Growing In God with Gary Hargrave

Growing In God Podcast Web Description: We can be very concerned and even fearful about all the tumult in the world. But as Psalm 2 explains, the nations are in an uproar because they oppose the Kingdom of God. So we should not be surprised by what is happening since we are the ones praying, “Thy Kingdom come, and Thy will be done.” We should be immovable in our faith because our focus is on the Father and not on the world. Show Notes: It is easy to worry about all the turmoil in the world right now. But the events we see taking place are no accident. And they are not without our participation as Christians. We have initiated and are initiating much of what is going on. You could say, “I’m not doing anything. How am I making these things happen?” Well, for centuries Christians have prayed to the Father, “Your Kingdom come; Your will be done on earth.” It is His Kingdom—His will—that the nations are raging against. We can compare these times to watching a hurricane. From one perspective it is a confusing scene of things being ripped apart and swirling around. From another perspective we see the weather forces that are the root cause of all the turmoil. And in the simple prayer Christ taught us, we can maintain a perspective above the storm that is focused on the root cause. We can have a fixed focus on the Father, His will, and His coming Kingdom. You do not have to look around and say, “What is all this craziness in the world? Can you believe what's happening?” Instead, look at the root cause of the hurricane and recognize that everything happening is very simple to understand. It is exactly what was spoken by John the Baptist and Yeshua (Jesus) two thousand years ago. And it was spoken by all the prophets before that about the son of David coming and setting up His Kingdom. By this focus we can put our stake in the ground and become immovable, which is where we are supposed to be in our faith.   Key Verses: •       Matthew 6:7–13. “Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth.” •       1 Corinthians 15:25–28. “He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet.” •       Matthew 3:1–3. “John the Baptist came, … saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’” •       Matthew 4:12–17. “Jesus began to preach and say, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’” •       Psalm 2:1–12. “As for Me, I have installed My King upon Zion.”   Quotes:  •       “This has been going on for a long time. This preaching of and speaking of the Kingdom of God is at the very heart of Christ, the very heart of Judaism, the very heart of our faith.” •       “When nations are addressed, it is not necessarily every individual within that nation. We as believers do have a way of thinking that is a biblical worldview. We have a way of living that is, again, not necessarily in alignment with all of those in the nation surrounding us.” •       “There are going to be many other rulers and dictators and governors, even democracies, that are going to be displaced by this Kingdom that God is bringing forth.”   Takeaways: 1.    What are we living through in these days that we call the end-time? We are living through the dispossession of the leadership and rulership of the earth because the Kingdom of God is coming. And do not forget that we as believers have been a great part of praying these days into existence. 2.    Do not look around and say, “I don't get it. I'm afraid. I'm confused. I'm concerned about the wars and the rumors of wars. It seems like the world has become very dangerous.” Well, it has. And that is because the Prince of Peace is coming to rule and reign. So, do not let your heart be in fear. Do not let your spirit become passive or melt within you. 3.    Continue to pray the prayer that Yeshua gave us from the beginning. Keep your focus on the Father. Keep worshipping Him as the Lord, the Creator of all, and keep speaking into existence, “Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”  

Web Description: Christ came into this earth as the Word made flesh. We too, having received of His fullness, must grow by grace until we as members of His body are the fullness of Him who fills all things. We too must become in this age the Word made flesh. That is what will have the power and authority that we need to move in the greater works that He has promised.   Show Notes: How amazing it is that the Word of God is so available to us today! We simply have to pick it up and read it. And that is only possible because of the generations of Jewish and Christian scribes who preserved it by faithfully writing it down. When Moses first inscribed that Word in stone, it came with such glory that his face shone, and he had to hide his face with a veil. Today there is still a glory that manifests in the Bible, the written Word. Yet God is looking for something even greater.   He is looking for a greater glory and a greater manifestation of that Word to be more impactful and effective. God is wanting more than His Word engraved on tablets of stone—something outside of us that we know or study. He wants His Word engraved on the tablets of our hearts until we become, as Christ was, the Word made flesh.   That is what He was looking for when He brought Christ to dwell with us. Something had to express His Word to humanity in such a way that the Word could be implanted in us. And the Word implanted in our hearts is to grow until we are the mature expression of that Word as Christ was. And that is what we reach for. We want Him to write His Word on our hearts by the Spirit. We want the veil removed so that we can behold Him as He is and be transformed into His image.   Key Verses:   •       John 1:14–18. “The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.” •       John 1:1–5. “He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him.” •       2 Corinthians 3:1–3. “You are a letter of Christ … on tablets of human hearts.” •       2 Corinthians 3:4–18. “We all, with unveiled face … are being transformed into the same image.” •       1 Peter 1:23. “You have been born again … through the living and enduring word of God.” •       Ephesians 4:11–13. “He gave some … to the building up of the body of Christ.” •       John 1:16. “Of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.” •       Ephesians 1:18–23. “The church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.”   