Understanding in Christ Part 4 "How to recover spiritually"

The Great Commission
UNDERSTANDING IN CHRIST
Part 4: How to Recover Spiritually
Pastor Bruce A. Shields
House of Faith – www.PS127.org | www.TruthDigest.org


ANNOUNCEMENTS

6:00PM Evening Service at the church –
“Seminary Students will be preaching”

WHERE WE ARE AT

† Maturing in Christ


This Series: Understanding in Christ

Previously:
Part 1: The Personality of God
Part 2: Signs of the End
Part 3: Turn, Receive & Be the Light



TODAY’S SERMON: The Great Commission
UNDERSTANDING IN CHRIST
Part 4: How to Recover Spiritually





OPEN IN PRAYER





Today is Resurrection Sunday.

Today is the day that Jesus Christ arose from the dead as the first fruits, just as prophesied about Him in nearly a thousand separate scriptures spanning thousands of years before His arrival.

Easter, on the other hand, is a Pagan day of worship of the goddess estier, who was the goddess of fertility.

If you have ever wondered why eggs and rabbits equal Easter…the symbols for this pagan holiday of eggs, and rabbits, because eggs represent reproduction, and rabbits are known for their reproductive abilities.

But today is not Easter, the pagan holiday that millions will celebrate without complaining they are being forced into believing about someone else’s God…

But it is the Day our Lord made good His promise.

The day that begins the New Covenant which we are a part of, in His blood.

And by His sacrifice for the sins of all men, any who will drink of the cup with Him, and accept the promise, will be saved from the coming wrath, and judgment of the sin of mankind.

Today we are going to look at what the scriptures have to say about those who have made this commitment, but may have grown weary, or feel weak in their spirit, and need to recover.

Jesus will mend you, and move you forward, and you will receive mercy.

I. JESUS WILL MEND YOU

† Ezekiel 34:16
16 I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice.

God is searching for those who have gone astray, wanting to mend them and strengthen them.

This scripture shows that when we are weakened in spirit, that is when we stray.

Our spirit becomes weakened when we live outside of God’s Character, seeking our will as opposed to His, and living like the world.

Behaving as the world does, in selfishness.

When we act like the world, in anger and selfishness, we weaken our own spirit.

And we set ourselves up for fall.


† Ezekiel 34:30-31
30 Then they will know that I, the LORD their God, am with them and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, declares the Sovereign LORD. 31 You my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, are my people, and I am your God, declares the Sovereign LORD.' "


Even when we stray, He is working with us, trying to mend us.


† Psalm 92:12-15
12 The righteous will flourish like a palm tree,
they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon;
13 planted in the house of the LORD,
they will flourish in the courts of our God.
14 They will still bear fruit in old age,
they will stay fresh and green,
15 proclaiming, "The LORD is upright;
he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him."




II. YOU MUST MOVE FORWARD

† Philippians 3:13-14
13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

The devil as well as other people will try to keep you from moving forward by reminding you of what is passed.

We are told to forget that, and move on.

Don’t let the traps of yesterday keep you from the promises of tomorrow.

† Hebrews 12:11-14
11No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
12Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. 13"Make level paths for your feet,"[b] so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.

Warning Against Refusing God

14Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.


III. YOU WILL RECEIVE MERCY

† Proverbs 28:13 – Mercy for Confession
13 He who conceals his sins does not prosper,
but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.


† Hosea 14:4 – Mercy for Repentance
4 "I will heal their waywardness
and love them freely,
for my anger has turned away from them.




JESUS IS WAITING TO MEND YOUR SPIRIT, GIVE YOU STRENGTH TO MOVE FORWARD IN YOUR SPIRITUAL GROWTH, AND GIVE YOU THE MERCY THAT ONLY HE CAN GIVE.