The best thing you can do for your growth is to be open for the Holy Spirit to move in your life. The Holy Spirit is an integral part of the trinity. While he is not the Father who created us, or the Son who came to die for us, he still is God. The Holy Spirit comes upon us and speaks into our lives. When we invite the Holy Spirit into our lives, he regenerates us. He lives inside of us, and becomes a part of who we are, making us holy in the sight of God the Father.

It is God’s will for the world that none should perish. His will is not being done on this earth; people perish every day. If we do not get with his plan, then people will continue to perish. Position yourself for the plan of God. Jesus promised us that we would do bigger and better things than he did. The Holy Spirit helps us do that.

Galatians 2:20 (NLT): My old self has been crucified with Christ.It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

The House of God is a place to come to be refreshed. It is a place where the Holy Spirit moves; to convict where conviction is needed; to bring change where needed; and to refresh the believers. When we make room for the Spirit, He moves on our behalf.

There are four aspects of the House where one can encounter God and His Spirit:
–Fellowship: God moves in friendship; no one can truly survive the trials of life alone, we need friends to walk beside us and hold us up.
–Worship: We encounter God in worship. The worship leaders worship; they lead us into worship, and it is there that we encounter God.
–The Word: the Word is preached in this church. No matter who is speaking, they are speaking from the Word. The seed is scattered, and when it hits your heart and takes root, your world will change.
–The Alter: The supernatural happens on the alter. Healing, repentance, freed–it all happens here.

Now, the Spirit of God empowered Jesus. Wherever Jesus went, the Spirit went with Him. W have a spirit in us–upon conception, something eternal was created in the physical. It is part of being made in the image of God. That spirit part is the part that will never die. The human body will die, but the spirit will live on. When we are born in the physical, we are born into a fallen world; God waits for us to come to Him for a rebirth into the supernatural. This happens upon accepting Jesus’ sacrifice. When we come to that point, we encounter the Holy Spirit and are filled with Him!

Jesus was reunited with the Holy Spirit upon His baptism. From then on, Jesus and the Holy Spirit worked hand in hand to reach the World. Jesus would withdraw to pray. He, The Holy Spirit, and God would be one for a little while, then Jesus would return to perform the miracles growing inside of Him. The Holy Spirit would work through Him to change people’s lives. And when Jesus died the physical death on the cross, it was the Spirit that brought Him back three days later.

Then, in John 20:22, Jesus imparted the Spirit to His disciples. It was like receiving a new toy; they weren’t certain what to do with it, but they went for it anyway! They followed Jesus example: they went to pray. And when they prayed, the Spirit showed up! (The Spirit is in us; the Spirit fills the room around us.) Then, Peter–the disciple known for sticking his foot in his mouth–stood and preached! He was a fisherman! yet, when the Spirit came upon him, he did something he had never done before–he spoke with power, eloquence, authority, and theological accuracy! When the Spirit comes upon you, you do things you never would have done before! And what’s more, Peter already had boldness; the Spirit used his boldness to bring honor and glory to God! The Spirit takes what you already have and magnifies it for use in the Kingdom! He takes you into things you’ve never done and uses the gifts you already have! It is all for the benefit of the Kingdom!

The Holy Spirit is powerful! And He empowers us to perform miracles! He is in us! In every aspect of who we are. Paul said it in Galatians. It is no longer we who live, but Christ’s SPIRIT lives in us. He is in our hands, our minds, our hearts, and our feet. Where we go, He goes. And where the Spirit goes, there is also freedom! The Spirit brings freedom.

John 20:1-18 (NIV): “Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead) Then the disciples went back to their homes, but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. “Woman,” he said, “why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (Which means Teacher). Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ “Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.”

Let’s take a trip into the tomb for a minute. The tomb is place where you die with Christ. When you die with Christ, your eyes are opened to the spiritual atmosphere around you. There are things going on around our lives that we have no idea about. As Mary Magdalene ran into the tomb to make sure that Jesus was gone, her eyes were opened to the things inside of the tomb that the disciples had overlooked.

There were three things inside of the tomb, in addition to the Angels sitting in reverence and praise at the head and foot of where Jesus had lain. The first of these things were the strips of linen that Jesus’ body had been clothed in. This means that as Jesus rose from the grave, he donned new garments. For those of us dying with Christ, this means that we become new people. We have the same person inside of us, but we are now clothed with the King of all Kings, with the best of the best. Our attitudes in life are radically changed, and people notice that.

