Frustration

Frustration- b: a deep chronic sense or state of insecurity and dissatisfaction arising from unresolved problems or unfulfilled needs

If we are not careful we will let frustration fool us. Fool us how?  Fool us into thinking things will Never Change. Here's what I have seen frustration do; 1) It will Trick you into doing something you would not normally do, that you know is wrong. 2) It will Deceive you and cause you to believe something is not true that the Bible says is. 3) It will Duped you into allowing someone to use you and convince you that you don't need God anymore.

The key to overcoming your frustrations are very simple. You must stop following the Guides of this life that try to lead you. What are the Guides of this life? They are your feelings and only seeing what’s around you.  Read the following:

The Message | ‎Ps 19:7 The revelation of GOD is whole and pulls our lives together. The signposts of GOD are clear and point out the right road.  ‎8 The life-maps of GOD are right, showing the way to joy. The directions of GOD are plain and easy on the eyes.  ‎9 GOD's reputation is twenty-four-carat gold, with a lifetime guarantee. The decisions of GOD are accurate down to the nth degree.

Let me explain the passage this way; 1) Revelation- Gods discloser of Himself & His will for your life. 2) Sign Post- Gives information & Guidance where HE wants us to go. 3) Life Maps- A Sketch of the Plan for lasting Joy. 4) Direction- A line so not to lose our way.

If you are walking in frustration then I bet you disconnected from the Life Giving source to overcoming all frustration.  You may have disconnected from the Life-Giving guide to destroying and being free from frustration. You disconnected maybe for just long enough for the enemy to get to your feelings. You disconnected maybe for just long enough for the enemy to get you to see things that are not what they really are. You may have just disconnected just long enough from God’s Word that the enemy has driven you to being overly frustrated!  

The truth is, in this life there is frustration galore!  However, you do not have to be tricked, deceived or duped by it. Open up the Bible right now!  Start reading anywhere and in a very short amount of time… you will find Gods discloser of Himself & His will for your life. You will find Sign Post that give information & guidance where HE wants you to go. You will find Life Maps, a sketch of the plan for lasting Joy. You will find Direction, a line so not to lose your way.

Here is what will happen; you will find frustration to become null and void in your life. What does that mean?  It means you connected to the source of JOY!  God’s Word is your Guide Post to staying free from lasting frustration and entering into HIS Grace and HIS Joy… unspeakable Joy.  Do not allow frustration to trick, deceive or dupe you anymore.  Run with all swiftness to Gods Word and experience HIS Grace and HIS Joy!

The Nose Grinder

The Message | 1 Co 13:1 If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. 2 If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing.  If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.

To Love, Forgive & Protect others is a Life about not choosing sides and declaring a winner. Life should be one of protecting, feeding, leading, and caring for people. God gives to us so we can give back to others.

The Message | Lk 6:37 "Don't pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults-unless, of course, you want the same treatment. Don't condemn those who are down; that hardness can boomerang. Be easy on people; you'll find life a lot easier. 38 Give away your life; you'll find life given back, but not merely given back-given back with bonus and blessing.  Giving, not getting is the way. Generosity begets generosity." 39 He quoted a proverb: "Can a blind man guide a blind man?' Wouldn't they both end up in the ditch?

You must Forgive others!  Why Should I?

Charles Stanley Book "The Gift of Forgiveness" He states: A person who has an unforgiving Spirit is always the real loser, much more so than the one against whom the grudge is Held. Regardless of who is wrong the other Person may have been if you refuse to forgive you reap the corruption of un-forgiveness in life. That corruption affects your relationship with God. Un-forgiveness by its nature prevents individuals from following through on many specifics of the Christian Life.

What Have You Learned Personally about this Pastor Cory?

When we choose not to forgive in one relationship, it spills over into other relationships and it destroys them at a more devastated rate and now many are left feeling all alone! If you wait for someone else to forgive first, you miss the boat of opportunity to be free. Instead they end up controlling your destiny and you have lost out on the progress of your life and the fullness of your destiny. Here is my Reality Check for you. Un-forgiveness imprisons you! The Past is in control! Think about this- Don't let the past dictate your future! Un-forgiveness provokes Angry & Bitterness!

NLT | Mk 11:22 Then Jesus said to the disciples, "Have faith in God.  I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, 'May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,' and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart. I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you've received it, it will be yours. But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too.

What I have learned.

