9/26/21 - Pastor Woods, "Rebuilding a Better Destiny, How to Restart - Part 1"

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Isaiah 40:31 (NIV) “Those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”  

 

Nehemiah 1:3-4 (NLT) “They said to me... ‘The wall of Jerusalem has been torn down, and the gates have been destroyed by fire.’ When I heard this, I sat down and wept. In fact, for days I mourned, fasted, and prayed to the God of heaven.” 

 

1.     MOURN – EXPRESS YOUR _________________ TO GOD

Learn how to take your deepest hurt to God. Mourn – is an expression of sadness and         

      grief.

Þ     Matthew 5:4  (ESV) “ 4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. 

 

Þ     Psalm 94:19 (NLT) “When doubts filled my mind, your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer.” 

 

Þ     Psalm 30:5b (NLT) “Weeping may last for the night, But a shout of joy comes in the morning.

 

Þ     2 Cor 12:10 (EVS) For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 

 

2.     FAST – FOCUS YOUR _________________ ON GOD 

Þ     Joel 2:12b (NKJV) “Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.”       

 

Þ     Daniel 9:3 (NASB) “So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting...”  

 

Þ     1 Chronicles 22:19a (NKJV) “Now set your heart and your soul to seek the LORD your God.” 

 

3.     PRAY – ASK FOR _________________ FROM GOD

       “LORD, my Rock, I call out to you for help.”  Psalm 28:1a (NCV) 

 

Þ    RECOGNIZE ___________________________________

Nehemiah 1:5-6 (NIV) “Then I said: ‘O LORD, God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and obey his commands, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father's house, have committed against you.’”  

 

Ephesians 1:19  

 

Þ    CONFESS ___________________________________

Nehemiah 1:6b-7 (NIV) “I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father's house, have committed against you. We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses.” 

 

1 John 1:9  “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  

 

Þ    CALL ON ___________________________________

Nehemiah 1:8-9 (CEV) “Please remember the promise you made to Moses. You told him that if we were unfaithful, you would scatter us among foreign nations. But you also said that no matter how far away we were, we could turn to you and start obeying your laws. Then you would bring us back to the place where you have chosen to be worshiped.”  

 

 

Þ    ASK FOR ___________________________________                                                  Nehemiah 1:11 (NIV) “O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name. Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man.’ I was cupbearer to the king.”  

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9/12/21 - Pastor Woods, "Why Should I Fast" Mark 9:14-29

 

The crowd was debating/arguing with the disciples

 

This man brought his son to the disciples for help. His son was possessed by an evil spirit. The spirit when it would possess him it would try to destroy him.   

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The Disciples couldn’t cast out the unclean spirit

Mark 10:14-15 “When they came back to the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them, and somescribes arguing with them. 15 Immediately, when the entire crowd saw Him, they were amazed and began running up to greet Him.

Guest, why? The disciples could not cast out the unclean spirit

 

                              Remember Christ had given His disciple power (authority) to cast out demons and heal all manner of sickness.                                                                               

Mark 6:7-8  “And He *summoned the twelve and began to send them out in pairs, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits; (8) and He instructed them that they should take nothing for theirjourney, except a mere staff—no bread, no bag, no money in their belt—[1]

Matt 10:1 Jesus summoned His twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.

Matt. 10:6-8 “but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 “And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ 8“Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you receive, freely give.

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When they brought the boy to Jesus was able to heal him 

The Disciples should have been able to help him because they were Jesus followers empowered by Jesus himself

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The Disciples Wanted To Know Why They Had Failed

Spiritual Immaturity Can Be Conquered; Spiritual Power Is Available.

 

1. Immaturity can be conquered by seeking spiritual power. The disciples sought to know why they failed. They wanted to know the cause. Remember: Jesus had already given them power over evil spirits, and they had already exercised such power. They could not understand why they had failed when they had been successful before (Mk. 3:14–15; see Lu. 9:1; 10:17).

 

 

2. Immaturity can be conquered by prayer and fasting. Jesus pointed to one thing: the disciples were not living close enough to God. They were not praying and fasting enough, not seeking Him enough, not putting Him before food and other things. They were taking time for other things, taking time to eat, but not taking time for God.

 

This kind comes only by fasting and prayer

What is Fasting – it is when you deny yourself of food and/or things pleasurable to your body for a period of time, to feed your soul spiritually to experience God’s power and presence.

It humbling yourself and acknowledge

God must be depended upon so much that food and everything else are set aside in order to seek Him. A man’s heart must sometimes crave God so much that food and all else are set aside to seek Him.

Fasting and prayer is the Gateway to Power of God.  It is that moment we are showing God that we are totally depending on Him for any and every situation. 

 

We must fast for spiritual revival. What is revival? It is the manifested presence & power of God in our lives. It is when we allow our heavenly Father to be free to live in and through us, move us, and shape us into the image of His Son.

 

Why Need Spiritual Revival

a.     Just like this man needed Jesus’s help, the world needs our help as well. 

b.     Without revival we will lose much of our culture, but more sadly we will lose the next generation called the millennial generation. This generation was born from 1978 to 2000 and is the largest generation of people in the history of our nation. This group of 103 million people will become 40 percent of the eligible voters in the 2020 presidential election. By 2010 thirty-one million of these millennials will enter the workforce. This generation satisfies their social networking via text messaging, Facebook, and Twitter. Listen to this, my friend: This generation is presently the most lost generation in our history as only one out of ten millennials knows Jesus Christ personally. While I love this generation for their dare and courage, as well as their enthusiasm and intellectual power, without a major spiritual revival, this generation will perish.

c.     Look at the crisis we are now facing in America and worldwide. Pandemic, Hurricanes, volcanoes in Alaska, flooding everywhere, shortage of food, shortage of building material, death, violence,

Immorality, homosexuality, hate, racism, the list goes on & on.

d.     Look @ your personal life there are so many issues in your life that you need a breakthrough it’s through fasting that God releases his power.

 

This week I want to challenge us as Christ Followers 

 

1.     To participate in this week of fasting and prayer by coming out to pray as a church family.

2.     Set aside a specific time to invest personal time alone with God.

3.     Keep a personal journal during the fast to review how God was at work in your life during the fast.

4.     Write down your special prayer requests (be specific) with the date. Keep it and when God answers your request write down the date and testimony.

5.     Make a plan on how you are going to fast, what you’re going to eat and drink. When you’re going to pray and spend time with God.

6.     For more information about the Daniel fast go to Danielfast.com.

7.     Read the promises of prayer in the bible, and about the different Fasts in bible

8.     Visit our facebook page to find out more about our fast.