The Word that I've been learning...

For about a year and a half, I've been attending Harvest Church in Norman, Oklahoma. Let me tell you, it is the best church I've ever been to. Don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem with the churches I grew up in, but WOW, this one is the best by far. In this blog post, I'm just going to try to transcribe the notes I took during tonight's service. Hope you can get something out of it. If you want to listen to the messages that Pastor Jeff Burns has been teaching/preaching, you can find them at www.HarvestNorman.com under the media tab.

Tonight, 8-31-11, Pastor started out in Colossians 3:1-3

¹ If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. ² Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. ³ For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

We are made up of Spirit, Soul, & Body. God has no dominion in the earth. He gave it to man. In order for God to work in the earth, he had to enter the earth in flesh (aka, Jesus, who had the Spirit without measure). Jesus then died and rose again, and when his flesh went back to heaven, he left his spirit (aka Holy Spirit) here on earth for us. Now we, as Christians, have a measure of His spirit. God needs your flesh (with His spirit) to work in the earth.

Colossians 1:19
¹⁹ For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, ²⁰ and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.

Colossians 2:9
⁹ For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; ¹⁰ and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.

Romans 6 is where Paul is talking about being saved...Romans 7, he's struggling with doing what's right. We know he is saved from chapter 6...but in 7, he's struggling...

^{verse 15} For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. ¹⁶ If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is¹⁷ But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. ¹⁸ For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. ¹⁹ For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do,²⁰ Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

He has a sin nature - built in. Sin is built into our FLESH...our BODY.

Romans 1:18
¹⁸ For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, ¹⁹ because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.

The Wrath of God = God turning you over to yourself. Letting your body have total rule. Taking away the Spirit.

Ephesians 2:3
³ among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

We are naturally children of wrath. Sin is built in. It's our sin-nature. We will destroy ourselves without the Spirit of God inside us.
If the Spirit does not have a voice in your life, your soul will listen to your body. You'll destroy yourself. The wages of sin is death. That is the wrath of God.

The Ultimate Battle = The Battle in your mind (Soul).
2 Corinthians 10:3-5
³ For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. ⁴ For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, ⁵ casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, ⁶ and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.

Strongholds are lies we believe as truth.
Then enemy gets people to cooperate with the way he thinks. As a man thinks, so is he.

Romans 12:1-2
¹ I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. ² And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Scientific fact: When a thought enters your mind, you have 30 seconds before it turns into a feeling.

Feelings are harder to fight than thoughts.
You have 30 seconds to c0ver the thought in the Word before it becomes a stronghold.


That's all I got out of my notes from tonight. Hope y'all get something out of it.
Stacy :)

1 Corinthians 10:5 (NIV)

We demolish (strip of any pretense of merit or credence) arguments (discourse intended to persuade) and every pretension (a claim or an effort to establish a claim) that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive (Kept under restraint or control; confined) every thought to make it obedient (Dutifully complying with the commands, orders, or instructions of one in authority) to Christ.

Demolish-
1 a : tear down, raze b : to break to pieces : smash
2 a : to do away with : destroy b : to strip of any pretense of merit or credence

Arguments-
1 obsolete : an outward sign : indication
2 a : a reason given in proof or rebuttal b : discourse intended to persuade
3 a : the act or process of arguing : argumentation b : a coherent series of statements leading from a premise to a conclusion c : quarrel, disagreement
4 : an abstract or summary especially of a literary work
5 : the subject matter especially of a literary work
6 a : one of the independent variables upon whose value that of a function depends b : a substantive (as the direct object of a transitive verb) that is required by a predicate in grammar c : amplitude 4

Pretension-
1 : an allegation of doubtful value : pretext
2 : a claim or an effort to establish a claim
3 : a claim or right to attention or honor because of merit
4 : an aspiration or intention that may or may not reach fulfillment
5 : vanity, pretentiousness

Captive
-n.
1. One, such as a prisoner of war, who is forcibly confined, subjugated, or enslaved.
2. One held in the grip of a strong emotion or passion.
adj.
1. Taken and held prisoner, as in war.
2. Held in bondage; enslaved.
3. Kept under restraint or control; confined: captive birds.
4. Restrained by circumstances that prevent free choice: a captive audience; a captive market.
5. Enraptured, as by beauty; captivated.

Obedient-
Dutifully complying with the commands, orders, or instructions of one in authority.


Definitions found on www.freedictionary.com

Why Do We Continue To Sin?

Matthew 4:1-11
Jesus was tempted again and again and again….he used an old word to get over his current temptation. It is written….it is written….it is written….

John 4:1-25
The woman was on her 6th man…none of them had fulfilled her longing…she had tried again and again and again…Jesus was the 7th man…and offered her a drink that would quench her longing thirst. We are trying to fill a spiritual void with natural things.

Psalms 107:9-10
only one can fill the longing

Ecclesiastes 1:9
there’s nothing that God has not experienced…nothing new under the sun.

Hebrews 4:15
God knows – he’s been there.

1 John 2:15-17
the sins of the world all fall into 3 categories.

• * Lust of the eye: Things that look enticing that your mind LUSTS after. (Porn, catalogs, commercials, etc)
• * Lust of the flesh: Things you want to make you feel good. (unfaithfulness, overeating, overspending, etc)
• * Pride of life: You think you are better than others; you deserve something because of who you are. PRIDE HIDES!!

1 John 5:4
overcoming the sins of the world by faith

Romans 10:17
how do we get faith?

Psalm 119:105
The Word illuminates the stumbling blocks that the devil throws into your path.