assyrians did at times lead captives with ropes attached to rings in the jaws or lips of their enemies. All horrendous things! 2) “Lost” Enemy of God – Not Submitted to Jesus in a True Salvation Relationship! Trying to live a life of mor values but not understanding the necessity and requirement of submitting to Jesus as Lord and Savior to be made righteous in the eyes of God! 3) “Saved” Professing of Faith in Jesus - But Out of Alignment with God’s Word, Will, and Ways! Amos 2:4 NIV - 4 This is what the Lord says … “For three sins of Judah, even for four, I will not relent. Because they have rejected the law of the LORD, and have not kept his decrees, because they have been led astray by false gods, the gods their ancestors followed, The phrase, “for three sins… even for four,” is a common phrase in Amos. “Three sins” represents fullness or completeness… “four” represents an overflow or a sin that is the tipping point for God’s judgment. Israel’s two primary sins were absence of true worship and complete lack of true justice! Their worship had become ritualistic and performance based… and they weren’t pursuing God’s Word, will and ways with their hearts. They also weren’t following God’s standard of justice with their neighbors or even with surrounding nations. This is amazing to me. It’s just like today! For a different version of the same verse… Amos 2:4 NLT - 4 This is what the Lord says: … “The people of Judah have sinned again and again, and I will not let them go unpunished! They have rejected the instruction of the Lord, refusing to obey his decrees. They have been led astray by the same lies that deceived their ancestors. The purpose of prophesying doom was to call sinners to repent! It’s the same reason God sent Jonah to preach in Ninevah! The Ninevites repented and God didn’t bring about judgment. The Lord had compassion for those who repented! 4) “Saved” Follower of Jesus - Obediently Working “The Process” to Know God Better in Order to Advance His Kingdom! Amos 3:7 NIV - 7 Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets. Amos 9:14 NIV – 14 … And I will bring my people Israel back from exile. “They will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit. A lot of people think they’re not qualified to speak God’s truth. They think that they’re just a salesman, farmer or housewife. Amos would’ve been considered “just a” shepherd! He wasn’t a prophet or priest or the son of either one! He was just a shepherd… a small businessman in Judah. So, who would listen to him? But instead of making excuses, Amos obeyed and became God’s powerful voice for change! God has used ordinary people such a shepherds, carpenters and fishermen all through the Bible. Whatever we are in this life, God can and will use us! Amos wasn’t much. He was “just a” willing servant for God! It’s good to be God’s “just a” whatever! The influx of people on our border applies to this scenario as well… and will give us plenty of opportunity for serving God! Deuteronomy 28:43-45 NIV - 43 The foreigners who reside among you will rise above you higher and higher, but you will sink lower and lower. 44 They will lend to you, but you will not lend to them. They will be the head, but you will be the tail. 45 All these curses will come on you. They will pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the Lord your God and observe the commands and decrees he gave you. Which we’ll cover next week. For now, God says… “Seek me and live” is God’s invitation to return to “pure and genuine” devotion in following Jesus, which is the foundation of our life and relationship with Him! The Good News is the book ends with God’s promise to Amos of future restoration of the remnant.

THE TRUTH IN THE BIBLE

Invincible Church Sermon Notes 11/12/2023 Be Ready pt 5 Luke 21:5-38 The Bible tells us that God has a “master plan”! In His plan, the world as we know it is counting down to and end of time moment that He’s already determined, which starts with the second coming of Jesus and nobody knows the exact day and time this will happen except God! So, He wants His people to be ready, stay ready and keep doing the specific work that He’s designed us to do inside of His perfect plan. It’s why we can be sure God wants us to know and understand the times, signs and events that will be happening before the second coming of Jesus! About 27% of the Bible contains prophecy. The second coming of Jesus is mentioned 321 times in the Bible, which is more than any other subject except for salvation. So, a key part of the life, teaching, instructions, ministry and prophecies of Jesus tells His followers to be ready! Luke 21:5-38 NIV - 5 Some of His Disciples were Remarking about how The Temple was Adorned with Beautiful Stones … And with Gifts Dedicated to God! … But Jesus said … 6 “As for What you See Here … The Time will Come when Not One Stone will be Left on Another … Every One of them will be Thrown Down!” 7 “Teacher” they Asked … “When will these Things Happen? … And What will be The Sign that They are about to Take Place?” … 8 He Replied … “Watch Out that you are Not Deceived! … For Many will Come In My Name … Claiming … “I Am He” … And … “The Time is Near!” … Do Not Follow them! ... 9 When you Hear of Wars and Uprisings … Do Not be Frightened! ... These Things Must Happen First … But The End will Not Come Right Away!” … 10 Then He said to them … “Nation will Rise against Nation … And Kingdom against Kingdom! ... 11 There will be Great Earthquakes … “Famines and Pestilences” in Various Places … And Fearful Events … And Great Signs from Heaven! … 12 “But Before All This … They will Seize you … And Persecute you! ... They will Hand you Over to Synagogues … And Put you in Prison … And you will be Brought Before “Kings and Governors” … And All On Account of My Name! ... 13 And so you will Bear Testimony to Me! ... 14 But Make Up your Mind Not to Worry Beforehand How you will Defend yourselves! ... 15 For I will Give you “Words and Wisdom” that None of your Adversaries will Be Able to “Resist or Contradict”! … 16 You will Be Betrayed … Even by Parents … “Brothers and Sisters” … “Relatives and Friends” … And they will Put Some of you to Death! … 17 Everyone will Hate you Because of Me! … 18 But Not a Hair of your Head Will Perish! 19 Stand Firm …And you will Win Life! ... 20 “When you See Jerusalem being Surrounded by Armies … You will Know that Its Desolation is Near! ... 21 Then Let Those who Are In Judea Flee to The Mountains … Let Those In The City Get Out! … And Let Those In The Country Not Enter The City! ... 22 For This is The Time of Punishment in Fulfillment of All that has Been Written! ... 23 How Dreadful It will Be In Those Days for Pregnant Women … And Nursing Mothers! … There will Be Great Distress in The Land … And Wrath against this People! ... 24 They will Fall by The Sword … And will Be Taken as Prisoners to All The Nations! … Jerusalem will Be Trampled On by The Gentiles until The Times of The Gentiles are Fulfilled! ... 25 “There will Be Signs in The Sun … Moon … And Stars! ... On The Earth … Nations will Be In “Anguish and Perplexity” at The “Roaring and Tossing” of The Sea! … 26 People will Faint from Terror … Apprehensive of What is “Coming On” The World … For The Heavenly Bodies will Be Shaken! … 27 At That Time … They will See The Son of Man Coming In a Cloud with “Power and Great Glory”! … 28 When These Things Begin to Take Place … Stand Up … And “Lift Up” your Heads … Because your Redemption is Drawing Near!” … 29 He Told Them this Parable … “Look at The Fig Tree and All The Trees! ... 30 When they Sprout Leaves … You Can See for yourselves … And Know that Summer is Near! ... 31 Even So … When you See These Things Happening … You Know that The Kingdom of God is Near! ... 32 “Truly I Tell you … This Generation will Certainly Not Pass Away until All These Things have Happened! ... 33 Heaven and Earth will Pass Away … But My Words will Never Pass Away! ... 34 “Be Careful … Or your Hearts will Be Weighed Down with Carousing … Drunkenness … And The Anxieties of Life … And that Day will Close On you Suddenly like a Trap! ... 35 For It will Come On All Those who Live On The Face of The Whole Earth! ... 36 Be Always On The Watch [Be Ready] … And Pray that you May Be Able to Escape All that Is about To Happen … And That you May Be Able to Stand Before The Son of Man!” … 37 Each Day Jesus was Teaching at The Temple … And each Evening He Went Out to Spend The Night On The Hill Called The Mount of Olives … 38 And All The people Came Early in The Morning to Hear Him at The Temple! This passage give us… 4 Primary Ways Jesus Teaches us to “Be Ready” 1) Discern “The Prophetic Times” We’re Living In! … (vs 5-9) Tells us, followers of Jesus are supposed to know and remember the specific Biblical events that happened at specific prophesied times in the past and be diligent in praying, working and watching for the Biblical prophecy that’s going to happen in the future. 2) Discern “The Prophetic Signs” We’re Living In! … (vs 10-19) … Tells us what the signs are! These are fearful events that will terrify and disgust us! Some are natural disasters like tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods and famines! Then, there’s other things like curses, plagues and pestilence! And the worst indicator signs are depravity, debauchery, perversion, pagan rituals, wickedness and all other manners of evil! We see it escalating every day now… human trafficking, sex slavery, child abuse, child sacrifice, mass shootings, serial killers, etc. 3) Discern “The Prophetic Events” That Are Still to Come! … (vs 20-28) … When we’re faithful to study and know Bible prophecy, we can be 100% sure of what’s going to happen in the future, which gives us confidence and courage to keep doing the work we need to be doing now! So, now we’re going to pick back up from last week on the 4th way He tells us to be ready. 4) Discern “Spiritual Matters” So We Can Be Ready for Now! … (vs 29-38) … What Jesus was telling the disciples then also applies to us as His disciples today… and it will always apply to His followers until He returns. The truth is, choosing to identify with Jesus makes us a follower of Him, so we’re supposed to be ready to do the work He’s called us to do! Inside that framework… A ) (vs 29-31) … The only way we can be ready to accomplish everything that God has for us to do is to always be pursuing the light of the truth, which is His Word, His will and His ways! Then in… B ) (vs 32-35) … The only way we can be ready to receive discipline from God is to walk in the light of the truth. And, picking up here from last week in… >(vs 36) … Jesus just said … 36 Be Always On The Watch [Be Ready] … And Pray that you May be Able to Escape All that is about to Happen … And that you May be Able to Stand before The Son of Man!” Jesus is giving a universal command to all believers that carries through for all ages! There are a lot of verses that talk about this and remembering them will save us a lot of grief and confusion. Look at… Mark 4:19 NIV – 19 … but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke The Word, making it unfruitful. 2 Timothy 2:3-4 NIV - 3 Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his Commanding Officer. Another way to say it… going into battle with golf clubs, fishing rods, skateboards, TV remotes or video games will get a person killed! That’s why followers of Jesus go into spiritual battles with the Bible and the power of the Holy Spirit. 