Embark on an expedition to the heart of spiritual maturity with me, Don Carpenter, as your guide, unraveling the Apostle Paul's profound insights from Philippians 3. Imagine leaving behind all you've achieved, counting it as loss, for the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus. This episode probes deep into the essence of faith, where initial forgiveness is merely the starting point, and the true journey involves embodying our identity as children of God. Moving past the comfort of familiar shores, we confront the barriers to growth detailed in Matthew 13, learning to safeguard our understanding of God's Word from those who would see it stolen away. With the notion that the Kingdom of God blooms from within, we're summoned to a life of relentless pursuit of our relationship with the Divine.
In the melee of our everyday lives, it's easy to overlook the whispers of the Father, but here we hone in on the necessity of tuning into His guidance and responding with obedience. Through the lens of Christ's own life, we investigate the power of prayer, not merely as a lifeline for our wants but as an intimate conversation with the Almighty. This dialogue isn't just about finding oneself; it's about taking up the mantle of responsibility that comes with our divine lineage. As we navigate this terrain, we're charged with seizing God's present intentions for us, proving that true fulfillment lies not in clinging to bygones but in the courageous embrace of His unfolding story. Join us for this transformative session, where the call to spiritual vigilance and obedience isn't just suggested—it's imperative.
Embark on an expedition to the heart of spiritual maturity with me, Don Carpenter, as your guide, unraveling the Apostle Paul's profound insights from Philippians 3. Imagine leaving behind all you've achieved, counting it as loss, for the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus. This episode probes deep into the essence of faith, where initial forgiveness is merely the starting point, and the true journey involves embodying our identity as children of God. Moving past the comfort of familiar shores, we confront the barriers to growth detailed in Matthew 13, learning to safeguard our understanding of God's Word from those who would see it stolen away. With the notion that the Kingdom of God blooms from within, we're summoned to a life of relentless pursuit of our relationship with the Divine.
In the melee of our everyday lives, it's easy to overlook the whispers of the Father, but here we hone in on the necessity of tuning into His guidance and responding with obedience. Through the lens of Christ's own life, we investigate the power of prayer, not merely as a lifeline for our wants but as an intimate conversation with the Almighty. This dialogue isn't just about finding oneself; it's about taking up the mantle of responsibility that comes with our divine lineage. As we navigate this terrain, we're charged with seizing God's present intentions for us, proving that true fulfillment lies not in clinging to bygones but in the courageous embrace of His unfolding story. Join us for this transformative session, where the call to spiritual vigilance and obedience isn't just suggested—it's imperative.
Speaker 1:
Welcome to another episode of Faith Walk. My name is Don Carpenter and today I want to build your faith. Got a great word from God today, and in Philippians, chapter 3, beginning at verse 7,. But what things were gained to me? These? I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish. That I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God, by faith Listen to this that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death. If by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead Not that I've already attained or am already perfected, but I press on that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus also laid hold of me. 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. That is a powerful desire or expectation to have. Life is so temporary, but my goal is that I would be clothed in the Lord Jesus.
Speaker 1:
This is God's day. Right now, this is your day. This is your time on the planet Earth to exist In Christ. There's no limitations for us In God. Everything that we dream of becoming, we become much more in the Lord. But in Romans, the 13th chapter, these are things that we need to look at. Why are we here? What's going on, knowing the time that now it is high time to awake out of sleep? For now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. You know now more about the things of God than when you first believed, when we first come into the kingdom.
Speaker 1:
The biggest thing that most people deal with, if not all, is how terrible was our past, or things that we regret doing, thinking that, how can I ever be forgiven? And we realize that God will forgive us. And so we're caught up and rightfully so in forgiveness. But we cannot constantly go through our Christian life for 5, 20, 40, 60 years, go through our Christian life for five, 20, 40, 60 years, go through our Christian life and always just being saying, well, I thank God that he saved me there. There has to be and there is more to being a Christian than just having peace about your soul being saved. We are sons of God, but when we are redeemed and we come to the Lord, we are now eternal and the angels cannot. They cannot handle or they cannot figure it out how that we can be In a fallen nature, have ourselves restored to God and it doesn't stop there, but that we walk as sons of God. The Bible says they desire, they look into that. They cannot seem to fathom it. They cannot understand. Maybe the thing they cannot understand is why that the redeemed have all this wonderful new position as a son and they're not walking it out and they're confused or afraid or etc.
