It's Halftime || Sunday Sermon Kris Vallotton 

Praise the Lord! 🤍

Thank you Kris!

❤🕊️🙏🕊️

Thank You!!!

Huh, what are you saying in non churchese

There are a couple of reasons. One, just because you don’t see Him working doesn’t mean he’s not. It took 3 weeks for Daniel to get his answer from the Lord. Also, we are to follow Jesus. Did He have spiritual warfare? Absolutely! He was tempted by the enemy in the wilderness, persecuted and remember in the Garden when the Disciples kept falling asleep when He asked them to pray? All of that was warfare. Your witness doesn’t lie in escaping hard times, but how you handle them when they come. That is where people can identify Christ in you-when you have peace in the storm. Two: Sometimes God wants to bless you. Imagine a marathon runner who never trains. That person won’t finish the race. S/he needs discipline, training &/or testing. If I’m shooting hoops (basketball) and I make 2 out of 10 baskets, I might think I’m pretty good until I meet someone who makes 5 out of 10 baskets. Trials help us know where we stand in the big scheme of things. God disciplines those He loves. Job went through this and God doubly blessed him. Three: We remember lessons we work for. I have been blessed by amazing revelation, but the ones I remember best are those hardest earned. Like when the Israelites crossed the Jordan River and set up rocks as a memorial. Carrying heavy rocks isn’t easy or fun but they were meant as a memorial. Someone has said,”If you are all about Him, He is all about you.” I encourage you to test this. Research strong Christians and see if God followed through helping them. Keep fighting the good fight. Why is that terminology used if it’s not a battle? Why are we given armor if we don’t need to use it? And, if still unconvinced, check out David Hogan on RU-vid. He is gruff because he wants to encourage people to go all out for Jesus, but his testimony is inspiring and amazing!

Dann Farrelly is the lead pastor at Bethel Church and he shared a message at Christmas time about the incarnation of Christ. You can watch it here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-HRnHb_KEE1w.html

In fact John 15:6 shows clearly that this pruning that Christ teaches his disciples in this context is not for Gentile believers after the cross (a covenant where we have assurance of salvation), but for Israel and those who would reject the Messiah and the Gospel. There is no scenario where a believer will be thrown into the fire and burned. This is not rightly dividing the word of truth, and teaching scripture out of context.

​@yorkshirepud9004 - have you then concluded that Jesus was telling members of the old covenant to abide in Him? That doesn't seem to hold water, in my opinion. Perhaps some more meditation on that chapter would be beneficial.