2 Corinthians 13:5 NLT – 5 Examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine. Test yourselves. Surely you know that Jesus Christ is among you; if not, you have failed the test of Genuine Faith. *Back in (vs 35) … Where Jesus said … 35 For it will come on all those who live on the face of The whole earth. This is a very specific description of lost people! These are the people who’ve rejected Jesus! They’re condemned and they’ll definitely be living on earth during the time of the great tribulation period that’s coming (sooner rather than later)! The Old Testament also tells us to be ready… Isaiah 26:20-21 NIV – 20 Go, my people, enter your rooms and shut the doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until his wrath has passed by. 21 See, the Lord is coming out of His dwelling to punish the people of the earth for their sins. The earth will disclose the blood shed on it; the earth will conceal its slain no longer! … The signs are the indicators to take actions from the warning. Revelation 13:14 NIV – 14 Because of The Signs it was given power to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived the inhabitants of the earth. It ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. … There it is again… the signs… Revelation 17:8b NIV – 8 The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and yet will come up out of the Abyss and go to its destruction. The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because it once was, now is not, and yet will come! … PAST - PRESENT - and FUTURE PROPHECY! … The very best reason we have for being ready is no matter how and when the rapture goes down, followers of Jesus have the guaranteed hope, powerful peace and unstoppable joy that comes with being a child of God because we don’t belong here. When we live it, people notice it! Philippians 3:20 NIV – 20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, The Lord Jesus Christ, … It's also how we're qualified and worth of discerning spiritual matters. C ) (vs 36-38) … The only way we can be ready to obediently respond to spiritual matters is to always be on watch for the light of the truth! A lot of professing Christians spend a whole lot of time worrying about debating and sometimes even arguing about when the rapture of the church will happen! The rapture is when God removes all believers, living and dead, from the earth (the true church) …and… … give us glorified bodies in heaven for eternity. Then, He’ll impart His righteous judgement on all who refused to believe and submit to Jesus (God’s only Son/ the one true Messiah) as Lord and Savior! Followers of Jesus need to stop worrying and keep working! It’s vital for us to understand how we’re declared worthy to be God’s children so we can discern spiritual mattes and help those around us who’re lost without Jesus, come to know and understand how they can be made worthy. The Bible says, all of us are sinners, separated from God, headed for eternity in Hell! But sinners can be saved from separation and hell by God’s grace through faith in Jesus! We’re made worthy by believing in the Holy sovereign God of the Bible, having faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior and trusting in the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. Then, we pray and watch for the spiritual matters God has planned for us! So, stop worrying about it just do it! Praying and being on watch causes us to be ready because we’re made worthy in Jesus at the time of our salvation! The Bible gives us a lot of verses that speak to this… Philippians 3:9 NIV – 9 and be found In Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ … The Righteousness that comes from God on the basis of Faith. Our righteousness comes by God through faith in Jesus, powered by the Holy Spirit. Nobody can make this happen by their own actions or power! No other false god has the ability to impart righteousness on anything or anybody! It is where we get our strength to endure this mess! 2 Timothy 2:1 NIV – You then, My son, be strong in The Grace that is In Christ Jesus. 2 Timothy 1:13 NIV - 13 What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with Faith and Love In Christ Jesus. Colossians 1:28 NIV – 28 He is The One we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all Wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature In Christ Jesus. At the moment a person repents from sin and submits to Jesus as Lord and Savior, salvation is deposited by God in our spiritual account. It’s at that same moment we’re placed in Jesus and our identity is in Him! Which means our worthiness is found in His worthiness. Our righteousness is found in His righteousness and our salvation is found in His salvation! Jude 24 NIV – 24 To Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before His Glorious Presence without fault and with great joy. A while lot of the current so called Christian culture isn’t being very watchful! Way too many pastors don’t teach the church to be ready to discern urgent spiritual matters like attacks against our faith and freedom. We’re supposed to be teaching followers of Jesus to be praying and watching… stay alert… so, we can be ready to take on the spiritual matters that God has designed for us! We need to be in an attitude of prayer all the time! Revelation 3:1-2 NIV – “To The Angel of The Church in Sardis write … These are The Words of Him Who holds The Seven Spirits of God and The Seven Stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. 2 Wake up! … Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God! … There ~IT~ is AGAIN … BE READY! … à We have to wake up and guard against the worldly dangers that keep us from being ready! It’s things that can literally consume us like bitterness, apathy, idleness, anger, lack of prayer, pursuit of worldly wealth or whatever else we get distracted by! Matthew 26:41 NIV – 41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” We need fellow believers that keep us ready, awake, watching and waiting! We want believers in our lives who will remind us that Jesus could come any minute! We want believers in our lives who’re ready to meet Jesus! Luke 12:45-46 NIV – 45 But suppose the servant says to himself, ‘My Master is taking a long time in coming,’ and he then begins to beat the other servants, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk. 46 The Master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect Him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers. So, what should we be doing to make sure we’re ready when Jesus comes back? 1. Make sure our closest friends are believers and hold each other accountable to the truth! 2. Start producing fruit by speaking the truth and doing things the way Jesus would! 3. Build God’s church by using our spiritual gifts to serve Jesus as He calls! 4. Be ready to reach out to meet the needs for truth of those in our circles of influence! 5. Make worshipping Jesus a priority! (Showing Him love in praise, words and actions!) 6. Read the Bible every day (with the ears to hear from the Holy Spirit inside us!) 7. Pray all the time… all day… then, fall asleep praying! (Pray continually!) 8. Look for the opportunities God gives us to serve Jesus! Be involved in His kingdom work! 9. Witness to others about what God has done for you! (Speak the truth of Jesus to people!) 10. Continue working hard to know God better (Grow in our love, faith and trust of Jesus!) *9 Action Words :> - LOVE – PRAY – THANK – GO – MAKE – TEACH – ASK – SEEK – KNOCK! It’s not too late to make a difference for the Kingdom of God but we have to make the decision to be ready now! Titus 2:11-13 NIV – 11 For The Grace of God has appeared that offers Salvation to all people. 12 It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and Godly lives in this present age, 13 while we wait [BE READY] for The Blessed Hope … The appearing of The Glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ … If you’re listening online… and you haven’t made the decision to follow Jesus, then I’m inviting you to pray to Jesus right now… and receive Him as your personal Lord and Savior! He knows what’s best for us and it’s eternity with God in heaven… But the only way to get there is through a salvation relationship with Jesus! So, don’t wait! Receive him now! Let’s pray!

Invincible Church Sermon Notes 11/19/2023 The “Able Power” of Jesus Ephesians 3:13-21 We finished a series last week that focused on God’s truth, which is the only truth. Now we’re going to move into a series focused on God’s power and all that goes with it, which goes way beyond a person just saying they know there’s a God and He’s powerful because… … knowing God and experiencing God are two different things! We’re going to look at what the Bible says about experiencing and encountering God through our belief, faith and trust in Jesus, which also provides us His power and it all starts with sincere worship, praise and prayer as God’s humble/obedient ambassador, warrior, servant and saint! God has unlimited power and we have ongoing needs, but that’s ok because God’s able to do way more than we could ask or even imagine! So, it’s a perfect match! But it still seems like a lot of believers have some unmet needs. The Bible tells us why life seems this way. Ephesians 3:13-21 NIV – 13 I ask you, therefore, Not to Be Discouraged because of my Suffering’s for you, which are your glory.14 For this reason I kneel before The Father, 15 from Whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of His Glorious Riches He may strengthen you with Power thru His Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have Power, together with all The Lord’s Holy people, to Grasp how wide and long and high and deep is The Love of Christ, 19 and to know this Love that surpasses knowledge … That you may be filled to The Measure of all The Fullness of God. 20 Now to Him Who is ABLE to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His Power that is at work within us, 21 to Him be Glory in The Church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Paul is praying for and encouraging the church to get a grasp on the able power of Jesus! (vs 19) is saying it’s directly related to the fullness of God, which is everything God is! It’s all His attributes, character, perfection and holiness. And it all hinges on His power and love! So, the fullness of God is in His complete nature. It’s who He is! This passage is telling us that Jesus has infinite power and He is able to do anything, everything and all things! And His power is IN us! At the time, Paul’s talking to people who’re discouraged, defeated, scared, tired and have lost hope! Just like a lot of people today! Paul points them to Jesus and tells them Jesus is able to help them overcome everything that’s overwhelming them. Jesus is the best news we could ever give to lost people… and people who’ve lost all hope in life. There’s somebody who is able to deliver them from shame, guilt, fear, oppression, persecution, evil… just name it! He has power over it and His name is Jesus! So, when the Bible says we can conquer all things through Christ who strengthens us, that’s exactly what it means! It’s not some philosophical ideology! It’s the cold/hard facts! The power of Jesus conquers all things and the Bible gives us a lot of real examples! A lot of real-life bad situations involving real people aren’t just stories. Like when King Nebuchadnezzar told Shadrack, Meshach and Abednego that they had to stop bowing to worship God and submit to his authority instead or else they’d be executed in a fiery furnace! Nebuchadnezzar told them that nobody has the power to overrule him! But these 3 Hebrew men told the king the sovereign/holy God whom we serve is able to deliver us from your hand of persecution. We don’t know if He will, but we know He’s able! Then on over in Daniel 6, a law was passed by the kings of the Meade’s and Persian’s that prohibited praying for 30 days! Daniel kneeled and prayed anyway! And he didn’t hide to do it! He opened the windows in his house to prove he trusted God for protection! The penalty for disobeying the king was being thrown in the lion’s den to be eaten alive! The king came the next day to see if there was anything left of Daniel, but Daniel was alive and well! And he testified to the king, “I tried to tell you that my God is able to protect me”! The king had earthly authority to sentence Daniel to death for breaking man’s law but he didn’t have the power to override God’s hand of protection over His faithful servant! It’s the same power of Jesus that saves us from the life and death situation we’re in with sin! Our sin convicts us and sentences us to death, but we can be saved through the power of Jesus, who’s able to defeat the death sentence of sin! And He’s more than able to protect us from the attacks of the enemy and the bad situation of life! Now, the power of Jesus in us doesn’t always deliver us from bad situations. Sometimes