05/26/24 Sermon Recap: Sermon, Memes & Notes

Move through your feelings in to faith.

When you are going through a trial, many times it doesn’t feel natural to praise God. You have to go through your feelings to step in to faith. When you are going through a trial, you need to rejoice in the God of your salvation, remembering that God saves you, even though you didn’t deserve it. When you realize he was willing to put his Son on the cross for you, it changes your perspective, and there is strength from that place. Do you believe in a God that SAVED you? The Apostle Paul talks about a power in meditation in the next verse of our study, Philippians 4:8,: “And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise”. Take time to meditate on the excellent and praise-worthy things in your life, all the things that God has done for you: pull out the gold, and magnify them.

Can you rejoice in God, even in your trials?

Speak words of life to destroy negative thoughts.

You are not just a collection of your thoughts, rather you are a series of seeds. Whatever you are planting, is what you will become. Galatians 6:7-10: Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith. The world sows to the flesh: the news, Facebook, television-that’s why they call TV shows programming. If you don’t like the seed, you can take it, and submit it to Christ. How? Through meditation-not as eastern religions do when they empty themselves, but rather by filling yourself with God’s words. The Biblical word for meditation is to mutter, to use your mouth. Your faith is connected to what you say, speaking reveals what's in your heart. You have the ability to destroy thoughts by speaking HIS words. For most people, speaking out loud will interrupt your thoughts. God gave you the ability to meditate: to make words submit to Him, breaking down strongholds that have been built up in your mind that cause you to think, move, and behave in a certain way. Meditation helps you to break it all down and move in Christ, so you don’t concentrate on the problems, but rather focus on the promise.

Are you using the word of God to plant seeds through the words that you speak?

Praise changes your heart, thus transforms your prayer life.

You need to focus on the things that are good in your life. Life is not a grind, it’s a gift! Lord, I thank you for waking me up today, I get to go out and magnify the kingdom and represent you! Many of us create our own prisons with the problems we face, and we don’t realize that if we would just open up our mouths and sing praises, (in tune or not, its doesn’t matter) we would connect with the rhythm of Heaven and find freedom. God doesn’t care if you can carry a tune, he is concerned with a heart that is joyful. That’s why we sing here at COLG: it is not about spectating, it’s about encountering God. Your prayer life will be transformed when you sing songs to God because praise changes your heart, and gets you in a position to hear from Him.

Have you connected with Heaven by praising the Lord today?

Science shows prayer can change your brain chemistry. Do it.

You need to pray. Dr. Caroline Leaf did a scientific study on prayer, and it showed that people who prayed for 12 min a day over 8 weeks, actually changed their brain chemistry. Even though many times prayer will change a situation or problem, what prayer will always start to do, is change YOU. Psalm 100:4: Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. There is a protocol to approaching God, when we approach Him with a humble attitude of praise and thanksgiving it lets us see things on His level, it lets us understand things on his dimension, it brings our will in alignment with His. When you are thankful and you’re praising, you are approaching God with the right attitude.

Are you approaching God in prayer with the right attitude (thankfulness and praise) or the wrong one?

Shalom, God's Peace: nothing missing, nothing broken.

Peace is considered a fruit, and fruits are seen. It is something tangible, you have a sense that God is going to get you through the situation. It may not add up mentally, but God can do things exponentially. The world’s peace is different than God’s, it’s the absence of something, for example, peace is the absence of war. God’s peace isn’t absence, it is the presence of someone. The word peace in Hebrew is shalom, but it means more than that, it means nothing missing nothing broken. Some of the greatest moments of peace are not when we are asking God to solve our problems, but rather when we are asking Him, how do I manifest Jesus? How do I look like Him? Seek first the kingdom, and all the things will be added to you.

Is God’s peace, His wholeness, seen in the interactions of your life?

Be Dangerous (to the enemy).

There is a difference between a nominal Christian and a dangerous one. The enemy believes that if you are tested by trials, you can’t walk in unconditional love, that you will question God’s love and walk away. A dangerous Christian has the ability to manifest Christ in their situation. When they are squeezed, Christ comes out. So now under trials, they become more and more like Jesus, manifesting the kingdom, and planting seeds everywhere around them. When we manifest the heart of Jesus, when we are in the temptations and trials of the cross of our life, we will look at those that accuse us and we will say, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do”. It is no longer about getting peace, because we are WITH the Peace.

Are you a nominal Christian, or a DANGEROUS one?