04.28.2024
Brian & Jennifer Parke
Explore this week's collection of sermon notes, memes, and thought-provoking questions, perfect for sparking discussions with friends, family, and neighbors. Feel inspired? Share these insights on social media, or pass them along through text or email.
YOU ARE LOVED by God the Father, Jesus Christ His son, and the Holy Spirit. You are loved by the Church of the Living God leadership team, and you are loved by your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.
When we don't have the right perspective, we limit God's power here on Earth.
Ephesians 3:30-21: 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, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
In the verses above, ask is your prayer life, and think is your imagination. It’s not that God is not able, it is that you have a requirement to be plugged in to the source. God wants to answer your prayers even more than you want them to be done, He wants to do it on such a level that it would blow your mind, but there is a requirement that He works through you.
Many of us don’t: have the right revelation of who God is, know who we are in Christ, or see other people correctly. When we don’t have the proper perspective, we limit God's power here on earth. If we would just see from heaven’s perspective, we would see a God who is exceedingly able to do above what we ask or think.
Are you plugged in to God the source, so that He can answer your prayers in ways that will both blow your mind and also be His ultimate will?
Can you trust God in the midst of the fire?
There can be moments in your life where if things get delayed, you get disappointed, or even worse, your faith begins to wane. When you had been believing for healing, now you are just wondering if it is just a vanity project of yours, of little interest to Him? Maybe God is more willing than you think he is-maybe the delay is for you. Can you be like Daniel’s friends and trust God, even when the furnace fire is burning? Can you trust even when it is 7 times hotter?
Are you patiently waiting on the Lord or are you disappointed, or worse, drifting from Him?
Be the answer to someone else's prayer.
How willing is God to answer our prayers? Romans 8:31-32: What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? The Christian walk is not just a prayer to get to heaven, but to live in abundant blessings; God wants you to have His power working through you, to bring heaven here on this Earth. We are to be the answer to other people’s prayers.
Are you the vessel God can use to answer another’s prayers, bringing Heaven here to Earth?
Life's circumstances are not equal to God's goodness.
Evil is not created, it is the perversion of good, like darkness is just the absence of light, evil is a twisting of what God created as good in to something that isn’t. It’s the absence of good. Many of us trust God’s goodness by how life is treating us. When you go through trials and persecution can anything separate you from the love of God? Romans 8:38-39 says that NOTHING can separate us from the love of God: “ For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” When you believe that God loves you not by how life is treating you, but by truth, you'll see his goodness.
Can you see the goodness of God at work in your life, or are you overwhelmed by life’s circumstances?
Are your prayers selfish?
While God is omnipotent, he is also just. He will not break spiritual laws to make something magical happen in your life. You going to heaven is not a magical thing where he overlooks your sin to get you there- He paid the penalty for your sin through the blood of His son, Jesus Christ. Jesus describes God as not just being good, but as being a good father. What if God is good, but not just good, really good, and what if your perspective on how good He is is actually limiting Him?
God cares way more about your character development and your looking like Christ than your comfort, so He is not going to give you something that will harm you. If your prayers are selfish, God may not answer them the way you want Him to, because they are not for your good. It may be an outright denial because you are asking selfishly, or it may be a delay because you are not ready yet.
Are your prayers selfish ones?
Grow in God's calling so His promises can be released into your life.
Some years ago, Trey asked God "why aren’t you growing my ministry?," and God said, “because your character is not there yet. If I grow the ministry now, you will think it's because of your gift that people are coming to hear you preach, and if I delay it, you will start to understand that it’s way more about what I’m doing. It’s way more about a generational promise that I gave to your grandfather before I even spoke to you. It's way more about the love that happens in the community, with people willing to invite others, not saying ‘hey come listen to my preacher,' but, ‘hey why don’t you come experience a church that has true love, one for another?’” It is in this moment, when you start to grow in the things that God’s called you to, that He can say: “Yes, I can release that promise that you have been asking for because really, I’ve always been wanting to do it, but you haven't been ready yet.”
Are you growing in the things you know God has called you to, so that He can release the promises He has for your life?
Don't settle for less than God's best.
Are you trying to “earn it” with God? The faithful brother in the Parable of the Prodigal Son could have had the fatted calf at any point, but his perspective limited him from having what was dad's. He thought he had to achieve it himself. What if God wants to do something awesome in your life, and you’re asking for a young goat when he has the fatted calf, the best for you, all along? He is a Good Father: “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” Matthew 7:9-11
Are you settling for less than the best that God has for your life?
Disclaimer: Sermon notes, memes, and ideas presented are curated, designed and repackaged by Jennifer Parke, and while the ideas, message, and notes resonate with the intent and meaning of the sermon, they may not fully reflect the speaker's underlying beliefs. Questions or Comments, email: info@colg.org
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