He delivers us through bad situations and sometimes He delivers us in bad situations. But He always delivers us in God’s perfect timing and our faith is a big part of it! Hebrews 7:25 NIV – 25 Therefore He is ABLE to save completely those who come to God through Him, [That’s JESUS] … because He always lives to intercede for them! Then there’s the people who’re headed for death and don’t seem to know it. And part of the work Jesus has given us to do is speak the truth into them and wake them up! It’s why we should never give up on unsaved people we live because Jesus is able to save them! 2 Corinthians 9:8 NIV – 8 And God is ABLE to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. Jude 1:24- 25 NIV – 24 To Him Who is ABLE to keep you from stumbling and to present you before His Glorious Presence without fault and with great joy … 25 to The Only God our Savior be Glory, Majesty, Power and Authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen. (vs 20) God want us to experience and encounter Him in miraculous ways so we can testify to people about things that are only possible through the power of Jesus! People aren’t always going to believe what we’re telling them, but they ought to be able to see that we believe it! When we truly love Jesus and speak God’s truth with boldness, conviction and guidance from the Holy Spirit, people are able to tell that we believe in God and have faith in Jesus. So, it’s imperative that we trust the process that the Bible lays out for following Jesus! We see the process at work over in (Mark 4 and to the end of Mark 5) … Jesus takes the disciples on a journey to learn how to trust Him. They’re going to see 4 situations that most anybody who’s caught in the middle would say are impossible to resolve! What Jesus is about to show them is the Almighty Power of God over every situation… and understand what they’re about to experience and witness in real life… is directly connected to what Jesus just taught them in the classroom. (And He’ll do the same for us!) So… 4 Examples of The “Able Power” of Jesus in Impossible Situations I. Jesus Calms The Sea! - (Mark 4:35-41) … Jesus and the disciples were crossing to the other side of the sea of Galilee to continue their mission and ministry work. Jesus was asleep because He was exhausted from all the work they’d been doing. Then, a violent storm blew in! The disciples panicked. They didn’t stop to consider who was in the boat with them. However, they woke Him up and asked Him, how and why He could sleep when the storm was about to sink them, So, He got up, spoke with power and the sea went calm because He is able! And then He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this? Even the wind obeys Him!” But even then, instead of fully trusting Him, they were kind of afraid of Him. After this, it gets even better… II. Jesus Heals a Demoniac! - (Mark 5:1-20) … The boat lands in a very rocky area with cliffs, where there’s actually a demon possessed maniac! He has supernatural strength and nobody or nothing could bind him. Jesus spoke and cast a legion of demons out of him into pigs! Then the pics panicked and ran off a cliff and died, which put a stop to the legion of demons! Then, the man goes to ten cities and tells people, “I met a man who spoke and the demons came out of me! The Messian has come! Remember the disciples are seeing all this! Next… III. Jesus Heals a Woman! - (Mark 5:21-34) … They go back over the Sea of Galilee and a Jewish ruler named Jairus has a daughter who’s dying! He says, “My little girl is dying. Will you please come help?" And, Jesus says, “Yes!” So, as Jesus is walking toward the home of the little girl who’s dying, He’s swarmed by other people wanting help! All of a sudden, He stops and says, “Who touched me? I felt power go out of me!” A woman in the crowd confessed that she touched Him! She had an issue of blood that couldn’t be healed, but she believed that if she could get close to Jesus, He would surely heal her! Jesus said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well!” Apparently, even after this, the disciples are still confused because He didn’t touch her! Then… IV. Jesus Resurrects a Dead Girl! - (Mark 5:21-43) … Now He’s ready to go to the dying girl! But runners from the house tell Him it’s too late. She’s dead! Jesus turns to them and says, “Don’t be afraid! Only believe! And He goes to the house anyway! Mourners are already there… waiting and crying! Jesus tells them to stop it! And everybody calms down. He says, “The girl is not dead… she’s just asleep!” He looks at the girl that says, “Little girl, I say to you, arise!” And she wakes up! Jesus has authority over life and death! So, we see in all of these real life/real people impossible situations that Jesus can be trusted… again… these things really happened! This isn’t just some folklore or fable. These events show and prove the power of Jesus and His teaching, which tells us… 4 Facts about The “Able Power” of Jesus A. Jesus is the Lord over the “natural” realm. He speaks to the wind, water, fire and earth … and they obey Him! B. Jesus is the Lord over the "spiritual" realm! The enemy’s supernatural power, evil principalities and demonic forces… are all under the control, command and able power of Jesus! C. Jesus is the Lord over the “physical” realm! He heals the physical body! Like the woman with the issue of blood. His “able power” speaks, touches, or is just simply present… and it reverses physical events that have already transpired like the little girl that had died! D. Jesus is the Lord over the "eternal" realm! Jesus is the sovereign Lord and has power over all things: past, present, future and forever! We’re living in a day where the prophecies, purposes and words of Jesus are literally happening at an exponential pace… and we’re headed to the final chapter of this fallen/sinful earth at almost break-neck speed! All of it’s fully described in the Book of Revelation! So, we can either focus on our circumstances and what other people are saying and doing or we can trust the truth of the Word of God and focus on Jesus … how He's the almighty/sovereign Lord and has power over heaven and earth! The history of this earth ends with Jesus coming back and making all the things right that we’ve seen made wrong. And He’s bringing God’s justice with Him! He’ll establish a new heaven and new earth and He doesn’t want anybody to miss it! He has a role and responsibility for us in the process and He doesn’t want us to miss that either! So, when we think about what really matters, let’s move beyond our earthly perspective on circumstances, economies, political issues and world situations! So, let’s focus on Jesus who had a fully human, natural, humble birth! He lived a perfect spiritual and physical life! He died a physical death and defeated evil and sin in the process! He even defeated physical and eternal death! And He’s coming back to defeat Satan and all his demons! So, how could we ever doubt that Jesus has all the power that we’d ever need in all our times of trouble! No matter how desperate, how urgent, how tragic or how personal our trouble happens to be! We have to believe He has the power. We have to live out our faith to prove it! Not only to ourselves, but to others! Then we have to trust Him by taking whatever action He calls us to take in advancing God’s kingdom, even if it makes us afraid or doesn’t make sense! Jesus came on the greatest rescue mission ever conceived! He has not … cannot… and will not fail. In fact, He’s already won the war! We just have to finish the battles and He’s fighting right beside us! His plan for our life is better than any plan we could ever come up with! Jesus is a mighty God. We can believe His promises! He has power over the spiritual world… the physical world… even power over life and death itself! He’ll give us everything we need to face anything we’re going through. But we have to ask! We have a hope in Jesus that does not… and will not change! Because we’re connected to Him through belief, faith and trust! We’re His brothers and sisters as children of the most high God! So, let’s put our best effort and energy into focusing on that! Things will change for the better when we do! I promise because Jesus promised us first! In Revelation 1:8 Jesus declared that “Alpha and Omega”! … The beginning and the end… the spirit of the living God… who’s the creator… and who has all power over past, present and future! He dwells in us and wants to help us. He has done and will do… everything He says He’ll do! We need to work hard everyday to obediently live out the guaranteed hope and power of Jesus so others will see our love for Him but most importantly, so we show Jesus how much we love Him. I don’t do this much, but … I want to give us an action item to take away… a tangible thing we can all do for life application. It’s really easy… if we’ll do it! Sometime this week read (Revelation 22) … the entire chapter. Let the reality of the guaranteed hope that we’ll have in Jesus sink in. Pray as you read through and ask God to do something through us for Him. If you’re listening online… and you haven’t made the decision to follow Jesus, then I’m inviting you to pray to Jesus right now… and receive Him as your personal Lord and Savior! He knows what’s best for us and it’s eternity with God in heaven… But the only way to get there is through a salvation relationship with Jesus! So, don’t wait! Receive him now! And please join us for our baptism service on December 3rd. Let’s pray!

THE TESTIMONY

Invincible Church Sermon Notes 10/22/2023 Be Ready pt 2 Luke 21:5-38 One of the foundational themes Jesus taught us through His life, teaching, instructions, ministry and prophecies is to be ready! The primary reason He warns His followers to be ready is that only God knows the exact date and time that Jesus is coming back. All through scripture the Bible tells us that the time is counting down to an ending moment that’s been predetermined by God. That specific moment is the “end of time” as we know it on earth and it ushers in the start of eternity for all mankind… either in heaven or hell! So, God’s going to terminate physical time and that’s when Jesus will eliminate all rule, authority and power of the enemy on this earth… and establish His millennial kingdom under the authority, principle and power of God Almighty! And Jesus tells us to be ready! We’ve started looking at all the reasons Jesus tells us to be ready and why we should want to be working hard to get ready. It all centers on us loving Jesus enough to be an obedient faithful follower of Him as our Lord, Savior and King! The main passage for this study is in Luke 21: 5-38. It’s the final public sermon from Jesus and He preached it from the Mount of Olives. So, it’s called “The Olivet Discourse.” The foundation of the message is, “Be ready for His second coming!” The message has 4 specific segments, which gives us… The Four Primary Ways Jesus Teaches Us to “Be Ready” Jesus tells us that the countdown to His second coming would start in Jerusalen when God’s Holy temple would be destroyed by the Romans. History tells us it happened exactly when and how He said it would. Last week we started with the first way Jesus tells us to be ready which is… 1) Discern “The Prophetic Times” we’re Living In! … (vs 5-9) Tells us followers of Jesus are supposed to be diligently praying, working and watching for “the prophecy” of the end times, so we can discern exactly how God wants us to respond to what we see going on around us. (vs 5&6) Tell us we have to know and understand Bible history… (vs 7&8) tell us to be diligent in discerning the truth so we know when we’re being lied to… and (vs 8&9) tell us to know and understand the Bible prophecy that hasn’t happened yet because God’s telling us what’s going to happen in advance! That’s a review of (vs 5-9). Today we’re going to cover (vs 10-19). Luke 21:10-19 NIV - 10 Then He said to them … “Nation will Rise against Nation … And Kingdom against Kingdom! ... 11 There will be Great Earthquakes … “Famines and Pestilences” in Various Places … And Fearful Events … And Great Signs from Heaven! … 12 “But Before All This … They will Seize you … And Persecute you! ... They will Hand you Over to Synagogues … And Put you in Prison … And you will be Brought Before “Kings and Governors” … And All On Account of My Name! ... 