We have a Father who listens and answers prayer.

Christianity is the only faith with a living God and a God who is listening to us.

Pray according to God's will.

14"For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family[a]in heaven and on earth derives its name." Ephesians 3:14-15

2 ways to learn how to pray: taught or caught

20 "built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone." Ephesians 2:20

9"The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." 2 Peter 3:9

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- 9 not by works, so that no one can boast." Ephesians 2:8-9

We aren't given faith to get things.  Get your feet wet.

What we're asking for should glorify God.

He won't give us something that won't glorify God.

Be strengthened within.

"I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being,"
Ephesians 3:16

​ "Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

If we focus on the problem the problem becomes who we are.

Put your heart and mind on the other side. If not where's our witness?


Our inner strength will grow when we focus on Christ.

If you don't push yourself beyond your capability you won't grow.

To do this we must be rooted in Christ.

"so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,"
Ephesians 3:17

Be rooted in Christ.  Power to Serve God.  Ask to fully grasp the love of Christ.

"may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." Ephesians 3:18-19

Be filled every day.

Be loving toward all all the time.

Without the love we cannot be who we are meant to be.

God is more than we can comprehend.  We are to be filled for His glory daily.  Don't be overwhelmed with life. Be overwhelmed with God.

Desire for us to have this.He loves to see joy in His children. He loves to see His children living to their fullest potential.



​

Shannon preached at the Pioneer Hall in Dupree today as part of the Community Service for Pioneer Days. He spoke the importance of being in a community of Believers.

I. We all see God.

“But now ask the beasts, and let them teach you;
And the birds of the heavens, and let them tell you.
 “Or speak to the earth, and let it teach you;
And let the fish of the sea declare to you.
 “Who among all these does not know
That the hand of the Lord has done this,
 In whose hand is the life of every living thing,
And the breath of all mankind?" Job 12:7-10

When you watch a sunset you know God exists.  Every newborn has God's fingerprints. New Birth is a miracle in all its forms.

"The heavens are telling of the glory of God;
And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.
Day to day pours forth speech,
And night to night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech, nor are there words;
Their voice is not heard.
 Their [a]line has gone out through all the earth,
And their utterances to the end of the world.
In them He has placed a tent for the sun," Psalm 19:1-4

"For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse." Romans 1:20

II. We have faith He will keep working. This isn't an easy place to live. We have faith it will be green again in the spring even when it is a drought right now.

III. The Creator wants you.

He wants a personal relationship with you as an individual. 

"For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.” John 6:40

There's not a single person God doesn't want.

 "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
Romans 5:8

We're not good enough. We can't fix it by ourselves. He loves us anyway. You were born ready to accept God. You were born with a need for Jesus Christ. Accept Him now. 

The only thing that keeps us from God is our own stubbornness. He did everything He needed to do so we could be with Him. We need more God and less religion. We let religion get in the way of relationship. The most necessary part is relationship with Christ. There is no way to the Father except through Christ. We have to go through Jesus. 


1. Recognize God as God.
2. Recognize you as you. 
3. Ask Him to enter life. 

The most important communities are based on relationships. 

There is a legacy of faith in each of us (or we wouldn't be here). There's a need for revival. 
​


Footnotes:

"Fear not" is in the Bible 365 times. 

Dictionary says fear is a natural feeling of alarm or impending disaster.

There are 500 documentated phobias, to include:

Dentaphobia -- fear dentists
Cacaphobia (might be spelled wrong) -- fear of ugliness
Gynaphobia -- fear of women
Isaiah 43:1-743 But now, thus says the Lord, your Creator, O Jacob,
And He who formed you, O Israel,
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name; you are Mine!
2 “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
And through the rivers, they will not overflow you.
When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched,
Nor will the flame burn you.
3 “For I am the Lord your God,
The Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
I have given Egypt as your ransom,
[a]Cush and Seba in your place.
4 “Since you are precious in My sight,
Since you are honored and I love you,
I will give other men in your place and other peoples in exchange for your life.
5 “Do not fear, for I am with you;
I will bring your offspring from the east,
And gather you from the west.
6 “I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’
And to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’
Bring My sons from afar
And My daughters from the ends of the earth,
7 Everyone who is called by My name,
And whom I have created for My glory,
Whom I have formed, even whom I have made.”

