“I, therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
—Ephesians 4:1-3

Eternal Life = Knowing God (John 17:3-4)

On the day of Pentecost, the Kingdom of God became available for ordinary human beings to live in through the Holy Spirit of Jesus.

The Kingdom of God or Kingdom of Heaven is where what God wants done is done.

“In heaven, there is no place where God is not. Once you’re in heaven, there is nowhere to run to for a quick sin. If you want to gossip, hoard, judge, self-promote …where will you go?” —John Ortberg

Being saved always involves being both saved from something and saved for something.

We have two kinds of problems: problems outside of me and problems inside of me.

Pride, addiction, insatiable desire, envy, jealousy, cold-heartedness, and deceit are inside problems.

Awakening is becoming aware of God’s extraordinary

in my ordinary days.

Purging is

my character defects, asking God to remove them, and engaging in practices that can help free me from them.

“The bad news is you’re a worse sinner than you thought; the good news is you’re more loved than you know.” —Anonymous Expression of the Gospel

Transformation happens through relationships in

.

This Week

A New Life with God looks like…

Jesus above all else.

“Obedience has become the virtue no one wants.” —John Ortberg

Obedience to Jesus is about becoming an excellent and loving

, not an excellent and harsh

Reveal Answer

-follower.

“A person can become so obsessed with doing what Jesus said that they fail to become the kind of person Jesus wants.” —Dallas Willard

The work of God takes

and can’t be hurried into existence.

We don’t

to be further along than we are, presume where others are, or

Reveal Answer

results.

Any time we say

to Jesus, a new world becomes available that was previously closed to us.

In this new world and the old world, what we

reveals what we really believe and love. (James 2:14-17)

Saving faith is to believe what Jesus believed so that your heart naturally

what Jesus would do or want.

Our hearts must

from “What can I get?” to “How can I help?” if we expect to be happy in heaven.

You can be a life-giver even if the conversation doesn’t

life-giving. (James 2:19)

Our goals and values are not to try to get you to work

to do good things.

Jesus is not so much calling us to do more things, but to do what we already do in a

way with him.

“Greed and fear are replaced by gratitude and confidence – gratitude for God’s goodness and affection; confidence in his presence and strength.” —John Ortberg

Our core values are to Welcome All, Love Authentically, and to Let Your Light Shine! (Ephesians 5:8-11, 15-20)

Because Jesus is present on earth through his Spirit, he is really and literally able to

and commune directly with us. (Matthew 28:20)

Action Steps

Walk through your

for the day with God, and invite him to be with you.

Abandon your plans, your mind, your will, and your

self to God.