Speaker: Senior Pastor Bill Hayden

Matthew 10:33-38 (NIV)  

33 But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.

34 “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.

35 For I have come to turn
“‘a man against his father,
    a daughter against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law–

36 a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’

37 “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

38 Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

Applications:

1.    The True Test Of Love Is Sacrifice.
2.    Make Your Love A Priority For Jesus.
3.    People May Not Like You But Will Respect You.

Ephesians 1:9-12 (NKJV)  

9 having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself,

10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him.

11 In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will,

12 that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.

Applications:
1. We Are To Be Led By The Holy Spirit.
2. We Live Under Different Rules.
3. We Have Access To The Highest Authority.
4. We Are Not Ashamed Of Being Different.

Psalms 146:3-6 (NIV)

3.  Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save.

4. When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing.

5. Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God.

6.  He is the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them – He remains faithful forever.

I Peter 1:23 (NIV)
“For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.”  

Applications:
1.    Know Who You Belong To.
2.    Learn To Live The Good Life.
3.    God Alone Has Invested In Your Future.
4.  The Darkness Will Never Overtake You.

Hebrews 2:3-9 (NIV)

3 how shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him.

4 God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will

5 It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking.

6 But there is a place where someone has testified:
“What is mankind that you are mindful of them,
    a son of man that you care for him?

7 You made them a little lower than the angels;
    you crowned them with glory and honor

8 and put everything under their feet.”
In putting everything under them, God left nothing that is not subject to them. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to them.

9 But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

Applications:
1.    We Have Been Given Everlasting Hope.
2.    We Have To Be Assured Of Our Calling.
3.    We Are To Live With Heaven In Mind.
4.     Stop Being Silent About The Hope Given To Us

Galatians 6:2  New International Version (NIV)
2 Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

 1 Thessalonians 5:11 New International Version (NIV)
11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

Application
1. Your burden is not to be carried alone but shared.
2. There is no cost in encouraging each other.
3. We are in the building business and not demolition.

Galatians 5: 13 -14 (NIV)

13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh ; rather, serve one another humbly in love.

14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Colossians 1:21-23 (NIV)

21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.

22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation

23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

Applications:
1.    We have been liberated by the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
2.    We have been liberated by the power of the gospel.
3.    We have been liberated from a system of tyranny.
4.    We have been liberated from dead works to works by the Holy Spirit.

Acts 17: 26-31(NIV) 

26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.

27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.

28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’

29 “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill.

30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.

31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”

Applications:

1. You were created for eternity.

2. Focus on what is important.

3. You are drawn to what you focus on.

4. Realize and accept everything in this life has time limits.

James 5:7-11  New International Version (NIV)

7 Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. 8 You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near. 9 Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!

10 Brothers and sisters, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

Application
1. Waiting allows us time to mature.
2. Waiting reminds us that God has purpose in the waiting.
3. Waiting gives us time to pray and encourage others.
4. Waiting gives us an assurance of Gods mercy and renewal.

Romans 8:31-39New International Version (NIV)

31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?

36 As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long;
    we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

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.

Application
1. Being a Conqueror has nothing to do with my feelings.
2. Being a Conqueror has everything to do with the facts.
3. Being a Conqueror keeps me vigilant.

Acts 19:1-6 (NKJV)
And it happened, while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus. And finding some disciples

2 he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”

So they said to him, “We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.”

3 And he said to them, “Into what then were you baptized?”

So they said, “Into John’s baptism.”

4 Then Paul said, “John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.”

5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

6 And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied.

Applications
1.  Give the Lord an open Invitation to fill you.

2.  God respects your will when aligned with His.

3.  It is the desire of the Lord that we all be filled with His spirit.