Lifted Youth Group

-September 15, 2011 Thursday night service by Pastor Brandon Davis


* your protection is where God tells you to be, and in his presence.
-Living in perfect peace has nothing to do with your situation, but everything to do with fearing God
-it's impossible to be joyous, peaceful, etc while simultaneously NOT fearing God
*joy has absolutely nothing to do with happiness! --> happiness = a temporary feeling.


-->Proverbs 8:13- 
           *whatever God says goes. Period. The minute this isn't our mindset, we're in sin. 
God says to hate evil, therefore we should hate evil. Evil isn't just all the obvious sins. It's all sin. That includes gossiping  --> The only opinion that matters is God's and he said he created all people to be beautiful. Who are you to talk about someone else? 


*Fear the Lord or you will not be with him. 
       - He will not be mocked!! Do you really think God is going to sit up in heaven and be mocked by someone who wants to receive His grace and gift of salvation but didn't do anything on Earth to deserve it? Salvation is a free gift; we can't do anything to earn it. However, as a born-again believer, you are still held liable to the law if God which he gives to those who believe in him. 


*fearing God leads to knowing God; He's the beginning of knowledge. Therefore, you won't know him until you fear him. God doesn't operate like the other things in this world. You don't see him first. God says, "you fear me, THEN you will see me." The problem with this is that we don't allow ourselves to look past our circumstances. 


*It's hard to talk about someone you don't know! 
*If you don't know the bible you'll never know/ understand how to defend it!


--> rap: the majority, if not all of rap/hip hop music today talks about pride, arrogance, money, success, revenge, murder, drugs, etc. The very things God despises. All the rappers, singers, actors, entertainers, etc. are speaking into existence the very things God says he HATES and He tells us to hate it as well. [Goes back to the fearing God thing] One component of fearing God is being obedient to his will. If he HATES these things, yet they are still a part of your life [and you're making no effort to remove them from your life], God might not think too fondly of you right now. 


Peace can only be obtained through fearing God
--> Deuteronomy 30:19
obedience is better than sacrifice!
Q: How can I be expected to fear the Lord with everything going on in my life? 
A: that's why God sent the holy spirit!
                     - some people look at fearing God like children look at their parents forcing them to eat vegetables! [maybe not through their mouth, but through their actions] 
--> But Jesus sent us a comforter! (vs 16)
"comforter" - counselor; helper, intercessor; etc.


*Holy Spirit is living on the inside of you [if you're born again]. You're not happy, or you're depressed because you have God living on the inside of you, restraining your joy because you refuse to serve, love or fear Him. You're trying to do the things of this world, and you can't seem to get happy because the Holy Spirit is also an intercessor-> He is praying to God AGAINST the very things you're trying to do! 


Also, so many people say they're confused, or insecure,etc. You have every answer you ever needed because you have the Holy Spirit on the inside of you while simultaneously dwelling in the mind of God [and God is all knowing] --> With someone like that on the inside of you, you can't (or shouldn't) ever feel insecure, depressed, inferior, stupid, etc.