Grace Fellowship Church Pastor/Teacher - Jim Rickard Sunday, February 21, 2010

The Doctrine of Suffering for Blessing. (continued)

Thought Testing Challenges your ability to think under pressure and apply God’s Word to the situation.

It attacks the command post of your soul, the heart, where you apply God’s Word to all situations in life.

To pass Thought Testing you must have: 1) Pertinent metabolized Bible doctrine to meet whatever comes.

Rom 12:2, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good (SSE) and acceptable (SA) and perfect (complete – SM).”

To pass Thought Testing you must have: 2) The Filling of the Spirit to make the correct application of God’s Word.

Eph 5:18, “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit.”

Passing T.T. means you have the ability to not be distracted by false issues or be misled by wrong priorities.

Before reaching spiritual adulthood, thought distraction is primarily a result of cosmic involvement.

In adulthood T.T. is designed to distract you from your faith rest and relationship with God by means of various difficult situations or temptations of life.

They are designed to cause you to rely upon human solutions rather than Biblical solutions.

Yet, when you calm your thoughts by cycling God’s Word in your soul and apply patience, you will receive real answers.

Therefore, impatience is a sign that you are failing Thought Testing. Eccl 7:8-14; Gal 5:22; Eph 4:1-3; Col 1:9-11; 3:12; 2 Tim 3:10-11; James 5:10; 1 Peter 2:20.

Gal 5:22-23, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self- control; against such things there is no law.”

Eph 4:1-3, “Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

Col 1:9-11, “For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, …

… so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience.”

What you really are at any given time is what you think. The real you is the thought content of your soul. Prov 23:7

Prov 23:7, “For as he thinks within himself, so he is. He says to you, “Eat and drink!” But his heart is not with you.”

A thought can make or break you, depending on its nature.

Grace Offering

Grace Fellowship Church Grace Fellowship Church Sunday, February 21, 2010 Tape # Suffering for Blessing, Pt 13 Momentum Testing, Pt 6 Upper Room Discourse, Part 340 John 15:2-8; Rom 12:2-3; Eccl 7:8-14; Prov 23:7 James H. Rickard Bible Ministries 2010