13 And so you will Bear Testimony to Me! ... 14 But Make Up your Mind Not to Worry Beforehand How you will Defend yourselves! ... 15 For I will Give you “Words and Wisdom” that None of your Adversaries will Be Able to “Resist or Contradict”! … 16 You will Be Betrayed … Even by Parents … “Brothers and Sisters” … “Relatives and Friends” … And they will Put Some of you to Death! … 17 Everyone will Hate you Because of Me! … 18 But Not a Hair of your Head Will Perish! 19 Stand Firm …And you will Win Life! … The 2nd Way Jesus Teaches us to Be Ready is… 2) Discern “The Prophetic Signs” We’re Living in – So, (1st is “times” and 2nd is “signs”) … (vs 10-19) tell us our response to prophecy needs to be, “I’m not afraid because I’m ready!”… which means it’s super important that we study and understand the signs of Bible prophecy because… 1) It reassures us the guaranty of our salvation through Jesus … 2) it gives us confidence and boldness to do God’s work… 3) it helps us evaluate our actions… 4) it helps us calm our mind and emotions… 5) it increases our faith in God and His Word and 6) it continually shows us that God almighty is real! Followers of Jesus are supposed to be discerning people! To discern the signs means we have to stay alert! The definition of discern is to separate with a keen eye and mind. It means to distinguish and segregate or to divide or to profile! When (vs 11) says, “fearful events” it’s talking about things we see going on that terrify and disgust us all at the same time! These are things like tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, tornados, famines, floods, plagues and pestilence! So, the prophecies of Jesus are incredibly profound and 100% accurate. That’s why there’s no excuse for a professing follower of Jesus to not fully trust His instructions and be obedient, diligent and urgent in carrying them out and getting His work done! No matter what’s going on! We’re told all through the Bible, both Old Testiment and New Testiment… Ecclesiastes 8:5-6 NIV – 5 Whoever obeys His command will come to no harm, and the wise heart will know the proper time and procedure. 6 For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter, though a person may be weighed down by misery! We’re also warned by Jesus that we shouldn’t give more credibility to the so-called experts of this world than we do to the truth and power of the Word of God! God even gives us powerful brains and minds primarily so we can experience, encounter and know Him better. The secondarily to help us in our spiritual and physical battles on earth! Look at… Luke 12:54-56 NIV – 54 He said to the crowd: “When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, ‘It’s going to rain,’ and it does. 55 And when the south wind blows, you say, ‘It’s going to be hot,’ and it is. 56 Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you don’t know how to interpret this present time? … So … à True followers of Jesus should have a Biblical worldview (vs 10-11). When we’re diligent to align everything we do and say with God’s Word, we’ll stay under the protective umbrella of the power of the Holy Spirit! Remember Satan can’t accurately produce or predict prophecy! But when we’re spiritually attacked, if we don’t keep a Biblical perspective on everything we do, then we’re setting ourselves up to be deceived, distracted, disrupted and detained by the enemy. And we’re going to be attacked, that’s for sure! Deception is a huge part of Satan’s strategy in his spiritual battle plan against us! So, we have to be ready to discern when we’re being deceived! And when we’re saved, we’ve been spiritually equipped to do it! Jesus has even given us the weapons to fight with! 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 NIV – 3 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary … They have Divine Power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments … And every pretension that sets itself up against The Knowledge of God … And we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. The easiest way to develop and maintain our Biblical worldview is to know and follow the instruction we’re given in the Bible! It’s the only way to do and live what’s right in the eyes of God and stay focused on the things of God. It also sets an example for others! Philippians 4:8 NIV – 8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable … if anything is excellent or praiseworthy … think about such things. We’re called to be the salt and light of the earth, which means true follower of Jesus are called to live in a way that causes other people to think about pursuing a relationship with Jesus Christ! We can’t be salt and light if we’re not trusting Jesus and doing things God’s way! 2 Peter 3:11 NIV – 11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live Holy and Godly lives. This world is very temporary! None of the things of this earth will carry over into heaven… or hell. So, we’ve got to stop being consumed by worldly things! When we live our lives focused on the things of God, other people are able to tell we’re a follower of Jesus. It has to be seen in everything we do! Matthew 5:14-16 NIV – 14 “You are The Light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your Light Shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and Glorify your Father in Heaven. Being “the light” means that we’re people who love, pray and are thankful for everything! We GO – MAKE and TEACH people to be disciples… and we ASK – SEEK and KNOCK on the doors of opportunity that God gives us to serve Him! It’s also very important to train ourselves and remember that followers of Jesus should discern words of wisdom from God when we speak advice into the opportunities He gives us (vs 12-15). Matthew 28:18-20 NIV – 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All Authority in Heaven and on earth has been given to Me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in The Name of The Father and of The Son and of The Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I Am with you always, to The Very End of The Age!” Once we submit to Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we’ve been transformed and reconciled to God by the blood of Jesus, which means we’ve got something important to tell everybody! So, every follower of Jesus is supposed to be in training to speak the truth of the Gospel as an evangelist! The reality is, if we’re a follower of Jesus today, It’s because somebody was obedient to the instructions Jesus gives His follower and told us about being in a relationship with Him! Somebody spoke the truth to us, so let’s speak the truth to a lot of people. It glorifies God! When we’re saved, we’ve got “Good News” for people to hear! We’ve got something good to say! People are hearing enough bad news these days. Let’s give them the good news about Jesus! And we don’t have to wait for them to ask! We just discern from God when He wants us to speak. And when it involves the truth, He’ll give us plenty of opportunities! When we're saved, we've got "Good News" for people to hear! We've got something good to share. Acts 4:13; 17-21 NIV – 13 When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. 17 But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn them to speak no longer to anyone in this Name.” 18 Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in The Name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John replied, “Which is Right in God’s Eyes … to listen to you, or to Him? You be The Judges! 20 As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” 21 After further threats they let them go. They could not decide how to punish them, because all the people were praising God for what had happened. The truth about Jesus always impacts people one way or another because it’s a spiritual thing. And a lot of times we’ll be persecuted in some kind of way for speaking about Jesus but that’s ok too because a true follower of Jesus can’t lose in this world! John 14:25-26 NIV – 25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But The Advocate, The Holy Spirit, Whom The Father will send in My Name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. The only way true followers of Jesus can be deceived is if they fail to discern the truth from God through the power of the Holy Spirit! So, true followers of Jesus should have 100% confidence in their acceptance and assurance from God! (vs 16-19) As far as persecution goes, think about the stoning of Stephen. The rocks were flying at him and he cried out, “Father forgive them… they don’t know what they’re doing!” … just like Jesus did at the cross! That tells us the closer we get to Jesus, the more we’re going to be like Him! Again, the reality is, somebody who professes to be a Christian is going to be persecuted, but the great news is persecution, rejection or even death can’t separate a true follower of Jesus from God! So, we’ve got nothing to be afraid of! Literally, all of the very worst things that can happen to us on this earth are only temporary! Even death! Then, if we’re saved and a follower of Jesus, we get to go be with Him in heaven for eternity… where nothing bad ever happens! It’s true, so it’s real and it lasts forever! 2 Corinthians 5:8-9 NIV – 8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at Home with The Lord. 9 So we make it our goal to please Him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. Which means in life and death, if we’re a saved believer, not even one hair on our head will ever be lost forever! Yes, followers of Jesus are going to be persecuted, some even up to execution, but not one single follower of His will ever completely perish… forever! That’s why we’re invincible because of Jesus and what He did at the cross! Romans 8:37-39 NIV – 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from The Love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Matthew 16:25 NIV – 25 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for Me will find it. Just a few more scriptures to wrap up today’s message… Mark 10:28-30 NIV – 28 Then Peter spoke up, “We have left everything to follow You!” 29 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for Me and The Gospel 30 will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age … homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields … along with persecutions … and in The Age to come Eternal Life. The power of death on earth shouldn’t scare a true follower of Jesus because ultimately, it’s what ushers us into His presence in heaven! Matthew 18:14 NIV – 14 In the same way your Father in Heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish. A believer who walks with Jesus may lose their life on earth, but they’ll never lose their way to heaven! John 3:15 NIV – 15 ... That everyone who believes may have Eternal Life in Him. John 10:27-29 NIV – 27 My sheep listen to My Voice; I know them, and they follow Me. 28 I give them Eternal Life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of My Hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is Greater than all; no one can snatch them out of My Father’s Hand. All of this works together to let us know that followers of Jesus will be able to discern the signs, times and seasons of when His return is near, but only God knows the day and hour! But that’s ok because it’s God’s plan and it ought to motivate us to get His work done! Now we’ve discerned the signs of the times so we’re ready to: tell others about Jesus, love our husband or wife God’s way, keep training to do what God wants us to do, give God our best of everything, learn how to enjoy God’s amazing love for us and learn how to live in His awesome power! If you’re listening online and you haven’t made the decision to follow Jesus, then I’m inviting you to pray to Jesus right now and receive Him as your personal Lord and Savior! He knows what’s best for us and it’s eternity with God in heaven, but the only way to get there is through a salvation relationship with Jesus. So, don’t wait… receive Him now. Let’s pray.

