#LoveIs Stable Message by: Pastor Tracy (video & notes)
Love is Stable
#LCCLoveIs
Sunday May 27th, 2012 Pastor Tracy
Intro: Last week, Pastor James talked about putting God into situations and this in one of the main ways we can overcome evil with Good.
God gives us His Love
Example of taking in all kinds of “attitude thoughts” then exploding! I kept taking in and taking in then I exported those thoughts through my mouth!
WHAT WE PUT IN COMES OUT
- Romans 5:5 (NIV)
And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit,who has been given to us.
God in His Grace gives us the Love to Love Him, ourselves and others. He gives/in-parts before we can export that love.
- Reasons love is poured out in our hearts:
- To love ourselves: “you love me with all that I’ve done”. Knowing he loves and believes in the potential He placed in me allows me to love me
- Love others
- To love God; unconditionally not just when things are going well.
- My experience with Mom telling me love was in me and then Francesca
- Love is not something we mentally ascent to; it’s an empowerment to live life full and to reflect Christ.
God is banking on His love flowing through us
Ephesians 3:14- (NKJ)
For this reason I kneel before the Father, What reason:
Ephesians 3:8-12 (NIV)
this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ, 9 and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. 10 His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of Godshould be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, 11 according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. 12 In him and through faith in him we may approach God
- mystery: That now through Christ’s finished work on the cross God’s spirit can dwell in man making him born anew, man is forgiven and righteous….
- Manifold wisdom:
- James 3:17 (NKJ)
But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy
- Paul as a driving desire to help everyone recognize their role in dispensing this great plan of God.
In order for God’s bold plan to be seen in us we would need what Paul was praying:
Ephesians 3:15-19 (NKJ)
16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened(become might by His power) with might through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— 19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
grant: supply you with, bestow on you based on His unmerited favor
First: THAT he would strengthen, make strong, our inner being with His miraculous power in our inner being- IN-PARTATION!
THIS PRCOCESS BEGINS WITH AN IMPARTAION OF GOD’S PRESENCE
Second: THAT Christ may dwell in your heart (thoughts and feelings). God’s presence infuses our negative thoughts, feelings and perceptions
Third: THAT- you being rooted and grounded in unconditional love.
- What does it take to be rooted and grounded (lay the foundation stable)stay rooted; planting and watering
- Example when I tried to pull out a tree root
If we are rooted in this unconditional love we can THEN
- Comprehend- to grasp or lay hold of in the mind.
- To know which means to experience
- You first grasp it in order for others to experience it through you
- We experience another level of his love when use and express his love:
- We forgive or be kind to a person when they don’t deserve it
- Holding our tongue
- Covering a multitude of sin
- Bringing peace instead of strife
- As we continue these true acts of love, love gets developed- it becomes a way of life!
Example of the man I turned the cheek with
The Goal Ephesians 3:19 (NKJ)
Fourth: “that you may be filled with all the fullness of God”
Ephesians 3:20(NKJ)
Manifold wisdom Continued
James 3:14-18 (NKJ)
14 But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. 15 This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic.
- Hearts: kardia
- Selfish ambition: a person who is concerned with their own welfare and therefore is ambitious, self-willed, self-seeking, looking for opportunities for promotion.
In other words when we cooperate with envy and selfish ambition we are
cooperating with our lower nature and are not pulling from supernatural love
16 For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.
- When we push for ourselves there is always disorder. When we push for others or the team there is always order
17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.
- Gentle: A character that is reasonable, fair, forbearing, moderate, considerate, opposite of being harsh, abrasive, sarcastic cruel or contentious.
- Willing to yield
Bring it back to 1 Cor. 13:5 (NKJ) does not behave rudely, does not seek it’s own, is not provoked, thinks no evil
The attributes of love cannot be displayed without an in-partiation of love. WE HAVE TO TAKE IT IN TO GIVE IT AWAY! It is an act of God’s grace to in-part love daily into us. We don’t have to earn it. God knows we need it to love and make known his ways.
It is easy to love lovely cooperating people! We have supernatural love when we are irritated, bothered, impatient, rude and easily provoked.
This all began because of the Blood of Jesus being spilled.
The Jericho Project
About a month and a half ago a friend & I started fellowshipping everyday in order to keep each other encouraged & strong in our faith. We were tired of satan attacking our relationships, finances and peace of mind. We became adamant about destroying his attempts to destroy us!
The Holy Spirit led me to Joshua, where he & his camp marched around the walls of Jericho for seven days. On the seventh day, after they completed their final march, the walls crumbled and fell & victory was in the hands of Joshua & God’s people!!
So what we were instructed to do was to put all our bills/debts in a pile on the floor. We included on a sheet of paper all other challenges we were presently facing. Relationship issues, material/financial needs, health issues, where I’ll kids will go to school and many more things. We then prayed for specific scriptures to stand on, concerning these things. We wrote those scriptures down, put all of these things together in a pile on the floor and prayed over this project. As specifically instructed, every morning we prayed as we usually do. Afterward, we joyfully praised God as we approached the pile of stuff. We then silently marched around that pile one time and went on about our day. We did this for 6 days. On the 7th day we marched around the pile 7 times. After the 7th time, we shouted & danced & praised God as we envisioned the walls of that pile of stuff crumbling to dust!
