God Is...LIGHT

Despite your best efforts to maintain your passion, do you ever feel overwhelmingly fatigued or worn out in a way that goes beyond one day but rather is a description of your season in life?

In, How to Dwell Securely, Ralph Andrus shares that in 1879, Thomas Edison invented the electric light bulb. Twenty-two years later, in 1901, one of these new creations was installed and turned on in the Livermore, CA, fire department. Amazingly, it’s still there, and still on! By today’s standards, it should have burned out 852 times by now. The bulb, with a thick carbon filament, was made by the Shelby Electric Company, which did not become one of the giants of the nation for an obvious reason. Instead, the Shelby Company made light bulbs to last, and nobody ever reordered.

By Rjaerial - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=94821149

Unlike the Centennial Bulb (pictured above), we as people often burn out, and the more driven we are, the more susceptible we are! This phrase, “I feel so burned out…” is often uttered among people who want to perform and achieve great things in life. But, unfortunately, the desire and aspiration for more can lead to feeling dim on the inside quite quickly. I’ve learned -- the hard way -- that there are a few questions one needs to ask personally when dealing with symptoms of burnout.

• Does my life feel meaningful or meaningless?

• Am I complaining about things I used to pray for?

If you answered “Yes” to one or both of those questions, let me encourage you:

Never let the meaningful things become meaningless, or the blessing of God’s answered prayers become the source of your complaints.

Allowing either of those two things to happen is a step in the direction of burnout.

This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. - 1 John 1:5 (NKJV)

I’ve noticed that sunny days can have a positive effect on people. We all love sunny days at the beach or on the lake. Bright, sunny days make us feel alive and vibrant. Rays of light make us feel alive! Just like the sun affects us in the physical, the SON, Jesus, has that effect in the spiritual. When He starts to bring light into your life, He lights up all the meaningful and beneficial things. His light highlights all of the things for which we should be grateful. We start to see the answers to our prayers manifest and all the things that we should be celebrating!

We can celebrate the fact that God is light! And He does NOT burn out!

If the world around you feels dark or dim, I challenge you to open your Bible and turn the light on. Because that’s what happens when you open your Bible -- you turn the light on! And, just like the light bulb above, the Word of God never goes out!

Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.- Psalm 119:105 (NKJV)

God gives us opportunities to see in the dark, but it is up to us to use the light. Closing the Bible in your life is the equivalent of putting a bushel over the light of God (Ref. Jesus’ famous Sermon on The Mount). Each of us must be incredibly intentional about having a daily relationship with the Word of God so that illumination can reveal.

Jesus is the Word of God and the Light of the World. We are to abide in Jesus, and it is impossible to abide in Jesus without obeying His commands, but it is also impossible to obey His commands if we do not know them. Therefore, the only way to learn Jesus’s commands is by reading the Word of God! It’s essential to come to this understanding because:

Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” -John 8:12 (NKJV)

Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying: “You are the light of the world…” -Matthew 5:2, 14 (NKJV)

Did you catch it?

You are the light of the world. You receive the light by believing the Word, and you release the light by obeying the Word. When you obey the Word of God, it makes a positive impact not only on your life but also on the world! You light up the darkness that is in the world. The enemy hates it when you begin to abide in Jesus and light up the world; his mission is to keep people in the dark.

...the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. -2 Corinthians 4:4 (NKJV)

Turn the light on in your life and the lives of others by:

• Loving God & Others

God’s light can REVEAL what His love will HEAL.

• Serving God & Others

When you do the WORK of the WORD, you light up the WORLD.

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. - Matthew 5:16 (NKJV)

I leave you with three statements to think about when it comes to LIGHT:

1. Light tells darkness how far it can come. Darkness does NOT overpower light.

2. Light helps find that which is lost. If you feel like you have lost something, look for it in the Word of God, there is no better place to search. Allow God to light up your world and restore that which you’ve lost.

3. Light always wins. Because God is Light and God doesn’t lose. If you want to win, you must seek the light and let it in.

Again, a new commandment I write to you, which thing is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining. -1 John 2:8 (NKJV)

I invite you to view this message, GOD IS...LIGHT, in its entirety at this link: https://youtu.be/TJv0FJ2lbhc

WATCH IT | DISCUSSION GUIDE | MESSAGE NOTES

God Is...LIFE

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. They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this, we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. -1 John 4:4–6 (NKJV)

John makes it abundantly clear in this passage of Scripture that there are two types of spirits at work on Earth, a spirit of truth and a spirit of error. In this short epistle, 1 John, he also reveals some essential things that God is...

