Hope Helpers

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what is the wealth of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the mighty working of his strength. - Ephesians 1:18-19 (CBS)

If you are honest, there is at least one thing in your life that you would like to change. It is true of all of us. We each have something that we would prefer to be different. Maybe it is our appetite, procrastinating ways, bad habits, or secret sin. But we all have something. So what is that one thing that you would like to change about yourself?

Maybe you’ve even reached a point where a change in that area of your life seems so far-fetched that you have settled into the mindset of, “this is just the way I’ve always been, and it’s the way I’m always going to be…” If so, it is most likely your thought process is directly connected to some sort of rut you’re in spiritually.

Over time, I’ve realized that there are a handful of reasons why some people change and others do not.

People change when they want to. Maybe they’ve learned something that motivates them or lights a desire for change. Sometimes this happens due to a new relationship that opens them up to new truth, revelation, or levels of success. As a result, they start to realize that they have been settling for too little. You change when you want to.

People change when they have to. This type of change is often motivated by pain and difficulty. For example, when you have been diagnosed with a life-threatening illness, the doctor says you have to change your lifestyle to overcome the condition. You change because you have to.

People change when they are able to. This type of change occurs in people that want to change and have to change but maybe weren’t able to in the past. This change can require assistance from others. Change can be assisted by the practical insights offered in mentoring relationships, recovery programs, continued education, counseling, and even business consulting. All these things can help enable us to change. You change when you are able.

But here's what I’d like to encourage you with: God has something for your life that is beyond behavior modification. God wants to bring you to a place where you begin to experience a change in such a way that Biblical truth is made manifest in your life. Such as, “Old things pass away and everything becomes new again” (2 Corinthians 5:7). To get to this pinnacle of change, you must be willing to embrace the Holy Spirit’s empowerment. Familiarize yourself with this verse and claim its effect over your life, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13). In all of your seeking for change -- or the enablement for change -- don't ever forget to throw your hands up in the air and welcome the power of the Holy Spirit into your life through the name of Jesus Christ.

Is there any area in your life where you want to change, or you need to be able to change? But a more important question, is there any area of your life where God is dealing with you about embracing change?

Because of this truth, “GREATER is He that is in you than He that is in the world…” (1 John 4:4), you can change! You don’t have to stay in this spiritual rut! After all, A.W. Tozer said it best, “You are either in a rut, rot, or revival… and a rut isn’t anything but a grave with both ends kicked out of it.”

You do not have to settle for the way it has always been. You do not have to settle for the generational curse on your life and family. You do not have to settle for the rut and the unexplainable things that have just always been the way they've been. Do not settle for “it is what it is,” but know that “it is what you make it” because you have the power of Jesus Christ dwelling within you. Do not settle for a weak, feeble faith, but know that greater is He that is in you than He that is in the world. You have the power to make it happen! You are a winner!

God requires change. And, He wants you to make something happen because He has given you the power to experience change. He has authorized you to use His Word to bring change, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only…” (James 1:22). God loves doers, and you have the authority of God to do something with His Word!

Don’t let these stumbling blocks prevent you from being a doer of God's Word.

1. “Tomorrow sounds like a better time to start.”

2. “I’ve already tried and failed.”

3. “I can never make a difference.”

Instead, put these stepping stones in place.

1. Develop a Sense of Urgency: Value the sense of swift action.
   

2. Practice Patience: Have the patience to see God’s timing in the change. Only patience works as a virtue. As John Maxwell encourages, “Patience must be given the opportunity to coexist with urgency.” Ralph Marston adds, “Success requires both urgency and patience. Be urgent about making the effort and patient about seeing the results.”
   

3. Be a Hope Helper: Accept that greatness can happen because of what Jesus can do in you and through you.

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what is the wealth of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the mighty working of his strength. - Ephesians 1:18-19 (CBS)

I offer you two final thoughts of encouragement that can help you tremendously, two things I wish someone would have told me long ago.

As you begin to embrace change in your own life and become an agent of change for others:

1. Don't you ever let your vision to win the world overlook the person standing right in front of you.
   

2. Stop trying to do everything, and do for one what you wish you could do for everyone.

Do those two things, and then watch as your life begins to make a difference in your family, your community, and your church because you simply allowed God to transform your life through His desired changes.

Pray this prayer, “God, change me, allow me to become a doer who is urgent in my effort and patient in waiting for the results. Help me to make a difference to someone else today, tomorrow, and every day.”

May the Lord open the eyes of your heart to see the greatness of His power, which is available through the hope of His calling and the wealth of His glorious riches. Greater things are yet to come in your life!

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We invite you to watch this message, Hope Helpers, from Pastor Eric Gilbert, as he encourages us to make change happen within our lives. We can avoid the stumbling stones we face by applying three stepping stones because “Greater is He that is in us than he in the world!”

WATCH IT | DISCUSSION GUIDE | MESSAGE NOTES

It Is What It Is

A few weeks ago, Pastor Joe Dobbins shared a message at 3trees Church, Pray Bigger. During the message, he encouraged us to pray three life-changing prayers over our lives by inviting God to 1) Increase our vision, 2) Decrease our doubt, and 3) Do the supernatural.

