Tuesday Night June 9, 2015 - Stewarding God's Deposits

 @HartMinistries

Hey friends... really great Tuesday night small group. Excited that Thursday launches this week and our Monday & Wednesday night groups start next week! Holy Spirit is on the move.

Enjoyed watching the Will Hart video with everyone. Here's some of the quotes that stuck out to me as we listened:

A) God believes in the call and destiny on people's lives. Even if they don't believe in Him.
B) As we go after Jesus, he's coming after us.
C) You are created to be loved by Him and there's nothing you can do about it.
D) How can I continue to live like everyone else once I've experienced the power and love of the Father?!
E) I believe the church has lost it's sense of adventure.
F) What you've seen in the past doesn't justify your faith for today.
G) If Jesus comes to you in a way that makes you uncomfortable, it doesn't mean it's not Him.
H) Embrace the uncomfortable. The greatest changes take place in these moments.
I)Pray for the "suddenlies" of God.
J) God always presents you with choice. What we have to do is decide YES or NO.
K) Fear is faith in satan.
L) THe world is dying and they're looking for something real!

Let me know if there's something i missed that stuck out to all of you.

Love you friends
Adam

Kingdom night with Clay - May 26, 2015

We had the privilege of my good friend Clay Harrington joining us a couple weeks ago at the Bloomington-Normal campus. He did a great job sharing with us about the Kingdom of God. Here's a brief look at his notes…

Kingdom Healing: Intro to the Kingdom
Bloomington-Normal Campus
5/26/15

1) What does Kingdom mean? 

When we think of the word Kingdom, we usually think of a location. (UTOPIA, WITH A DISNEY TYPE CASTLE, SURROUNDED BY AN AESTHETICALLY PLEASING TOWN...) 

Yet, even though I believe the kingdom could be a location, I think it's much grander than this. 

But when we think of the Kingdom of God... We should transition from thinking of it as a noun to a verb or AN IMPERFECT TENSE.... Like the ruling of God, the presence of God, the glory of God... 
THE ADVANCING OF GOD'S RULE AND REIGN!!

Think about it like this... If we see someone hurting and you approach them, love on them by speaking uplifting things to them in the name of Jesus... The kingdom of God is advancing from you to them! 

Then, what if you lay your hands on them and pray for healing for them and they get healed... The kingdom of God is in your midst... which is a euphemism for the advancing of God's rule and reign! 

**And what's the kingdom of God advancing into?? The evil present age... The Kingdom of darkness! 

Does that make sense? 

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2) ALREADY AND NOT-YET OF THE KINGDOM:

- hand out and explain the classic diagram

- D-day metaphor: once our troops stormed the beaches of Normandy... Experts say that the war was really won right then and there... But it was still a matter of time for the war to end! 

Well, Jesus already stormed the beaches of Normandy... 

COLOSSIANS 2:15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. 


AND NOW ITS ONLY A MATTER OF TIME... Why wait?? Because, in his mercy and kindness, he's waiting patiently for people like you and me to go spread the word... To go tell, to preach the gospel... Because we are dealing with an inviting God! 

THANK GOD HE'S THAT WAY... BECAUSE I'M SO GLAD HE WAS PATIENT WITH ME! 

when we pray we're praying for the now - too many times we (church) have grown to focus too much on the not yet of the Kingdom... so this gives us an excuse to pray one measly little prayer and assume that God doesn't want to heal them rather contending for healing. (Changing the terms to come/coming of the kingdom?)

Without faith, it's impossible to please God... (Heb 11:6)

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3) TWO KINGDOMS AT ODDS:

- God is not the cause of everything

- the devil works very hard to convince us that God is the cause behind everything. This would mean that God sends sickness and death.

- the justification is that even though God sent this bad thing, he can use it to work good in my life, so really it's good... 

- Poor exegesis of the Romans 8:28 passage! Can someone look that up?? (We wouldn't need this passage if everything was going to be good for the Christian life... But we know that there will be trials, tribulation and persecution for those that believe.) 

- God doesn't need to use the devil's means to get his ends! He doesn't rely on the devil for HIS GLORY! 