A forgiving attitude towards others as well as faith in God is also essential for effective prayer. I don't think it is a coincidence that "forgive" contains the word "give," do you? One of the most giving things you can do is forgive people who wrong you. Not an easy gift, but then again, the very nature of giving involves sacrifice. Most gifts involve sacrifice of time or money, this sacrifice that cannot be measured in either time or money, it involves laying down justifiable anger, hurt and pain to extend grace to the very person who caused it.  

In many ways, forgiveness is giving of our souls to someone else, not to the person who harmed us, but to our God who loves us. When we forgive, we are doing what Jesus would do-what He did do-what He still does. Hanging on the cross, He prayed, "Father forgive them ..."

Giving Life

Lordship of Christ

NLT | ‎Ro 10:9 If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  ‎10 For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved.

NLT | ‎Jas 2:1 My dear brothers and sisters, how can you claim to have faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ if you favor some people over others?

The Message | ‎Lk 6:46 “Why are you so polite with me, always saying ‘Yes, sir,’ and ‘That’s right, sir,’ but never doing a thing I tell you?

WHAT JESUS HAS DONE

Although created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26), Adam and Eve sinned against God in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:6-8). Thus, mankind was plunged into rebellion against God (Genesis 6:5; Jeremiah 17:9; Romans 5:12). This sin and rebellion produced spiritual death throughout the whole human race (Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:1-3). Yet God, in His great mercy, even in the garden, promised to send a Savior for all who would repent and trust Him (Genesis 3:15; John 3:16; Ephesians 2:4-9). Now, by His death on the cross, Jesus Christ has broken the power of sin over all those who place their trust in Him for salvation (I Peter 3:18). “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).

The Message | ‎1 Jn 3:5 Surely you know that Christ showed up in order to get rid of sin. There is no sin in him, and sin is not part of his program.

When Jesus died on the cross He cried, “It is finished!” (John 19:30). He was really saying, “Paid in Full!” He had paid the full price to buy us out of Satan’s ownership so we can be His very own. The Bible calls this redemption.

NLT | ‎Is 53:5 But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed.

Atonement is defined as “the reconciliation of God and man by the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ.” It could be said that “atonement” means “at-one-ment.” Jesus’ death brought God and man back together.

The Message | ‎2 Co 5:19 God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing.  ‎20 We’re Christ’s representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God’s work of making things right between them. We’re speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he’s already a friend with you.  ‎21 How? you ask. In Christ. God put the wrong on him who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God.
2 Corinthians 5:19 says that God stepped into history in the person of Jesus Christ. His desire in doing this was to bring mankind back into fellowship with Him. When we trust in Christ, our sins are forgiven. Now we have the privilege of telling others how they too can be reconciled to God.
The Message | ‎Is 53:6 We’re all like sheep who’ve wandered off and gotten lost. We’ve all done our own thing, gone our own way. And GOD has piled all our sins, everything we’ve done wrong, on him, on him.

The Message | ‎2 Co 5:21 How? you ask. In Christ. God put the wrong on him who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God.

God’s Covenant

A covenant is a promise of faithfulness. Several times throughout the Bible God entered into a covenant relationship. For instance, God entered into personal covenants with specific promises to Abraham and David. Our Bible is divided into two sections described as the Old Testament - or Old Covenant, and the New Testament - or New Covenant.

God promised that under the New Covenant He would write His will, not on tablets of stone, but on the heart. “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in

LORDSHIP

The Message | ‎Je 31:33 “This is the brand-new covenant that I will make with Israel when the time comes. I will put my law within them—write it on their hearts!—and be their God. And they will be my people.

When we are truly born again we enter into a covenant with God. He promises to be ever faithful to us and we promise to be ever faithful to Him. We give Him our lives, He gives us His. This is the greatest exchange in the universe! We give Him our sin and receive His righteousness. We give Him our weakness and receive His strength. We give Him our sorrow and receive His joy. All that we need now is ours because, by covenant, we have become heir to all His wealth.

This wonderful New Covenant was described by the writer of the Book of Hebrews as a “better” covenant (Hebrews 7:22) because, now, Jesus Christ actually lives inside of us, giving us both the desire and the power to do God’s will and walk in covenant relationship with Him. “For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13).