Quotes:   •       “Even what Moses did—as tremendous as it was being the expression to write that Word, to speak that Word, to give that that Word to the children of Israel—the power was not there to release mankind into being likewise this expression of the Word of God.” •       “He is not looking for us to be teachers of the Word, to be scholars of the Word, to be believers in the Word, to be those who are witnesses by testimony of that Word; He's looking for us to be as Christ was.” •       “He was the Word made flesh; and we likewise are to attain to that knowledge of the Son of God, to that mature man, to that measure of stature which belonged to Him. We’re to come into His fullness.”   Takeaways:   1.    God created the heavens and the earth by His Word. Then He gave His Word to Moses to speak to the sons of Israel. Since then God’s Word has been recorded and preserved. So we have the Word of God. But something had to express the Word of God to humanity in such a way that the Word could be implanted in us. That is why God gave us His Son, who was the Word made flesh. 2.    When we understand this, we understand what Christ really was. And then we can begin to understand what it is God is looking to impart through Christ manifesting as that Word of God. He is looking for the Word implanted in us to grow until each of us likewise becomes the Word made flesh. 3.    The reason for the Church and the ministries God gave to the Church is to build up the Body of Christ until we grow into a mature man, to the measure of the stature that belongs to the fullness of Christ.  

Web Description: We really need to see the works of God in this generation. And those works will only happen through us, the Body of Christ. And so we must have a new revelation of God’s grace. Why? Because the works are God’s and not ours. And they are for God’s glory and not ours. This must be our absolute and permanent conviction: The only reason we can do God’s works at all is by His grace. It is by His grace, which is sufficient for us, that His power will be released.   Show Notes: We are believing for God’s power to be manifested through the Body of Christ. But we also know that the more God anoints us to perform miracles, signs, and healings, the more difficult it becomes to separate ourselves from the works happening by our hands. We have seen it many times in the history of the Church that people start focusing on and glorifying an individual who is moving in God. When that happens the anointing from God dissipates and eventually goes away.   When people began to attribute to Yeshua (Jesus) the works He was doing, He was very firm to respond, “These works you see me doing are not mine. They are the Father’s works only.” And we need something in our hearts where we are absolutely convinced that whatever is happening through us is God moving to glorify Himself. And it is only by His grace that we are involved in it at all.   According to the Apostle John, “Of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.” And the more of Christ’s fullness that we receive, the more His grace needs to be multiplied in our lives, until there is no question in our minds that we can do nothing of ourselves; we can only do what Christ has given us to do. By this grace Christ glorified the Father through the greatest works ever seen. By this grace Paul labored mode abundantly than all the apostles. Let us reach into this grace today and see Christ glorified in His Body.   Key Verses: •       Isaiah 48:11–12. “For My own sake, I will act.” •       John 5:18–20. “The Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing.” •       John 5:30. “I can do nothing on My own initiative.” •       John 17:4. “I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do.” •       John 20:21. “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” •       John 14:12. “He who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do.” •       John 1:15–16. “Of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.” •       Romans 11:6. “If it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.” •       1 Corinthians 15:7–10. “By the grace of God I am what I am.” •       2 Corinthians 12:7–9. “My grace is sufficient for you.” •       2 Corinthians 13:14. “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ … be with you all.” •       Acts 4:23–31. “They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.” •       Acts 4:32–33. “And abundant grace was upon them all.”   Quotes:  •       “There has to be, according to the Scriptures, a Body of Christ that's moving in the power and the awesome things of God.” •       “Here's a good place to start having the mind of Christ: ‘I can do nothing on my own initiative.’ We are incapable of anything. The works are not our works. It is God working, and Him working through human instruments.” •       “I think the key gift is grace. Because if we're filled with grace—if we have a solid revelation of the grace of God being the only thing in our lives—I think then all of the gifts follow that.”   Takeaways: 1.    We are believing for God to move through our intercession. But in everything God is getting ready to do, He is going to glorify Himself. We need to always keep that picture before us. What is God doing? He is glorifying Himself among the nations. He is glorifying Himself before all creation. 2.    When the works of God start happening, people start following the person performing those works. It becomes difficult in the eyes of the world to keep the focus on God and not on man. Therefore it must be real to us that it is only by the grace of God that we have any involvement in His works. 3.    God is glorified by His works. And just as the Father sent Christ into the world to do His works, Christ has sent us into the world to do even greater works. That is why we must have a new powerful revelation of the grace of God in our lives that is continually expanding as we grow in God.  