- if the two kingdoms are at war as described above... Then we know that the kingdom of darkness is real... If the kingdom of darkness is real then NOT EVERYTHING that is God's will happens! 

- IF GOD'S WILL HAPPENED ALL THE TIME, THEN THEIR REALLY ARENT TWO KINGDOMS - BUT ONE! 

- CAN SOMEONE PULL UP JOHN 10:10? 

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4) THE KINGDOM IN US:

- THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS WITHIN US! 

CAN SOMEONE LOOK UP LUKE 17:20-21: 

One day the Pharisees asked Jesus, “When will the Kingdom of God come?” Jesus replied, “The Kingdom of God can’t be detected by visible signs. You won’t be able to say, ‘Here it is!’ or ‘It’s over there!’ For the Kingdom of God is already among you. ” 

- the KJV version reads that the KINGDOM OF GOD IS WITHIN YOU! 

- the KINGDOM OF GOD IS MANIFEST WITHIN US AS WELL AS AROUND US.

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5) KINGDOM OF GOD IS AROUND US:

1)  1 Cor 4:20 - for the kingdom of God doesn't consist in talk but in power. (Healing, sign, wonders, miracles)

2) Romans 14:17 - For the kingdom of God is not a matter eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. (How we relate to others) 

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6) WE ARE SENT TO REPRESENT GOD AND HIS KINGDOM:

2 Cor 5:20 -  "...we are AMBASSADORS for Christ, God making his appeal through us..."

Matthew 28:18-29 - And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." 

As sons and daughters of God, we have been endowed with 'Ambassadorial Authority'. Which pretty much means that we are HOLY KINGDOM REPRESENTATIVES! EVERYWHERE YOU GO, YOU TAKE HEAVENS WITH YOU AND REPRESENT THE FATHER... EVERY TIME PEOPLE SEE US, THEY SHOULD SEE THE FATHER IN HEAVEN. 

Explain how the ambassador relationship works in the physical. 

Reiterate how the father commissions us to do the same as Jesus did/does! 

Read Romans 8:19 -  "For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God." 

The world is crying out for Christ's ambassadors to step up and walk in the calling that has been called out for you before the foundation of the world! 

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7) HANDLING THE ALREADY AND NOT-YET:

But how do we handle ourselves when the kingdom of God doesn't break in? How do we respond when the healing doesn't happen or our prayers don't get answered in the way we think it should?  

The short answer - the kingdom doesn't always prevail on the earth in this age! 

This is the by product of the tension... The already/not-yet...

And although I MAY NOT see the kingdom of God breakthrough every time I pray... I'm still contending! Even though I might not see the ALREADY OR THE NOW OF THE KINGDOM... I'm still contending! 

And I will refuse to adopt a not yet mentality! "How do you adopt a not-yet mentality?" I'm glad you asked... By making excuses every time you don't see healing that God isn't in the business of healing! By overemphasizing the "Not-Yet" as if God chooses not to heal today! Eventually our prayers will go from powerful to weak, low faith to no-faith prayers!! 

We want to really guard against this!! 

So when things aren't happening, the best thing for you to do is keep at it!! 

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My Story:

I remember when I went to Chicago three years ago wanting to do the stuff! I started praying for healing and for the Lord to manifest and NOTHING! I was pressing in and NOTHING. 

I went out another time and prayed for healing - NOTHING!! 

I remember getting discouraged and asking God "What's going on?!" 

But I never gave up... I KEPT KNOCKING...  AND EVENTUALLY THE DOOR WAS OPENED TO ME BECAUSE I WENT BACK OUT TO A REALLY TOUGH NEIGHBORHOOD AND BEGAN TO SEE MORE HEALING AND ACCURATE WORDS OF KNOWLEDGE THAN I EVER EXPERIENCED!! 

Mathew 7:7 - can someone read this passage? 

Keep pressing in if you don't see it... Eventually you will. Robbie has been praying for the dead to rise for years... He finally saw it happen about two months ago in England! Keep pressing into the impossible!!f