Growing In God with Gary Hargrave

Growing In God Podcast
Program Number: GIG #307
 
Title: Don't Battle Flesh and Blood
 
Web Description: As Christians we are not to be like those who do not understand what is happening in the world and are helpless to do anything about it. Instead, we must separate ourselves from the influence of this world and deal with the spiritual causes that are actually influencing it, just as Christ did in His ministry.
 
Show Notes:
We live in an era of anger, rage, outrage, and division. It is what we are fed every day in the media. We are continually bombarded by social media with content that is keyed to polarizing our society, our lives, and our hearts. It is dangerous because it motivates people to take negative and destructive actions. It is a serious problem that we as Christians need to be better equipped to deal with. We need to recognize that all this hatred and violence occurring between people is not just rooted in human thoughts and actions; it is being driven by spiritual forces.
 
The Gospel of Mark gives an account of a man who was continually screaming and cutting himself with stones, and no one could restrain him because he would break their shackles to pieces. Yet after Yeshua (Jesus) cast the demonic spirits out of him, he was seen sitting calmly and in his right mind. Clearly, when Yeshua delivered this man from the spiritual forces that had possessed him, his violent behavior stopped. Delivering people from the effects of demonic power was central to Christ's ministry. But we today consider ourselves too educated and scientific to believe in things like demon possession or that the spirit world impacts human behavior.
 
That is not how we should be thinking as Christians. Yeshua did not deal with problems by reacting on a human level, but by dealing directly with the spirits behind the problems. Why are we not doing the same thing? One of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is the discerning of spirits. As those who have the Holy Spirit, we should be able to discern the spirits behind what is taking place in the world around us. We should not be struggling with flesh and blood. We should have the discernment and authority as the Body of Christ to cast out the spiritual forces that are the real cause of the problems in the world.
 
Key Verses:
 
•       Mark 5:1–18. "'Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!' … And he said to Him, 'My name is Legion; for we are many.'"
•       2 Corinthians 4:4. "The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving."
•       John 12:31. "Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out."
•       Revelation 12:12. "The devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time."
•       1 Corinthians 12:8–10. "To one is given … the distinguishing of spirits.
•       Ephesians 6:10–13. "Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual forces of wickedness."
•       2 Corinthians 10:3–4. "The weapons of our warfare are … divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses."
•       Matthew 16:13–19. "Flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven."
 
Quotes:
 
•       "I don't think we're simply supposed to pray and be throwing prayers up to heaven saying, "Oh, dear God, please change this; stop this." I think that we need to be a voice on this earth that is going to have the same authority that Christ had in order to end the demonic control."
•       "We're not being moved by what Facebook says, by what YouTube says, by what the media says, by what the nightly news says. That is not what's moving us. But instead, we're moved by revelation, the revelation that comes from God the Father in heaven."
•       "We cannot turn this battle into one against flesh and blood. We must see that it is ours as the Body of Christ to bind on earth that which has been bound in heaven and to see these forces that are holding humanity captive cast out once and for all."
 
Takeaways:
 
1.    As Christians we are not supposed to be part of this age of outrage and spread division and polarization. Instead, we are supposed to spread the love of God, the oneness, and the truth of who we are as children of God, as God's creation.
2.    The world thinks it is too smart to believe in the influence of spiritual forces, while at the same time accepting false beliefs and being driven by anger and violence.
3.    As Christians we are to follow the example of Christ who did not deal with people's problems on a human level but dealt with the spiritual forces that were actually causing the problems.

Growing In God Podcast
Program Number: GIG #306
Title: The Oneness of Christians
 
Web Description: Is oneness among Christians just a nice idea that we cannot expect to see actually happen? No. According to Psalm 133, oneness is where the Lord commands eternal life. Jeshua (Jesus) prayed to the Father that we may all be one. Our oneness is already created by the Word of God, and we can fully expect it to be manifested within the Body of Christ.
 