The instrument of this New Covenant is the blood of Jesus Christ (Luke 22:20). Because we have entered into a covenant with a faithful God, we can be faithful in the other covenant relationships of life: our covenant of faithfulness to our spouse, and our covenant of faithfulness to fellow believers.

LORDSHIP CONFIRMED

Jesus’ resurrection from the dead was God’s seal of approval on the ministry of Christ. Through His resurrection, Jesus claims Lordship over all people. Romans 1:4 says, Jesus was “...declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.” “For to this end Christ died and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living” (Romans 14:9).

The Message | ‎Ac 17:30 “God overlooks it as long as you don’t know any better—but that time is past. The unknown is now known, and he’s calling for a radical life-change.  ‎31 He has set a day when the entire human race will be judged and everything set right. And he has already appointed the judge, confirming him before everyone by raising him from the dead.”

One day all people will acknowledge that Jesus is Lord. But only those who bow to His lordship now are promised eternal life.“Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11). “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Ephesians 1:7).

The word “redeem” means “ to buy back.” Jesus has bought us back from the power of the devil. We now belong to our original Owner. Since we have been purchased by Christ, we now belong to Him. We are His servants and He is our Lord.

TOTAL LORDSHIP

Suppose you purchased a car and paid the full price for it. You shook hands with the dealer and he left to bring you your car. Instead, he brought a box with a steering wheel, a brake shoe and a tire. You would tell him, “That wasn’t the deal. I bought the whole car! I paid the full price and I can demand the full product.” In the same way, Jesus Christ has paid the full price for us. He has the right to demand the full product. Every area of our lives, not just some of the areas, must be under His control.
God understands our needs: physical, financial, emotional, and spiritual. As we yield to His control He has promised to supply all of our needs. “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19). “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33).

Remember: God is ready to take full responsibility for the life that is fully yielded to Him.
The Message | ‎Ho 10:2 Their sweet smiles are sheer lies. They’re guilty as sin. God will smash their worship shrines, pulverize their god-images.

In the divided heart, God is a part of the person’s life but only a part. God is placed in competition with family, business, and even church for the person’s time and affection. This is the tragedy of the divided heart.

The Whole Heart

The Message | ‎Ps 119:2 You’re blessed when you follow his directions, doing your best to find him.
In the whole heart, every area of the person’s life is under the Lordship of Christ. His stewardship of time, money, relationships, and ambitions are all submitted fully to Jesus Christ and are under His control.

*** What does the Lordship of Christ mean to you?

Salvation

Lead Pastor Cory

SALVATION: deliverance from the power and effects of sin, the agent or means that effects salvation, liberation from ignorance or illusion, preservation from destruction or failure, deliverance from danger or difficulty

NLT | ‎Eph 2:8God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. ‎9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.

The purpose for this blog is so anyone can comprehend the opportunity God gives to every person to be forgiven of their sins, adopted into His family and be eternally secure in their relationship with Christ Jesus.

The words “saved” and “born again” are Christian terms used to describe what happens to a person when they first believe in their heart the Gospel message and, as a result of believing personally, asks Jesus to come into their life and take over as Lord. Forgiveness is free to everyone, no matter his or her state, because of the grace of God. Being a church member, being baptized as an infant, or living a good life, does not qualify anyone for heaven. You must be born again! 

GRACE: unmerited divine assistance given humans for their regeneration or sanctification, a virtue coming from God, a state of sanctification enjoyed through divine grace, special favor: PRIVILEGE

The normal understanding of grace is, “the unmerited favor of God.” God’s love is unconditional, eternal, and undeserved by any human standards. Grace is an attribute of God, which allows Him to purpose and provide both love and reward for mankind, even when they reject Him. 

The Message | ‎Ro 5:8 But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him.

FORGIVENESS: allowing room for error or weakness

It is grace that enables God to forgive mankind. “...Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness”

The Message | ‎Heb 9:22 Moses said to the people,“This is the blood of the covenant God has established with you.” Practically everything in a will hinges on a death. That’s why blood, the evidence of death, is used so much in our tradition, especially regarding forgiveness of sins.

By grace as full and final payment for all of the sins of mankind. Only His blood can cleanse away the stain of sin. Although the grace of God makes forgiveness available for everyone, each person must individually apply through prayer to God to have his or her sins covered by Christ’s blood.

NLT | ‎1 Jn 1:9 But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.

SALVATION: A blanket of forgiveness for all sins past, and a promise for the future that no sin shall separate you from God and His love comes automatically to every person when they are saved.