Satan tried to distract & discourage us, especially on the seventh day of our project. But we fought him off with praise to God and confessing the scriptures the Holy Spirit gave us. We exercised our authority in Jesus!!
The last day of our project arrived. The very next day, blessings began to manifest. Within the last 3 weeks my friend was blessed w/a new car!! I’ve received an increase in my wages!! We both have received other financial & material blessings! There’s a supernatural peace inside of us and in our households concerning the challenges we face! A debt was totally cancelled! We’ve had more favor @ work and with people in general! There’s been no strife in our relationships! Most of all, we’re more sensitive to the voice of God, we’re stronger as people and in our faith and we’ve grown more spiritually & naturally. We think, speak and act better!
We wanted to share this w/everyone that we could because it’s real and it works!! We were obedient to the instructions of the Holy Spirit. We were and remain to be diligent in seeking God first in EVERYTHING we do. We’re also vigilant with using the authority that God gave us through Jesus Christ. We have authority over ALL the power satan has, but faith without works is dead, so we did some things and God is doing the rest!!!!!!!
Thank you Pastor Sarah Marie for dedicating your life to the body of Christ. It’s because of the teachings and candor of our family @ LCC that has me, my family and others close to us, where we are today. We live in freedom & victory in a way that I never knew even existed. I love you & your children beyond explanation, because you all loved us before you even knew who we were!!!!
the knee-d for healing
On Tuesday, I went to the doctor because I could not put any weight on my knee. It would give me pain just to touch it, they stated that I had torn a ligament and that I had tendonitis. He gave me medicine and told me to stay off of it.
The next day Pastor Sarah Marie prayed for my knee, and while she was praying I felt a tingling in my body. When I walked back to the office, I felt something happening and by the time I got to the office I could bend my knee, and it gave me the giggles.
During the last year, I have been doing what I’m being taught by the pastors, and what I am learning in LBI, and my life is just awesome. Last night, when I got home, I realized I was laughing at the devil because he has tried so many ways to come at me and I have been going nope, I gave it to God. He tried again by giving me knee problems, and God healed me and once again the Devil did not get any victory over me. Praise God! He told me a lot of times last night that I was not healed and I would bend my knee and state, “oh yes I am!” This morning, I can still bend it. Because once I’m healed by Jesus, it doesn’t come back! I love you Pastor Sarah Marie.
forgiven
Six months ago, I wanted to get closer to God and asked Him what I needed to do. I kept feeling like I was hitting a wall. He told me what He wanted me to do and that was to forgive. I said no I can’t do that, I struggled all night and the next day. I was saying, I’ll do this, but I can’t do that, and He was nope you have to forgive. I just could not see myself forgiving this person and even said to God, “forget it I’m close enough to you” and started laughing. I went to bed and He began to show me everything He had forgiven me for, and finally I went fine, and got up crying. I then started praying and ended up in peace. Today I can even pray for this person (that is big).
Thanks to the teaching at Life…I’m becoming restored!
“back” off
Almost 12 years ago I was hit with degenerative arthritis in both of my hips. For 5 years, I literally suffered 24/7 with such excruciating pain that even after I had taken 6 extra-strength vicoden and 6 synthetic narcotics (on a daily basis), I still suffered. Seven years ago I had double hip replacement surgery, and have not had to take a painkiller since. I marvel and thank God repeatedly.
There was however, a physical side effect to having walked improperly for so long. The vertebrate would slip out of place at any given time, and honestly, after 7 years of this I began to grow weary of simply toughing it out.
We had a healing service at Life Christian Church. I told my wife, I would be going forward to be prayed for. Pastor Sarah Marie’s message not only confirmed what I knew to be true about healing, but it also gave me the confidence that tonight God WAS going to heal me! You see, for almost a year I’d been claiming the Lord’s promise to “Straighten the crooked places” (Isaiah 45:2).
I knew God was present, and He called my attention to a scripture verse. “I have come down now” (Genesis 18). When I went up to the front I was asked to raise my hands, which to me was an act of surrender. The Pastor spoke, “The glory of God will come upon you.” It has been a week now since I was touched by faith. I received the Holy Spirit’s quickening of my mortal flesh. For you see, I have lived pain free for this week. I thank the pastors for their belief in healing ministry. I especially thank and praise my Lord, Jesus the living Christ, for having secured my healing in his obedience to the cross, for “by His stripes I am healed.” And yes, my back even feels straighter.
marriage…God’s way
My husband and I will be celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary in May. In our early years of marriage we had problems like most people. Many of our friends were either separated or divorced but we stayed together. It was hard since neither of us discussed our problems or concerns with each other which caused more problems; we just kept them to ourselves. At one point we almost separated but decided to try to talk things out whether it hurt the other person or not, it helped and we stayed together.