Invincible Church Sermon Notes 10/29/2023 Be Ready pt 3 Luke 21:5-38 The Bible tells us that God wants His people to “Be Ready” and “Stay Ready” for His plan, which means it’s God’s will for us to know and understand the signs of the times concerning the second coming of Jesus, so we can be ready for the work He’s designed us to do! The primary reason we know it’s so important is approximately 27% of the Bible’s message from God to us contains prophecy! And out of the 27 Books of the New Testament, 23 of them mention or teach something about the second coming of Jesus. In fact, the second coming of Jesus is mentioned 321 times in the Bible, which is more than any other subject except for salvation! It’s what we see all through the course of Paul’s ministry. He talks about the salvation of lost people and the second coming of Jesus more than anything else! Likewise, we want to be successful in everything God designed us to do in our ministry on earth as a follower of Jesus! So, we’ve been looking at the … 4 Primary Ways Jesus Teaches Us to “Be Ready” in Luke 21: 5-38. 1) Discern “The Prophetic Times” We’re Living In! … (vs 5-9) Tells us followers of Jesus are supposed to be diligently: praying, working and watching for the continuing prophecy of the end times. The second way for us to be ready is… 2) Discern “The Prophetic Signs” We’re Living In! … (vs 10-19) Tells us the signs are fearful events that terrify and disgust us, which are natural disasters like tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, tornadoes, famines, floods, plagues and pestilence! The fearful events also include evil, vile, perverted actions of wicked people, which happen every day now. We can see clearly the signs of these type of abominations increasing in scope and frequency all the time. Today we’re going to pick back up in… Luke 21:20-28 NIV - 20 “When you See Jerusalem being Surrounded by Armies … You will Know that Its Desolation is Near! ... 21 Then Let Those who Are In Judea Flee to The Mountains … Let Those In The City Get Out! … And Let Those In The Country Not Enter The City! ... 22 For This is The Time of Punishment in Fulfillment of All that has Been Written! ... 23 How Dreadful It will Be In Those Days for Pregnant Women … And Nursing Mothers! … There will Be Great Distress in The Land … And Wrath against this People! ... 24 They will Fall by The Sword … And will Be Taken as Prisoners to All The Nations! … Jerusalem will Be Trampled On by The Gentiles until The Times of The Gentiles are Fulfilled! ... 25 “There will Be Signs in The Sun … Moon … And Stars! ... On The Earth … Nations will Be In “Anguish and Perplexity” at The “Roaring and Tossing” of The Sea! … 26 People will Faint from Terror … Apprehensive of What is “Coming On” The World … For The Heavenly Bodies will Be Shaken! … 27 At That Time … They will See The Son of Man Coming In a Cloud with “Power and Great Glory”! … 28 When These Things Begin to Take Place … Stand Up … And “Lift Up” your Heads … Because your Redemption is Drawing Near!” … The prophecy of Jesus is complete because it has specific design inside of God’s overall plan for the Nation of Israel, the Jewish people, the city of Jerusalem, the gentile people, and it encompasses the entire world for all time. But the primary thing to remember is… God’s alarm clock for the prophetic times is centered on the Nation of Israel and the second coming of Jesus. #1 there are “times” and #2 there are “signs”! So, Jesus expects us to keep up with what’s going on and keep our eye on the Nation of Israel. The only nation in history that’s had its sovereignty completely taken away and then completely restored again is the Nation of Israel, exactly like the Bible said it would! So, this prophecy makes it easy to discern the times we’re in now! The times and signs work hand in hand! That’s why God wants us to be aware of the prophetic signs because they’re indicators for the end of time events! So, we have the proof of prophecy that’s come to pass in history so far. Now we move on to #3, which is… 3) Discern “The Prophetic Events” that are Still to Come! … (vs 20-28) – The benefit we get from studying this is knowing with certainty what’s ahead gives us confidence and courage for the work we need to be doing now. Because… What God says is what God does… and Jesus makes it easy for us to see the big picture idea of what God wants us to know! What Jesus says in (vs 20-22) covers 2000 years of time! So, looking ahead gives us the true perspective for having a Biblical worldview! It’s one of the primary reasons God gave us the Bible. The Bible is the Word of God… and it’s not of this world, but it was sent by God to this world! Non-believers who try to refute the Bible say it’s written by man so it can’t be trusted, which isn’t true. The Bible says in… 2 Timothy 3:16 NIV – 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness … So, no matter what people want to believe, the Bible is the authority of God! A lot of folks may not believe it or like it, but the reality is, every time we speak the Bible, the Holy Spirit infuses it into the lives of the people who are listening. It causes them to start thinking about spiritual matters. That’s why people will forget what we say from human intellect, but they’ll never forget what the Holy Spirit says through us! Always stick to the truth of the Bible! We can put it to the test and it will pass every time! 2 Peter 1:21 NIV – 21 For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by The Holy Spirit! … What it's saying here is... All the authors of the Word of God were possessed by the Holy Spirit. Most people only think about being possessed in terms of being possessed by a demon, but every follower of Jesus is possessed by the power of the Holy Spirit and can’t be demon possessed! Also, the truth of God’s Word will never go away! Matthew 5:18 NIV – 18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from The Law until everything is accomplished. This is telling us that the Word of God will be completely fulfilled. Also in… John 13:19 NIV – 19 “I Am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I Am Who I Am! So, when the Bible said Jerusalem would be surrounded and destroyed by enemies, it happened! And it’s not just in the Bible, it’s in history books as fact! So, when the Bible says Jerusalem will be surrounded by armies again, it’s going to happen! Daniel spoke about the events around the ministry of Jesus 500 years before Jesus was born! And every bit of it happened exactly the way he prophesied that it would… Daniel 9:26 NIV - 26 After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ The Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and The Sanctuary. The end will come like a flood … War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. God’s Word ever fails! Mattew gives us a more detailed prophecy… Matthew 24:14-21 NIV – 14 And this Gospel of The Kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a Testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. 15 “So when you see standing in The Holy Place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel … Let the reader understand … 16 Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. 18 Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. 19 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 20 Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on The Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now and never to be equaled again. God wants us to be looking ahead because He wants us to know what’s coming! Not just for our curiosity and planning, but because He’s got stuff for us to accomplish for His Kingdom! So, back to (vs 24), in one sentence, with just 15 words, Jesus reveals a truth that nobody can deny… Jerusalem is the epicenter of the past… and the future. Past to present… How we got here… God’s plan to reveal Himself to the World… Abram, Sarah, Hagar, Ismael, Miracle, Isaac… the spirit of Hagar became evil… Sarah had Abraham put her out of the house… Jerusalem was promised by God to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and descendants! Prophecy… Solomon builds temple… King Nebuchadnezzar destroys 1st temple in Jerusalem 565 BC… Israelites reconquer… King Herod builds 2nd temple… Romans destroy in 70 AD… pagan spirit of Hagar rises again… Muhammed falsely prophecies… Nation of Islam… Muslims. They believe the Temple Mount was promised to Ismael. The reality is, Jerusalem belongs to God, but God doesn’t stay where He’s not wanted! It’s been thousands of years since there was a permanent representation of God on the Temple Mount! God is not begotten and He has no son! Jews sufferer because they rejected God and His Son, Jesus… again and again! Holocaust, persecution from radical Islam, most recently the attacks from Palestinians in Gaza… back to the main passage in (vs 24) again… this is amazing… (vs 24) They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Full stop. 2000 year+ pause… Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. Basically, there are two types of people… Jews and Gentiles. There are two types of Jews and Gentiles… Jews who believe in Jesus and Jews who don’t. Gentiles who believe in Jesus and those who don’t! Two dynamics surrounding each! The temple and the church! God’s dealing with each group in His sovereign/holy way! He wants all who will come to salvation through Jesus, but there’s still specifics that are unique to each covenant that He will fulfill because He made the promise and He won’t break it! Even more amazing… go way back before (vs 24) to the Old Testament where it’s prophesied in… Hosea 5:15; 6:1 NIV – 15 Then I will return to My Lair until they have borne their guilt and seek My Face … in their misery they will earnestly seek Me.” [Prophesying 2000+ YR PAUSE] … 6 1“Come, let us return to The Lord. He has torn us to pieces but He will heal us; He has injured us but He will bind up our wounds. So, God’s going to deal with the Jews and the Gentiles on earth as He has specified and sees fit, in His perfect timing! There will be a rapture of the church, which is all who choose to submit to Jesus as Lord and Savior, receiving the gift of salvation! God is a loving, patient, merciful, gracious God. He’s given the Jewish people many, many chances… John 1:10-11 NIV – 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made Through Him, the world did not recognize Him. 11 He came to that which was His Own, but His own did not receive Him. God won’t be done with His people until His plan is fully complete! There are so many times when He gives grace and mercy that people become arrogant and disobedient. It’s what Paul was talking about in… Romans 11:25 NIV – 25 I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited … Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. We can do our part by looking ahead to prophecy in the Bible because looking ahead helps us understand and discern more about God’s heart, mind and plan. We need to spend more time reading the Bible than we do reading books about the Bible. It tells us what’s going to happen and what to be ready for… Romans 8:20-23 NIV – 20 For The Creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by The Will of The One Who subjected it, in hope 21 that The Creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the Freedom and Glory of The children of God. 22 We know that The Whole Creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have The First-Fruits of The Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to son-ship, the redemption of our bodies! … SO … à The Bible’s not only a manual for how to live our life now. It’s also a warning beacon that allows us to be ready for the future! Again, we can have 100% confidence in God’s Word. Look at… 2 Peter 3:3-5 NIV – 3 Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. 4 They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ He promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” 5 But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s Word The Heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. The better we know and understand the prophecy in God’s plan, the more assurance, confidence and courage we have to get His work done! Let’s do our part and get ready! If you’re listening online and you haven’t made the decision to follow Jesus, then I’m inviting you to pray to Jesus right now and receive Him as your personal Lord and Savior. He knows what’s best for us and it’s eternity with God in heaven, but the only way to get there is through a salvation relationship with Jesus! So, don’t wait. Receive Him now! Let’s pray!

