--PRE-SERVICE PRAYER--

Focus: Choose to Praise

Foundation Scripture: Psalms 42:1-5 TPT

Prayer Points:
1. That believers would prioritize and desire God’s presence above all.
2. That believers would create memorable worship encounters for themselves and others.
3. That believers would choose worship in all situations.
4. Powerful Sunday Services and the Expansion of Linked UP Church

Introduction:

Getting arrested on 4/12/1992.

We all have events, situations, and even people in our past that we regret.
All of us wish we could take a moment in time back, but we can’t.

However, goodness and grace can make the situation work for you if you repent and commit to getting things right. However, when we override what we know to be the right thing to do, for whatever reasons, we are resisting the arrest of the Holy Spirit in our lives for God's best.

Believers must understand the power of conviction, arrest, and leadership of the Holy Spirit.

This teaching is meant to help you gain an understanding of one of the Holy Spirit's roles in your life and to further grow your connectivity to God. God's perfect will is that you live above sin, full of faith and Godly knowledge, and to totally trust HIM in every area of your life.

World = Greek word "kosmos" = orderly arrangement that is decoration; by implication the world (in a wide or narrow sense, including its inhabitants, literally or figuratively (morally).

Judgement = Greek word "krisis" = justice, accusation, condemnation.

Holy Spirit is your partner on earth who is always present to help you with whatever you face, whenever you face it, with a strategy to not only overcome but learn from it so that your obstacles, crises, or situations do not distract you from God's will in your life. He leads but we must follow. He leads by the small nudge we get in the pit of our gut, that bothersome dream, or that fleeting, random thought.

Holy Spirit is present to shine the light on the truth within us, give us insight, and set an expectation of what's to come so that we have peace, instruction, and direction when it comes.

How does Holy Spirit do this in us?

1. Studying God's Word
2. Prayer
3. The chastening of the Lord... is what the Bible calls it. And this is where we will spend our time...

4 Questions:

A. What is the "chastening of the Lord"?

The chastening of the Lord asserts these 5 facts:

1. God does not rid us of the temptation of sin though He is NOT the permitter or presenter of sin.

2. Grace may run out, but mercy is always available if we receive it with repentance.

a. Grace - getting the favor that we don’t deserve.
b. Mercy - not getting the punishment we deserve.

3. Although our conscience is earthly, it is a moral compass (good or bad moral standing)

4. God uses the consequences of sin as a method of disciplining, training, or developing His people.

5. The chastening of the Lord is not always connected to sin.

Chastening = paideuō/ pahee-dyoo'-o

Strong Concordance: to train up a child, that is, educate, or (by implication) discipline (by punishment) : - chasten (-ise), instruct, learn, teach. Spiritual training

“Train up” = Hebrew version of chastening…

For the Christian, even at the point of Salvation, Holy Spirit is present, and He convicts the world of sin, that’s one of His jobs on earth. When we override that conviction, notion, leading, or prompting, we are “resisting arrest”.

Resist - (1) to withstand, strive against, or oppose;
(2) to withstand the action or effect of.

Arrest - to seize (a person) by legal authority or warrant; taken into custody; (2) to catch and hold; attract and fix; engage; (3) to check the course of; stop; slow down; (4) Medicine/Medical. to control or stop the active progress of (a disease).

Here’s a perfect example of Jesus chastening multiple people at the same time…

B. How do we grow in the chastening?

* Faith is an innate quality within us but as we add truth and the knowledge of God, our faith should grow because of the power that backs it.

* Without faith, we can be ineffective and unproductive in our knowledge of Jesus.

* The cycle of guilt & shame is directly associated with the failure to add these characteristics.

* One cannot know how to proceed because they lack truth, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, kindness, & love. *Being blind or unable to see/be certain of victory.

* BUT, when you do add these characteristics, we are assured by God that we shall never stumble. (in the face of sin)

C. What’s developed when I’m being “chastened”?

Jesus MUST be the foundation of our beliefs, behavior, and benefits. We must live certain that HE is the center of our lives.

If one does not grow (produce fruit), God removes it. Every Christian should demonstrate a Godly lifestyle that's recognized by others. Not because of what you present, but because of WHO you are. YOU will always show up when the pressure is on.

Pruning means HE puts a demand on us to demonstrate that fruitful lifestyle which means our DEMONSTRATED KINDNESS AND CARE FOR OTHERS (CONNECT GROUPS, CHURCH INVITATIONS, GENEROUSITY), especially in the face of people who don't deserve it. Only then can we produce more fruit or get better and operate in the fruit of the Spirit which ultimately is LOVE.

Fruit is developed...

Example of fruit trees in Florida.

When trees have no fruit, they look like any other tree. Proudly tall, all green, and even attractive.

As they start to bud fruit, the branches start getting heavy, bending over, but the branches start getting stronger and thicker at the same time and the tree looks more colorful. It stands out from other trees.

As the fruit ripens on the tree or vine, it starts to loosen and should be picked or fall. If it stays on the tree or vine and isn't used, it will weigh the tree down, rot, and the fruit dies not being used to nourish another.

D. Resisting the chastening?

We have an epidemic of suspicion, distrust, and self-centeredness.

Check your behavior, this reveals who and what leads you.

Conclusion:

Evil, temptations, challenges, and the people that carry these will come. There are consequences to any mistake. Bad things happen to good people all the time. People have the freedom to make choices and sometimes innocent people become the victim of those choices.

You are encouraged, taught, and sometimes threatened to have times of devotion with God in His Word and prayer so that you won't succumb to the issues of sin because life already brings its baggage. To love God is to know Him, to know Him is to obey Him, to obey Him is to serve Him by way of others.