The second thing that is found in the tomb is the burial cloth, the face cloth that covered Jesus’ face as his body lay in the tomb. For us, this means that we will be washed clean of our past, not forgotten, but washed clean. It is a brand new day; the freshness of God is on our lives. We have the brightest of futures to look forward to.

The third thing we find in the tomb is Mary’s humanity. She falls down on her knees and weeps, begging for her savior to be given back to her, to know where his body lay. She died to herself, wanting nothing more than her savior. As she realized who was standing before her, she wept with joy, not sorrow. As we ourselves die with Christ in the tomb, our humanities are also stripped away. As we die to ourselves, we turn around and find our lives in the hands of our savior. Joy floods into our lives, replacing the sorrow.

It is hard to believe what Jesus says sometimes, but his promises are true. Visit the tomb- so that you can die with Christ and come alive with a new life. The same spirit that rose Jesus from the dead is also alive within us. Take a hold of that, and don’t you ever let go.

In this story, Jesus is found in His House preaching the Word. The crowds are drawn to Him. Some receive what He is saying; some don’t. Why is that? It is not the issue of God wanting to get something to you; it is a heart issue. Are you submitted to God? Or is your heart hardened against the seed?

Attitude is crucial in living a life for God. Submitting to God’s word is very easy. It is the simple answer to life’s complicated problems. See, in ministry, people often think the pastor has all the answers. They want his council, but the answer is easy: come into the House of God; submit to the Word.

In this story, four young men are carrying a burden. They are drawn to Jesus’ House by His Words (the same Word we have today). They want to receive what He is offering. But they are faced with a challenge. Life throws challenges at you every time you decide to step out. For instance, you decide to come to church, but then, suddenly, you have to work or someone dies and you need to go to the funeral service or you sleep in. So many things try to get between you and your answer. For these men, it was a large crowd. Yet, they are not deterred. They climb onto the roof and dig through. They push through until they reach Jesus.

What obstacles are in your way? Push through! Submit to God’s Word, and your burdens will fall away.

Everyone has choices to make. Even Jesus had to make the right choices regarding temptations. We must choice, daily, to go with the right choice, or the wrong choice. Only you can make that choice for yourself. When you are filled with the Holy Spirit, the Bible comes alive within you- not only written on the pages, but living inside of your heart. The Holy Spirit leads you into truth. He is there to help you make the right choices.

The power to make the right choices, get bold, and get confidence is found in your greatest trial. In the midst of the battle comes the power- when you tap into the supernatural of God’s strength. Know what the Bible says about you and be able to find where it is. In knowing what is said about you, and being able to quote it, you are able to make the right choices for all temptations sent your way.

God wants to anoint you with things and He has assignments to give you. Your job is to get in that assignment and do what God has appointed you to do. Get up off your butt, and use your gifts. Use your gifts to change the world you live in. if you do that, then your world will fall together.

When you came to Christ, you stepped into a new world, but don’t stop there. Keep marching on, through that great trial that seems impossible. You will come out greater than ever.

Get filled with the Holy Spirit. When you are filled with the Holy Spirit, it’s all love. Love for people, love for God, and love for yourself. It’s all about love.

Nicodemus came to Jesus soon after Jesus had cleared the Temple. He was a member of the Pharisees–a group who ran the Temple and profited from the not-so-holy business dealing that were going on within until Jesus came and drove everyone out. It seemed to be his hope to win Jesus over before this new stranger could cause any more trouble. He tries to butter him up by calling him “Rabbi” and talking about his miracles. It is then that Jesus hits him with this: “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”

Huh? That came from way left field! It is a statement that has nothing to do with the conversation at hand. Now, we modern day Christians understand the importance of this statement. Salvation or “being born again” is a fundamental basis for Christianity. But for Nicodemus, the statement was a bit absurd. He was trying to win Jesus over, and yet Jesus was changing the subject. Why would he do that?

It is because Nicodemus came to him with an agenda, and Jesus was going to have none of it. We often come to God with an agenda–deliberately or not, hoping He will accept it and do things the way we want them done. However, we must be prepared for the consequences. If we come to God with an agenda, He will answer us with something that will blow our minds! This story is a perfect example; it poses the questions, “What will you do when God has another agenda?”