Show Notes: In this podcast Silas Esteves talks about recent meetings he held with Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant ministers who gathered to pray for the oneness of Christians. Silas has been involved with the vision for oneness within the Body of Christ for years, conducting meetings with Christians from every denomination. This vision for oneness has been a major emphasis for our fellowship, and it is something we have been tested on. But we are determined to have faith that the Body of Christ will be one just as Christ and the Father are one.
 
We know it is not something we make happen by ourselves. It will take God and Christ, who is seated at God's right hand, by the power of the Holy Spirit to make this a reality. But a reality it will be. It is something that has already been created because Yeshua spoke it. Oneness was Yeshua's prayer to the Father, and the Father will absolutely fulfill it. Our oneness in Him is something that is finished. It is complete. And all we are doing by faith is watching the manifestation of it unfold.
 
This oneness is a key element in the manifestation of the Kingdom of God on the earth. The more we believe for oneness and declare it to be the reality for the Church, the more we challenge it to blossom into something that we see actively manifesting on this earth. It is in the atmosphere of oneness that the members of the Body of Christ minister the life of Christ to one another. It is in the atmosphere of oneness that we will see the manifestations of Christ's resurrection life. Let us continue to pray for the oneness of His Body to be our reality.
 
Key Verses:
 
•       John 17:20–23. "The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one."
•       Psalm 133:1–3. "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity!"
 
Quotes:
 
•       "Maybe this is a time when we are filled with the Holy Spirit, and we are drinking from the Lord, and the rivers of living waters will flow out."
•       "Oneness is something really that is finished. It is complete. It was completed when the Father spoke it. It was completed when Yeshua spoke it, when the prayer was voiced."
•       "If we really want to see a manifestation of life and resurrection, then it's going to be in an atmosphere where the oneness of His Body is our reality."
 
Takeaways:
 
1.    Even though our oneness has been tested, we cannot let go of the faith that the Body of Christ will be one as Christ and the Father are one. This was the prayer of Christ to the Father. And the Father will not let that go until it is fulfilled.
2.    We are not trying to create another World Council of Churches. We are taking steps toward the reality that the Body of Christ is one.
3.    Psalm 133 tells us that oneness is where God commands eternal life. It is in the atmosphere of oneness where resurrection life manifests in the Body of Christ.

Growing In God Podcast
Program Number: GIG #305
Title: Set a Guard, Lord, Over My Mouth
 
Web Description: The Lord has freed us from sin so that we can worship Him. But if we have murmuring and complaining in our lives, then the things we voice about ourselves, about others, and about our circumstances work in opposition to the worship God is seeking. We ask the Lord, therefore, to set a guard over our mouths and to free us from the sin of murmuring that keeps us from worshipping Him as we should.
 
Show Notes: God had a clear, simple agenda when He delivered the children of Israel from slavery in Egypt. He delivered them so that they could worship Him. But we know what happened after that deliverance. As soon as they entered the wilderness, they began to murmur and complain, which is the opposite of worship. This is an important lesson for us because God's plan today is no different than it was for them. God wants a people who will worship Him. And our murmuring and complaining is in direct opposition to that plan.
 
In our human state, we are conditioned to complain about things. It is easy to fall into complaining about our health, our circumstances, our finances, our relationships, and so forth. These responses slow us down more than we realize. Have you been unable to pinpoint the source of certain defeats in your life? Have you been robbed of blessings just as soon as they began in your life? Look at a time when you grumbled, complained, and criticized. This is a sin that works directly against our worship of God.
 
In the midst of terrible circumstances, pressures, and dangers, David prayed, "Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth." He had much to complain about, but he knew that murmuring and complaining would prevent his worship from rising like incense before the Lord. We need to make the same prayer: "Lord, by Your grace, by the power of Your Spirit, refrain my mouth from murmuring." If we want to move forward, then we first need to go back to God's original plan for our deliverance. He delivers us so that we can worship Him. Let us free ourselves from anything that would still be working against that purpose.
 
