Grace Fellowship Church Pastor/Teacher - Jim Rickard Sunday, February 14, 2010

The Doctrine of Suffering for Blessing. (continued)

People Testing In Spiritual Adulthood you are aware that you are a person with a relationship with God and that He intends for you to be blessed and strong in every situation in life.

People are a distraction from the Plan of God. Gal 5:13-15

Believers can easily be led away from the Plan of God and B.D. by their friend- ships, loved ones and those who are antagonistic towards them, unless they attain spiritual adulthood.

Every relationship has a potential for the object of your affection or hatred to control your life and your happiness, where you become a slave to people.

You surrender the control of your life and happiness when you become jealous, angry, bitter, vindictive, implacable, etc.

Jer 17:5 ‑ 8, “Cursed is the man who puts his trust in mankind; and makes flesh his strength; and whose heart turns away from the Lord.”

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD and whose trust is the LORD.”

Having control over your own life, by means of the Word and Spirit in you, is the norm in the Christian way of life.

Since happiness is the monopoly of God and His plan, you cannot depend upon people or circumstances for your happiness.

The reaction factor in personality conflict expressed through arrogance as hatred, bitterness, maligning, judging, revenge, etc., is a source of great irritation, misery and terrible unhappiness.

Prov 15:17-18, “Better is a dish of vegetables where love is than a fattened ox served with hatred. 18 A hot tempered man stirs up strife, but the slow to anger calms a dispute.”

Prov 17:9, “He who conceals a transgression seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates intimate friends.”

To recover control, you must have impersonal love by residing inside GPS. This means you derive your happiness from God and from His plan.

The solution to People Testing is found in “Virtue-love”, the combination of Personal Love for God and I/U Love for all mankind. 1 John 3:1-5:3; Rom 12:9-21; 13:8-10; 1 Cor 13:1-7; Col 3:14-17

I/U love is the sum total of your honor, integrity, and objectivity derived from the Word resident within your soul.

Without virtue love, you are constantly surrendering the control of your life to others.

Real solutions to People Testing are related to virtue-love as a PSD, which is applied in spiritual adulthood.

There is no virtue in personal love, so you must use a virtue outside of yourself in order to find true happiness in relationships.

Prov 10:12, “Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all transgressions.”

If human relationships become more important to you than God and Bible doctrine, people will become a distraction to the fulfillment of His Plan for your life.

1 Cor 16:13-14, “Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. 14 Let all that you do be done in love.”

Grace Offering

Grace Fellowship Church Grace Fellowship Church Sunday, February 14, 2010 Tape # Suffering for Blessing, Pt 9 Momentum Testing, Pt 3 Upper Room Discourse, Part 337 John 15:2-8; Jer 17:5-8; Rom 12:9-21; Gal 5:13-15 James H. Rickard Bible Ministries 2010