As this new year begins, we all make plans and resolutions. It is common. We also seek vision for what we should do. This time presents a unique opportunity where our agenda and God’s plans meet, and we have a choice to either hold to our plans or submit to His will. It is like walking a dog. A dog gets excited at first over the walk, willingly accepts the leash, and lets the human lead. Then, after some time, the dog tries to take control of the walk by going this way or that, forcing the human to tug on the leash to correct the dog’s path. Then, inevitably, the dog takes a stance of refusal, digging paws into the ground so as not to move any further.

We as humans act in much the same way. We lay aside our agenda to follow God’s vision for the year. At first, we are excited. We follow God’s lead. We let Him take control. Then, after a few months, we begin to try to take back to the control. We want to go another way. God brings someone into our world to speak to us (a “tug on the leash”) and set us back on the right path. Then, more time passes, and we reach a point of stubbornness. We don’t want to go this way any more, so we drag our heals. At this point, God does two things. First, He tugs on the leash once. He gives us a chance to submit. Fiances get tights, so we stop tithing. He sends a “tug.” We get into a relationship that may not be best for the time being. He sends a “tug.” Any number of situations come up where our pride gets mixed in and we stop following God’s lead; He sends one tug. And if we do not submit, He let’s go of the “leash.” He frees us to do what we want–regardless of the consequences He knows will happen as a result– because He cannot and will not control us.

Inevitably, disaster strikes. Can we look at God and ask why He lead us here? Sure, but it was not Him who lead. He let go. We went our own way. But God is merciful. We come back and submit to His lead again, and He will lead us. He promises in His Word to lead us through the good times (“by the still waters”) and the bad (“through the valley of the shadow of death”). He leads us no matter what. He is always there beside us if we lower our agenda and let Him take the lead.

Being on the vine means that we’re put through a process in order to become the appealing, plump fruit we desire to be. Because of the different seasons of life we must go through different processes and endure various weathers before we are complete.

John 15: 1-2 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful”

God may be pruning you. If you think this is happening you must ask yourself: How connected am I to God? Have I sought after God? Checking our connection with God is how we make sure we’re going to produce good fruit.

Church is supposed to challenge us. Faith is not provided by people, jobs, etc. Those things are misguiding securities. Security comes from walking with God. It cannot be based on things that we accomplish in life. Biblical joy is not based on circumstances of life. Real joy is based on the excitement of what God is doing.

You are called to walk the walk of faith.

“I’m hurt, I don’t feel safe…” We must remember – BUT GOD!

Do not walk by challenge, walk by God. This requires faith. Our security rests in our faith walk. It is a decision to walk. Our true amount of security is in direct proportion to the type of fruit that we produce.

Connect with God.

How do we connect with God? Read our Bibles, pray, go to church – anything that keeps our hearts open. We cannot walk if faith if we don’t have a regular prayer life, bible reading and consistent church attendance. Find your way of connecting with God and do it often! We must be enhancing our connection with God. Constantly check your connection with God because it’s not about comfort zone. Sometimes we settle because we are trying to make life uncomplicated or easy.

• Good fruit comes from our connection with God. Living with God, submitting to leaders….
• Are you more connected to sports, activities or relationships than you are to God?
• Ask yourself: Do you have what you have because of your connection to the vine?
• Good fruit comes from acting out Godly principles in order to have freedom. In marriages: commit to loving and serving regardless of your human desires. In jobs: go after interviews, humbling jobs, etc. In children: don’t see the devil in everything. We serve a supernatural God. A BIG God always conquers a small devil.

II Chronicles 7 – When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the sacrifices, and the glorious presence of God filled the Temple. Every so often, people start to have problems with giving. They say that tithing is not of the New Testament or of the New Covenant. I know that God doesn’t change. The Bible says he is the same yesterday, today and forever. Let’s observe God and how he moves, functions, operates and interacts with His people.

God loves offerings. He loves when we bring a sacrifice. The result of God receiving our sacrifice is that He fills the place in which the sacrifice was given. Because under the New Covenant, everything that has to do with giving and offerings has to do with our hearts, this is very powerful to us. If God fills the place where the sacrifice was given with His presence, what that’s saying is when we give God fills the environment from where the gift was – it is our heart. Giving under the New Covenant is from the heart. When you give from the heart, God’s presence fills your life. Our hearts are like an altar. It is the channel by which we relate to God spiritually. It is where we bear our thoughts, desires and troubles – we lay them on the altar. God has always wanted that personal, heart to heart relationship with us, and He knows what is in our heart. It is futile to try to hide our hearts from God because He knows us. He can always see our hearts.