Key Verses:
 
•       Numbers 9:10–11. "If any one … becomes unclean … he may … observe the Passover … in the second month."
•       Exodus 7:16. "Let My people go, that they may serve Me in the wilderness."
•       Psalm 119:71. "It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes."
•       Acts 3:18–21. "Repent and return … in order that times of refreshing may come."
•       Psalm 141:1–3. "Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth."
•       Proverbs 18:21. "Death and life are in the power of the tongue."
 
Quotes:
 
•       "The opposite of worship is murmuring."
•       "We are not going to do anything before going back to the basic foundational reason for God to deliver us. And I want to be delivered from the addiction to murmuring."
•       "Don't feel like you cannot worship Him because you are not in a huge congregation. You are the temple of the Lord. In your temple, in your personal life, there must be worship to God."
 
Takeaways:
 
1.    God delivered His people at the Passover so that they could be His worshippers. But their murmuring and complaining was the opposite of worship. God's plan is to deliver us so that we can worship Him. But our murmuring and complaining opposes that plan.
2.    God made provision for a second Passover, called Pesach Sheni, for those who had not been prepared for the original Passover. We tap into this provision to let God deliver us from our murmuring and complaining.
3.    Like David, we ask the Lord to refrain our mouths from murmuring and to keep us from voicing those things that work against God's plan and purpose for our lives.

Growing In God Podcast
Program Number: GIG #304
Title: The Mind vs. the Spirit
 
Web Description: There are many wars and rumors of wars. But the greatest war that humanity fights is the war between the fleshly mind and the Spirit. As Christians we still find ourselves in that war. But God has given us His Holy Spirit to help us win the war. He has the power to free us from the old mindsets that keep us from receiving the life that God wants us to have in Christ. By His power we can set our minds on the Spirit and be filled with His life and peace.
 
Show Notes: God has given us a wonderful physical body in which He intends to dwell. And our brain is a part of that physical body. So when we read, "the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace," we are not talking about the physical brain itself. We are talking about the mental processes that we use our brains for. These mental processes are what the Scriptures refer to as the mind. And the scriptural understanding of the mind speaks to our ability to fix or set our mind on something. A term for this in English is "mindset."
 
The Gospels show us how much our mindset can resist what God it trying to show us. People's mindsets rejected what Christ was saying to such extent that He became their enemy. He became someone who had to be done away with because He was challenging everything that to them was the truth. The disciples of Christ had the same mindsets rooted in their upbringing and traditions. But on the Day of Pentecost, 120 of them received power when the Holy Spirit came upon them. And the power of the Holy Spirit broke the mindsets that had held them in bondage.
 
It is a simple fact that our past conditioning produces mindsets that resist change. But we do not want to resist what God is speaking to us by the Spirit. Yeshua (Jesus) said, "My Words are Spirit and life." And the people who were resisting His Words were also resisting the life that God was imparting. It is the Spirit that gives life. The flesh accomplishes nothing. And we believe for the power of the Holy Spirit to overcome any areas where we are still resisting Him because our own minds have been set on the flesh. Lord, empower us to set our minds on the Spirit where our life comes from.
 
Key Verses:
 
•       Galatians 5:17–18. "The flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh."
•       John 6:55–63. "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing."
•       John 14:6. "I am the way, and the truth, and the life."
•       John 14:25. "The Holy Spirit … will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said."
•       2 Corinthians 10:5. "We are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ."
•       1 Corinthians 2:8–10. "God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God."
•       Isaiah 43:19. Behold, I will do something new, now it will spring forth; will you not be aware of it?
•       Acts 1:8. "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you."
•       Romans 8:6–14. "The mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace."
•       1 Corinthians 2:16. "We have the mind of Christ."
 
Quotes:
 
•       "It is possible for the mind to be conformed to the Spirit instead of being conformed to an old way of thinking that is battling against the Spirit."
•       "What is God trying to do? He is trying to take us completely out of the past. He is trying to take us into something new."
•       "We have the mind of Christ. And if we have the mind of Christ, then we are filled with the life of Christ and we know His ways. And we are going to move as the Christ in the Earth."
 
