Looking Back to Move Forward 16 Second Message Recap

This week was a time of Celebration!

Pastor Stephen spoke on 1 Samuel 17:32-37 and talked about the importance of celebrating the wins God has given us in the past (even over difficult circumstances) so that we can move forward into what God has for us in the future!

The Big Thing: Look back to move forward

Some highlights:

• Trust that what God has done before, he will do again.
  • David pointed to his past for courage to face the future.
• The challenges God enabled you to overcome in the past prepare you to face giants in the future.
  • Imagine how differently you would approach difficult moments in your life if you always kept in mind that God is preparing you for something through it?
  • Your past doesn't have to define who you are or what you do, but it has made you the person that you are today.
• God knows what is needed to get each person ready for the future.
  • No one is born ready to take on the greatest challenge in his or her future!

Some Questions to think about:

• What have you gone through that God helped you to overcome?
• How has God changed you this past year?
• What did you do that helped you serve Christ better? What didn't work?
• How did you live in response to the Gospel?

Look back to move forward.

I Will Pour Out My Spirit: 16 Second Sermon Recap

This Sunday we celebrated Pentecost. Pastor Stephen spoke from Acts 2:16-21.

The Big Thing: When God pours his Spirit on you, your ministry will never be the same.

Points to Remember:

• All Christians have a ministry.
• No one is too big or too small to have the Holy Spirit poured out on them
• The Holy Spirit empowers God's people prophetically. That is, he gives them the ability to speak forth words under the influence of the Holy Spirit (inspired sermons like Peter's, tongues, interpretation of tongues, visions, dreams, prophetic words, etc.)
• The Holy Spirit empowers God's people to bear witness to the saving work of Jesus Christ.

Listen to the entire message for free here.

The Emmaus Walk: 16 Second Message Recap

Pastor Stephen shared a message about Christ's presence from Luke 24:13-35; "The Emmaus Walk".

The Big Thing: Even when you don't realize it, Jesus is walking with you.

We can lose hope when we don't recognize Christ's presence, but he never leaves us, nor forsakes us. If you follow Jesus Christ--he is with you! In fact, sometimes, those moments when we feel most alone happen when Christ is working most powerfully in our lives!

The most powerful way to draw close to Christ and hear God speak to us is through the Bible--God's Words to us. So often, we act as if God never speaks to us, and then we never open the book that contains his very words! ALL Scripture is God-breathed and is useful.

Finally, realize that when Christ makes his presence known to you, your first reaction should be to tell somebody!

Be sure to listen to the full message on iTunes or online.

Where Did All the Prophets Go? 16 Second Message Recap

Pastor Stephen delivered part 4 of his 6-part series on Ephesians 4. This week, he talked with us about the Prophetic ministry gift.

The Big Idea: Prophets call Christians back to godliness and inspire them to live in the Holy Spirit's power.

Prophets receive messages from God relating to the future, to words needed for the encouragement or strengthening of a congregation, or to shaking up a body of believers--calling them on their sin or their neglect of the less-fortunate.

Prophets can be used powerfully by God to effect change (see 1 Corinthians 14:24-25).

Prophets have a way of ripping open our hearts, shattering our illusions, and bringing us face to face with our Maker. -- J.R. Woodward

Prophets are also important, because our acceptance of them and their message tends to open us up to the works of the Holy Spirit.

Here are 3 things you can do to help the prophetic gift work effectively in our church:

1) Test the prophets' message--does it line up with the Bible? How does the prophet's life display the fruit of the Spirit (see Galatians 5:22-23)? If the message was about future events, did they come true?

2) Be open to the prophets and their message

3) Seek the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit.

Here are 5 things that those with the prophetic gift should be doing:

1) Ensure your outward life and your spiritual life do not disqualify your message

2) Be bold in speaking what God has shown or told you--find the appropriate time to share, and then share it!

3) Stand up for the poor and the oppressed.

4) Test the words of other prophets

5) Encourage others to seek the gifts of the Holy Spirit!

Prophets call Christians back to godliness and inspire them to live in the Holy Spirit's power.

Be sure to listen to the full sermon online at abundantsprings.podbean.com or subscribe on iTunes.