Sunday VT – 06/07/2015

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Speakers:

Steven Atherton
Karen Hocker

Scriptures used:

Philippians 2:3
Romans 7
Luke 19:11-26

Subject:

We fall short – we get caught up in trivial matters. It’s pride and unbelief. We struggle to believe in the sufficiency of Jesus’s blood He shed for us. There is no joy in the Lord when we have our eyes on ourselves. The song “In the Light” says it all – the words are truth about ourselves, in the flesh.
Follow up on the onion sermon from last week: it’s about layers – the onion starts to go bad at the core, not the outside. So as we peel off the layers, it starts to show the ugliness inside.
Pride is not acknowledging that truth; humility is quick to recognize that and receive that truth
You get to walk in that new life, more abundantly. In order to partake of His life you have to give up yours.
Hate here in Luke 19:14 – the word hate has nothing to do with feelings.
All it means is they preferred their things over His things.
The parable of the talents. Use it or lose it… the one who had ten pounds got the pound the other man did not use. The people were offended.
The churches don’t acknowledge the ministers today. They want pitiful insiders they can control.
Faith worketh by love. Love worketh by obedience.
We see that love is true, then even at the very core of the onion it is bad and we get offended at this and repent not. As we repent not, God can’t honor things, we get upset with God.
We end up finding Him a hard man, and not the loving God we thought he was. We judge by feelings.
Grace is like grease to the rusty joint when we realize we are the one with the problem. To do it, it hurts. You have to get rid of the justification you have and realize you are wrong. Step out again in faith. Without faith it is impossible to please Him. He will move when you step out.
Repentance is the first step. So you can get shed of those old ways.
If you fall, what is grace for? To cover us. When you believe the grace of God, you will get up and try again.
There are people who to exercise themselves in faith again is painful. Get shed of such thoughts!
Pray to Him: The time I have is Yours! I believe in the sufficiency of Your blood. Renew me Lord so I can go out and serve You. And the Lord will respond!