Takeaways:
 
1.    There is a distinction between the physical brain and the mind that the Scriptures speak of, which is the way the brain is thinking, the mindset that has developed.
2.    Science uses the mind to try to extend life. But Christ makes it very clear: It is the Spirit that gives life. Life does not come through the efforts of the mind. Life comes to us through the Spirit.
3.    The mind set on the flesh is death. We face the fact that we have a mindset that resists God, resulting in death. But the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace. God has given us His Holy Spirit to break us out of our old mindset and enable us to set our mind on the Spirit, resulting in life.

Growing In God Podcast
Program Number: GIG #303
 
Title: Impelled by the Spirit
 
Web Description: We often think of the infilling of the Holy Spirit as a means of experiencing His gifts. While it is absolutely true that He gives us gifts—and we should use those gifts—there is a greater purpose. Christ has given us the Holy Spirit to indwell us and impel us. We belong to Christ, and we are not here to direct our own lives. We are here to be the temple of the Holy Spirit in which He continually dwells. And He is in us to be the controlling force in our lives from now on.
 
Show Notes: The book of Acts records the experiences the disciples had when they were baptized in the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. But the Holy Spirit came to them that day for a greater purpose than to give them experiences, as great as those were. To understand God's purpose in bringing the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, we should look at the life of Christ. When Yeshua (Jesus) was baptized with the Holy Spirit, the Spirit descended on Him and remained. Then He was driven by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness.
 
The Holy Spirit dwelled upon and within Yeshua from that time forward and was the driving force in His life. And this is exactly why the Holy Spirit descended on Yeshua's disciples—to remain with them, to dwell in them, and to be the driving force in their lives. We should have the same expectation when we receive the Holy Spirit. He does not come to us to give us temporary experiences. He comes to us to abide with us, dwell in us, lead us, drive us, and guide us from that point on.
 
We need to repent of this idea that we can turn the Holy Spirit on or off at our convenience. When we receive the Holy Spirit, the reality is that we are giving ourselves to be His housing, His temple, the ones in whom the Spirit of God abides continually. The reality is that we have been bought with a price and we are not our own. We are not supposed to direct our lives for our own desires. We are to be led by God. And we open our hearts wide to the complete and total purpose of God in giving us the Holy Spirit, which is to dwell in us and be the controlling force in our lives.
 
Key Verses:
 
•       Mark 1:9–13. "Immediately the Spirit impelled Him to go out into the wilderness."
•       Luke 4:1. "Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, … was led around by the Spirit in the wilderness."
•       Matthew 4:1. "Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil."
•       John 1:32. "I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him."
•       1 Corinthians 3:16. "Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?"
•       1 Corinthians 6:19–20. "Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. … You are not your own."
•       2 Corinthians 6:16–18. What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God.
•       2 Corinthians 5:14–20. "The love of Christ controls us."
 
Quotes:
 
•       "Is there a baptism of the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, miracles, gifts of the Holy Spirit? Is that all reality? Yes, it is reality. But let's not get lost in the weeds. A greater sense of that is this constant abiding and constant leading, guiding, directing, and I would say control of the Holy Spirit in our lives."
•       "The Holy Spirit is a vehicle of God fathering us as children, teaching us, directing us, guiding us. And that is what we should be driven for and want for the spiritual experience of being filled with the Holy Spirit."
•       "'We beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.' That is the cry of the book of Acts, and it was a result of the Holy Spirit descending and remaining and indwelling those who received Him."
 
Takeaways:
 
1.    The Holy Spirit descended on Yeshua and remained permanently abiding in Him and directing His life. If we want an experience in the Holy Spirit, then that is what we should believe for as well.
2.    The Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us as His temple, as His permanent housing in the earth. We are not our own. We are to give ourselves to the Lord so that the Holy Spirit becomes the driving force in our lives.
3.    We are new creatures in Christ because we are no longer driven by our own ideas, lusts, and desires. Instead, we are driven and led by the Holy Spirit. The old things pass away, and new things come because the Holy Spirit leads us and guides us into everything God has for us.