"Why Salvation?" July 7th
We use the term saved as Christians thinking that everyone will automatically know what we are talking about.
Saved from what? What would happen if we were not saved? How do we know that this ‘salvation” is really needed in our life?
All valid questions that we as Christians should be able to answer without getting defensive. It’s not necessarily an attack on us or our belief if the person is truly seeking an answer to the questions.
Jesus Christ was always the answer from the beginning. From before the earth and before humanities fall and separation from God, God the Father had salvation in mind.
Always Jesus coming to earth, always Jesus living like a human, always Jesus being a servant, always Him dying on the cross, and always Jesus being raised, triumphantly, over the supposed power of the enemy.
What do we need saving from? Two things, ourselves, for one, and the other, the enemy whom God is still teaching that no matter how many people the devil influences, he will still never ascend to the throne of God and his fate is still sealed as God spoke it from the beginning.
God is patient with justice and He is patient with us. Rest assured, if you have believed on the name of the Lord—you are saved.
Pastor Brent
"Renewing of the Mind Pt11" June 30th
Today we conclude the series of “The Renewing of the Mind,” and, in doing so we have been asked these questions:
1. Do we have the desire?
2. Do we have the will?
3. Will we allow the Holy Spirit time to work?
4. Can we use the tools and pair them with the scripture that tells who we are?
5. And, finally, do we really believe that God wants us to be renewed?
If we do, then we will implement the lessons paired with the time it takes to get it done. God has invested is us, do we, in turn, invest back in Him by giving Him the respect of ourselves?
If we truly embrace being bought with a price, do we try and respect the price that God paid? We are unique and individual people that God has invested in, give Him the glory due His Name by using the new life given to honor Him.
We should embrace all that God has made for us to be. He gives us all of this to make us who He sees, not what we have in min for ourselves. Don’t wait, start today, because every day we put it off is a day God doesn’t get to give us what He has set aside for us from the beginning.
See yourself as a person in the future you have dreamed of being…..a man or woman of God. It is who you were made to be. Praise the name of the Lord!
Pastor Brent
"Renewing of the Mind Pt10" June 23rd
We come to the next to last lesson. Have you implemented any of these lessons? Do you have a desire to?
If your answer is no, why do you think you were saved? Just to live a harder life than you had before? One that causes you guilt along with all of the short comings that coexist with us as we are on this earth?
We are made to exist without fear. 2Tim 1:7 tells us what God has given us and what He has not.
He has not given us fear. So any form of fear that shows up inside of us or around us is not from God, period.
But how do we get where we want to be? Apply yourself. It’s going to be hard because you are literally swimming against the current of this world.
It will be tiring. When you want to give up, you can’t, and when you want to go with the flow, you have just set yourself back.
But the view of yourself in 3 months, six months, one year, five years is one that we strive for. We need the picture, and we need to fill it in with the satisfaction of pleasing God in the process.
Believe in the future of now
Pastor Brent
"Renewing of the Mind Pt9" June 16th
Eph 6:13 ends with the phrase, “and having done all, to stand.”
There are battles ahead of us. This is not rumour, this is fact.
When we get attacked, we need to know it is never really a “surprise” attack, because God knows everything that’s coming.
When we make the decision to accept God’s invitation to enter a relationship, we gain a strategist, a warrior, a supplier of all that we need, and a comforter if we get wounded in the fray.
On this Father’s Day, it has to be said that God (being the world’s best Father) has thought of us way more way than we could ever possibly think of Him.
He’s given all to reach us and to provide fo rus in everything we do!
That said, don’t think it is just a walk in the park; it may be a walk “through the valley of the shadow of death,” but He is with me.
That’s how we know if people are with us—-if they are there when all else have fled.
Thank you Father,
Pastor Bren
"Renewing of the Mind Pt8" June 9th
Transformed by the renewing of your mind. TRANSFORMED! We can be truly changed in our WAY of thinking. God has made provision for your brain to be altered,
grown, wired differently, transformed.
When we say to anyone, “hope and faith” are the key for our belief in God. I would answer hope and faith in what?
Do we really believe that if we have hope and faith we will never sin, or need to repent, or ask for forgiveness?
I hope, and have faith that’s not what you believe. We are fallible creatures with glory locked inside of us with the Lord, the Holy Spirit, and the Father providing it.
Today we are going to talk about meditation and what it accomplishes in the neuropathy of the brain. The actual rebuilding or reprogramming of our brain function.
How many of us would say, “I’m never going to spill anything again in my life”, I mean it’s a nice goal, but very unrealistic in it’s scope.
