July 16, 2006

• Are you ready for a feast of Bible studies??? Right now I have notes from many things to share with you and there will be more. Pastor Danquah is visiting from Florida and will be speaking Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. He spoke today. Between him and Pastor Don’s Bible study, we have wonderful teachings.

  
  

  

  
  

  Here is a picture from Last Year – To the left  Pastor Danquah, to the far right is Pastor Don Moore, and in the middle is Rev. Pat Roach.

  
  

  I am going to post Pastor Danquah’s study today.

  
  

  THE PRIORITY OF CHOOSING A MAXIMIZED LIFE

  
  

  If we put these concepts into practice we can turn around our life.

  
  

  1 John 5:4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith.

  
  

  Pastor Danquah pointed out that the passage does not say WHOMSOEVER, but WHATEVER.  This passage is applicable not only to human beings, but to our missions, desires, and what we do for God, our dreams and visions. Remember, once we are saved we are under God’s protective covering. Thanks be to God who always causes us to triumph. See tomorrow’s victories and successes, not today’s challenges.

  
  

  As God’s servant, the Bible mandates our overcoming the world. You cannot afford to fail. There is a Higher Power (The Holy Spirit) behind you to help you succeed, no matter what the obstacles are. You can overcome any situation because your God is bigger than your situation.

  
  

  Our faith and trust in God is what will give us the confidence to overcome the obstacles. When we come to Christ, we were not promised a life without persecutions or challenges, but we can overcome these obstacles and live a maximized life.

  
  

  Pastor Danquah reminded us that we have a limited amount of time on the earth. Psalm 90:9-14 For all our days have passed away in your wrath; we finish our years like a sigh. The days of our lives are seventy years; and if by reason of strength they are eighty years. Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off and we fly away.  Who knows the power of Your anger? For as the fear of You, so is Your wrath. So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Return, O LORD! How long? And have compassion on your servants. Oh, satisfy us early with Your mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days!

  
  

  We have to realize that if we want to get the most out of our lives we cannot fritter away our time, we have to maximize our days. Ask God to show us how to number our days, how to order our days to the the most service for Him. We want to use our days to the maximum for the church, to shine God’s light to the world outside the church, to make an impact in this life, to have a life full of meaning.

  
  

  Maximize means strength of character that enables us to keep believing, planning, thinking, working to experience your fullest potential in the face of less than optimal circumstances, against the odds. Don’t let anyone take or destroy or hinder what God has for us.

  
  

  Potential that is not used is dormant. Don’t give up until your full potential is realized. Keep praying, working. Keep on until you reach your promised land.

  
  

  The devil will not let you have it easy and will try to make difficult for us to implement God’s vision. If God is with me, I can make it! Only God’s word opens up understanding.

  
  

  There are four steps to know how to get the understanding of what God’s vision is for us.

  
  

  1. Revelation of the Lord from his Word. A revelation from God means that a miracle is about to happen. We must obey the revelation, let the Holy Spirit guide us. The gift of miracles is preceded by revelation. Before faith can work, we have to have a revelation from God, and then obey this revelation, and a miracle will follow. God is our leader.

  
  

  2. We need a role model. To see revealed truth lived out in the life of somebody who you can model yourself after. One of our best role models is our pastor, for we are the sheep and he is the shepherd.

  
  

  3. Regimen of faith, a systematic application of truth. We need to apply our truths systematically, over and over. Follow the precepts of the Lord, not give up after a few tries and say to yourself that it isn’t working. I prayed once or twice and God didn’t answer my prayer, so stop praying. The Bible works, scripture is truth. God cannot lie.

  
  

  4. A righteous resolution. Decide that for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Follow our vision, the guidance of the pastor, what God shows us. When we get a vision, the pastor can’t make it happen for you. You must do the necessary steps in obedience to God in order for the thing to happen. Resolve to follow Jesus’ plan for your life.

  
  

  To make your vision come true there are seven laws that need to be put into application.

