Sunday VT – 7/13/2014

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Speakers:

• Steven Atherton

Scriptures used:

• 1 Peter 5:1-11

Subject:

• How important it is to occupy the position of authority rightly.
• People find fault with their authorities to justify themselves.
• If you’re going to be an elder, you have to stand in the grace of God, notwithstanding your own shortcomings and failures.  It serves God and shows the people that all of us are saved.
• You are then standing by the same grace that you are encouraging them to stand by.
• Getting alone with the Father:  Jesus got alone with Him and went forward in power.  His Father strengthened Him.
• He was of a ready mind to serve the people.
• Do you want to be an example so that people will walk with God?
• David asked for mercy of the Lord.  If you’re going to be an example to the flock, people will do you wrong to you with no cause, but you will be an example of the love and grace and mercy so that they will know that love of God.
• Any of us can have that crown of glory that fadeth not away.
• Submit yourselves to the elders willingly.  Come to the place where you are eager for their counsel because you know it will be better than your idea.
• Our head of the ministry is answerable to Jesus, whom he cannot see.  He is servant to all of us.
•  When you humble yourself and don’t presume that you are right all the time and everyone is wrong, you can learn in every situation.
• After Josiah died, people justified themselves, because he died at 29, the Lord was not with him.  The prophecy didn’t really come to pass.  People will always find a way to justify themselves.
• The self justification has to stop if we are going to serve the Lord.
• We have to realize that we are base.  When we come to the place where we realize that sin dwells in us and our flesh is sin and will never be anything but sin so it cannot ever do good, then we can realize we need the Lord and everything looks better to us.
• Then we realize we are getting things we don’t deserve, and people are nicer than us.  We get to get shed of things in this place, and will be able to help others get out of their situations.  As long as it’s about us, we can’t do that.
• Clothed with humility:  Something that you should want to be clothed with all the time.
• God giveth grace to the humble.  When you humble yourself, you submit yourself wholly unto Him.
• If we care what people say when we do this, we will back away and undermine the Word of the Lord.
• Will He remain with us when we prefer ourselves over Him?
• When you are prideful you can’t cast all your care upon Him.  When you realize that without Him you can do nothing, casting all your care upon Him comes naturally.
• Be sober:  This is a war, not a game.  You will be vigilant, every hour of every day is critical because your adversary the devil, AS a roaring lion is seeking whom he may devour.  He devours the weak.   Are you going to be weak?
• If you’re going through affliction, do you ask where God is?  If you resist stedfast in the faith, you don’t let anything turn you away into doubt.  Don’t give doubt any place in you.  As soon as it comes, destroy it.
• You make THEM run.  You go on the offensive.  Whatever is coming against you, pray and ask Him to handle it, and go forward as though He has already handled it.  When you get to that place, your faith grows.   This all comes from humbling yourself and knowing that He knows better.
• He will make you perfect, settle you, and you will be exceedingly grateful to be a partaker of that.