Invincible Church Sermon Notes 10/15/2023 Be Ready pt 1 Luke 21:5-38 One of the foundational themes in the life – teaching – instructions – ministry and prophecies of Jesus is for His follower to be ready! The primary reason He warns us to be ready is that only God knows the exact date and time that Jesus is coming back! Over the next few weeks, we’re going to look at all the reasons Jesus tells us to be ready… and why we should want to be working hard to be ready! It all centers on us loving Jesus enough to be a faithful/obedient follower to Him as our Lord, Savior and King! Luke 21:5-38 NIV - 5 Some of His Disciples were Remarking about how The Temple was Adorned with Beautiful Stones … And with Gifts Dedicated to God! … But Jesus said … 6 “As for What you See Here … The Time will Come when Not One Stone will be Left on Another … Every One of them will be Thrown Down!” 7 “Teacher” they Asked … “When will these Things Happen? … And What will be The Sign that They are about to Take Place?” … 8 He Replied … “Watch Out that you are Not Deceived! … For Many will Come In My Name … Claiming … “I Am He” … And … “The Time is Near!” … Do Not Follow them! ... 9 When you Hear of Wars and Uprisings … Do Not be Frightened! ... These Things Must Happen First … But The End will Not Come Right Away!” … 10 Then He said to them … “Nation will Rise against Nation … And Kingdom against Kingdom! ... 11 There will be Great Earthquakes … “Famines and Pestilences” in Various Places … And Fearful Events … And Great Signs from Heaven! … 12 “But Before All This … They will Seize you … And Persecute you! ... They will Hand you Over to Synagogues … And Put you in Prison … And you will be Brought Before “Kings and Governors” … And All On Account of My Name! ... 13 And so you will Bear Testimony to Me! ... 14 But Make Up your Mind Not to Worry Beforehand How you will Defend yourselves! ... 15 For I will Give you “Words and Wisdom” that None of your Adversaries will Be Able to “Resist or Contradict”! … 16 You will Be Betrayed … Even by Parents … “Brothers and Sisters” … “Relatives and Friends” … And they will Put Some of you to Death! … 17 Everyone will Hate you Because of Me! … 18 But Not a Hair of your Head Will Perish! 19 Stand Firm …And you will Win Life! ... 20 “When you See Jerusalem being Surrounded by Armies … You will Know that Its Desolation is Near! ... 21 Then Let Those who Are In Judea Flee to The Mountains … Let Those In The City Get Out! … And Let Those In The Country Not Enter The City! ... 22 For This is The Time of Punishment in Fulfillment of All that has Been Written! ... 23 How Dreadful It will Be In Those Days for Pregnant Women … And Nursing Mothers! … There will Be Great Distress in The Land … And Wrath against this People! ... 24 They will Fall by The Sword … And will Be Taken as Prisoners to All The Nations! … Jerusalem will Be Trampled On by The Gentiles until The Times of The Gentiles are Fulfilled! ... 25 “There will Be Signs in The Sun … Moon … And Stars! ... On The Earth … Nations will Be In “Anguish and Perplexity” at The “Roaring and Tossing” of The Sea! … 26 People will Faint from Terror … Apprehensive of What is “Coming On” The World … For The Heavenly Bodies will Be Shaken! … 27 At That Time … They will See The Son of Man Coming In a Cloud with “Power and Great Glory”! … 28 When These Things Begin to Take Place … Stand Up … And “Lift Up” your Heads … Because your Redemption is Drawing Near!” … 29 He Told Them this Parable … “Look at The Fig Tree and All The Trees! ... 30 When they Sprout Leaves … You Can See for yourselves … And Know that Summer is Near! ... 31 Even So … When you See These Things Happening … You Know that The Kingdom of God is Near! ... 32 “Truly I Tell you … This Generation will Certainly Not Pass Away until All These Things have Happened! ... 33 Heaven and Earth will Pass Away … But My Words will Never Pass Away! ... 34 “Be Careful … Or your Hearts will Be Weighed Down with Carousing … Drunkenness … And The Anxieties of Life … And that Day will Close On you Suddenly like a Trap! ... 35 For It will Come On All Those who Live On The Face of The Whole Earth! ... 36 Be Always On The Watch [Be Ready] … And Pray that you May Be Able to Escape All that Is about To Happen … And That you May Be Able to Stand Before The Son of Man!” … 37 Each Day Jesus was Teaching at The Temple … And each Evening He Went Out to Spend The Night On The Hill Called The Mount of Olives … 38 And All The people Came Early in The Morning to Hear Him at The Temple! All of this sounds like the ole’ good news/bad news thing where somebody asks, “What do you want first… the good news or the bad news? Most people want the bad news first, hoping that the good news will take the sting out of the bad news! It’s the same teaching method that Jesus used and He wants us to know the good news that never changes which is, God is always good, even in the worst of times, but for about 6 months, Jesus had been telling the disciples to be ready… … because He was going to be betrayed – arrested – falsely accused – beaten – humiliated – tortured – and crucified! He wanted them to start getting spiritually prepared, so they’d be ready to take on whatever needed to be done to advance the Kingdom! But the disciples thought that once Jesus was resurrected, He’d immediately establish His millennial Kingdom on earth, and they’d all get back to properly serving, worshipping and praising God the way true followers of Jesus are called to! They kind of skimmed over all the bad news that had been prophesied and was 100% going to happen… and only focused on the good news that was 100% going to happen too, but not until God’s perfect plan and timing called for it to happen! The disciples formulated in their minds their preference of what they wanted to happen! What they thought would immediately happen was Jesus would supernaturally overthrow Rome, establish His Kingdom, the millennium would start and everything would be good! But God had His perfect timing for everything! A lot of people are going through difficult times with all of the hardships, health problems, corruption, depravity, wickedness and evil going on in the world right now… and some of it is beyond horrific! That’s why we have to remember that God’s with us in the midst of all of it… and we have to trust Him when He says that He is working all things for the good of those who love Him! He’s faithful to His Word and promises, so if we love Him, we’ll be patient and trust Him! John 14:1-3 NIV - “Do Not Let your Hearts Be Troubled! ... You Believe In God … Believe Also In Me! ... 2 My Father’s House has many Rooms … If That were Not So … Would I have Told you That I Am Going There to Prepare a Place for you? … 3 And if I Go and Prepare a Place for you … I will Come Back … And Take you to Be with Me … That you Also May Be Where I Am! Jesus gives us the bad news first… because of sin, the earth is fallen and depraved! So, the truth is, there are going to be hard times in this world! Then, He gives us the good news that once we believe in Him and submit to Him as Lord and Savior, we belong to Him! Because we belong to Him, we get to live with Him in heaven forever, where there is never ever – never ever – any bad news ever again! And the Bible teaches us that God wants His church to know that Jesus could come back at any moment… so be ready! Today we’re going to focus on (vs 5-9) our primary passage. In that, we read in Luke 21 where Jesus preached His final public sermon from the Mount of Olives and the foundation of the message was “Be Ready” for His second coming! It’s called “The Olivet Discourse”. It’s covered in 3 of the 4 Gospels… and they don’t contradict each other… they compliment one another! It gives us a more complete perspective of what Jesus was actually teaching. It’s like the encyclopedias that had the transparent overlays. When all the pages are turned, the picture is complete! “The Olivet Discourse” is the same way… In it are … 4 Ways Jesus Gives Us to Be Ready… 1) Discern “The Prophetic Times” we’re Living In – Every follower of Jesus is supposed to be diligently praying, working and watching for the signs of the times, so we can discern exactly what God would have us do in response to what we see going on around us! God never changes and history never changes, but the world and the people in it are changing all the time! The takeaway from (vs 5-6) is if we’re going to be ready for prophetic times, we need to know and understand Biblical history. Satan is trying to distract us from focusing on spiritual matters! He wants us to put more of our attention on things of the world and less of our time and attention on the things of God! He wants us to get lax in our Bible reading and devotion time! God gave us the Bible to feed us spiritually, which keeps us alive and growing in Him! When we go too long without reading the Bible, our spiritual life starts to atrophy! Our faith and our ability to serve God gets really weak! Then, we’re not training or being fed! It’s dangerous because we’re literally starving ourselves spiritually! It’s why Jesus warns us to always be increasing our reading, learning, meditating on and training in God’s Word! We need to be as spiritually strong as we can be to fight the evil and wickedness that keeps getting worse everywhere in the world, every day! It’s the Bible in our heart that allows us to discern how to avoid or attack the evil things going on in the world around us… and also discern how we love, pray and are thankful… how we go, make and teach… how we ask, seek and knock! If we don’t keep getting spiritually stronger, we won’t be a very effective ambassador, warrior, servant or saint for Jesus! We’ll be apathetic to the times we’re living in and we need to know and understand the fact that time is running out! That’s also why it’s super important for us to know and understand Biblical truth and principles! Time and light aren’t scientific constants like we’re taught in school! As a matter of fact, the Bible teaches that time and light are running out for this fallen world! Time and light are physical properties of this physical universe, so time and light are kind of supernaturally condensing or slowing down and will eventually run out! I’m convinced it’s the primary reason why it seems like we have less time to get things done! It’s because God’s in control of everything including time, light and life, but God doesn’t always exercise His control over all things, so we need to keep a Biblical perspective on life instead of solely relying on a scientific perspective! Putting all this together, the world is faced with a lot of bad news! The economy is bad… evil is running rampant… more people are consumed with depravity and perversion... death and destruction are everywhere… So, it’s only the true follower of Jesus who can be thankful to God for putting us here for such a time as this! The rest of the world and false religions are consumed and worried about their prideful preferences, selfish pleasures, status in society and financial well-being. While true believers who are true followers of Jesus are only interested in pursuing Jesus Christ and Him crucified, working hard to show Him we love Him by doing what He’s told us to do, even when we’re faced with all the horrific circumstances going on today! Early on in their walk with Jesus, the disciples still had some of this same prideful perspective on the things of God. They thought the most important things about God were the physical things that would be built or seen like ceremonies, rituals and the temple! Mark 13:1 NIV - As Jesus was Leaving The Temple … One of His Disciples said to Him … “Look Teacher! … What Massive Stones! … What Magnificent Buildings!” They wouldn’t understand why Jesus wasn’t enamored with the temple! Solomon built it and it was built to God’s specifications more so to see if the Israelites would follow His specific instruction to just have an opulent temple! Now, it was a sight to behold! It had a lot of polished white marble and was trimmed in gold! The Romans even declared it to be one of the “7 Wonders” of the Roman empire, even though they didn’t build it! It was so bright that when the sun would rise, the reflection off the temple made it seem like the sun was rising in the East and West! But Jesus knew that after His birth, life, ministry, death, burial and resurrection, God isn’t interested in the buildings we build to worship Him. God is interested in us working to make our body and life the temple of our love, praise, worship and obedience to Him! There’s a church that’s a short driving distance from here that built a new building about 7-8 years ago and it includes a 7-million-dollar fountain! Now, if they discerned that God would have them build a 7-million-dollar foundation, then go for it… but I don’t know! Jesus prophesied “The Fall” of the temple is Jerusalem to them because He wanted them to refocus their temporary hope from the earthly things that they could see, but which could also be destroyed, to the guaranteed hope of the unseen spiritual things of God that are eternal! Jesus is telling them the future so He can teach them that we can read prophecy like a book! The question is, will anybody read it? It’s important that we continually read God’s Word because Bible prophecy is God announcing history in advance! The reason prophetic history is so important is twofold. We study it to learn from the past so we strengthen our faith and trust in Jesus and God announces prophetic history to us, so we’ll be diligent in praying that we’ll do whatever it takes to be ready! God gives us His Word to prepare us, not to terrify us! And we can trust God’s Word 100%. So, when Jesus tells us how to be ready, He knows we have the tools to do it! There’s a whole lot of terrible things going on in the world now, but it shouldn’t catch us off guard! So, we don’t need to panic, we need to praise God because He trusted us enough to put us here now for just such a time as this! Pastor Jack Hibbs said it like this… It’s only through the eyes of God that man can begin to see life clearly. It’s even more true when it comes to looking into the future through Biblical prophecy! God tells us in the Old Testament in… Isaiah 46:9-10 NIV - 9 Remember The Former Things … Those of Long Ago … I Am God … And There is No Other … I Am God … And There is None Like Me! ... 10 I Make Known The End from The Beginning … From Ancient Times What is Still to Come! ... I say … ‘My Purpose will Stand … and I Will Do All That I Please! God knows we’ll be better equipped to face the future if we’ve taken the time to learn from the past and been properly trained to master it! Then, we’ll be better able to properly discern our actions for the present! Isaiah 48:3-5 NIV - 3 I Foretold The Former Things Long Ago … My Mouth Announced Them … And I Made them Known … Then Suddenly I Acted … And they Came to Pass! ... 4 For I Knew how Stubborn you were … Your Neck Muscles were Iron … Your Forehead was Bronze! ... 5 Therefore I Told you these Things Long Ago … Before they Happened I Announced them to you So That you Could Not Say … “my Images Brought them about … my Wooden Image … And Metal god Ordained them!” All past, present and future prophecy from God has always been and always will be 100% accurate and in full alignment with the Bible! That truth alone ought to be more than enough reassurance for us to fully trust in Jesus for all the actions He calls us to take! God expects us to love Him enough to know the prophetic times we’re in, which means it’s time for us to know Biblical history because true faith in Jesus is founded on and backed by fact… and we need to work hard to be ready for His return! We’ll pick up here next week and I’m going to start tying current events into the prophecies of God. If you’re listening online and you haven’t made the decision to follow Jesus, then I’m inviting you to pray to Jesus right now and receive Him as your personal Lord and Savior! He knows what’s best for us and it’s eternity with God in Heaven, but the only way to get there is through a salvation relationship with Jesus, so don’t wait. Receive Him now! Let’s pray.