  
  

  1. The Law of Perspective: we tend to believe what we see and focus on consistently. If you focus consistently on your adversity, on the challenges, on your failings, that is what will occur. If you focus on the Word of God, on the truths taught in the Bible, on what your vision and goal is, you will begin to make that happen. Psychologists say that it takes four years for things that we see and hear to affect us. So the changes in us are often a process, taking time. That is why we have to keep our focus, our perspective no matter what the circumstances. You have to create and maintain a vision of where you want to go before you get there. Don’t look at the obstacles or problems. Only look at what God showed you. The laws and God’s plans were set down before you were born. Make sure what you watch and take in edifies your spirit. Sight deals with the eyes and vision with the heart. We have to look at what is inside our heart.  Given our short time period of life, we do not want to be distracted from our vision by focusing on things that do not promote our vision. Ephesians 3:20-21 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen

  
  

  In Genesis, Abraham, after Lot departed, was told to lift up his eyes and he would possess all that he could see. God wanted Abraham to expand his vision. When Abram asked God about his seed, God pulled him out of his tent and expanded his vision by having him count the stars.

  
  

  Don’t look at the problem, that is the small vision, look rather to God’s grand vision for us.

  
  

  2. Law of Passion – pursue with all your might and you will find the initiative and urgency to accomplish your goal. Passion will see you through the tough situations.
  Jesus in the flesh would not like the experience of Calvary, but Jesus’ passion was to save us, and when He prayed, He saw our salvation, and that gave Him the courage to take those steps to the cross. Hebrews 12:2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Jesus kept the goal in mind, our salvation, and also the reward.

  
  

  3. Law of Priority. What you choose as an object of your focus, arranging your life to give maximum attention to your vision, increases your chances of success. Don’t spend time on things that don’t help your vision. If you want to be a millionaire, you will not get it just listening to a sermon, or watching soaps on the TV. You need to apply God’s principles and action to achieve your goal. Don’t focus on the minimums. If you put God first, the rest will follow. God and serving God must be your first priority. God will never disgrace us if we put Him first. We should not put our own agenda before God’s agenda. We can’t live out the Christian walk without following our shepherd. A measure of respect to your pastor will be met with a measure of blessing to you. Put God first. Phillipians 3:13-14 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. Forget what is behind you and focus on your future goal.

  
  

  4. The Law of Petition. God wants us to pray and talk with Him about those things we desire. Matthew 7:7-8  Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

  
  

  When we pray, make a righteous cry unto God, He hears us. Psalm 34:17-19 The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears,and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.

  
  

  We have to remember to call upon God in the day of our trouble. When we have great trials and troubles we have to remember that God can do great things, things that we can’t even conceive of in our own minds.

  
  

  Remember the prayer of Jabez, 1 Chronicles 4, where Jabez asked God to enlarge his territory, to make a change in his life. God is more than able to do what is seemingly impossible. When you have troubles and God doesn’t seem to be answering, don’t throw in the towel. Keep petitioning Him.

  
  

  5. Law of patterns: Using a proven plan of action, out of a pure heart, and you will attain similar results. Evaluate your priorities, and keep doing what has been proven to work, even if circumstances do not seem to be changing. We have to follow Him with faith and patience.  Learn from a person who has had successes in your area of vision, learn from Biblical, historical, and contemporary patterns. Apply them in your life,

  
  

  6. The law of  profession. Words which are spoken can affect our outcomes. The power of life and death is in our tongues. We will have what we speak. And we will eat the fruit of our words. If we are speaking positive things, positive fruit. If we are critical, condemning, negative, that is the fruit of our tongue that we will eat. Far better to speak God’s promises and Words. into a situation. Mark 11:23 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.

  
  

  Hebrews 10:23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering for He who promised is faithful.

  
  

  7. Law of progression. Consistent effort of a person’s plan of action will gradually cause your plan to succeed. Praying in tongues, going to church, reading the Bible, listening to a sermon on it’s own will not help. What needs to happen is a consistent putting what you have learned into practice.

  
  

  Moses was a maximizer – he followed God’s direction in the face of adversity – the Red Sea, etc.

  
  

  Jehosephat faced four nations against him.

  
  

  Paul was put into prison and persevered in getting the truth out.

  
  

  If you are determined to go with God, God will go with you. Sometimes the circumstances do not seem all that victorious, being in prison, Jesus being led to the wilderness after the Holy Spirit came down after baptism. When satan realizes that we are effective for God’s kingdom, he will send circumstances to try and stop our growth, to stop our victory. We have to stare down our adversary, and know that we have a greater God. Philipians 1:28 …and not in any way terrified by your adversaries, which is to them a proof of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that from God.

  
  

  I hope these notes bless you as much as they have blessed me. I think over the next few days Pastor Danquah will be sharing more on these topics, but this is a good overview of a lifetime’s worth of work.

  
  

  Have a blessed day.

  
  

   

  • 6:05 pm
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