Speaker 1:
Have you ever wondered how it is that when you first come to Jesus, you're so excited about everything spiritual, you're excited about your relationship with the Lord. You're excited you want everybody to be saved for about two weeks, maybe two months, and then you're going to say what happens? You start cooling off. Is there a biblical explanation for these things? Why is it that we get a wonderful, spiritual, biblical, godly revelation on something and we're so excited. We think everybody should see it, we talk about it and then after two weeks or two months, it's no longer in our vocabulary. What has happened? Why is it that some Christians looks like that they never grow and then we see others who are advancing and growing? Does the Bible tell us anything about that? And the answer is yes.
Speaker 1:
Matthew, chapter 13 and verse 19 here is what goes on. Here is what happens when anyone hears the word of the kingdom, the revelation. You see something and does not understand it. Then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside. And this word understand, right here, is comprehend. We're wise to what it means. We perceive it, we know that it's something good for us and we get a revelation. If we fail to get a revelation, it becomes not so important to us. We understand what it was to be lost in sin and find Jesus, because we hear a lot of teaching on that subject.
Speaker 1:
It is our responsibility to follow on, to know the Lord. As a believer, I can determine with the inside of me that I am going to understand and I'm going to comprehend and I'm going to study and I'm going to wait before God to reveal unto me the thing that he has planted in my heart. I'm going to do that, I'm going to focus on that and that's why, whenever we get a word and it comes to us and we're thinking, wow, I really like that, that's God speaking to us about something. And then we may say, but I don't understand it. It's so hard. Everybody, everybody, every man and woman that knows the Lord, experiences that when they first hear it, they don't understand it. They know it's from God, they know it's good, they see people are walking it out. We guard ourselves by not letting the enemy come, and the way you guard yourself is you follow on to know the Lord. What is God saying to you?
Speaker 1:
In Matthew 17, verse 20, Jesus is talking and teaching here. And in verse 20, when he was demanded of the Pharisees and what did the Pharisees demand? When the kingdom of God should come, how will I know it? He answered them and said the kingdom of God cometh. Not with observation. If you were waiting to think, well, I can see the kingdom of God. He says it's not going to happen. You're not going to see it. The kingdom of God, listen to me, it's in the spirit, it's in you, and when you are in the kingdom of God, you are not affected by what's around you, but you are affected by what's in you, what's inside of you, what you see, what you believe Spiritually, when you receive it and when you believe it. That is your possession, you've got it, you've claimed it, it's yours and you're going to now walk it out. But the Pharisees demanded. Spirit does not demand. The Spirit leads, the Holy Spirit encourages. See, we think, well, wow, that was my decision. God leads us as human beings. That's how we, that's how it happens, and especially as believers happens, and especially as believers. And God hallelujah brings revelation of his word and he says you decide what you want to do.
Speaker 1:
So in Ephesians, the reason that God gives apostles and prophets and evangelists is in the fourth chapter, the 11th verse Some evangelists, some pastors and teachers. He gives that for the equipping of the saints who will do the work of the ministry. And the reason that this is done is to edify the body of Christ. And we do this till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God. Listen to this, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature, of the fullness of Christ. We should no longer be children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men and the coming of craftiness Of deceitful plotting, but speaking the truth in love, may grow up, may grow up, may grow up. That's us. May grow up, may mature, may develop. God is doing something so wonderful In us and through us.
Speaker 1:
There will be people that we will encounter that we only that is it just that one encounter, and we will never see them again. There's some that we will see for a short time. There's some that we will see for a short time, and what's taking place is there's a harvest God is redeeming, he's making a way for us to be restored to our rightful place. You know, it's not we have to be careful that the enemy wants to destroy you. He wants to take away from you the revelation, the desire, the hunger to know the Lord, to have the mind of Christ. Like how does he think? And I think that if we were to stop and just dwell on that for a moment, I believe that the Holy Spirit would reveal onto every one of you just a glimpse of what that would be like, and I'm going to give you a clue that he left us. Just one clue I do nothing but that which I see the Father doing, and that means spending time with the Lord, spending time in prayer.
Speaker 1:
Just ask yourself, do you ever take time to pray and to seek the lord? You know, we come to the lord and we say, lord, I've got a scab that won't heal. Or, father, uh, I need, I need more money, I need, I got to make more money. But you know prayer, I tell you many times it's much more than that. Yes, it's all that's included, but it's more than that. It's why we spend time with the Father.
Speaker 1:
You see, father talks to his children, father talks to his sons about their responsibility and what they've been equipped for. We have to know the voice of God and we have to be obedient to the voice of God, hallelujah. And I believe that when he asks us and he wants us, he's saying to us will you be my sons? I believe that, father, you've chosen me to be your son. Can you imagine having a son who will never talk to you? It is so important that we spend time with the Father because it's not about us, it's about him. Whenever you align yourself to what was instead of what he is, you're not ready to move on. The stage is set, the opportunity is ours. Are we going to take it and seize it? Thank you.