Invincible Church Sermon Notes 12/10/2023 The Power of Faith Jude 1:17-25 This year God’s been sending us messages about His truth and power! Last week we talked about the power of the Bible… It’s the Word of God. It’s the only perfect thing on earth! It’s the Book God wrote by using the power of the Holy Spirit through human men to write His perfect book! It’s unlike any other religious writing because it’s fully the truth of God! It’s God’s prophecy and revelation to His creation! It’s a living, breathing document that announces, prefigures and reveals actual future events that He’s specifically designed for the earth. It proves that God knows the future and oversees everything that we’re dealing with, so God’s in control… and it’s only God who knows exactly what He’s doing… praise Jesus! Now, as far as prophecies go, there are about 2500 prophecies in the Bible! About 2000 of them have been exactly fulfilled! Roughly 500 of them remain to be fulfilled. Most of the first prophecies were about the first coming of Jesus… that He would be born of a virgin, in the town of Bethlehem… that He'd live without sinning… that He’d die on a cross… … that He’d be buried in a “rich man’s tomb” … that He’d rise up from the dead. That He’d perform miracles… that He’d ascend into heaven… that He’d be the savior of the world… and the Bible accurately told us all of this thousands of years in advance! The rest of the prophecies are about the second coming and millennial reign of Jesus! It describes what that world’s going to be like before Jesus returns to judge and set the world right! So, we’re waiting for the rest of the roughly 500 remaining prophecies to be fulfilled! Jesus has a little brother named Jude! He worships his brother Jesus and he understands the power of faith! He sees that the faith of the church has become “lukewarm” and he’s very frustrated by it! So, he writes a letter to them and a big part of his letter is reminding them about the power of faith in Jesus. Jude 1:17-25 NIV - 17 But, dear friends, remember what The Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. 18 They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” 19 These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have The Spirit. 20 But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your Most Holy Faith and praying in The Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for The Mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. 22 Be merciful to those who doubt; 23 save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear … hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh. 24 To Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before His Glorious Presence without fault and with great joy … 25 to The Only God our Savior be Glory, Majesty, Power and Authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen! … GOD knows The END of HUMAN HISTORY! ... à As a follower of Jesus, this ought to give us incredible courage, confidence and peace… because we know everything is going to “Go” to Jesus! Our faith in Him has His power! He loves us and He’s going to deal with everything and everybody as He sees fit! The good news is we’re in God’s hands, so we know our future is in the best hands! And Jude is telling us about the last days! He says there will be some specific things happening. He says remember the prophecies and warnings of the Apostles who were chosen by Jesus to carry on His ministry after He died and ascended to heaven until He returns for His followers! What he’s talking about here is the “end of time” and the “last days” of the church age. He reminds us what will be happening before the return of Jesus! So, this is Jude talking about his brother Jesus and he’s telling us that in the last days there’s… 5 Signs for The Need of The Power of Faith in Jesus 1) There Will be Scoffers! (vs 17-19) … 17 But, dear friends, remember what The Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. 18 They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” 19 These are the people who divide you, who follow Mere Natural Instincts and do not have The Spirit. Sound familiar? We need to know if we’re really a follower of Jesus, our faith will be mocked! We’ll be opposed by the world! The mainstream media will never be for us. The agendas and platforms will always be against us and computer algorithms will never favor true Christianity! The world will mock us, scoff at us, lie about us and oppose us! But it shouldn’t discourage us because it prepares us to deal with reality! We need to know that every day when we wake up, we’re going to be hated by the corrupt world, social media, mainstream news media, entertainment, the government and wicked people in general! Jesus told us that the world hated Him and if we love Him, the world is going to hate us too! We just need to accept and endure it, just like He did. And we CAN through the power of faith in Him! 2) People Will Have Ungodly Passions! When we get close to the last days, we won’t only have to deal with scoffing, but we’ll also have to deal with an increase in the temptation to sin! It will be a lot easier to do the wrong thing and try to falsely justify it as the right thing! We won’t have to put a lot of effort into sinning, which means if we’re striving for holiness, we’re going to have a fight on our hands! Everything in the world and our culture is making sin more readily available! Technology has absolutely helped to fulfill this prophecy! If a person wants to lie, they can do it bigger and quicker than ever before! If a person wants to slander, gossip, steal, lust, attack somebody or do whatever evil comes to mind, they can do it instantly, globally and permanently. It’s easy for followers of Jesus to see that the moral condition of the world is crashing faster than ever, but it’s still kind of shocking! Now we’re seeing the things that a few people used to do in the dark seem to be the things that a lot of people do in the light. The shame is gone for the most part, while sin and evil are rampant! 3) There Will be Division Among The People! People’s faith will be hot or cold. There will be those who are for Jesus and those who are opposed to Jesus! And division literally means two visions! It means we don’t see a few things different, we see everything different! Christians and non-Christians don’t agree on most things. We come from God, not evolution! We’re under God’s authority… we’re not independent of authority. We’re sinners… we’re not “good people”. We can’t fix our spiritual problem because we ARE the problem! We’re not the hope of the world... and the world is not blessed to have us! We disagree on gender, bathrooms and which pronouns to use! Rejecting Jesus causes division. The point of it is, we have to make a decision who we’re going to follow… Jesus or the world! There’s conflict between God and the world, so if a person choosing to follow the world, they’re going to have conflict with God! If a person chooses to follow Jesus, they’re going to have conflict with the world. In other words, we have to choose the right kind of conflict to be in! 4) People Will Love The Corrupted World! These are worldly people who are ok with a corrupted world! There was a recent study that’s amazing! A political party was polled and the majority of the people polled in that political party felt like America was currently a nation of high moral values! People in the other political party know the truth! The alarming part of all this is there are so many people who are observing and living in what’s going on in our nation now and they still say, “This is going great!... This is going in the right direction!” These are lost and worldly people! If a person can look at the world today and honestly say they think things are good, then they are worldly! That’s how we can delineate followers of Jesus from lost people! It means we’re an outlier, outcast, minority and weridos to the world! But the good news is we’re the remnant of people that Jesus talks about in the Bible who have powerful faith! So, we need to keep working in the process of following Jesus being humble and patient while we embrace and endure it! Sadly, a lot of people in the world seem to like the way things are going right now! We see it in the way they’re raising their children… the way they conduct their sexuality, approach politics and government, the strategy they have for economics and the way they pursue spirituality! It all really fits for them, so it feels like home to them, which means it’s not home to us! The closer we get to the end, the less this feels like home and the more we want to be in our real home, which is with Jesus in heaven. The last sign Jude gives in this passage is… 5) Most People Do Not Have The Holy Spirit! That’s a massive statement at the end of (vs 19)! There are those who are true followers of Jesus and have the Holy Spirit (the true Christians)! And there are those who don’t follow Jesus and they’re called non-Christians! They don’t have the power of the Holy Spirit through the power of faith in Jesus! So, if we live by the power of the Holy Spirit through the power of faith in Jesus Christ, then we’ll manifest the character of Jesus Christ in our life! Which Galatians says is love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control! If a person doesn’t have the Holy Spirit, they can’t live by the power of the Holy Spirit, so they’re not a follower of Jesus and they won’t experience the power of faith! This is why non-Christians don’t understand followers of Jesus at all! Once a person truly receives the Holy Spirit, they love Jesus and they want to learn the Bible! They want to sing praise to Jesus and raise their hands to God… they want to pray… they want to serve the Lord and speak His truth! When a person has the Holy Spirit, they start to think different! Their hear changes and they feel different! They get a new identity in Jesus! They start to see themselves different! They have different desires! This is the secret of following Jesus! That’s the way following Jesus ought to be for us! We should want to read the Bible every day. We should like reading it. I just don’t read the Bible so I can preach. I preach because I like reading the Bible. For me, I like Jesus… I like prayer… I like singing praise to God… I like the Bible! I like to live in God’s will. I like to talk to people about Jesus. And it’s not because I feel like I have to. It’s because I want to. And Jesus put the spirit in my soul, which is the way that I “get to”! That’s why I like following Jesus in the Christian life. Back to the passage… Jesus didn’t approve of weak faith then and he doesn’t approve of weak faith now! It’s false faith and it’s called cultural Christianity! There’s no supernatural power in cultural Christianity! The sad thing is it’s become kind of prevalent in the United States of American for a few hundred years. The majority of people said that they were Christians but they didn’t live like Christians. It was sort of the thing to do to go to some sort of church or pretend to have some sort of faith. A lot of people grow up in homes like this. Their parents have them baptized when they’re a baby, but they never take them back to church and they didn’t read the Bible and they didn’t pray in the house. They were just hoping that having a little ceremony would fix them. Some of them only worship God to make grandma happy! They have their wedding in the church! They have funerals in the church. (Just in case!) They usually have no intention of coming back and it was just a one-time event for God! This cultural Christianity has dominated our nation… and a lot of church goers that are lukewarm… those of us who love Jesus are fired up for God and are described as hot! People who couldn’t care less about God are called ice cold! The lukewarm are the ones that are the most confusing because they say they love God but the don’t live for God! It’s actually what’s happening right now in our nation and the western church. A lot of different surveys back it up! Over the past few years, the latest data from the general social survey done by the University of Chicago shows signs that would lead to Jesus spitting “lukewarm” people and churches out of his mouth! Less than 50% of Americans now have no doubt that God exists… less than 50%! This isn’t even talking about Jesus! This is just the general notion of God. In addition, 34% never go to church. On top of that, 15% of children have no religious upbringing of any kind. What it means is nobody’s ever prayed for them, with them or over them… never! That’s sad! No one has read them a Bible verse. No one has ever brought them to a church! Zero church experience! Not even the Easter and Christmas time of year where people give their obligatory visit to God’s house… nothing! Then lastly, survey’s show that mainline protests, which is were most of the lukewarm Christians have gathered on Sundays over the last few hundred years, is now down from 33% of the population attending church in the 1970’s to 10% today! These are the churches that are in decline. They are weak because they are woke! There’s no power in their faith because there’s no presence of the power of the Holy Spirit! God’s not going to show up at a church where the power of Jesus… the power of the Holy Spirit… the power of the Bible… and His Biblical principles aren’t preached and taught! That’s why we’re seeing Jesus literally spitting entire churches and denominations out of his mouth! Jesus is saying He’s tired of churches being lukewarm instead of hot! So, in a lot of places, we’re seeing fewer people attending church, online viewership is down… true church ministry is down… giving is down… A lot of pastors and professing Christians are bothered by it! But in some ways, we can be grateful for it because now we can better identify the “hot or cold” people … and we’re not as easily confused by the lukewarm “Christians”! And praise Jesus… What we’re seeing here at God’s Invincible church is we are spiritually hot! The Holy Spirit is working here in mighty ways… both physically and spiritually! We’re still going out around the world online, despite the algorithms that are in place trying to stop Biblical messages from God! The hearts of people who’re truly following Jesus are getting hotter for Jesus, so their light is shining brighter as the world is getting darker. It’s becoming really clear who identifies with Jesus and who doesn’t! The Bible tells us that this is what will happen as we enter into the end times of the last days! The closer we get to the second coming of Jesus and the end of human history, there will be separation and division! The lukewarm will be spit out. The cold will be indifferent. And the hot will grow brighter! The Bible uses different wording for this period: last time, last days, end times… and it reminds us that our hope is in Jesus Christ, and His second coming is the only hope for the people on planet earth. The theme of Jude is about the last days of the end times! It’s the last days… the last time… or the end times! He came the first time to die… He comes the second time to judge! He came the first time to forgive… He comes the last time to condemn or bless, depending on whether you’re for Him or against Him! When the spirit is in you, things can get better in you… even as things get worse around you! It’s what the Bible teaches! Here’s how Jude says it in (vs 20-21) … 20 But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most Holy Faith and praying in The Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for The Mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. He’s saying, even when things are getting worse around us, the power of faith can get stronger in us! And it starts with our identity in Jesus. It’s why we’re having cultural head on collision over identity. Who we are determines what we do! That’s why Satan wants to confuse a person about their identity in any regards to anything other than a relationship with Jesus. Our primary identity is not our sexuality… it’s our spirituality. It’s not our body… it’s our soul! And what He says is our identity is as a dear friend to Jesus… and fellow believer with Jude! That’s our identity. We work because we have it… not because we’re trying to gain it. It’s grace based… not performance based! It’s at the starting line… not the finish line. We may be having a bad day in the world, but in Jesus, we’re always having a good day! Even though we’re not very lovable, He’s still going to love us! We start with that… and that’s why we can experience the power faith in Jesus!