Over the next three weeks are going to discuss three of John’s revelations of God. The first, God is life. John loved to talk about life, eternal life, life in and through Jesus. So he recorded for us in his Gospel, Jesus’ famous quote, “The enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but Jesus comes to give life and life more abundantly (Ref. John 10:10).

John also teaches us three things about the reality that God is LIFE:

1. The LIFE was Manifested. (1 John 1:2)

Jesus, the Son of God, was manifested, made present on Earth as the life of God.

2. The LIFE is to be Experienced. (1 John 1:2)

We have the opportunity to experience Him, and it is a life that is above and beyond anything you could ever expect or imagine.

3. The LIFE should be Shared. (1 John 1:3)

We are to be in fellowship with others and with God.

God is life, and he manifested this life through the work of His Son, Jesus. As an original disciple of Jesus, John experienced His Master in the physical, and we are invited to experience the life of Jesus in the spiritual. Then, share it with others! We are called to fellowship, experiencing worship and word in community. God did not design us to do life alone!

In the context of 1 John, John brings about such encouragements as God is Life because he recognizes something is happening with new Christians. When he is writing his letter, he observes the arrival of second and third generations of Christians within the Church. Noticing the young Christians are compromising their faith and falling prey to the ideology of the world, he is extremely troubled. After all, John had been with Jesus personally. He was a member of Jesus’s inner circle. He had seen Jesus in ways no one else could testify to, and he had faced significant persecution for his life’s mission to spread the Good News of Jesus.

A question lies underneath everything John seems to have to save within these five chapters:

Are you a Child of God or a Counterfeit Christian?

On one occasion, the statement is direct:

In this, the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest…-1 John 3:10 NKJV

1 John 4:4–6 told us there's a spirit of truth, and there’s a spirit of error. People of the spirit of truth are children of God, but people of the spirit of error are the devil’s children. Children of the devil may pose as children of God, but they are not. They are not truly saved, and therefore they are counterfeit Christians. This truth is one of the reasons that Jesus called Pharisees by this term, “children of the devil” in John 8:44.

You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. - John 8:44

It didn’t matter that the Pharisees prayed eloquent prayers, dressed in their Sunday-best, or were regarded as highly religious authorities… Jesus said they were counterfeit. You can go through a form of godliness and deny the power thereof. You can pose as something on Sunday but be exposed on Monday for who you really are. Jesus and John both pointed out in their ministries that God is not a fan of hypocrisy. He is looking for His true children.

How do you know if you are a true child of God?

John addressed this question as well; in the Gospel of John, he says, “Marvel not that you must be born again.” We must all have a born-again experience. Call on the name of Jesus by and through accessibility He has made available through the outpouring of His blood. Then go public with the reality of your birth through water baptism by letting everyone know that you are made new, that you have been born again! You are a Jesus-follower! (If you have recently dedicated your life to service of Jesus and would like to take your next steps in God, contact us: info@3trees.com)

Speaking of being Born Again, John lists some marks for a Child of God with a born-again experience. John states that you will experience these attributes in your life:

1. You believe Jesus is ‘The One’ -1 John 5:1

2. You love each other -1 John 4:7

3. You do what’s right -1 John 2:29

4. You avoid sinful habits -1 John 3:9

5. You might be hated by the world -1 John 3:13

6. You overcome the world -1 John 5:4

What an incredible promise, we will overcome the world! This news is excellent because John also informed us:

We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. 20And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. -1 John 5:19-20 (NKJV)

The reason:

…And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming and is now already in the world. -1 John 4:3 NKJV

As a result, John warned:

Beloved, do not believe every spirit but test the spirits, whether they are of God... -1 John 4:1

We must heed one of the main reasons that John wrote this book:

13These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. 12 He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. -1 John 5:13, 12 (NKJV)

Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God -1 John 4:15 KJV

Confess His name!

Sometimes all you need to do is say the name, Jesus.

Jesus… every knee shall bow.

Jesus...every tongue shall confess.

Jesus...every demon must flee.

Jesus...the code word for The Way, The Truth, and THE LIFE!

Speak his name...Jesus!

Sometimes you don’t know how or what to pray. You can’t figure out what the next step should be. But when you start to confess the name of Jesus over your life the gates of Hell will not prevail against you!

You are of God…and have overcome them because He who is in you is GREATER than he who is in the world. - 1 John 4:4

May we each choose to be children of the spirit of truth so that we may be children of God, not counterfeit Christians. May we live THE LIFE God intended us to live as we overflow with the attributes of born-again Christians!