Satan loves to use fear to make us stumble.

You could live in a state of fear all the time.

Fear is just fear (it's not bad or good). It is what you do with it, how you react to that makes it positive or negative.

In positive terms, fear can help you be more alert, more careful.

In negative terms, Fear will freeze you up or keep you from doing what you need to do. 

Fear not is the most common command in the Bible. We need to hear it over and over.

Why we shouldn't fear:

#1 People of God should not have fear because we belong to God:
Psalm 139:16:
16 Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And in Your book were all written
The days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them.

#2 We are redeemed by God.
Galatians 3:13:
13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a [a]tree”--

Children run to Mom and Dad to be safe. We need to do the same thing with Father God when we're scared. 

1 Peter 2:9:
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

#3 Don't fear because God is with us.
Matthew 28:20:
" I am with you [a]always, even to the end of the age"

In Romans 8 we are told that If God is for us who can be against us?

When we couldn't He did it all.We have an abundance of "back up.' 

I'm not invinsible but God is.

Hebrews 13:5:
for He Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,”

Fear not is an action word. God's protection is an active thing. Armor is necessary to do the job.

Ephesians 6:10-18 (click here to read the entire scripture-- it's great). 

Shield of faith. A wall of shields.

Christians should set up a shield wall.  The most dangerous thing to do in a fight is nothing. When you freeze up you lose. Make a decision even if it is a bad decision.

Joshua....Be strong and courageous. Every time that's said in the BIble they are sent out to conquer.

Plow forward.  You can get through it. Finish, finish, finish.

We are living in the eye of the storm. Prepare for the next battle. You get a second wind in the ey. We're in the pause. Prepare for the storm that's coming. Arm yourselves. 

Belt on our truth. Study New skills are harder to use than ones we've had for a long time.  Prayer and scripture need to be second nature for us.

2 Timothy 1:7 -- God gave us a spirit of power, love and self-discipline.

Human error once again stopped us from sharing with you Shannon's sermon verbally, but we do have some notes. Hope they bless you. See below:

Paul had a list of challenges. He saw Jesus and was struck blind; then had to be led around. He was used to being respected and became an outcast. Even the church didn't trust him at first. He was shipwrecked, flogged, stoned. He knew hunger and cold. He was in prison for many years. Through all this (and not through incredibly "blessed" circumstances) he learned how to be content. 

"I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." Philippians 4:12-13

It's not natural to be content. Our natural state is we want more of _______. We never have enough. Satan uses this against us. He says if you do this you'll have more. What a lie!

Satan did this with Jesus in Luke 4. The first temptation was to turn stones into bread -- temptation for necessarities. The second one was proving Himself (throw yourself off the building. Angels will catch you). The third was about having all the stuff you'd ever want (I'll give you the whole world. Just fall down and worship me). 

Jesus could have done any of that but that wasn't why He was sent. If He had given in, if He had cut corners to God's way, He would have negated His purpose. We will do the same if we live our way rather than God's way.   

If we are not living in the moment, we are missing out. You are not creating a memory by videotaping it. You create a memory by living it.

Find your joy on the inside. Can't allow that desire for more control us or we will cut corners when we shouldn't. We will fail. 

If our contentment isn't coming from within material stuff will take control. Without Christ there is no contentment.

​God has all the big things under His control.

"Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things." Philippians 4:8

Put your mind on the beauty. This is a learned behavior. Look for the beauty!

We don't undersatnd the lack in other parts. We just have to look around and find the joy. 

Little things!

The big secret -- remember what we have. God takes care of the big things. Don't look horizontally for contentment. Look vertically -- look up to God. 

We gotta let go of the past (forgive everyone including yourself). Acknowledge baggage is there so God can deal with it for you. 

"I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." Philippians 4:13

It isn't about self suffficiency. It isn't about our strength. God gives us strength. This verse is about contentment not about our own strength. We are insufficient. God is sufficient. Self-sufficiency will always fail. 