Web Description: Hanukkah is all about the Temple of God—what had happened to defile it and what they did to cleanse it and rededicate it. We too are a temple of God. We are to be a holy place in which God can dwell. But He cannot dwell within us if we are filled with defilement. Let us do today what Hanukkah celebrates. Let us enter into the promises that God will purify us and dwell in us. Then let us rededicate ourselves to walk with Him.   Show Notes: Christians need a greater understanding of Hanukkah. It occurs around Christmas time, but it existed as a celebration long before Christians conceived of Christmas. Hanukkah is the Feast of Dedication. And it remembers the time the Temple was rededicated to God after it had been defiled by Antiochus IV Epiphanes during the Seleucid dynasty. We as Christians should regard this time of rededication to the pure worship of God as something very applicable us. The people at the time of Antiochus IV rose up and fought against the defilement, and they removed it from their midst. What was at stake was the very presence of God in the place where He chose to dwell—the Temple. We must take it just as seriously today. We must fight against everything that is coming into our lives to defile us because the issue is still the same: Will God have a place to dwell in the earth? We are to be His dwelling place. We are to be His temple. And He cannot dwell in us if our temple is defiled. This Hanukkah should be a tremendous time for all of us. It was a lot of work to remove all the objects of defilement, clean and prepare the Temple, and rededicate it to the worship of God. And it may take a lot of work to do that in our own lives. But Hanukkah means that it can happen. We can separate ourselves from the defilement of this age. We can repent and He will cleanse us. We can be that place for Him to dwell.   Key Verses: Read 1 Maccabees 4:36–59. John 10:22–24. “The Feast of the Dedication took place at Jerusalem; … and Jesus was walking in the temple.” 2 Corinthians 7:1. “Let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit.” John 2:14–16. “He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out.” 2 Corinthians 5:17. “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature.” 1 Corinthians 6:19–20. “Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.” 1 John 1:9. “He is faithful and righteous to … cleanse us.” 2 Corinthians 6:14–18. “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.”   Quotes: “As we enter into Hanukkah ourselves and find the importance in our own lives about it, we realize we begin with an energy, with a drive in our heart that says, ‘We must remove all defilement.’” “He is holy, and He must dwell within holiness. We cannot tolerate the defilement and the uncleanness. We must remove all defilement and dedicate ourselves to being the dwelling place of God on this earth.” “We must be dedicated to the fact that He must have a holy temple called the Body of Christ in whom He will dwell, having built us up together into that dwelling place of God in the Spirit.”   Takeaways: 1. Just as the Temple had been defiled in the days of the Maccabees, today there are many people who have been defiled so that they no longer qualify as a place in which God can dwell. 2. Just as the altar and the instruments of worship had to be remade and rededicated, so this is a time for us to remake our lives in God. It is time for us to begin again and rededicate ourselves to the Lord. 3. We must put the energy into tearing down and removing that which is defiled. We must be cleansed of the defilement within ourselves, and we must rededicate our lives in service to the Lord so that we might be that place in which He will dwell.