The altar was the barest, most open part of the temple, and it revealed the heart of the nation – their attitude towards God. Out of our heart, we give and sacrifice and bear the truth to God about where our hearts are. When we give and sacrifice from our hearts, that is a trigger for God’s presence to enter our lives. When God’s presence dwells in this kind of way in our hearts and in our lives, everything is different. There is also our individual walks with God – our individual hearts – and then collectively our heart joined together in the body of Christ. We have individual altars and then our collective altar, which is represented by us coming together, putting God first and worshiping Him together.

The most important thing that can happen in this church is for people to find God, for God to become real to them and for them to start on their journey towards God’s calling for them. We are in a fight and a competition to win people for God – we are competing with everything else around them to get their attention and bring them into a place where they can experience God. We want to bring them to a place where they understand that God loves them as they are and wants them as they are. That is the most important thing we are involved in. All of the things we do in this house are moving us towards creating an incredibly environment for those who are unconnected to God.

Paul says I will do extraordinary things so that I might win one. I will be all things to all men so that I can win just one to Christ. Everything we do – all of the effort and prayer and time and sacrifice we put in to things is all to win people to Christ. This church is about connecting people to God – in everything we do, we will never forget that the most important things is connecting people to God. I know that what we do is minor in the process compared to what God does, so we want to do things to create an atmosphere for God to show up. We want to bring people into the environment and create a meeting point for the lost to come in to the presence of God. There is nothing more powerful to change someone’s life than the presence of God. We can’t rely on our own efforts or ideas – it is the presence of the Holy Spirit that changes people and delivers the realities of God into people’s lives.

We not only need to have the presence of God here every time we meet, but we also need to carry it with us all the time. We have to keep our hearts right and our attitudes right so that we are always prepared to connect people with God. It’s easy to have a good attitude in church, but it is harder in the world to keep our hearts in the right place and stay in a place of servitude. The more you serve, the farther you will go with God and the higher level of ministry you reach the greater your level of servant hood becomes. We get strength from church and fellowship so that we can go out and reach others outside of church. You find God in fellowship.

This church is a church of the presence of God, and we want it in the midst of everything we do. We want the presence of God in the temple always – our heart temple and the church temple – because the presence of God changes lives and transforms hearts. God always shows up. Sometimes we have to wait for Him, but He never fails to show up.

God does not respond to our needs. He responds to the faith we have inside us that God will help us overcome our needs. Even in a place of blessing there will be pitfalls and obstacles (i.e. consider the serpent in the Garden of Eden). There will be things that can cause us to backslide when we aren’t managing our lives and seeing into the future – seeing through God’s eyes and with vision.

There are times in our lives when we face things that cause us to backslide and pull away from God’s presence. When God speaks to us in these times, He gives us a pathway to come back to Him and come back into the right. When we do something wrong, God doesn’t hide Himself from us: we hide ourselves from Him. The three questions take us on the path back to Him.

Question 1: Where are you?
Genesis 3:1 – In that moment, we need to choose to hear God, move toward Him, and overcome the things that are holding us back. We need to respond “I am here Lord. This is where I am.” Once we open our hearts and hear Him, we move to the next level.

Question 2: What do you see?
We need to choose very carefully what we can see with the eyes of our spirit. We need to choose to look higher and see things as God sees them. We need to choose to see above and beyond our problems, circumstances or where we are right now. We need to look to the future, have vision and see breakthrough. We can’t be shortsighted and focus on the present. We have to keep moving and see a goal. Have a vision. See the vision and run to it. As God said to Ezekiel: “Can you see these bones live?” In other words, what do you see for your life? Do you see things changing? If you don’t see change, it will never come. A vision in our heart of where we are going will give us the power to keep moving.