Invincible Church Sermon Notes 12/3/2023 The Power of The Bible John 1:1-5 The focus of the messages that God’s been sending His Invincible Church this year have centered on the topic of truth… God’s truth... which is the only truth! Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve been talking about the power of God that undergirds His truth, which makes His truth invincible! A big part of God’s truth is man’s natural power pales in comparison to Satan’s supernatural power. So, we don’t stand a chance if we’re not connected to God and His supernatural power because Satan’s supernatural power doesn’t hold a candle to God’s supernatural power! God’s supernatural power is all encompassing! He’s the only (and will always be the only) omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent being there is! Which means He’s the only all powerful, all knowing, all present at all times sovereign Holy God of the universe! Within God’s supernatural powers is the power of Jesus, the power of the Holy Spirit, and the power of the Bible! Two Sundays ago, we talked about the power of Jesus! Last week, Brandon preached a message on the power of the Holy Spirit (And God’s been building that message in Brandon for a long time!) Today we’re going to cover the “Power of the Bible! The Bible is one of the primary miraculous works God has given us because it’s literally the breath and revelation of God recorded in book form! It’s the most powerful book that will ever exist! It’s the most powerful piece of literature ever written! It was spoken and authored by God through the power of the Holy Spirit. God moved human writers to write exactly what He wanted said and known to His creation! God sums up exactly what He wants us to know about the supernatural power connection between Him, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and the Bible in… John 1:1-5 NIV - 1 In the beginning was The Word, and The Word was With God, and The Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In Him was Life, and that Life was The Light of all mankind. 5 The Light Shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome ~IT~! We don’t have time to get into all the deeper meanings of the Greek words that explain the fact that God’s telling us here that He is the Word and the Word is Jesus. Likewise, the supernatural power of the Word is the Holy Spirit… and there’s no greater power than these! But I will mention here that the Bible goes on to say in… John 1:14 NIV - 14 The Word became Flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His Glory, The Glory of The One and Only Son, Who came from The Father, full of Grace and Truth! ... [That’s Jesus] Now, the foundationally clear principle of Bible translation we should look for is it has to be based on an accurate translation of the original test from Greek, Hebrew and some Aramaic! So, the job of a translator is to find out exactly what the author said… … and then write exactly what the author said in the language he’s translating what the author said into! The word “author” means originator! It tells us that language translation has everything to do with what the author said. Translation has nothing to do with how the reader may read it! When translators fail to follow this principle, it creates confusion because they haven’t discerned and translated the original text accurately! That’s why divinely inspired translators have based the words and wording of the Bible on exactly what God says from the original languages of Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic! Divinely inspired translators don’t base their wording on what the reader may think! God describes the Bible as “alive and powerful”… sharper than any two-edged sword! So, it’s a weapon that can defend us from evil, but it also has the capacity to piece into our soul and reveal our nature, character, sinfulness and where we stand with God! The Bible’s a powerful/living tool that God uses to expose our heart and the truth about us to ourselves! The Bible also has the power to put us back together again when we’ve been torn apart by circumstances, situations and other people of the world… or the devil! So, in order to accomplish these living things, there’s no way the Bible can be the word of man! The Bible has to be the word of the living God! The one and only God Almighty! And that’s exactly what it is! God has elevated the Bible to the level of who He is… … And to the character and integrity of His Holy Name! It’s impossible to separate the glory of the Word from God Himself because the Bible is entirely Him and it’s entirely His own word! The Bible is God’s revealed truth. God speaks in it and through it! 2 Timothy 3:16-17 NIV - 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness … 17 so that The Servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work! The Bible is the Word of God! So, if we want to experience and encounter God through the power of the Holy Spirit and from the truth of the power of the Bible, we’ve got to understand and believe the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God! The we have to make Jesus the primary focus of our life! The way we do it is through the power of the Bible as God’s Word… and through the power of the Holy Spirit as our supernatural advocate, counselor and helper. It’s all about knowing God better through His Word. So, let’s look at… 6 Requirements for Understanding The Power of The Bible 1) You have to be a Follower of Jesus! 1 Corinthians 2:14 NIV - 14 The person without The Spirit does not accept The Things that come from The Spirit of God but considers them foolishness and cannot understand Them because they are discerned only through The Spirit.” A person has to be saved! We have to be submitted to Jesus as Lord and Savior and King! The natural man doesn’t understand the things of God. It’s foolishness to them because they’re spiritually dead and they can’t spiritually discern the things of God! The Bible is confounding and confusing to lost people no matter how great their mind is, but it’s as clear as it can be to any follower of Jesus who’ll consistently and diligently study it and pray for discernment. So, it starts at that point. Next… 2) You have to have a Strong Desire to know God Better! 1 Peter 2:2 NIV - 2 Like newborn babies, crave Pure Spiritual Milk, so that by it you may grow up in your Salvation, We have to develop an internal drive and passion for it! We’ll never get to a high level of experiencing and encountering God… and the power of the Bible unless we have the self-discipline to study it! So, we need to pray that God would give us that kind of strong desire. God’s true wisdom is only available to followers of Jesus and it only comes to those who seek it in His strength. Next… 3) You have to be Diligent in Reading The Bible! Acts 17:11-12 NLT - 11 And the people of Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, and they listened eagerly to Paul’s message. They searched The Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching The Truth. 12 As a result, many Jews believed, as did many of the prominent Greek women and men. If we want to know God better, we have to be in His Word. It takes diligence on our part! People ask me sometimes, “What one book gives the best explanations of the Bible?” It’s a typical question of a person who doesn’t know the power of the Bible. There’s not a book that can do that! There are commentaries, concordances, study guides and other writings that can help, but nothing compares to the Bible! God wants us to know what He’s saying. So, He’ll tell us if we’ll put in the effort to pursue Jesus, be diligent in His Word and pray for discernment. 4) You have to Work Hard to Avoid Sin! James 1:21 NLT - 21 So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls.” If we want to know God better, we have to strive for holiness! If we’re going to really pursue Jesus and deal with the power of the Bible at a high level, so we can experience and encounter God in His fullness, then we have to be willing to give up the sin in our life… and anything and everything that hinders us from running the race that God has designed for us to run. Next… 5) You have to Apply God’s Word to Your Life! James 1:22 NLT - 22 But don’t just listen to God’s Word. You must do what It says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. A person can’t say that they’re a follower of Jesus unless they really believe what the Bible says… and then applies it to their life! We should be diligently learning it, applying it and putting it into practice! It’s not some theoretical thing. It’s a matter of life… and death! Probably the most important thing is… 6) You have to Pray Constantly! Ephesians 1:17-20 NIV - 17 I keep asking that The God of our Lord Jesus Christ, The Glorious Father, may give you The Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation, so that you may know Him better. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know The Hope to which He has called you, The Riches of His Glorious Inheritance in His Holy people, 19 and His incomparably Great Power for us who believe. That Power is The same as The Mighty Strength 20 He exerted when He raised Christ from The Dead and Seated Him at His Right Hand in The Heavenly Realms … Paul says he prays! The most intense time of prayer ought to be the times we’re studying scripture! We need to be asking God for clarity, understanding and wisdom, so we can discern His truth, apply it to our lives and use the power of the Bible to advance His kingdom! The Bible can be trusted because it’s the Words of God from His breath and revelation! It takes faith because it’s impossible to please God without faith! Faith includes belief in God, submission to Jesus and trusting in the Holy Spirit. It’s also impossible to have faith without prayer! We wouldn’t be here if God hadn’t physically created us and specifically made us! Also, we’re only protected and sustained here by God’s mercy and grace through His supernatural power. Otherwise, Satan would wipe us out because he’s jealous of God’s creation! As a follower of Jesus, we should be way more concerned with what God thinks about us rather than being obsessed with what the world thinks about us! >GOD is our CREATOR … and all that goes with it. *JESUS is our SAVIOR … and all that goes with it. >The HOLY SPIRIT is our SUSTAINER … and all that goes with it. Why wouldn’t we want to try to do what please God first, instead of what pleases us? When we become saved Jesus is our king, different from worldly king, He sacrificed His life for us! If you’re listening online… and you haven’t made the decision to follow Jesus, then I’m inviting you to pray to Jesus right now… and receive Him as your personal Lord and Savior! He knows what’s best for us and it’s eternity with God in heaven… But the only way to get there is through a salvation relationship with Jesus! So, don’t wait! Receive him now! Let us pray…