God doesn't give us unlimited strength. He has unlimited strength. 

It was neat to see the imperfection. When we aren't able to pull, He'll pull. He uses His strength to carry us. I can't do it alone. Be content with this. God's got us.

Life is not a DVD. We cannot fast forward through bad times.

Look at the other side of it. We can learn contentment. 

Chlldren. When they hurt they run to Mom and Dad. They know Mom and Dad will make it all better. This is how we need to be with Father God. We need to run to HIm with everything knowing He will make it better. 

Prayer.

Matthew 7:7 (ask, seek, knock).

Ask with humility. We don't demand from God. We ask.

Philippians 4:6. Don't be anxious about ANYTHING.

James 4:3.

Coming forward and asking for help. Our pride tells us we can handle it. Pride interferes with our asking. "I know I can't but you can Lord."

Throw off our pride and know God wants us to ask. He knows when we should be asking but aren't. We are Not of this world. Being lost is probably an okay thing at times.

Seek -- constantly seek. Don't stop seeking. I'm alive, the learning is not done.

Trying to seek better ways to do what we're doing. Seeking to make it better.

Seek God in the way we would seek something we've lost -- like our keys right before we need to leave. Seek God like that. If we do this we will have thoughts about God.

During the day, seek.

Philippians 4:8.

The enemy will fill your mind if you don't.

The enemy can steal your witness. If we aren't seeking God, other stuff will seek us. This needs to be an intentional act.

Re-evaluate my God seeking.

Re-evaluate my life. 

The search for God needs to be my passion. Whatever I'm passionate about will drive me. It iwll fill my thoughts. 

Jeremiah 29:13.

When I seek God with all my heart I will find Him!

Am I searching for what I want from God or for Him?

Knock and the door will be opened for you. A persistent knock. You knock constantly.  Don't quit asking. Don't quit knocking. Draw attention to yourself at the door. Knock loudly. There's something we have to knock on doors we don't want opened.

God wants us to keep asking, keep coming to Him. Don't overlook the fact that there is a door. God put a door up -- not a wall.

Jesus says I am the way, the truth, the life, the door. Jesus is the door. Jesus is the gate. The door we are knocking on is Jesus. Faith comes by asking, seeking, knocking. 

Pray God cleans out our hearts and minds. Pray we can be silent within so we can hear God. Sometimes we don't stop long enough to listen to God

"I was so afraid to knock on the door that I found an excuse NOT to knock on the door."

​God doesn't want us to wait for anything.

(Must apologize in advance -- missed part of the sermon so no notes for when I had to take Hawk to the bathroom).

Notes from this morning's sermon:

Life gets heavy.

Matthew 11:28-30.

Oxen and work horses pull heavy loads but they won't be setting any land speed records.

heavy-laden = burden

Jesus says, "I'll trade you. Take my light yoke of following me and I'll take that load of worry you carry on your shoulders."

Jesus says, "Come to Me."

If you're tired, come.

We take our burdens and compound them by worrying about them. You have to let them go without any strings attached that you can pull on later to bring them back.

Some people let their burdens become their identity.

Luke 11:46: The pharisees gave the people burdens.

Proverbs 3:5-6.

Trust Him to do everything. We get so used to a burden we can't let it go.

We often communicate with complaints.

Acknowledge Him.

Psalm 55:22: "Cast your burden."

Cast means we throw it at Him.

Casting a heavy wet net takes lot of strength.

Humble yourself.  Realize you can't do everything. Sometimes we can't do anything.

Start with prayer.

All that worry gives us nothing good. You can worry yourself sick.

Proverbs 34:17.

Isaiah 46:4.

God says He's got this. He will always be there. God is the only one who can bring us to Him. How do we let this go?

In His due time.

Paul's physical problem never went away. Yet, he had joy.

Read His Word. It is full of encouragement and promises of God taking care of us.

We have to get into prayer to get close to Jesus. We have to be in conversation with Him. Constant conversation. Ask. If you knock the door will be opened.

And give your brothers and sisters a chance to help. They want to.
​