Faith Church Kansas - Audio Podcast

This idea of loving God through our practice of obedience is radically counter-cultural. Spirit-empowered obedience requires a relationship with Holy Spirit.

We have a choice to walk in HOPE: you can either cave into the pressure of being overwhelmed by the trials, or you can choose to lean into them and allow God to walk with you through them.

It’s easy to ignore the standard of following Jesus because we don’t measure up… we easily quit walking toward righteousness and we start to compromise instead of staying consistent in our obedience to God’s standard…his desire for us to live like Christ. We don’t throw the discipline away, we invite the Holy Spirit to revive our hearts instead.

The restraint of obedience is training our heart want was Jesus wants ... Disciples aren’t there to tell the teacher what they want to do or learn, but rather their focus is on what the teacher says and how the teacher lives. The disciple desires to be just like the teacher.

Do you equate obedience with submission? There is a strength if we can reframe the idea of obedience. The goal is to become more like Jesus. * Obedience doesn’t always mean submission, sometimes it’s agreement. When we are young, it is often submission, but as we mature, it should look more like agreement.

The practice of obedience is learning to love God with our bodies activity, walking the way of Jesus as a disciple….not to earn God’s love, but motives by God’s love.

We live in a world of rampant misinformation and lack of integrity breeding mistrust all around. We are in an age where truth is seen as relative and personal morality is based on preference. Yet, for the people of God, we choose to find our morality cemented to the teaching of a Savior. A man who came to the earth, died, was buried and was raised again to a resurrection life, experiencing a bodily reality beyond the confines of our human experience to this point. We have a faith that is rooted, not in cultural relativism, but in an orthodoxy of historical facts. This Gospel is for telling. It’s something we tell...and it’s all over this resurrection story.

The practice of worship ascribes worth to the King. God is so worthy of praise, if we don’t do it, rocks will replace your song. Jesus was so worthy of worship, if humans, who were created with the capacity to offer the worship did not worship, rocks and inanimate objects would have to become animated to ascribe the worth God deserves.

Isaiah 61:3 (NKJV) To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified. Spiritual Battles Require Spiritual Practices.

The Practice of Worship is God’s to define. The practice of Worship looks like: Clapping, Dance, Kneel, Hands lifted, Instruments, Singing, Shouting.

Worship is putting our full attention and affection in God’s direction. This can be done in lots of ways, serving, giving, sacrificing, surrendering time...but through song and expression of worship.

Mark 12:29-31 The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” A heart fully alive by God, is a heart that lives with passion. Worship is the act of expressing through song and actions, the affection within your heart. Ascribing worth to God. Aligning your full attention on God. Practice of Worship shapes a congregation. Gathering, assembly, body, Family...called out ones We are a worshiping congregation.

The very fact Jesus invites us to pray “deliver us from the evil” is the fact Jesus assumes we know there is a spiritual dynamic battle occurring...and we have a role to play. And we don’t need to walk in fear.

Matthew 6:12,14-15 (NIV) And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors…. For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.‭

Although God knows our need, he does still want us to articulate it to him. Do you find it easy or difficult to bring your needs to God?

Prayer, at the most basic starting point is asking God for stuff. Prayer, at its best, is a two-way conversation with God; talking and listening. Prayer at its most formative, is communion with Father, Son, & Spirit.

There is an expectation on God’s part that we would indeed pray. Prayer is forming something within us. It bends our will to God’s will. It gives entrance to God work on our behalf. Prayer is not a magic trick. Prayer moves us into God’s will, as we submit our will.

God is so good. In His infinite wisdom and love for humanity, He has invited you to partner with Him to affect all the things around you. Maybe the things that annoy, anger, dishearten, frustrate you are all simply an invitation to ‘intercede’ = invite God to move in the situation.

The primary aim of prayer is relationship. Prayer is relational, not transactional. “Adoration is the lifting up of the heart and mind to God, asking nothing but to enjoy God’s presence.”

Prayer connects us to God. The more time you spend with something or someone, the more confidence you build in it. The same is true for God. The more time you spend with God, the more your faith in Him will grow.