I invite you to view this message, God Is...LIFE, in its entirety at this link: https://youtu.be/pTHSoFD_D40

WATCH IT | DISCUSSION GUIDE | MESSAGE NOTES

How To Fight Your Battles

Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”

- 1 Peter 1:13-16 (NKJV)

God is using 1 Peter 1:13-16, a New Testament verse that in part quotes the Old Testament, to help us understand that holiness is to be carried out generation after generation. What does it mean to be holy? In its most simple form, set apart. When God commands you, “Be holy, for I am holy,” He is commissioning you to be set apart from the world for His service.

In this message, How To Fight Your Battles, my goal is to relay what I believe Scripture teaches regarding the battlefront of the Christian life. Do you ever just think…I wish I weren’t this way…I wish I could change…I wish I could be different? If your answer is yes, you need to understand something; there is a war inside you.

For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another so that you do not do the things that you wish. -Galatians 5:17 (NKJV)

This scripture proves that we have a war going on inside of us. Sometimes you wish for something different, yet you continue to handle and deal with things in the same way. This is because we all have spirit and flesh. These two inner realities are constantly fighting against each other—the Spirit wars against the flesh and the flesh wars against the spirit.

Your soul is made up of your mind, your will, and your emotions. The soul is a battleground. Your flesh wants to pull your soul into the things that lead to further destruction, but your spirit wants to pull your soul into a life-giving place. The one you feed the most is the one who wins. Paul said it this way, “Sow to the flesh and you will reap of the flesh, but sow to the Spirit, and you will reap the things of the Spirit” (Ref. Galatians 6:8).

Our flesh feeds on things of this world, but our spirit feeds on God’s Word.

The flesh’s appetite is described in 1 John 2:16: For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but of the world.

The flesh will always desire to feed in one of these three categories, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, or the pride of life; all sin stems from one of these areas.

The appetite of the Spirit is described in Luke 4:4: But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’”

Are you feeding your flesh, or are you feeding your spirit?

Your answer is essential because feeding the flesh can cause separation from God and create a feeling of “shame on you.” But when you feed the spirit, you are in the presence of God, and you experience great peace within your life, a “peace beyond yourself.”

Are you experiencing separation from God, or are you set apart for God?

You are in one of two places:

1) Set apart from the world by the Word

2) Separated from the Word by the world.

Often understanding is limited when it comes to recognizing what it means to be set apart for God. Yet, the Bible has some powerful verses regarding this exact thing:

Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. -2 Corinthians 6:17 KJV

Nevertheless, the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart (be set apart) from iniquity.” -2 Timothy 2:19 (NKJV)

How do you know if you are SET APART?

Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife. And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, -2 Timothy 2:22-25 (NKJV)

Are you AVOIDING:

1. Youthful lusts (v. 22)

2. Foolish disputes (v. 23)

3. Quarrels (v. 24)

4. Prideful correction of others (v. 25)

Are you PURSUING:

1. Faith, love, and peace with other believers (v. 22)

2. Gentleness (v. 24)

3. Patience (v. 25)

4. Humility (v. 25)

Paul is teaching us that there are some things you must run from, and there are other things that you must run towards! First, we must focus on feeding our spirit! Second, we must yield to the Holy Spirit’s empowerment to pursue holiness in our lives because sin act’s like an infection within the soul, and it will spread until it causes death.

But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. -James 1:14–15 (NKJV)

Holiness doesn’t bind; it frees! It frees us from the decay and death of sin. And liberates us into the life and peace of Jesus.

For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. -Romans 8:6 NKJV

If I could summarize this message in one sentence, it would be this statement, You are separated from God by the world or set apart for God by the Word, and everything God sets apart He surrounds.

And...that is how we fight our battles victoriously:

It may look like I'm surrounded

But I'm surrounded by You

It may look like I'm surrounded

But I'm surrounded by You

It may look like I'm surrounded

But I'm surrounded by You

It may look like I'm surrounded

But I'm surrounded by You

This is how I fight my battles

This is how I fight my battles

This is how I fight my battles

This is how I fight my battles

This is how I fight my battles

This is how I fight my battles

This is how I fight my battles

-Elyssa Smith (UPPERROOM)

I invite you to view this message, How To Fight Your Battles, in its entirety at this link: https://fb.watch/7rsfWXQ4ry/

WATCH IT | DISCUSSION GUIDE | MESSAGE NOTES