Growing In God with Gary Hargrave

Growing In God Podcast
Program Number: GIG #286
Title: New Year's Connection With Our Fellow Workers
 
Web Description: Elijah stood at the entrance of his cave with his awareness fixed on the Lord to hear how the Lord would direct him. And today we stand at the precipice of a new year, determined to stand before the Lord with an awareness of Him that hears His instructions, understands His directions, and applies them to our lives.
 
Show Notes: In a New Year's meeting with our Fellow Workers, we review the past year and look to the year ahead. Last year, Hargrave Ministries achieved significant progress in both the ministry of the Word and our outreach to Israel (see Israel Projects). And we are anticipating even greater progress this year. To that end we are updating the website to provide better access to the teaching materials and streamlining the donations to Israel. But in all we do, we want to be those who have the insight, as Daniel prophesied, to instruct people concerning God's purpose for them in this age.
The story of Elijah on Mount Horeb is a lesson on how to do that. The Lord told Elijah to go to a specific place, and Elijah obeyed. And our first step is to be in the place where the Lord is leading us. Then the story explains how God was not in the various manifestations Elijah witnessed as "the Lord was passing by." Elijah was not distracted by those things but waited until he received the specific instructions the Lord wanted him to follow. We too can be aware of all that is taking place in the world as the Lord is passing by. But our focus needs to be on the specific instructions the Lord has for us.
 
Like Elijah, we do not want our awareness of things, even if God is in them, to draw our focus away from what the Lord wants us to be aware of. Just as He told Elijah exactly where to go, who to see, and what to minister, we want our teaching material to impart more than a knowledge or understanding of the Bible. We need the insight—knowing both what the Lord wants us to do and how to do it. We have seen the success of this already in our ministry to Israel. And this year we look forward to even greater insight and application of the Word in people's lives.
 
Key Verses:
 
•       Lamentations 3:22–23. "His compassions never fail. They are new every morning."
•       1 Kings 19:11–16. "The LORD was not in the wind."
•       Daniel 12:8–10. "Those who have insight will understand."
•       Daniel 12:1–4. "Those who have insight will … lead the many to righteousness."
 
Quotes:
 
•       "Our awareness is something that we have to hold as a tremendous value. And we have to carefully guard it from that which wants to take it off into what God's not really wanting us focused on."
•       "Our focus on Israel comes out of our understanding of the Word. And what we're doing in Israel is a manifestation of the understanding, the learning, and the insight that we have."
•       "What do I want out of Hargrave Ministries this year? I want to see the instructors come forth in the earth. I want to see teaching that is the impartation of the how—not just knowledge—but how to move in it, how to do what God wants done in manifesting His Word and His purpose on the earth."
 
Takeaways:
 
1.    This new year we are believing for awareness: awareness of what God is doing, what He is speaking, and how He is leading us.
2.    This year we are looking for the teaching on our website to be more than knowledge of what the Bible says, but how to enter into what it says, and how to hold an awareness of what God is speaking until the manifestation of that comes in our lives.
3.    A manifestation of this awareness would be those who will be instructors in this age—not instructors of a lot of information and knowledge, but of how to become what God is looking for.
4.    This year our giving to Israel will emphasize the original vision of ministering to Israel as a whole. When you give to Israel through Hargrave Ministries, you will be giving to all of Israel and not just to a specific project.

Growing In God Podcast
Program Number: GIG #285
Title: Renewing Your Mind
 
Web Description: Imagine a recording continually playing in your mind, telling you how unworthy you are and how incapable you are of doing the will of God. This in effect is what takes place in our subconscious minds and works against what we are consciously trying to achieve. This podcast delves into the subconscious issues that we all face and offers some scriptural and practical solutions.
 
Show Notes: We know that Christ's sacrifice on the cross brought salvation to the world. We also understand that our salvation is not only spiritual but also includes our physical bodies. We have salvation for the purpose of growing, maturing, and being transformed into His image. We are to present our bodies as a living sacrifice and experience transformation by the renewing of our minds. That means we must break out of the limitations in our thinking that still hold us in bondage to this world.
 
Scriptural directives like, "Do not be conformed to this world" and "be transformed" are meant to be acted on. We are the ones who do them. And yet so much in religious thinking makes us content to just be hearers of the Word rather than doers of the Word. We are called to "prove what the will of God is." But religion is not known for proving things. That is what science does. And there is a concept that religion and science are at odds with each other.
 
When it comes to changing the conditionings and responses of our subconscious mind, which continue to hinder our growth, religious thinking has not been effective. On the other hand, recent scientific approaches to meditation have been very effective, even resulting in physical healing. It is not a matter of belief versus science. There are many limiting beliefs in our subconscious that are not the truth about what God says we are. So we reach into God to effectively remove these limitations.
 
Key Verses:
 
•       Romans 12:1–2. "Be transformed by the renewing of your mind."
   Mark 12:30. "YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH … ALL YOUR MIND."
•       Ephesian 4:13. "Attain to … the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ."
•       Romans 8:19–21. "The creation itself also will be set free … into the freedom of the glory of the children of God."
•       Matthew 12:1–4. "He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun."
•       Philippians 2:12–13. "Work out your salvation with fear and trembling."
•       2 Corinthians 3:16–18. "We all … are being transformed into the same image."
 
