Bible Study: I am God's Own Son - Part 4

Hi Everyone

Here's last Friday night's Bible study notes and the audio in mp3 format for your download.

This is Part 1 of how God provides for all our needs.  Please do have a listen and meditate on the scriptures we have discussed.  God's Word will never return void when we sow it into our lives!

Isaiah 55:11 So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. (NKJV)

Blessings!

Chris

Needs Are Provided

All Our Needs ARE Met!

Since Old Testament time, it was God’s covenant that enables us to have provision.

Deuteronomy 8:18 “And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. (NKJV)

We today are under a BETTER covenant, bought by the blood of Jesus.

2 Corinthians 9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. (NKJV)

He is able to make ALL grace abound, that we have abundance for every good work!

2 Peter 1:2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. (NKJV)

We have all that pertain to LIFE and GODLINESS.  But is comes through the knowledge of Him, that’s why Jesus said:

Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. (NKJV)

These ARE your entitlements as Sons of God, that your needs would be met, that you should have no worry about these things.  You need to read the context of the scriptures that I have provided to 

• Convince yourself that this is contextually accurate
• Let them renew your mind so that you grow from glory to glory

All About Knowing God

The whole thing is a relationship.  We need to start with a love walk with the Father first.  Get to know Him, enjoy Him and know His love.

The deeper truth in knowing the Lord is realizing that when we have Him, we have ALL things.  The Psalmist says:

Psalm 37:3 Trust in the Lord, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. 4 Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart. (NKJV)

Delight in what the Word says.

When we delight ourselves in the Lord, when we trust Him, our desires become His and we enjoy His faithfulness.

Holy Spirit = Good Things

Matthew 7:7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? 11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! (NKJV)

Persistence is required, not because God is deaf, but because we aren't (and will never be) fully tuned this side of Heaven.

Luke 11:9 “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 11 If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? 13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” (NKJV)

All good things come through the Holy Spirit.  When we start to understand more about His glory in us, when we start to look at the Word and see ourselves in the Spirit, when we start to walk according to who He has made us to be, we start to enjoy all good things.  We need to step out of the boat.

Worry and Wealth

Matthew 6:31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. (NKJV)

The key is not to worry.  We said last week that worry is the opposite of meditating on God’s Word.  When we are focused on what our 5 senses tell us, it breeds worry.  Meditating on God’s Word is the opposite of worry.  When we focus on God’s love revealed in the Word, we walk by faith, not by sight.

Stay focused on the things of the Lord, the things we have because of His love.  Set you mind on eternal things, things above.

Colossians 3:2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. (NKJV)

What are eternal things?  Everything we see in sonship is eternal.  Everything we see here is not.

The more it dawns on us who we are, the more we take advantage of this [prince Charles anecdote]

The more we see that our needs have been provided, the more we will have faith and the more they will be, for this IS in God’s Word.

(Rom 10:17, Heb 11:1)

It’s When You Don’t Care for It for You

The Bible is all about love.  Love is always about someone else, not about you.

Much of worry is often about us – that we won’t have enough.

James 4:3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. (NKJV)

When we learn to cast our care on Him, He takes care of our needs. When we put others first, we are taken care of.  Those last shall be first.

Mark 9:35 And He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.” (NKJV)

He Loves Us

We can live without cares, not be care-ful, because we have been loved.

1 John 4:19 We love Him because He first loved us. 

20 If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? (NKJV)

We need to trust this love that God has for us.

Romans 8:32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? (NKJV)

Bible Study: I am God's Own Son - Part 3

Hi Everyone

Here is last Friday's Bible Study.  You can listen to the audio here and the notes are below.

Share it as you are blessed.

Chris

Restored in His Image

We are Already Restored into His Image

We are 3 part beings – Spirit, Soul and Body

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (NKJV)

Our spirits have been restored into His image, upon the resurrection of our Lord and the coming of the Holy Spirit into us.  This is the mark the makes us different from everyone else!

We have been predestined to conform to the image of Jesus!

Romans 8:29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. (NKJV)

We are One with Him

1 Corinthians 6:17 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. (NKJV)

This is your spirit, who is the REAL you.  This is who you became the moment you called upon Jesus as your saviour!  As soon as your life ends, this will become clear to you instantly, when you stop seeing with your eyes and seeing in the Spirit.

Romans 8:18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. (NKJV)

The reverse happened Adam and Eve when they fell and started seeing with their eyes! This happened when they started to see themselves, not God.

That is why the young man was clothed in the best robe.  Not only for others, but the man needed to know himself that he was restored, a son once again.

Then How Come…

The Big Dichotomy - What it says is not what I experience in my life?

