Teaching from Curwensville Alliance (Pastor Steve Shields)
What does living on a submarine have to do with faith and freedom through Christ?
Use your trial to advance the gospel as Paul did while in prison.
Encourage others to live out their faith boldly and proclaim the gospel.
Move others to proclaim the gospel.
Rejoice because Christ has been made known to the lost through our trials.
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Jesus is our Sanctifier.
Most of the things we dislike about ourselves are things that are sinful. They are deeply embedded in our nature.
How do we enter sanctification?
We must get real by seeing that we are not sanctified.
We need to see Jesus as our Sanctifier. Just as you received Jesus as your Savior, it may be wise to receive Him as your Sanctifier.
We need to stand down and surrender to Jesus.
We need to trust that Jesus began a good work in us, and He will complete it.
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The fourfold gospel is that Jesus is our Savior, Sanctifier, Healer and Coming King.
What does it mean to be saved?
Being saved means being blessed. The blessing is beyond this world, and the blessing lacks nothing.
Being saved means being wanted. You have been wanted for a long time. He wants you!
Being saved means being redeemed.
Being saved means being marked for inclusion. You are made part of the family. You are marked by the Spirit of God. You have a deposit that promises much more.
Being saved changes your life forever.
Your life is changed!
You’re wanted by the God who made you and loves you. The mistakes in your life that you felt took value from your life can be used by God to bless others. It means having the Spirit of God in you and anticipating something even greater. It means having Jesus who changes everything.
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What does the Bible say about the heart?
The heart is tricky.
Tending to the heart is the most important thing you can do. We are to guard our heart because everything we do comes from it.
A clean heart comes from being close to God. Only He can clean it.
The main thing is to give your heart to God.
God is asking for a genuine heart. Only God can clean a heart. And He will speak to your heart.
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As we head back to school, recent grads gave their wisdom to be applied to the new school year. Listen as Pastor Steve uses the wisdom from the Bible to connect the graduates thoughts.
Don’t live in regret. Philippians 3:13
Use obstacles to grow. Philippians 3:14
Have fun – Trust God. Don’t overthink and stress about everything that happens. Ecclesiastes 12:13
Avoid distractions. Ephesians 5:15-18 and Matthew 13:22
Find motivation. Colossians 3:23-24
Find other Christ-followers. I Thessalonians 5:11
Ask yourself, would doing this make ______ proud of me? Ephesians 5: 1-3
Look to God for your identity. Genesis 1:27, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Ephesians 2:10, I Peter 2:9 and Jeremiah 29:11.
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When you see strange things in Bible stories, it is time to take notice. The people asked for a sign after the feeding of the 5,000. It is strange to ask for a sign after you’ve been given a sign.
It’s strange that a Rabbi would identify Himself as Life.
It’s strange for a human to tell others to eat His flesh and drink His blood.
It’s strange to remain with Jesus when He says such strange things.
Peter says we stay because Jesus fills our real needs. Deep in you spirit, you long for eternity. Deep in your heart, you long for God. Deep in your person, you long for belonging.
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Tom relates how Jesus being awakened by the disciples on the boat during a storm relates in real life experiences.
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There are 5 lessons we can learn from Jesus feeding the five thousand.
Be compassionate with others. Jesus had compassion on those who were listening to Him teach.
Engage with others. When we serve others we can serve with other Christians. Jesus could have spoke the food into the baskets. Instead, He used a little boys lunch to feed the 5,000.
Have confidence in God. The amount of food needed to feed that many people was enormous, but Jesus was confident that God would provide.
Be a good steward of what God’s given you. The disciples gathered up what was left over. It didn’t go to waste.
Keep the main thing the main thing. It is so easy to get distracted with other things and lose sight of the main thing.
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The calling of Matthew was not just a blessing to him, but also to us.
By Jesus calling Matthew it brings relief to us as it takes away the burden of self-righteousness.
Jesus’ call to Matthew brings us peace as He speaks of completeness found in coming to Him.
Jesus’ call to Matthew brings us hope!
Jesus gives us the hope of forgiveness. Jesus gives us the hope of belonging. Jesus gives us the hope of growing.
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Where are you on your spiritual journey?
Here are some questions to ask to help determine your location. How am I using the time given me to advance the kingdom? Where am I connecting with other believers? What place does the Bible hold in my life?
You could be curious, but that isn’t where Jesus wants you to stay. You could be desperate, but that isn’t where Jesus wants you to stay. You could be consumed by guilt, regret or shame, but that isn’t where Jesus wants you to stay. You could be skeptical, but that isn’t where Jesus wants you to stay.
Some moves Jesus may want you to make today. Choose to move from trivialities to exploring what Christ wants to do in your life.
If you allow desperation to move you toward God, you will find hope.
When we take our guilt and shame to Christ, He cleans us up.
If you think moving from skepticism to rejoicing would take a miracle, take heart, Jesus is in the miracle business.
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