Trinity Evangelical Presbyterian Church

Let’s go in depth into the main two ways we tear each other down rather than build each other up: Gossip and Sarcasm. I call Gossip the Outer Cut because it tears apart other people’s perception of the person I gossip about. The second cut is sarcasm. I call it the Inner Cut because it is a silent assassin that slowly kills our hearts.

We are called to speak the Truth in love to each other as one of the mechanisms by which we reach that maturity. There are two components to this command that are equally important. First, we must speak the Truth to each other. Falsehood and flattery will never spur us to the love and good deeds Christ has called us to. At the same time, we are called to speak that Truth in love. Without love motivating and guiding the communication of Truth we will end up wounding those we seek to help grow in their faith.

We cannot simply be content to be blessed by God; we must realize that we are blessed to be a blessing.

The road to transforming our tongue starts with a deep realization of how devastating our tongue can be to our lives and to the lives of those around us.

Those who embrace suffering in the body find victory over sin. Peter ties suffering to increased obedience

Fasting is denying the desires of our flesh. The great paradox is that as we weaken the desires of our flesh it actually strengthens it to be more supportive of our spirit.

Jesus came into the world through the faith of Mary. Christ enters the world through our faith as well. Every time we step out in faith Christ is able to be born into the lives of others and into every place we go. Lord, grant us the vision to see how faith can transform everything around us.

The Lord calls us to trust in Him for deliverance but we often look to the world instead. But if we do, the same thing that happened to Judah will happen to us; we will become enslaved to those from whom we sought help. We must repent of our dependence on the Lord and trust only in the Lord for our salvation.

Once a tree falls or is cut down a stump is all that remains. No one walks up on a stump and assumes something positive happened to that tree. You just realize from experience that it’s the last remnants of a tree that has been felled. Praise God that He causes Branches to grow up from the stumps of our failures.

Sooner or later, the storms of life, the difficulties of this world and the attacks of the enemy will overwhelm us. When that happens our ability to survive and thrive will depend on the refuges that are available to us.

We live in a fallen and sinful world which assures us that at some point our lives are going to be shaken. The key to surviving this is to embrace the idea and prepare for it. How do we prepare?

Moses pictures creation as beginning with the presence of God and the presence of chaos. God the Father is about to speak. He is going to speak light into darkness. Order into chaos. Stability into instability. This is what God did and this is what He still does.

If you have walked through the process of eliminating your personal preferences and hearing from the Lord that you should vote, you must do the hard work of being an informed voter. I challenge folks to ask the Lord which issues they should prioritize and then order them as He leads you. From there, research those issues and identify the candidates that most align with your values. This helps you truly be informed on the issues.

If we believe that America is the hope of the world disappointment is headed our way. If we believe that money, or power, or popularity, or possessions are going to fulfill us we are headed for heartache. But if we look to the King and the Kingdom as our source of hope we can endure anything that goes wrong in this world.

1. God doesn't choose people how the world chooses people. 2. God can take you from anywhere and place you in his will. 3. If you submit yourself to God's will and authority he will supernaturally prepare your purpose. 4. If you don't submit fully, to God's will like Jonathan and David, God will raise up someone else to do it. 5. You as a Christian have even greater access to the Spirit of God than David did!

Theme: We rest in the Lord our God because of who He is. I. The God who knows everything. II. The God who is everywhere. III. The God who is with you from before conception to death. IV. The God who directs your steps.

If we seek to love people in our own efforts then eventually we will come to the end of ourselves. But if we bask in the love of Jesus poured out into our hearts each day then that love will flow out of our lives into the lives of those around us.

Just as a gardener prunes the plants under his care so that they will be more fruitful the Father does the same for us. And just as a seasoned gardener knows each plant in his garden each of their individual needs our Father knows each of our needs as well. No two of us need to be pruned in the same way.

Sometimes we can obsess about whether or not we are growing, whether or not God is using us, or whether or not we are even accomplishing anything for the Kingdom. This is because we want fruit now. The problem is, fruit takes time.

Remaining in Christ can be a nebulous concept at times, to help us wrap our minds around this idea I offer this definition of remaining in Christ: We are remaining in Christ when we have positioned ourselves to receive His Affection, Revelation, and Provision.