Don’t Grow Cold [Sunday School July 19th]
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Sunday School Notes:
What’s in your heart will eventually be exposed. However, God will never expose your sin if you have a heart of repentance. If/when He does expose your sin it’s only because He loves us and is leading us towards truth and salvation.
Those who serve God must live a life of balance and moderation. If your relationship with God has dried up we must move and contunue to seek Him. A majority of our issues and inner struggles begin with what we let in and entertain in our minds. All things are lawful but they’re not always good (1 Corinthians 10:23). To abuse one’s liberty will eventually send you to a place where you’re worse off than before you entered into a relationship with God.
When we find ourselves in a dried up place how do we get out. Find a place to give to others. Don’t wait for someone else to make room for your gifts but be proactive and GIVE!
2 Cor 10:1-6
Opression will attach itself to us and become our counsel. to try to speak to that opression (even in love) is next to impossibe to do. It’s OUR chice when they come and when they leave. The only way to be free of that opression is to praise and worship with the body of Christ. “The weapons of our warfare are not carnal” meaning that we in our flesh can not fix this scenario.
James 1:21-22
James tells US to lay aside our issues and receive with meekness the word that is able to save us! This is also why unconditional eternal security can not be true.
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True Praise [Sunday School July 5th]
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Sunday School Notes:
Mat 15:8-9
People can praise and not be ‘near’ to god. They can worship in vain.
Powerful praise comes at a price. We ought not to raise a flag and remain at the last place where God moved. God is always moving and it’s our job to carefully follow as He leads.
Prov 23:6
As you think in your heart so are you. Being honest with others and yourself will bring true praise and in turn true worship in your life.
Heb 10
Let us consider one another to stir up love and good works. “Not forsaking the assembilng of ourselves together”. We need to make it a priority to ‘hang’ with our family. We need to love God with our lives. “so much more as the day approaches”. As time progresses with technology, the battle for our attention gets more intense.
James 1
Living double-minded will bring instability to your life. We need to be single minded in fellowship, unity and truth (being honest w/ourselves and those around us. )
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Save the date
The Gateway Family Fun Day is Saturday, Sept. 12 from noon to 4 p.m.
This year, the annual event will be held at the Boght Road Church in Cohoes.
Please plan to join us for a day of fun, food and fellowship.
New this year will be the Super Joust! Ever wonder what it would be like to be on American Gladiator? Now, you can see for yourself. Put on a helmet, grab your joust, climb to the platform of the Super Joust and try to knock off your opponent.
Also new this year, we hope to have a police K9 demonstration.
We’ll also have returning favorites like the Bounce House, Super Slide, kids’ crafts booth, popcorn, face painting and, of course, lots of food.
Mark the date and start inviting your friends and family.
And, as always, I’ll be going around with my volunteer list. Please plan to donate one hour of your time to help at one of the booths or activity areas. Without volunteers this Fun Day would not be possible.
Thanks!
– Martha
Biblical Praise [Sunday School June 28th]
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Sunday School Notes:
When you’re in troubled times there won’t necessarily always be a great spiritual ‘breakthrough’. We need to be consistent in our lives and eventually God will honor our consistency and pull us out of our trouble.
Eph 5:16-21 ESV
Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
As the days become more evil and our lives become more chaotic we must connect with God and others within the body of Christ. We need to speak words of faith, words of edification, words of wisdom and these spiritual words will build us and those around us up.
Psalm 100:4
Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!
It’s only when we enter into His gates and His courts that we’ll receive everything that we need, every blessing, every promise, every deliverance. Our spiritual well-being depends on us entering continually into the presence of God in praise.
Just as praise is contagious, so the lack of praise is even more contagious. Praise is the easiest way to return to the presence of God after an extended hiatus. The devil fights us hard (pride, being self-concious etc) when it comes to praise because he realizes the power that’s behind it. Praise has the power to usher us into his presence. He knows that if the heart-felt words leave our mouths that we will be ushered quickly into his courts (Psalm 100:4).
If you worship God with your life and you praise him whenever there’s an opportunity you can expect to be carried through your times of difficulty.
Many can learn how to praise and can enter into His presence. But praise is nothing if it doesn’t draw you into a relationship with Him (a life of worship.)
John 4:23
True worshipers mush worship in spirit and in truth. Praise gets you into the presence of God but the presence of God ought to produce a life of worship. God demands something of us… We can not simply offer up praise on a Sunday, feel His presence (like everyone is able to when we praise) and expect to be a true Worshiper.
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To Know Him
Lesson Notes:
Because you were born in the flesh it does not mean that you’re a child of God. You must be born into His kingdom.
Many teach that according to John 3:3-5 all you have to do is believe to be born again. This is not how his own apostles applied it. His own followers were baptized in the name of Jesus and were filled with the spirit (with evidence of speaking in tongues) as recorded many times in the book of Acts.
So I won’t be saved if I don’t follow this ‘formula’ as laid out by the his Apostles? That’s the wrong attitude to have… God will be our eventual judge. Our goal should be to receive everything that He has for us. Every promise and every gift.
Getting religion shouldn’t be a simple commitment that can be broken but should rather be a prayer whereby we say “my life is not mine any longer”. Our desire should be to not just have an experience, but to be a disciple. If you are going to be a disciple of Jesus Christ you’re going to have to sit down and be taught. To get in the book and figure things out for yourself.
“He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” (John 7:38) If you don’t take time to know what the scripture says about God and are taking everyone else’s word, you don’t know what to believe about Him. It’s not true relationship unless you take the time yourself to know Him.
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Words
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Lesson Notes:
Words spoken by others are powerful, but it isn’t until we speak in response that those words become real or of no effect to us. As Christians we are ‘new creatures’ and no longer posses the right to blame our current actions on our past. Words have the tremendous potential to harm others.
Just as negative words have the ability to wound, our positive words have even greater potential to create order out of chaos. The Word of God is living, powerful and sharper than any two-eged sword. (Heb 4)
We must speak what is in our hearts to God, be real, edify one another. Col 3:15-17 says: “And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
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