Discipleship in AGAPE & HONOR in 4D Sunday, October 1, 2023 – RECAP/Study Points
Proverbs 4:23 (TPT)
So above all, guard the affections of your heart, for they affect all that you are. Pay attention to the welfare of your innermost being, for from there flows the wellspring of life.
The Bible says that the life of the body is in the blood. What does the heart pump? Blood. I was reminded of the Sizzling Seasoned Saints walk this past Saturday, because the leading cause of death is heart disease. There is a parallel that occurs between the natural and the spiritual. When the heart is deprived of its ability to pump blood it weakens and causes all different kinds of challenges and malfunctions. A lot of people are having problems in their heart in the natural like they are having problems in their heart in the spiritual. Your heart is the birthplace to all of your increase.
John 13:34-35
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
Matthew 5:8
Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.
Your motives, germane to the things of God, must remain pure because out that flows the very issues of life. When your heart, that heart that you’ve surrendered over to Him (God) is deprived of the things that God intended to flow through it, it causes death. But, not death of the physical always, but death of your dreams, death of your possibilities, death of relationships, death of your aspirations, expectations and goals. You’ve come out of the light. Step back into the light because the way that things are coming out of your heart you would not be able to determine whether or not your heart is pure.
Pastor Dewayne: That’s why the devil attacks a person’s heart. That’s why we have what we call ‘spiritual heart attacks’, because when the devil attacks your heart, he comes to steal the word that was sown in your heart. If you allow the devil to steal the word, you’re no longer able to look within. If my heart is the birthplace to all my increase, and when I look within, I don’t see anything, you can tell that people are looking externally (at the what) because of their behavior. We have to make sure that we protect this word that we’ve been hearing. What we are hearing now is some supernatural love, and if you don’t guard your heart, your feelings will dictate your movement/behavior. This love that God has given to you and has nothing to do with your feelings. You can operate in Agape even when you don’t feel like it.
You can feel like one thing and produce that which is coming from a pure heart. I’m going to tell you something. It’s a forced focus.
Pastor Dewayne: And why isn’t it love when you correct people, but it’s love when you give them direction?
I’ll tell you exactly what it is. It’s the spirit of lawlessness that has hit this earth, and that’s why you have the outcomes and the situations that you have in our society. Because no one, it seems like, especially these youngins’, they will not receive correction. Some of the parents can’t tell them what to do. There was a time when the woman down the street could tell you, ‘Boy you better take your butt home or I will tear your butt up before you get home’, and them I’m going to call your momma. You all with children now would say, ‘I wish somebody would put their hands on my baby’. It’s everywhere in our society. It’s the spirit of lawlessness and it’s creeping over into the body of Christ, where no one can tell you anything. And then, when somebody corrects you, you’ll go to the place where they don’t correct you. Because you have options.
Romans 5:8 (TPT)
But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.
Ladies and Gentlemen, what God did literally did through Jesus, was allowed Jesus to come, die on the cross, and He treated Jesus as though He was us, so that us could be treated as though we were Jesus. It was the first and only time that the Father and the Son had ever been separated. He treated him like an enemy, but it wasn’t him he was treating, He was treating the sins of the world. So, subsequently a man who had not sinned took on the sins of us all.
Pastor Dewayne: And, He did it for you and I! Anytime you see God’s Agape being demonstrated, you should always put it in your mind that there is some honor in place before that happened, because Agape and Honor always hang out. It says, while we were yet in our sins, God took His only begotten son. Just the mere fact that I’m giving you a gift, I’m trying to send you a message that you are my friend. I look at you no longer as an enemy, even though you are, as see you as a friend in my mind. You don’t give enemies gifts. When you do something for them, you are telling them that they are no longer your enemy, they are a friend. And, if they listen to you, and if they listen to the gift that God is trying to send us, He will show us how valuable He is because He gave His only begotten son for you and I. And don’t tell me you don’t deserve it, don’t tell me that you aren’t worthy, because it has nothing to do with you. It has everything to do with the way He thinks about you.
When somebody gives you a gift, don’t think about you. Think about what is in the mindset of the giver. God wants you to think about yourself the way He thinks about you. When you change the way, you think about you your behavior will change. That’s why so many people can’t operate in the things of God because you believe you are sinner, you believe you are a dirty rag, and you walk just like it. But, when you get a revelation that He gave up His only begotten son and not did He give up His only begotten son, but He gave us everything that pertains to life and godliness. It’s going to change the way you think, and then you’re going to start walking around different. And, when you start walking around different, everything around you will begin to change because you changed.
HE LOVE US! And there are some many people trying to love God back without first receiving His love. And, if you don’t receive His love, it’s impossible for you to love him back because you don’t have the kind of love that He wants back. God wants His love back. The love that He poured in your heart is by the Holy Spirit.
It’s a supernatural love. A love that is disconnected from your feelings. And a lot of times your feelings don’t want you to fight through a challenge. But when you’re faced with a challenge. You can’t look outside of yourself. You gotta look within. When you look within, and you discover what God has already decided, and you make a decision to be diligent in what God said, you will not be distracted and you will always get to your destination, because God has a greater plan for your life than what you think.
If the Spirit of the Living God was to open up our eyes right now and allow us to see what He’s already prearranged for you and I to walk in and to have, we all would faint right here in our seats because God has more on His mind for you and I. And, God’s heart is bleeding, God’s heart is crying out, because His children are not walking in what He’s already planned for them to have. When are we going to walk in it. I meant thank God for applauding everybody else for walking in it, but when are you going to walk in it? When are you going to really get serious with this thing and love God back in every area of your life?
You know why? Because you take your strong areas, and you cover all of your weak areas. And, what the Spirit of the Living God wants you to do is break your life down into sections and look at life. How are you doing when it comes to your fitness? How are you doing when it comes to fellowship? How are you doing when it comes to your finances? How are you doing when it comes to your family? How are you doing when it comes to your faith?
Your response is your responsibility, but you’ve been moved by your flesh for so long because you trust it. What you have to do is start trusting this everlasting love that God has poured in your heart. And some of ya’ll have been giving up on your marriage, giving up on your children, giving up when it comes to your finances, giving up when it comes to fellowship, giving up when it comes to fitness. And. God is saying, ’Man I love you so much’.
God left the 99 to go after the 1 because He saw your value. He put a value on you that in the natural you don’t even believe yourself. God is saying that I’m not like those that rejected you because you are so valuable to me. Receive His love RIGHT NOW!
Financial T.I.P.S.
1) Create a Budget and Stick to It! Tithe 10% – Save 10%
Write down your income and expenses for the month. Don’t overspend in each area. Habakkuk 2:2 (KJV)
Assignment:
- Review and Study the Scriptures Below
Key Scriptures:
Proverbs 4:23 (TPT) John 13:34-35
Matthew 5:8 Romans 5:8 (TPT)