While I am a Son of God, I sure don’t feel like or live like it…

Soul Restoration

Our souls, the realm of the mind, emotions and will, need restoration.  This is a WIP (Work-In-Progress) this side of Heaven.

Our minds have been and continue to be run by the 5 senses for many years.  The flesh has been lusting against the Spirit and quite frankly, the spirit has been a no-contest for many years for many of us.

Galatians 5:17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. (NKJV)

Soul is caught between the Spirit and the Flesh. Which side the soul decides to give focus to decides your victory on earth.

Soul Prosperity

3 John 2 Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers. (NKJV)

Our souls MUST prosper first.  The problems outside/after this life have been sealed, taken care of by the blood of Jesus already.  Every other problem in life is because our soul is not prospering.

Jesus has made the way for our souls to prosper this side of Heaven, but that part needs our cooperation, our belief as well.

It’s Not Behaviour Modification

It is not about behaviour modification.  Behaviour modification is what the world tries to practice.  We often see this being attempted in Christian circles as well, because we fail to see the bigger picture.

It can work to a point, but unless one sees clearly why we do what we do, it won’t hold.  And if the “why” does not exist or is not clear, the willingness to perform diminishes.

Proverbs 29:18a Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; (NKJV)

Proverbs 29:18a Where there is no vision, the people perish:  (KJV)

What motivates me determines everything.  I can avoid sin because of a social context, because sin is frowned on, but if that is the extent of my revelation, then I will sin once no one is frowning, once I can get away with it.

When our revelation, your vision, is from the love of God, we see things differently.  It is not about what others will/will not approve of.  It is about us wanting to live for something better.

See last week’s message on Heaven and eternal rewards. 

We Need Hope

The fact that you are here tells me you have a hope for something better.

If you

1. Have everything you (think you) need (no hunger)

2. Have given up and don’t care anymore

Then you wouldn't be here!

Faith Needs Hope

Faith – substance of things HOPED for

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (NKJV)

If you don’t have hope, then you don’t need faith.  If you think life as it is will never change, and this is all that there is, then you don’t need faith.  But if you hope for something better, then we can see what God’s Word says about it:

Romans 10:17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (NKJV)

Spiritual Warfare 101 - The Battle in the Mind

Whatever problems or trials you are in, whatever God-inspired aspirations you have that aren't met, the battle is in your mind.  Every thought that is NOT in line with the Word of God has to go:

2 Corinthians 10:4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, (NKJV)

Every problem we have on earth is a result of an ungodly thought.  Not necessarily what the world might call evil or immoral.  Just not of God, not of His Word.  God’s standards are much higher!

This is what we are doing here – bringing down thinking patterns which are not from the Word of God.

The Soul Rut

Galatians 5:17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. (NKJV)

See/Hear (Saw/Heard) => Think => Meditate/Worry => Believe => Say => Act => Become

What are you allowing into your mind with today?  Feed rubbish, get rubbish.  What has been fed into your mind in the past? These need to be renewed.

Bad things = not in line with God’s word.

What you sow, you will reap.

Feed yourself with bad things

=> see yourself in dire predicament

=> worry about it

=> believe it will happen

=> say it out of your mouth

=> self-fulfilling prophecy

Too many Christians are trapped in this rut!

What we speak over each other can also deepen ruts.  That is why we must know no man after the flesh. (2 Cor 5:16)

Get Out of the Rut!

Break the cycle! Feed yourself with the Word of God.

Imagine the Word in action in your life.

Feed yourself with God’s Word

=> See yourself blessed

=> Meditate on it

=> Believe it

=> Say it out of your mouth

=> Become what the Word says, receive the promise!

This is the transformation process – when we see Christ in us in the Word!

2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. (NKJV)

Romans 8:31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” 37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (NKJV)

I am a new man. I can do all things in Christ. My trial, the rut, might be something from my past haunting me, but I can choose to believe in the Word.

James 1:2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. (NKJV)

Deuteronomy  30:19 I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; (NKJV)

My past, my present circumstance, my trials and problems, these all do not define who I am.  The Word of God does.  I am God’s Own Son.  I am who the Word says I am.

I choose to believe in the Word, not my trial.

Restoration – A Son’s Privilege

As the title of the Bible study goes, all this was made possible because of the finished work of Jesus

John 19:30 So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit. (NKJV)

We need to keep clearly in the forefront of our minds:  it was only because God sent His Son Jesus, who willingly died for us and rose again from the dead, with the completion of it in the coming of the Holy Spirit into His creation again that all that we speak and teach of is true.

1 Corinthians 2:2 For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. (NKJV)

We like Paul, desire to know nothing more than what was accomplished at the cross.

Blessings.