Pastors Joshua Goodin & Jonathan Goodin
Ruth 1:16 (NRSV)
Ruth 3:3-4 (KJV)
“The Power of Lived Faith”
Birthday Celebration for Mom Jackie
*It seems like God takes a lot of things from you at the same time. Have you ever experienced some great losses all in the same season? It’s in the midst of God taking some things away from you that you have to make up your mind, regardless of what God takes away, it's not a reason for me to quit the faith, but it’s a reason for me to live out my faith even more.
*There’s power in connections. You spend a lot of time connected to people, but what are the benefits of being connected to certain people? Ask yourself, “what are you gleaning or gaining by being connected to you?” You’re upset and angry because you stay connected to people that never benefit you. You can’t call on them for prayer or support, and the only time you interact with them is when they call you in need. There are people that come into your life just to take from you.
*Be careful when people who are living out their faith that tell you don’t go back. There are people in your life that care about you and told you not to go back to that thing, but you thought you knew how to handle it the second time around. You went back to it only to feel greater defeat, greater loss, more frustration because you went back to something you never should have returned to. Don’t waste time on frivolous relationships and people in your life. Don’t stay connected to people that only want to drain you, you may not want to disconnect from people that keep sucking the life out of you, but you keep asking God to turn around and give you increase. God is saying all the strength you need you have, but you keep giving it to the wrong places and people. Thank God for the people in life that did not abandon you, because you made a mistake because they saw potential in you, they decided to stay connected to you regardless of how long it took you to get it together. There should be more people in life with a made-up mind to love you and not abandon you or walk away from you, just because you messed up and struggled. God is still working on you.
**God will set up a situation to move you from information to an experience of the power of God that will shift the way you think and feel. You need a redeemer, and he won’t just save you, but your house too. You get into some tricky stuff in your private life, fall down on your face and ask the Lord to wash you, cleanse you of sin, purge you that you might be clean, wash you whiter than snow. Don’t just wash yourself, anoint yourself. It’s not enough to look good, if you smell bad you will repulse anyone that comes close. Put the oil of God on you, it’s the power of the Holy Ghost mixed with your skillset that brings you to great things. Thank God for the oil that keeps you and keeps your mind, but the oil of God constrains you to holiness.
**Change your garment. Dress for where you're going, not where you’ve been. You’re dressed for your blessing. You are not what happened to you, what you did, or what they said about you. It doesn’t matter what others say, if God called you, you say what God said, keep on preaching, keep on praying, and keep on singing. All have sinned and come short of the Glory of God, don’t allow people to make you hold your head down because of your experience. Lift up your head and worship the God that called you. Learn how to go to the feet of the master and forget about what folks have said, forget about how you feel in your body, forget about your experience.