Question 3: “What do you want?”
Story of Bartimaeus (the blind beggar) – Jesus said to the blind man, “What do you want me to do for you?” When Bartimaeus heard the sound of Jesus’ voice, he cried out to Him for help. Although it may have seemed obvious what His need was, Jesus still wanted Him to speak it. Jesus said to him, “Get up and throw off your cloak.” This cloak was the mark of a beggar, and symbolic of his life and circumstances. Jesus told him to throw it off – shed it. Are you hiding from God? Are you connected with God? Throw off the covering that is hiding you – hiding what is inside. Stop hiding from God and others. Make the decision to change by throwing off your covering. Make a decision to move forward – move away from it. Your need is not the obvious motivating factor to God in your life. He wants us to identify our needs and make a decision to overcome them. The only limiting factor in this situation is our response to God’s question. Are we going to step out in faith into something bigger than ourselves? Or are we going to stay focused on what we see around us? There is no restriction in God. It’s all about faith.

Where are you?: What’s going on?
What do you see?: Do you have a dream for your life?
What do you want?: Do you have the faith to believe in something big?

1 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; 2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night. 3 He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.

Whatever that person does shall prosper. Verse 1 is a progression of connection. The lost connect to the world. We love the world. Why? Because God does. Sometimes we need a season away from the world, especially at the time we get saved. We begin moving toward the future: our dreams, our goals. We begin to move. You make a decision to shift your life and make it happen. Your change your priorities & focus for a while.

Everyone is going somewhere. If you are stagnant, you are going nowhere. When we come to Christ sometimes we translate that into pulling away from the world. It is good to do so for a season because it allows God to plant a seed of new life. But there are people in this world who need to be reached. Once you get established in your faith and your walk, you are on a different pathway. It is time to reconnect with the world to reach the lost. Reconnecting doesn’t mean to walk with the world; allowing their counsel dictate how you live, your life, your values. Sometimes when we connect we begin to walk with the world. We find ourselves progressing like in verse 1. First, we walk with them. Then we begin to stand. We need to be able to self govern. Be in the world not of the world. We can’t allow it to dominate us.

On the other hand, I can’t think of anything worse than alienating ourselves from the people that God loves. What are our motives for separation? Disdain? They aren’t as good as us? Do we look down on them? That they aren’t as together as we are yet? “God so loved the world.” How can we reach the world if we do not love them? If we walk in pride? We are not to walk, stand, or sit. Notice each step we become more comfortable. Sitting means being at their table, eating what they serve. We are not called to reject, but we are not called to eat what the world has to offer, either.

We are called to love them, but the difference is influence. In every situation, someone is always influencing someone else. The connection dynamic in relationships is alive. What are we to do? Stand and grow. We become strong so the world will not influence us, but we will influence the world. “Blessed is the man whose delight is the law of the Lord.” There is life in our heart. So we must protect our heart. It should be soft to God but protected from the stuff of the world.

It isn’t commonality but connection that creates the environment for the supernatural to happen. We come to God to connect heart to heart. We should feel the emotion of our heart in church. We want to bring the lost into that same connection with God, but guard our heart from the contrary influence of the world. Connection is influence transfer. Influence flows both ways. Heart connections are awesome. Share moments, have heart connections, but don’t allow them to influence you. Stand in your values and beliefs. Ask yourself, “Am I influencing what’s going on rather than the other way around?”

”His delight is in the word”. This word trumps all other words. Nothing spoken is higher than God’s word. Teaching puts the word in our hands but it is echoing because it is spoken out of God’s spirit. It gets into our hearts and influences us. God’s word is changing me, feeding me. Having love for God’s word is our strength and ability to fulfill His call in our world. We get that by reading or meditating on the word. It doesn’t matter how, but find a way to meditate on His word. Chew over it & speak it into your world.

Strength? Meditate on the word. Love the word. Then you will be planted like a tree. Like the giant sequoia tree, not just any tree. The tiny seed in the pine cone is opened by fire. Then it is planted and grown. That’s what we are. Seeds have to be planted in the soil to flourish and grow. Being born again is like having abundant life planted by a river. The Bible refers to the river as a channel – a man-made waterway. The church is a channel for the rain of the Spirit and God’s river of life. We can’t exist “just me & God”. We must exist with others. Planted by a man-made river means to be submitted to the house of God. We prosper in all areas of our lives – spiritually, marriage, family – when we are planted by the river. Then we have the kind of life that attracts the lost to the God in us. Prosperity is not about money – it is about fullness in all areas of our lives. The lost have hearts that are hurting. They will be drawn to lives that are full and whole.

We must be able to stay connected to the lost, but strong enough to not allow the world to dictate what we think. Meditate on the word to shift and change. We are a million miles from where we were when we got saved. Our strength and ability will influence those who come into our world. Then we will prosper.