The Message | ‎Ro 8:35 Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ’s love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture: ‎36 They kill us in cold blood because they hate you. We’re sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one. ‎37 None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. ‎38 I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, ‎39 high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us

The Message | ‎Ro 10:13 “Everyone who calls,‘Help, God!’ gets help.”

NLT | ‎Ro 10:9If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ‎10 For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved.

WORKS: something produced or accomplished by effort, exertion, or exercise of skill

The Message | ‎Ga 2:21 I am not going to go back on that. Is it not clear to you that to go back to that old rule-keeping, peer-pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in my relationship with God? I refuse to do that, to repudiate God’s grace. If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily.

The Message | ‎Ac 4:12 Salvation comes no other way; no other name has been or will be given to us by which we can be saved, only this one.”

Some extremists teach and live a “greasy grace” or“sloppy agape” approach to salvation, completely discounting the works message of James. Other extremists teach salvation by works, constantly putting the keeping power of the blood of Christ, and thus the New Testament message of salvation by grace alone, in doubt

SALVATION

• What does being born again mean to you?
• What qualifies a person to spend eternity in heaven?
• What, in your understanding, does it take to be saved?

 Email me @ cory@nechurch.org with your answers.

Milk & Meat

NLT | ‎Heb 5:11 There is much more we would like to say about this, but it is difficult to explain, especially since you are spiritually dull and don’t seem to listen.  ‎12 You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food.  ‎13 For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right.  ‎14 Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong.

The Message | ‎Heb 6:1 So come on, let’s leave the preschool finger painting exercises on Christ and get on with the grand work of art. Grow up in Christ. The basic foundational truths are in place: turning your back on “salvation by self-help” and turning in trust toward God;  ‎2 baptismal instructions; laying on of hands; resurrection of the dead; eternal judgment.

We see in these verses that the people Paul was talking to lack an understanding of the milk issues of the faith.  An this lack was affecting them in two ways:

• They were not able to grow into maturity.

• They were held back from operating in their calling to teach.

So the milk of the word is comprised of the foundational teachings of the Christian faith. Until that foundation is laid, it’s useless trying to build the rest of the structure! Another way to look at the “milk” teachings is to consider what milk is to an infant

A baby must first nurse on the milk of the mother in order to grow the teeth necessary to eat meat. The baby is not required to do anything in order to receive the milk. The mother has done it all. She has eaten the food necessary to prepare the milk. The baby must only nurse. So the milk of the Word is learning those things Christ has done for us.

Based on this, some of the “milk truths” are:

• He died for me.

• He delivered me from the power of sin.

• He seated me in heavenly places in Christ

• He provided me with the presence of the SHoly Spirit dwelling within me.

Like the child’s milk that is prepared by the mother, requiring nothing of the baby, so these are the things Jesus did for us, requiring nothing from us. We must “nurse” on these truths when we are saved.

The milk of the word is called “sincere” milk. “As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word…”, This means it is received with a pure heart and without hypocrisy.

NLT | ‎1 Pe 2:2 Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment,

The milk of the word is the precursor to becoming “skilled” in the scriptures. That means skilled in how to live righteously, in conformity with God’s will. So the writer of Hebrews says those who are still nursing on milk and have not yet laid the foundations of their faith.

The Message | ‎Heb 5:13 Milk is for beginners, inexperienced in God’s ways;  ‎14 solid food is for the mature, who have some practice in telling right from wrong.

Those nursing on milk have still not learned the ins and outs of Christian living. They are easily taken advantage of and easily tripped up. Paul described the spiritually immature as

The Message | ‎Eph 4:14 No prolonged infancies among us, please. We’ll not tolerate babes in the woods, small children who are an easy mark for impostors.

You will choke on the meat of the Word until you understand the milk of the Word.

NLT | ‎Is 28:10 He tells us everything over and over— one line at a time, one line at a time, a little here, and a little there!”

One truth leads to another, one stone is placed on another. We will never understand Algebra until we understand simple math. Likewise, spiritual truth begins with foundations that must be grasped before moving on to meatier truths. Before receiving the meat, you need enough knowledge of the milk of the Word so the meat will become digestible.

