Preparing for God's Plans

1.  Separate yourself from the crowd. (Ex. 33:7-8, 11)

     A. Principles-  Choose your principles from the Word of God and stand upon them. 

     B. Priorities- Organize your life to implement what God has said.  

     C. People- Select friendships which reinforce your principles and priorities. 

2. Submit to Godly authority. (Numbers 11:27-30)

     A. Consider permission from your authority to confer blessing. 

     B.  Consider denial to mean protection from bad decisions. 

3. Serve someone else's vision.  (Ex. 17:10-13)

    A. How can we be trusted to serve our own vision if we won't serve another person's vision?

    B. Be faithful where you are. 

4. See the promise beyond the problem.  (Numbers 14:5-8)

    A.  Problems are really opportunities in disguise.   

    B.  All plans lead to a problem. 

Notes from Mark Pettis, Church of the Highlands...1st Wednesday & Motion Night combined.    

Where miracles are planted

Stress is a warning light that tells you that God is no longer in control of your life. 

Stress tells us that we need to take the world less seriously, and warns us that we're not taking God seriously enough.

(Chris Hodges)  

How do you overcome worry?  

Replace what you don't know about your future by what you do know about your God. 

(Mike Haman) 

Jesus taught us to not take a anxious thought (Matthew 6:31), but how?  

We take a thought by saying it. You get rid of a thought by saying something else. 

(M. H. Dennis)  

Character is who you are when no one else is looking.  

Live as if there is no such thing as a secret. 

Problems with people might be exposing a problem of yours with God.  

People who deserve love the least need it the most. 

Treat people in a way not as they are, but as you want them to become. 

(Chris Hodges)

Every miracle has its roots in a problem. 

Problems are the soil where the power of God flourishes. 

Just below the surface are seeds of possibility waiting for the right conditions.  

(Blake Lindsey) 

Attitude is character under pressure.  

No problem is so bad that the solution will not completely wipe away. 

(Chris Hodges) 

Excepts of notes taken from Church of the Highlands and Healing Place Church. 

Fears for Tomorrow Today

Just because we make a mistake our Father will not bail out on us. 

We can't let fear rule over us.  

We can't enjoy the beauty of what we're afraid of.

God won't give us grace for the fears of tomorrow today. 

Because we would be living in disobedience to God's Word. 

Matthew 6:34 (NIRV)

34 So don’t worry about tomorrow. 

Tomorrow will worry about itself. 

Each day has enough trouble of its own.

We are ruled by fears which we're not even aware of.

1. Fear of lose.

2. Fear of failure.

3. Fear of rejection.

4. Fear of the unknown.

Fear pushes us from God's presence and our purpose. 

We must work for what we get.  

Don't expect it to drop into your lap.

Fight against the thing that's coming against you. 

We are the people of faith and not the people of fear.

Your feelings are real, but they are not always true. 

God is not the author of our fears.

2 Timothy 1:7 (NIRV)

7 God gave us his Spirit. 

And the Spirit doesn’t make us weak and fearful. 

Instead, the Spirit gives us power and love. 

He helps us control ourselves.

We say one thing, but do another.  

We must rightly divide the Word of Truth.  

Don't argue the things of faith with Him who made you. 

Be rooted in faith not fear.  

Colossians 2:7(NIRV)

7 Have your roots in him. Build yourselves up in him. 

Grow strong in what you believe, just as you were taught. 

Be more thankful than ever before. 

David wasn't even invited to his own inauguration as King. 

After he was anointed, he went back to the pasture to attend sheep. 

Sometimes there is distance between the promise, and it's fulfillment. 

On the inside, David was a king.  

On the outside, he was a shepherd boy.

Eventually, the king inside of David came out.

His giant that he faced revealed his true identity.

1 Samuel 17

1. David was smaller than the giant.

2. His brothers were against him.

3. He was alone.

I'm tired of accepting where I'm at.

We've got to learn how to convert fear into faith. 

We've got to face our giants. 

(Bills, Family, the Past, and the Future).  

(God will even use other Christians opposing us to toughen us up to fight our enemies).

If our theology conforms to our reality our God gets small.  

If our theology conforms to our God our realities get small.

Both the brave and cowards have fear.
  

They just face the same giants, but from  different perspectives.  

This was David's perspective.

1. The giant was smaller than David's God.

2. God was for David.

3. God was with David.

God will deposit into your hearts your true identity if your heart remains pliable to Him. 

But it will be your problems that will bring the true champion within you out. 
  

Psalm 37:4 (NLT)

4 Take delight in the Lord,
and he will give you your heart’s desires.

1. Pray first.

2. Move forward in faith.

3. Get in a group of believers.

4. Trust God. 


Jeremy Foster, Hope City Church speaking at Church of the Highlands  
https://www.churchofthehighlands.com/media/message/learn-it-wrong-live-it-wrong