11 Aug Jody Bowden | “Heavenly Minded”
eFam Groups – Our first eFam Groups starts on Sept 3 with Mike and Dennette Lauer! If you have an apprentice that may be interested in becoming an eFam leader, direct them here: eFam Group Leader Application
Action Groups- If you have an apprentice (or someone you think may make a good action group leader) who would like to lead an Action Group, direct them here: Action Group Leader Application
WOONSOCKET PERMANENT LOCATION: As you know we have a permanent location for Woonsocket Campus – your talent is needed. If you have any experience in carpentry, HVAC, etc., let us know.
TESTIMONIES: Looking for your testimonies! If you have group wins to share from your Small Group, please email them to me! maparsons@waterschurch.org
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BIG THINGS WEEKEND – AUG 25/26. DON’T MISS IT!
PODCAST – SEASON 3 COMES BACK IN THE FALL ON THE BOOK OF ACTS! MOVING FROM WED NOON TO TUESDAY NIGHT AT 7P WITH A LIVE AUDIENCE!
HEAVENLY MINDED – JODY BOWDEN
One of the reasons Paul wrote the book of Corinthians was because people were questioning ressurection. Paul tells them if you don’t believe in resurrection than how can you believe in the resurrection of Jesus and if you don’t isn’t our preaching empty?
Christ was raised from the dead to be the One and Only way to heaven. Knowing that is just the first step in a personal two-way relationship with Him and everything is done already, it is there and ready for the taking.
1. WE ARE ALL BORN WITH A PHYSICAL BODY – 1ST ADAM.
The first Adam was of the earth and the second Adam was from heaven.
It is done. We all have a physical body, but we also have access to our spirit – our body is temporary, our soul is eternal. Our spirit is our guide.
Ice-Breaker Question:
Q. At what point in your life did you realize there was more to you than your physical body?
Sin broke us apart. We crave the spiritual. We were created not to be just physical.
When Adam was in the garden, his spirit was in perfect harmony with the Spirit of God. He was able to communicate directly with God. The light of the spirit was passing through Adam unimpeded, but sin broke the bond. Now not only is our body and our soul separated from God but also our Spirit. We as humans crave that connection that Adam had with God before sin came into the world. God wants this connection with us, He wants a relationship with us just as badly as we crave a relationship with Him. Sin has separated us. We all sin, none of us are immune.
Q. At what point in your life did you realize you were guilty of sin?
2. WE ARE WHAT WE CHOOSE TO FOLLOW.
We have to choose who we are going to follow, the man of dust, the first Adam or the man of heaven, the second Adam. We cannot follow both. No man can serve two masters. We can never undo what we do but until we have done it, it is just a choice. Once we have made the decision, this is when it starts to matter. Are we going to follow the temporary and the physical or the heavenly and the spiritual?
These are people who are focused just on the physical, they are looking only at the temporary.
If we focus on earth, the temporary, it is where we are going to stay. We cannot move further in our lives if we continue to focus on things that are here. Example, we have an issue in our life and we turn to Facebook or because of the month we were born in there are special signs that will guide us to an answer (Zodiac/horoscope), etc. These are things we look at physically to fix things spiritually. The two are not connected, you can’t fix a spiritual with a physical.
We have limited time here on earth to prepare for eternity. Jody used the sand on the beach as an analogy. We are standing at the beach and there is beach all around us, then we pick up one grain of sand. That grain of sand is our time here on this earth and the rest of that beach is eternity. Every decision we make, everything we do in that one grain of sand, determines where we spend that entire beach. If we spend it focusing on the physical, that grain of sand is going to be it for us, meaning we are not going to go to that eternal reward we all have through Jesus Christ. But, if we focus on heaven, that is where we go. We should not focus on the things that are temporary, but focus on what can actually make an impact on our eternity and the people we come in contact with. As Christians, we bear Christ’s image to others.
Q. What are some things you have looked to physically to fix a spiritual condition in your life? Or what temporary things on earth do you get caught up in, that prevent you from looking at the big picture (eternity)?
3. WE ONLY GAIN ETERNAL LIFE THROUGH CHRIST’S RESSURECTION – 2ND ADAM.
The flesh and blood are sinful and cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven.
Not even Jesus could take his physical body with Him. His spiritual body has access to heaven.
There are no strings attached, no fine print. Some of us may think or thought we could get to heaven based on what we do. Nothing we do in the physical can gain us our salvation. Good works do not bring salvation, but salvation brings good works.
The transformation of our physical bodies to spiritual bodies all hinges on Christ’s death, burial and resurrection and because we have God in us, we want to show the love of Christ in us to others. We are saved to do good works, we do not do good works get to heaven. We bear His image.
Q. Why is it that even though we as Christians know that salvation is not based on what we do, we still try to earn the grace that God freely gives us? Why, as Christians should we be drawn to do good works?
4. WE PUT ON THE IMPERISHABLE.
Flesh and blood mean we need to have the heavenly transformation first. The Greek word Phthora – perishable, means corruption, the decay of our bodies, they are subject to disease, injury, and decay, those unsuited for heaven.
Transformation happens on the spiritual level. We cannot get anywhere if we focus on what is temporary expecting it to have changes on the heavenly and the spiritual.
The first Adam brought death, the second Adam brought us a life-giving Spirit. This is the same Spirit that rose Christ from the dead. The same Spirit in Genesis 1:1. The same Spirit that Jesus said He would leave for us, it is for all believers.
We unlock the Spirit of God by going to Church, it is where we gather together in the Spirit of God, by prayer and reading the Bible, it is how we begin to utilize the Spirit of God. Our Spirit communicates to God through prayer and the Spirit unlocks the Word of God to us in the Bible. We unlock the Spirit of God by fasting, if done right, is using something physical to call out to the Spiritual.
Q. What are some ways you were led by the Spirit of God through going to church, prayer, fasting, and reading the Bible? How had God moved through you as you practice these spiritual disciplines?
5. DEATH WILL BE DEFEATED
Sin is the cause of death, but we are set free from it through Jesus’s death.
It is all done, the path has been laid out for us and it is our choice to follow it or not. Judgment or life?
Q. What are some reasons why one would choose judgment over life? What keeps people from receiving Gods gift of salvation?
Make time for prayer and fellowship and allow yourselves to end on time.
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