Quotes:
 
•       "When we're giving our bodies as a living sacrifice, when we're seeking Him, when we're walking with Him, we are looking for this transformation into His presence, into His image."
•       "What we find is a lot of times our subconscious mind is not supporting what our conscious mind wants to do. It's not supporting where we want to go in life, and it's not supporting what we want to accomplish in life. And therefore, we find ourselves struggling."
•       "We must break out of limited thinking that is holding us in bondage."
•       "Put it on a scientific footing where you're literally reaching to do something and prove how it works and why it works and what it does."
 
Takeaways:
 
1.    Paul tells us that our physical bodies should be presented to the Lord once we experience salvation. Salvation is the beginning of our journey, not the end.
2.    Salvation begins the process of transformation in our lives for the purpose of proving the will of God in the physical world through our physical bodies. This transformation begins with the renewing of our minds.
3.    This is a scientific process, not a religious process. And we do not want our religious concepts getting in the way of our growth and maturity in God.
4.    Meditation has been a part of our teaching for years, and it has demonstrated its effectiveness in releasing people from the unconscious patterns that work against the will of God in their lives.

Growing In God Podcast
Program Number: GIG #284
Web Description: Do you ever struggle to believe that God truly loves you? Are you ever discouraged by the lack of unity among Christians? According to John 17, the glory we have received from Christ is the answer to those problems. His glory means that the Father loves us with the same love He has for Christ, and together we have the same oneness that Christ and the Father have. This is our reality. Let us live in it today.
 
Show Notes: Religion tends to put everything in the past or in the future. And when we are conditioned by that in our minds, it limits what we can believe. It makes our faith head knowledge, as if it is only something we are supposed to be educated about. But we are not supposed to merely understand the Scriptures. And we are not supposed to lock them up in the past or the future. We are supposed to walk in them in our daily lives.
 
According to John 17, Yeshua (Jesus) said, "The glory which You have given Me I have given to them." That means His glory has already been given to us. That is not head knowledge. Nor is it off in the future. It is ours to possess now because we have this glory from the Father for a purpose, which needs to be a reality. Yeshua prayed that we would be one, and that does not happen because we try to work it up. Our oneness in the Body of Christ happens because of His glory.
 
His glory brings our oneness, and by that the world will know that the Father has sent Christ. But there is another aspect that the world will see in us, which we often overlook. Because of the glory that we possess in Christ, the world will know that the Father loves us just as He has loved His Son. Is it real to us as Christians that God loves us with the exact same love He has for Christ? It should be. Let us absorb this Scripture until it is more than something we accept mentally. Let us learn how to live in the glory of Christ.
 
Key Verses:
 
•       John 17:20–26. "The glory which You have given Me I have given to them."
•       John 14:6. "I am the way, and the truth, and the life."
•       2 Corinthians 5:19. "God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself."
•       Philippians 2:13. "It is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure."
•       Ephesians 3:18–19. "Be able to … know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge."
 
Quotes:
 
•       "We have the glory of Christ given to us now to live in now."
•       "Living daily in the glory that the Father gave to Christ would change many things. But one of the things that would change is the fact that it would bring oneness to me and those that are walking with God surrounding myself and really with all who believe."
•       "The Father's good pleasure is that you know how much He loves you, and that you come to the revelation that as He loves His Son, so He loves you. And that's really why the Son was sent."
 
Takeaways:
 
1.    It needs to be real to us that the glory the Father gave Christ is the glory Christ has given to us.
2.    It needs to be real to us that we already possess His glory, and we can live in it today.
3.    It needs to be real to us that our oneness with others in Christ is because of His glory.
4.    It needs to be real to us that the Father loves us with the very same love that He has for His Son.

Growing In God Podcast
Program Number: GIG #283
Title: You Are the Temple
 
Web Description: Hanukkah celebrates the reality that we are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in us. We take this time to dedicate ourselves on a deeper level to be those in whom God is living and moving. Therefore, as those who are His dwelling place, we wash away any unbelief and separate ourselves from the pollution of this world.
 
Show Notes: Hanukkah celebrates a time of miracles when the people of Israel defeated the powerful kingdom that was oppressing them and took back the Temple in Jerusalem. But after these miracles, the Temple had to be cleansed and rededicated. Likewise, the miracles in our lives are because of the miracle Christ accomplished on the cross, which happened for our cleansing and dedication to be His temple, the holy dwelling place of God in the earth.
 
When Yeshua (Jesus) walked in the Temple during Hanukkah, He did so as the One who would cleanse the Temple, the One sent by the Father to be His true temple, and the One who has sent us with the same purpose of being the temple that God will indwell. By the miracle of His cross, Christ took us out of the hands of satan and cleansed us from sin. And when we receive Him, He gives us the power to dedicate ourselves to Him as the physical bodies in which He dwells.
 