We knew something was missing in our lives and started searching for a church to attend. However every church we went to left us still searching. We then heard about a Bible study in a home where Pastor Sarah Marie was talking.
We decided to give it a try. We both accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior. During these studies we learned that Jesus wanted us to live our lives in peace and joy, all we had to do was walk in His word. This was about 16 years ago. We then realized that other churches preached, here the Word is taught. Since this time we have walked in peace and joy knowing that the Lord is always with us. We still have trials and tribulations that come our way, but we’ve learned to give them to the Lord and let Him handle them, in return, we get His unending peace and joy, goodness and mercy.
Pastor Sarah Marie said that because we live in this world we will walk through valley’s (key word through) the Lord always provides a way out. Through our 40 years together, we have finally found what we were searching for, a life of peace, joy and a love we never knew was possible, a life with Jesus as our Lord and Savior. We now are closer and happier than we’ve ever been in our marriage. Thank God for Pastor Sarah Marie and Life Christian Church!
Jesus’ health insurance plan
Since Sean will be 20 next year he was no longer eligible to be covered under our health insurance unless we paid for an additional $140.00 for a rider for each child over 19. That would have been an extra $420.00 a month (we have 3 kids over 19) on top of the $980 we pay already if we paid for the same coverage for him. We couldn’t afford that so, he was going to get the young adults coverage that only covered you if you were in a catastrophic accident (which cost $75 a month) then it would have only covered 70% of the bill after $1,000 deductible and $2,500 co-pay, no dental and no office visits, etc.
Well, on Sunday Sean gave me his tithe to put in the basket and I prayed for prosperity for him over it. He wasn’t really aware of the health insurance he would have had to pay starting the first of the year so I knew he would have had to earn more money in order to cover his basic insurance. Well today I found out that he won’t have to pay for his individual health insurance as of January 1, 2011, because ALL dependents will be covered up until the age of 26 with no rider fee!! Wha Hooo!
Not only did he benefit, but our whole family did! Thank you Jesus!! Now he can save more for that car he’s been looking for 
not so “small”…small group miracle
Angela’s group had 6 women. They watched the video of the skit about Authority since that’s what the topic was about, it went really well. The women are really opening up about personal items and encouraging one another to do the Word in each situation. There was a great testimony about Angela’s niece ~ Angela’s niece (10 months old ~ already had a tracheotomy) ~ she had a birth mark on her trachea (throat). They were going to go in and take cartilage from her rib and rebuild her trachea. Angela called one of our Small group leaders and prayed. She was spared a 6 hour surgery and not only that, she was also sent home the same day, and but she won’t have to have surgery at all now and the trachea is coming out within a week!!!
restored to hear
I don’t know if you remember when Pastor Marie prayed for the restoration of my hearing. Tonight (Sunday) while watching the golf skins game my left ear suddenly sounded funny. Everything was clear and very little buzzing. I muted the TV because I wanted to be sure of what I was hearing. For the first time in 30 years, I can hear clearly with my left Ear!!!!!!!! Now my right ear is starting to clear up. The last three months, my wife and I really have had the favor of God. Looking forward to 2012 at Life Christian Church!
the plan taking place
God’s ways are awesome!
You know, I couldn’t figure out why God led me to get a job at a payday advance place that charges people 391% interest on a loan. I wondered if I should have been working there as I recognize this as usury, (don’t know if I’ll be working there much longer either)! I got promoted to full time which is almost unheard of in this business except for managers. Also was told I was getting a .50 raise, also unheard of in this business, most csrs only get like .19 cents after being there a year! Anyway, being there full time I got to know a lot of the customers, their stories are very sad. I started telling them I would pray for them. I’ve talked to some about faith and God. I’ve also been led to pray for the company. One day, I overheard my manager telling a customer she would pray for her! God is working, I got so excited! Our corporate headquarters are in Ohio. Ohio just voted to put into effect a law that limits the interest these places can charge to 28%, it now goes to the senate to be voted on. This will shut down these places in Ohio, they can’t afford to stay in business, GOD? My corporate office is planning on moving out of Ohio. How do I know my prayers make a difference? I see changes for one , I see hope in my customers faces, (one lady with cancer stood at my desk and cried), I see my manager following suit-in praying for the customers, and most of all I have become a target for the enemy! Persecution comes! My hours were suddenly cut to 20 a week-lost half my paycheck and all my benefits! My pay raise is being fought by corporate, I have to work every Saturday-mandatory (that’s what they think ,I just got one off) all kinds of persecution is flying at me, I’m finding out that you know how they say if you have an un-honest person working for you your company will suffer? Well it works the same when its the opposite way! When you have a child of God working in a dark place the enemy is coming down! By being obedient to God and praying and standing He can Move! I am really excited about being persecuted! It confirms for me that God is using me to make a difference! I am excited because I get to see Him move not only in those around me but also in other States! And also, that lady with cancer? She wants info on Life Bible Institute (LBI)! Hope this all makes sense to you guys, I just get so excited. I don’t know if I’ll have a job much longer but I know God has a plan so it doesn’t matter, though the enemy comes at me one way he’ll flee from me seven!