Last week, I shared a message entitled, Make It Happen, and if I could give you that message in one sentence, it would be, “As a follower of JESUS, don’t ever forget what He made happen for you so that you can think the right way and make something happen for the good of yourself, your family, and others!”

This week we are following in the same vein of these previous two messages as we embrace a new message series, GREATER!

...Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. -1 John 4:4 (NKJV)

It seems like some things in life are just the way they are. For example, my wife, Mandy, will never close the cereal box lid after getting a bowl of cereal. It is what it is! And she knows that I will never completely dry my toothbrush after brushing my teeth. It will no doubt leave a puddle at the bottom of our toothbrush holder. It is what it is! Likewise, it can be tough to change the mind of a stubborn person or convince a person ingrained in one’s political party to change to another. Have you ever tried to teach an older person new technology? I’m sure you agree, it is what it is!

So, maybe you can relate to using this phrase within your own life or at least implying its context. When we use it -- or some variation of it -- we are submitting verbally to the current state or situation we are facing and embracing an attitude of indifference. That's just the way it is...it is what it is.

Can you imagine how the Bible would read if the men and women of faith throughout the Old and New Testaments would have chosen to settle for current circumstances? If they simply declared...it is what it is?

Imagine with me for a moment; you are Daniel. Your religion has just received a death sentence, and that death sentence includes you too. So you just mutter to yourself, I guess I won’t be able to pray in public any longer… it is what it is.

Now imagine you are David. You're looking at a 9-foot tall giant named Goliath. He is bigger, badder, and madder than anything you have ever seen. You look at him, then you look at yourself, and you determine that there is nothing you can do, just let him blaspheme the Lord… it is what it is.

Let’s continue our journey through the Bible; now imagine you are Esther. Imagine there is a conspiracy at work to wipe out your entire race. To attempt to do anything about it means the demise of your social standing and possible death. You decide the risk is too significant. You’ll just see what happens… it is what it is.

Imagine you are the woman with the issue of blood, and you have spent your entire life savings in the pursuit of a cure for a condition that leaves you bleeding internally, externally, and uncontrollably every day of your life. Your days are numbered. The one chance you have for miraculous healing is Jesus, but you can't get to Him due to the magnitude of the crowds surrounding Him… you decide, it is best to just give up...it is what it is.

Let’s take a few steps in Paul’s shoes...you have been shipwrecked, beaten, left for dead, and imprisoned multiple times. Evidently, God’s hand is absent from your life, or things wouldn’t be this hard. And, spreading the Gospel is just too risky at this point. You should just quit…it is what it is.

How about Mary? Can you imagine being told you are pregnant and you’re not married? An angel has decreed the baby to be the Son of God, and yet as your belly grows, your name becomes ruined. Scandal is associated with you in every corridor or your neighborhood. You tell yourself it’s okay to abort this child…it is what it is.

And, then there is Jesus to consider. Imagine the scenario. You've had a good run. You’ve opened blind eyes, restored hearing, and raised the dead back to life. But now, there is a cross ready for your execution. Instead of praying your way through it or trying to figure out how you're going to manage this situation, you call all your disciples together for one last meal. You look them in the eye with what little courage you can muster and explain to them that you’ve done enough. There is no need to endure this impending pain. Then, in the dark cover of night, you run away. Everyone else should surely understand...it is what it is.

Thankfully, the stories of these Biblical greats do not read with an underlying tone of indifference. Instead, these men and women rose above the approaches that we just imagined together and refused to settle for the ideology of it is what it is. The result is that they became heroes and heroines of faith.

Daniel always prayed to God three times every day. Three times every day, he bowed down on his knees to pray and praise God. Even though Daniel heard about the new law, he still went to his house to pray. He went up to the upper room of his house and opened the windows that faced toward Jerusalem. Then Daniel bowed down on his knees and prayed just as he always had done. - Daniel 6:10 (ERV)

Daniel continued to pray.

David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. -1 Samuel 17:45 (NIV)

David defeated his giant.

“Go, gather all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me; neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will fast likewise. And so I will go to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish!” -Esther 4:16 (NKJV)

Esther saved the lives of her people.

For she said, “If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.” - Mark 5:28 (NKJV)

The woman with the issue of blood received complete healing.

We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed. - 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 (NKJV)

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? -Romans 8:31 (NKJV)

Yet in all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. - Romans 8:37-39 (NKJV)

Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. -Phillippians 3:13-14 (NKJV)

Paul preached the Gospel, never writing letters of resignation. Instead, he wrote letters of encouragement to all of his congregations in the face of excruciating suffering and persecution!

And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. -Luke 1:35 (NKJV)

Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her. -Luke 1:39 (NKJV)

Mary believed that if God led her into trouble, He would also lead her through the trouble! As a result, she became the mother of our Savior!

...saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not My will, but Yours, be done.” - Luke 22:42 (NKJV)

The most remarkable example of all, Jesus carried out His Father’s will and saved you and me from our sins, giving us eternal life.

So… Maybe we shouldn’t be using the phrase, “It is what it is.” at all. Instead, maybe we should be using the words, “It is what we make it!”.

...GREATER is He that is in you than he that is in the world. - 1 John 4:4 (NKJV)

If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior and consecrated your life to Him as your Lord, then you are a winner! He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. Death, hell, nor the grave can hold you because Jesus Christ is within you. Therefore, you have the power to choose your outcome!

For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. - Mark 11:23 (NKJV)

You have to believe that you can make it happen! Don’t allow discouragement and depression to slip into your life, because you are a winner.

Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them. -Romans 1:22-32 (NJKV)

We can believe it is what it is, assuming that the culture in which we live will always spiral out of control. Or we can decide, it is what we make it. If you are not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, if you as a just person in God will live by faith and not by sight, and if you do not suppress the truth, then culture will not invent evil instead of serving God with all their heart, mind, and soul. So don’t ever settle for it is what it is… you chose what it is. It is what you make it!

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.” For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, -Romans 1:16-18 (NJKV)

if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. - 2 Chronicles 7:14 (NKJV)

God set the condition that Hollywood or the government had to turn towards Him. He said, “My people…” Meaning, wherever my people are, if I can get them to turn towards me, and make something happen with faith in action, then it will happen! God will heal our land. He will forgive our sin. He will redeem our time. He will do exceedingly above and beyond anything we could ever ask for!

You don’t have to settle for... it is what it is. God is with you, and He will take what the enemy meant for evil and use it for your good. All things work together for the good of those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose. I believe the Lord is looking for some Daniels, some Esthers, and some Mary’s. I think God is looking for some men and women who will step into their situation and refuse to settle for the complacent and indifferent ideology of “it is what it is”.

Don’t settle for anything less than the Kingdom of Heaven being manifest on Earth. Do not settle for anything less than the best! It is what you make it! It is through salvation and grace we know we can make things happen!

May His Kingdom come, His will be done, in us and through us!

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We invite you to watch this message, It Is What It Is, from Pastor Eric Gilbert, as he encourages us never to settle for it is what it is. We can overcome whatever situation comes against us because Greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world.

It is what we make it!

WATCH IT | DISCUSSION GUIDE | MESSAGE NOTES

Make Things Happen

You are of God, little children, and have overcome them because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. -1 John 4:4 (NKJV)

He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. The bottom line of this truth: If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior and consecrated your life to Him as your Lord, then you are a winner!

Of course, this promise doesn’t mean you’ll never have a bad day, take a loss, fail, or go through hard times. You will still have days where you wonder, why me, why here, why now. But ultimately, death, hell, nor the grave can hold you because Jesus Christ is within you, and that makes you a winner!

But, learning this truth -- or any truth -- isn’t what changes your life. Making decisions and living life based on truth is what changes you. So, what are you doing with the truth imparted to you during your Christian experience? Mainly, this truth, “Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world”?

Others have noticed that there are three types of people in the world, and I find their observation accurate:

1) People who make things happen

2) People who watch things happen

3) People who wonder what happened.

Which category describes you?

When I grasp hold of the truth, “Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world,” my soul begins to stir. I start to realize I can make something happen because there’s a winner on the inside of me. And, His name is Jesus! I am praying that you feel the same way!

Remember David when preparing to fight the giant Goliath. His brothers mocked him, but “David said, “What have I done now? Is there not a cause?” (1 Samuel 17:29 NKJV)

Is there not a cause?

Think about it. What is the cause you believe is so essential that you are willing to make something happen for it!

Each of us can make things happen simply because of the Spirit of Christ that dwells within us. What you make happen doesn’t have to be overly complicated. You just need to hear God and obey Him. You can make incredible things happen and change people's lives when you listen and obey. Find a cause worth fighting for and make things happen.

What are you making happen right now?

Even if you are in a season of rest or waiting, allow the great UCLA basketball coach, John Wooden, to encourage you, “If you are failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”

Whether we are in a season of rest, waiting on the Lord, or even a Sabbath, we must always be preparing ourselves for the cause that God has called us to impact. There is always something worth making happen! There is always a cause.

I believe Scripture teaches that God created each person on purpose and for a purpose. Likewise, He has a “cause” specifically designed for you to commit your life to fulfill as it becomes a vehicle through which He advances His Kingdom in the Earth through your life and sphere of influence. Don’t let the enemy discourage you from your cause, but always remember that He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world! You are not alone. The Spirit within you will always be greater than anything against you! You are a winner. Go after your cause with all of your heart. Make. It. Happen!

For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. -Proverbs 23:7 (NKJV)

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We invite you to watch this message, Make It Happen, from Pastor Eric Gilbert as he encourages us to listen and obey God, step into our cause, and making it happen! We are all winners, and we will not fail because of the Spirit that dwells within us!

WATCH IT | DISCUSSION GUIDE | MESSAGE NOTES