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:

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. 

Following are the notes I took from today's sermon. Wow -- it is worth listening to. It is very challenging personally and socially.

Text taken from Revelation 2:1-7.  Walking in this means "actively walking for a purpose" or patrolling. Jesus is patrolling His churches (Rev 2:1).

Ephesus was a successful church. It was about 40 years old at the time of this letter. Many had been involved in it: Paul, Timothy, Apollos, Aquila and Priscilla. It was one of the churches doing it right. Every letter starts with what the church is doing right.

1. Labor to the point of weariness.
2. Perserverance -- ability to carry on.

Apostles in this passage means missionaries. The church at Ephesus was good at discerning right from wrong. The church held to right from wrong.

"Yet, I hold this against you." Rev. 2:4

"You have left your first love."

Meaning you have divorced your first love. Without love, the rest of it means nothing.

You're consistent. The reason you do things went from a desire, a burning passion for Christ was replaced with obligation -- this is a red flag for us to do something.

Are we like Ephesus?

Have we lost our passion, our love?

"Remember therefore from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first"
Rev 3:5a

You gotta come back -- you can do it right. Love, love, love, love. If we've gotten too busy doing other stuff -- without love it's all worthless. God's a jealous God. He doesn't want anyone to slip away.

Christ never abandons us. Never. You know right from wrong. Great. So now, come back. That child-like faith. Repent -- turn back to God. Remember from where we came from.

1. Spend more time in worship, praising God. It is one of the first things to go when our faith goes stale.
We cannot add to the time we have here on earth. We can add to the quality of our time. If I don't make an effort I will only remember the negative. We need to see God at work.

2. We need to surround ourselves with others who are passionate about Jesus. We are here to support each other. We need this connection. We need each other. We're here to help each other get recharged. We need to guard that first love. He should feel us holding onto Him.

Imagine what Father wants from us -- Hold my hand. Jesus said we have to have the faith of a child. Let's reset ourselves. 

Jude 17-25

"Keep yourselves in the love of God" (21)

build "yourselves up on your most holy faith" (20)

When people look at me, do they know I love Jesus? We have to have that first love in our lives.

VBS is a great outreach to our community. This week we kicked it off today and will go through Friday. Monday we had about 35 children attend. We are believing for a whole lot more tomorrow. Thanks to the wonderful people at the church who are so dedicated.