Therefore, we cannot minimize this aspect of our Christian life. We must apply the true cleansing of our hearts and minds that Christ has provided. We must walk in the power that we have received from Him to separate ourselves from the world and to not be touched by any of its corruption. It is time to cleanse ourselves from any unbelief about what God has called us to be as His people. We give ourselves to His working in us to build us together into the temple that He will live in on this earth.
 
Key Verses:
 
•       John 17:21–23. "The world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me."
•       John 10:22–25. "The Feast of the Dedication took place at Jerusalem … and Jesus was walking in the temple."
•       1 Corinthians 3:16–17. "You are a temple of God."
•       1 Corinthians 6:19–20. "Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit."
•       2 Corinthians 6:16–17. "We are the temple of the living God."
•       Ephesians 2:18–22. "You also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit."
•       Philippians 2:12. "Work out your salvation with fear and trembling."
•       2 Corinthians 13:5. "Jesus Christ is in you."
•       Ephesians 3:16–19. "Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith."
 
Quotes:
 
•       "We should have a very aggressive attitude during this time of Hanukkah as we look at the things in the world that need to conform to what God has already said, what He's already spoken, what He's already prophesied. And we just stand up and say, 'It is finished. It is already done. And enough is enough!'"
•       "Christ comes and reconciles us to the Father as the temple of worship. But then we become those who dedicate ourselves and make sure there's the cleansing, the reviving of the temple to a state of purity through which the worship can come."
•       "They had to go cleanse everything in the Temple during Hanukkah that had been polluted by the world. And there's a pollution in us that blinds our hearts and minds from really accepting and seeing and believing and understanding that God is in us."
 
Takeaways:
 
1.    Hanukkah means standing firm in the miracle of Christ's victory that establishes His Kingdom in the earth and delivers us from the wickedness, sin, and corruption of this world.
2.    Just as the Temple was taken from the evil ruler, cleansed, and dedicated back to the Lord, so Christ delivers us from satan, cleanses us from sin, and makes us the temple of God, His dwelling place.
3.    We must not diminish the indwelling of God within us; rather, we apply the power that Christ gives us to dedicate ourselves to be wholly His temple.

Growing In God Podcast
Program Number: GIG #282
Air Date: 12/31/2025
My Resolution for the New Year
Web Description: The period from the ascension of Christ to the present has been labeled the Church Age. In reality it should be called the Age of the Holy Spirit. Yeshua (Jesus) did not tell His disciples, "The Father will teach you how to have good churches." He promised that they would be endued with power by the Holy Spirit and be His witnesses in the earth. My New Year's resolution is to change my emphasis from church to being filled with the Holy Spirit first and endued with power to be His witness today.
 
Show Notes: The Church Age is the term most widely used to identify the years since the ascension of Christ until now. This label, I think, misdirects the focus of our faith in this generation. When Yeshua (Jesus) prepared His disciples for His departure, He did not give them instructions about church. He taught them about the Holy Spirit directing them and guiding them and about their being witnesses in all the world to make disciples of the nations.
 
Christ could have said, "Go to Jerusalem and focus on gathering everyone together who believes in Me and establish an order and a structure for the Church." But He did not do that. He said, "You are to go and receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you shall be My witnesses." Eventually those who had this experience were drawn to assemble together. But their assembling together was secondary to their individual experience of having this promise of the Holy Spirit resting upon them.
 
We tend to lose this emphasis. To be honest, our emphasis is more on being led and taught by Church leaders than on being led and taught by the Holy Spirit. And what I want to do this year is focus on being filled with the Holy Spirit, not dependent on anything that is not provided by the Father through the Holy Spirit. If we can do that as individuals, I believe the Church will have the power and witness in the earth that Christ promised to His disciples.
 
Key Verses:
 
•       Luke 24:49 (NKJV). "Tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high."
•       Deuteronomy 23:3. "No Ammonite or Moabite shall enter the assembly of the LORD."
•       Matthew 16:15-18. "Upon this rock I will build My church."
•       Matthew 18:15-17. "If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church."
•       Acts 1:6-8. "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses."
•       John 14:16-18. "You know Him because He abides with you and will be in you."
•       Jeremiah 31:31-34. "They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they will all know Me."
•       John 14:26. "He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you."
•       John 16:6-15. "It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you."
•       John 7:37-39. "The Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified."
 
Quotes:
 
•       "What was necessary and what He had promised them was the Holy Spirit, not church."
•       "How do we learn about Christ? How do we know Christ? How do we understand Christ? By the Holy Spirit that comes to us."
•       "It's endless what the Lord gave to us when he gave us the Holy Spirit upon His departure, and I don't want to make it secondary to anything else."
 
Takeaways:
 
1.    The ecclesia, what we call the Church, was initiated by virtue of the experience the disciples had of being filled with the Holy Spirit and being endued with the power of the Holy Spirit to be His witnesses.
2.    When Yeshua used the Greek word ekklesia, He was not speaking in terms of our understanding of the Church. He was speaking in terms of the assembly of the Lord or the assembly of Israel. And He applied it to those who would be taught and directed by the Father through the Holy Spirit.
3.    How much are we depending on the Church to provide for us what Christ has already provided through the Holy Spirit?