Grace Fellowship Church Pastor/Teacher Jim Rickard Sunday, July 22, 2012

Spiritual Initiative Part 1

The Inspiration of Spiritual Initiative. Eph 5:1-21 Vs. 14, “Arise from the dead.”

This is a command to the “spiritually lazy” (reversionistic) believer to wake up!

Vs. 14, “Arise” - ANISTEMI, “To stand up, to get up”, or “get out”. It is the action of reversion recovery in its entirety.

“From the dead” The dead ones in this analogy is used to describe the reversionistic (spiritually lazy) believer.

To “arise from the dead”, you must first become aware that your basic spiritual problem is reversionism.

To solve this problem you need:

To solve this problem you need: a) Awareness;

To solve this problem you need: a) Awareness; b) Repentance;

To solve this problem you need: a) Awareness; b) Repentance; c) Rebound;

To solve this problem you need: a) Awareness; b) Repentance; c) Rebound; d) GAP.

Principles: 1. “Dead ones”, flock together. Compatibility is developed in reversionism that would not otherwise exist.

2. You never grow up as long as you associate with people who are negative toward Bible doctrine. And many times their negativity is subtle – excuse oriented.

3. They are called “dead ones” because they have no fruit production, no Divine Good production and are headed toward the Sin Unto Death, John 15:5-6.

4. This is a command to break away from that type of person, because they are only going to drag you down.

5. This may even include people in your own local assembly!

2 Cor 6:17, “‘Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate,’ says the Lord. ‘And do not touch what is unclean; and I will welcome you.”

2 Cor 6:18, “And I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to Me,’ says the Lord Almighty.”

It is a wake up call to the spiritually lazy believer who is in some form of reversionism, even though he may not know it.

This wake up call is designed by God to make you alert to the true condition of your soul. Not to embarrass you or shame you.

Reversionism does not happen overnight. It is a slow trend of participation in Satan’s cosmic system, sin, human good and/or evil.

One way to identify your condition is to ask yourself, “am I taking the initiative in the things of God, or do I need to be prodded along?”

When the Spirit of God comes to us and says, “Get up and get going”, we find that the initiative is inspired and we need to take the first step ourselves.

God’s inspiration comes to us with such miraculous power that we are able to “arise from the dead” (spiritual laziness) and do the impossible. Ex 19:4; Isa 40:31

Isa 40:31, “Yet those who wait for the LORD, (i.e., take the initiative in faith rest), will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.”

When we take the spiritual initiative we gain God’s strength to complete the task at hand.

Our Lord said to the man with the withered hand in Mat 12:13, “Stretch out your hand.” As soon as the man did so, his hand was healed. But he had to take the initiative.

Eph 5:15, “be careful how you walk”, carries the idea of looking around carefully so as not to stumble, “walking intelligently and not in ignorance.”

The growing and super-grace believer takes the initiative and moves toward his objective of the super-grace life.

Grace Offering

Needs: $250 - Computer Equipment $250 - Fredrick’s family Kenya $100 - Bibles for Pastor Oendo’s Church - Kenya $ 50 - Pastor Gideon’s daughter severely burnt $ 50 - Pastor Joshua roof of church $ 50 - Pastor/Evan Kingsley - Nigeria $ 50 - Pastor Mike Olusegen - Gambia $ 50 - Pastor John Quaicoe – Ghana Needs: $250 - Computer Equipment $250 - Fredrick’s family Kenya $100 - Bibles for Pastor Oendo’s Church - Kenya $ 50 - Pastor Gideon’s daughter severely burnt $ 50 - Pastor Joshua roof of church $ 50 - Pastor/Evan Kingsley - Nigeria $ 50 - Pastor Mike Olusegen - Gambia $ 50 - Pastor John Quaicoe – Ghana

Grace Fellowship Church Sunday, July 22, 2012 Tape # Spiritual Initiative Recovery from Spiritual Laziness Eph 5:1-21 James H. Rickard Bible Ministries 2012