Jesus knew full well whether His hearers could handle meat or only milk. He told the disciples,

The Message | ‎Jn 16:13 But when the Friend comes, the Spirit of the Truth, he will take you by the hand and guide you into all the truth there is. He won’t draw attention to himself, but will make sense out of what is about to happen and, indeed, out of all that I have done and said.  ‎14 He will honor me; he will take from me and deliver it to you.

There are things God wants us to know that we simply cannot handle until we have fed on the milk of the word in sincerity and had the spiritual foundation of Christ laid in our souls. Though the Corinthian church was loaded with the gifts of the Spirit, they were very immature. This frustrated Paul’s desire to feed them the meat of the Word. Listen to his exasperation as He writes to them in

NLT | ‎1 Co 3:1 Dear brothers and sisters, when I was with you I couldn’t talk to you as I would to spiritual people. I had to talk as though you belonged to this world or as though you were infants in the Christian life.  ‎2 I had to feed you with milk, not with solid food, because you weren’t ready for anything stronger. And you still aren’t ready,  ‎3 for you are still controlled by your sinful nature. You are jealous of one another and quarrel with each other. Doesn’t that prove you are controlled by your sinful nature? Aren’t you living like people of the world?  ‎4 When one of you says, “I am a follower of Paul,” and another says, “I follow Apollos,” aren’t you acting just like people of the world?  ‎5 After all, who is Apollos? Who is Paul? We are only God’s servants through whom you believed the Good News. Each of us did the work the Lord gave us.  ‎6 I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow.  ‎7 It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow.  ‎8 The one who plants and the one who waters work together with the same purpose. And both will be rewarded for their own hard work.  ‎9 For we are both God’s workers. And you are God’s field. You are God’s building.

Next, Paul uses an illustration to help us understand milk and meat, and why the foundation must be properly laid.

NLT | ‎1 Co 3:10 Because of God’s grace to me, I have laid the foundation like an expert builder. Now others are building on it. But whoever is building on this foundation must be very careful.  ‎11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ.

Why is the foundation that comes from the milk of the word so important? And why must we be certain what we build on top of that foundation?

The Message | ‎1 Co 3:12 Take particular care in picking out your building materials.  ‎13 Eventually there is going to be an inspection. If you use cheap or inferior materials, you’ll be found out. The inspection will be thorough and rigorous. You won’t get by with a thing.  ‎14 If your work passes inspection, fine;  ‎15 if it doesn’t, your part of the building will be torn out and started over. But you won’t be torn out; you’ll survive—but just barely.

If you lay a bad foundation, or you build improperly on top of your foundation, it will not last through testing. It will crumble under the trials of life.

The Message | ‎Pr 24:10 If you fall to pieces in a crisis, there wasn’t much to you in the first place.

The foundation is laid by learning the about the milk, the building atop the foundation is built by growing into maturity through learning the meat of the word and walking in it.

The Message | ‎1 Pe 2:5 Present yourselves as building stones for the construction of a sanctuary vibrant with life, in which you’ll serve as holy priests offering Christ-approved lives up to God.

NLT | ‎Eph 2:10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

The Message | ‎Eph 2:20 He used the apostles and prophets for the foundation. Now he’s using you, fitting you in brick by brick, stone by stone, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone  ‎21 that holds all the parts together. We see it taking shape day after day—a holy temple built by God,

The Message | ‎Eph 4:13 until we’re all moving rhythmically and easily with each other, efficient and graceful in response to God’s Son, fully mature adults, fully developed within and without, fully alive like Christ.  ‎14 No prolonged infancies among us, please. We’ll not tolerate babes in the woods, small children who are an easy mark for impostors.  ‎15 God wants us to grow up, to know the whole truth and tell it in love—like Christ in everything. We take our lead from Christ, who is the source of everything we do.  ‎16 He keeps us in step with each other. His very breath and blood flow through us, nourishing us so that we will grow up healthy in God, robust in love

SUMMARY:

The milk of the word is comprised of the elementary teachings of the Christian faith as found in Hebrews 6:1-2.

• The milk of the word is received with a cleansed heart, without hypocrisy.

• Those yet nursing on the milk of the word are “unskilled” in Christian living.

• Until we understand milk doctrines, we will choke on meat doctrines.

225 mph Part 3

(left to right)

Fusion Kidz Pastors, Lead Pastors Cory & Richelle Smithee

& CORE517 Student Youth Pastors

(see more @ nechruchtx.com)

As we move into the last days before Christmas life has begun it's yearly ramping up. We're not talking about experiencing life at 225 mph but at a rate twice that. This would be a great time and opportunity to get to know my personal friend the Holy Spirit as he really is.... as a real person.