Why don’t we look at sin in the same way? If we were to say, “I’m never going to sin again”, we would be just as doomed. But what’s wrong with that as a goal?
However, let’s say that we began to meditate on the Word of God for 15 minutes everyday. Do you think that would transform you and help with your goal? Studies by the University of Pennsylvania have shown that the neurons in the brain began making new paths after just 60 days or less of meditation on the Word.
If you want your hope and faith to have a basis for your belief, begin to meditate. As the Bible says in Joshua 1:8 meditate on the Word of God, do this and you will have success and prosperity. Mentally, physically, financially, and greatest of all spiritually in your relationship with God the Father.
So this morning, be a transformer.
Pastor Brent
"Renewing of the Mind Pt7" June 2nd
2 Cor 10:3-5, says the weapons we fight with & demolish strongholds, demolish arguments, knock down pretenses, and take captive thoughts to make them obedient to Christ.
That’s a lot of day to day and hand to hand fighting! But if we look it is the weapons that do the winning, we just hold them properly in our hands.
God will not be mocked by the worldly things which He has already defeated by His Son Jesus.
Do we have it in us to stand with Christ? For if we do, these battles are expected and in our best interests to show the spirits and the world who we have faith in.
Guard your mind with all diligence and God will bless you and I as we stand up on His Word.
We need ti exercise our mind in the defecting of things that used to easily throw us off track because our faith was weak. Convince yourself that this is no longer so, and you have the Most High inside your being.
The more we exercise our mind, the more we can handle and, the more we can see behind the enemies devices, that they are weak and feeble in the presence of God.
Pastor Brent
"Renewing of the Mind Pt6" May 26th
The “Unbeatable Mind” by Mark Divine is a book about the real capability of a human being, basically stating that we, as humans, are able to handle at least 20x what we believe we are capable of.
This can either be a breakthrough for you, or, can set you up for a fear factor of 20.
We, honestly, have such a low opinion of our ability to handle adversity but, in reality, it is usually an avoidance of going through the problems life gives us.
No one really looks forward to having challenges, or setbacks, but we are all going to. We will all deal with seemingly overwhelming things which throw suspicion on our ability to handle them.
As we look at the steps to an unbeatable mind, we will look at the scriptures that are the basis for having a mind that is renewed in God.
Even step one, which is the focused mind, is set in scripture, Eph 4:14 talking about no longer being children tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine.
It comes back to our focus, just as it did, with Peter—eyes on Jesus—doing the impossible—lost sight of Jesus—sank like very other “normal” human being.
Eyes on Jesus,
Pastor Brent
"Renewing the Mind Pt 5" May 19th
Someone asked me, because we were talking about the series we’re learning in service, if the default mindset is always negative. I said it doesn’t have to be, but I’m not sure that’s true.
James 4:4 states that, “you can’t be a friend with the world without making yourself an enemy of God.
We need to find a way to divorce ourselves from the world. The only way that happens is to think about the situation you are in. The present.
The present is all we can deal with even if thinking toward the prize that is set before us might help us put perspective on our trial.
Joy comes from the Holy Spirit and is much different than happiness. Happiness relies on instant gratification, but Joy is maintained through a sustained absorption in things Heavenly. We need both to remind us to see and receive the kind of joy Jesus had, and that Paul received, to go through that which God has set before us.
And, it’s available.
It was not just Jesus that needed it, or Paul, but it is you and I that need the joy which is more fulfilling than the things of earth.
Receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit
They are eternal
Pastor Brent
"Renewing the Mind Part 5" May 12th
The Race. Our Christian life is a race, not one of sprinting, but one of endurance.
We make our life interesting to say the least. Because we can truly say that our life is not one of performance or perfection, but of pushing on to the end.
We come to a place where we get moments of clarity followed by landslides of doubt.
`And this is the life we are to live. This is not an anomaly, but one of normality. Our life, remember, is getting us ready for eternity, not this life as the end goal. So, what we are going through is beyond the scope of our worldview here, and embraces the kingdom view of God’s plan.
If we think that 95% commitment is easier, we deny the fact that our brain will find any weaknesses and those weaknesses overtake our 95%. When we are 100% in, we don’t leave room for the enemy to get a foothold.
To renew our mind, we need to not let doubt creep in because doubt is a new mind’s enemy.
The Holy Spirit works inwardly and outwardly to set the circumstances that witness to us of Jesus’ great power and Divine healing. Allow Him to lead you into the race, no matter how hard the race may seem at first. Training for a marathon is much harder than the race itself if we train properly. Living a life with Christ is much harder than the actual day to day minutes we have to endure.
But amazingly worth it!
Pastor Brent