22 Mar “is my faith real” | part one

Key Verse: Psalm 46

ANNOUNCEMENTS

LEGACY OFFERING – POSTPONED

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WE HAVE SET UP A TRIAGE-IF YOU CAN BRING NON-PERISHABLES, LOCAL GIFT CARDS, HAND SANITIZER, TOILET PAPER, CLEANING PRODUCTS, PLEASE DROP OFF TO THE OFFICE ENTRANCE MON-THURS BETWEEN 9:00 AND 4:00P

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ALL CLASSES ARE CHANGING TO BE DONE ONLINE – I WILL GET YOU THAT INFO

Waters Church Facebook Page now has groups set up for each campus and a group set up for Life Groups.

To join the groups, just go to the Waters Church FB page and go to groups and join the ones you want. Make sure you join the Life Group (group) so we can get people interested in joining a Life group. The Heach Coaches and I will be moderating the group and adding topics for discussion.

CLASSES; Baptism class is every 4th Sunday of the Month. at 11:30 / Growth Track runs the first 3 Sundays every month at 11:30 – this is a one and done registrants only need to attend one session / Starting Point runs every 1st and 3rd Sunday at 11:30 – details and descriptions can be found on the registrations which are located under Events on the HUB.

In the Holy Spirit we are united, we are joined as one. This is a strange time but we all know God is in charge.

Go to waterschurch.tv all week long we are going to create fun, informative, Biblical and kids content.  And If you need help or want to give help you can click the appropriate buttons or call us if you want someone to talk to or pray with. We want to be the hands and feet of Jesus to you.

Subscribe to YouTube.com/waterschurch.  Then click the notification bell to get notifications when we are live. The church has an opportunity in dark times to share the light of Jesus like never before.

Giving – fear and worry will try make inroads into you heart if you let it.

1. If you are still getting paid – give God the first waterschurch.org/give Norwood – waterschurch.org/norwood/give.  If you lost your job and not getting paid, dont give

2. If you can give anything to waters church Guatemala:

Give to missions.  All missions money this week going to Guatemala – do not send your tithes but above and beyond.

For the sake of humanity we are being asked to stay away from each other.  It is tough, it is hard to not do life as we want.  If we are not careful we will start to get overwhelmed and let the spirit of the age get into our spirit.  God does not want us to get overwhelmed but He wants us to get closer to him. God is ready to connect to us, in spite of what we feel or have been through we need to draw near to Him.

James 4:8

In times of crazy – is my faith romantic or real? There are a lot of Christians who have a romantic faith in Jesus. It is not real faith.  It is like a romantic relationship with someone else.   Romance is a feeling.  It is about ‘me’.  How that person makes ‘me’ feel.  It does not last. It turns into a real relationship when our relationship gets tested.  We love how God makes us feel but that kind of relationship where it’s all about us doesn’t last.  It has to move from feeling-oriented to real faith. Asking God what he is looking to do in us and through us is real faith.  Trouble is the only ingredient God uses that makes the a romantic relationship turn to real faith.  God uses trouble to deepen our faith.

Q. What relationships are now your closest relationships because of trouble you had gone through with them (people you shared troubled times with that you are now best friends because of it) ?

When trouble hits…

1: I must RECONNECT with who God is.

Who is God to you?  A disapproving parent or judge? Cosmic killjoy? Distant celestial being that does not intervene or does anything? – This is not who God is.

Q. Have you ever felt God was any of these things and why?

Psalm 46:1 (ESV)

He is our refuge and strength.

Refuge: Is shelter.  We get inside a shelter for protection from the elements.

Strength: It is not just external protection but the internal empowerment of our bodies. God does not live in a building made by men.  The church is not a building. He lives in us. If Jesus is our Lord and Savior, we are the temple of the Holy Spirit.  He is stronger than anything that comes against us. We need to get alone with God and declare He who is in me is greater… (1 John 4:4).

Q. Being that God is our refuge and strength, what are some things that are evident in your life that He has protected you from (certain dangers or disasters that did not come near you etc,)?

When trouble hits…

2: I must REALIGN my trust in God alone.

Christians follow Jesus.  Jesus was a Jew. He is the Son of David. He is the son of Abraham.  We forget that the belief in one God who created everything does not come naturally to mankind. We had to get a hold of that truth though revelation. He revealed himself to Moses, Abraham, and people of Israel. The tendency of the human heart is to worship the created thing as God.  Like ancient times, they worshipped the sun, cows, etc. Still today people worship creation over the creator.  Whatever we worship is what we trust.  Worth Ship – that thing is so worth it.

Psalm 46:2–3 (ESV) Therefore we will not fear

No matter what the creation does, we should not fear. Our God holds all in the palm of His hand. It’s not about what we have and dont have, we know who has us.

Genesis 1:1 (ESV) We should not trust what we see taste, and feel, trust God. We should enjoy what he has made but if you lose it we still have God.

Q. What are you so afraid of losing, that you are not trusting in God alone?

When trouble hits…

3: I must REST in the WORK of Christ’s Salvation.

Psalm 46:4–5 (ESV)

Rivers are a picture of our salvation in scripture.

A.  A symbol of peace. (I got peace like a river)

B.  A source of life. (You cannot drink the ocean, but rivers you can)

C.  A stable boundary. (rivers are boundary markers to mark where we belong)

D.  A place of cleansing.  (before running water in homes, we had to get into rivers – baptisms happened in rivers)

E.  A place of Divine Revelation. (God shows up next to a river time and time again in scripture)

The river is pointing to our salvation in Jesus. Jesus is our Peace.  He is our source of life, and our boundary.  He cleanses us of our sin and when we come to Jesus we know God and have him in us.

John 7:37–38 (ESV)

Q. When do you find it difficult to rest in God’s salvation? In times of crisis, personal problems, or when things are going well  or all of the above and why?

When trouble hits…

4: I must REMEMBER God is ULTIMATELY in CHARGE.

Psalm 46:8–9 (ESV)

Q. What are some ways God has brought you through trouble in the past and how does remembering this give you peace now?

Hebrews 1:3 (ESV) ; Daniel 2:21 (ESV); Isaiah 40:17 (ESV); Proverbs 21:1 (ESV)

When trouble hits…

5: I must RESIGN from trying to CONTROL my life and SURRENDER to God.

This is a chance for us to rest.  We are natural control freaks.  Some of us heard the news about the crisis then ran to the store and stocked up. Some of us are getting angry and getting so mad that we cannot do what we want.  We have to learn to let go.

We are not in charge. If we think we are, we are pretenders.  Only God is in charge.

Psalm 46:10 (ESV)

This is an imperative command to shut up. He is in charge. If we are getting angry and freaking out, we will miss what God wants to say to us.

Q. In this current crisis, are you trying to take control and how (running to the store, worrying about what you will lose, etc.)?

Q. How is God speaking to you through this crisis?

Prayer for this crisis: That God will be exalted through all of this.