I think a lot of people have a difficult time with the Holy Spirit being a person. Why? I think it's easier to refer to God as Father and Jesus as Son, but for some reason so many just can't get the Holy Spirit connected into that language. However, the Holy Spirit is a person nonetheless.

Maybe it would be better if the Holy Spirit had a name like Mike or Chuck, maybe even Henry. Lets see how that works- Father, Son & Chuck. I would bet you the formal churches would call him Charles. It's vitally important that we see him as a person.  If you don't you will never develop a personal relationship with Him.

Let me unpack something about life we all experience. A person wants to either use you or help you in most cases but in the end they want to influence you.  The Holy Spirit does not want to use us, he wants to help us. He wants to help us so we are useful in making a difference in our families and the culture around us. 

Let me unpack something else.The Holy Spirit wants to influence us, matter of fact, He wants to influence us to act & think like Jesus.  He wants us to feel what God feels. He wants us to want what God wants. He wants to influence us to change our minds, emotions & our will toward God's ways. He will help us if we will let Him.  He will help you have the wherewithal to accomplish this change... moving in God's ways.

Bottom line is this, The Holy Spirit, the Person wants to help us-To want what God wants-To feel what God feels-To think what God thinks.

Next time we will look deeper into the Holy Spirit the Person.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

 

225 mph Part 2

MY FRIEND THE HOLY SPIRIT

My best human friend is my wife Richelle. Here is a very important fact, I do not refer to her as an "it", I refer to her as my best friend of all friends the one I love.  Let me start this written conversation off right with this statement, “The Holy Spirit is not an "it", He is my friend whom I cherish in my life.”  The Bible never refers to Him as an "it."

We will explore what the Bible says about Him and what I have learned from Him. The most important information you can have about the Holy Spirit is that He is my friend and he wants to be yours too. Read this reality being expressing in the following verses of scripture.

John 14:16-17 16 I will talk to the Father, and he’ll provide you another Friend so that you will always have someone with you. 17 This Friend is the Spirit of Truth. The godless world can’t take him in because it doesn’t have eyes to see him, doesn’t know what to look for. But you know him already because he has been staying with you, and will even be in you!

John 14: 25-26 25“I’m telling you these things while I’m still living with you. 26 The Friend, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send at my request, will make everything plain to you. He will remind you of all the things I have told you.

John 15:26  “When the Friend I plan to send you from the Father comes—the Spirit of Truth issuing from the Father—he will confirm everything about me.

John 16:7  So let me say it again, this truth: It’s better for you that I leave. If I don’t leave, the Friend won’t come. But if I go, I’ll send him to you.

John 16: 12-13 12 “I still have many things to tell you, but you can’t handle them now. 13 But when the Friend comes, the Spirit of the Truth, he will take you by the hand and guide you into all the truth there is. He won’t draw attention to himself, but will make sense out of what is about to happen and, indeed, out of all that I have done and said.

I have found two major reasons people think the Holy Spirit is weird and spooky.  First, because of what they have seen people do and Second, what they have been told.  He is my personal friend... listen, he is not spooky or weird.  He is a person, that’s right a person who you should not fear.  I hear people say I am afraid of the Holy Spirit... Why? Let me tell you why, because they have met weird people who do weird things.  There has been too much contributed to the weird being the Holy Spirit.  Just because insecure people do some weird things to draw attention to themselves, is not an indictment against the Holy Spirit.

My friend the Holy Spirit is full of everything I need to help me!  He is not on a mission to make me do weird things.  We need to befriend the Holy Spirit because; He is kind, compassionate, gentle, sensitive & wonderful.  Satan wants to make Him out as weird and something to be afraid of.  The Holy Spirit is the only one who can help us change the world around us.  Satan knows this so he tries to make people afraid.  A lot of people do weird things and then blame it on the Holy Spirit.  I want you to know the truth, the Holy Spirit is not rude, inconsiderate or harsh.  He is my friend & I know Him and he wants you to know Him too.  I’m tired of people giving Him a bad rap! The Holy Spirit will not make you Look Weird, Act, Dress, or even Talk weird. The truth is satan wants to make you scared of Him so you will never befriend Him!

Next time I will talk about the “Person” the Holy Spirit.