PASTOR DARRYL BAKER

1 Corinthians 3:16
Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

If the church individually and collectively would ever come to the understanding within their spirit man as to who is dwelling in them everyday, and how that very presence of God wants to manifest through them, what a difference it would make in our world today. When you look through the Bible at the manifest presence of God, what scripture calls the glory of God, you see many examples of this glorious presence.

Moses on mount Sinai after being in the presence of God came down from the mountain and his face shone so bright he had to put a veil over his face when talking to the children of Israel. When Solomon dedicated the temple the glory of God filled the temple, and the priests could not stand because of the glory of God. This same glory is what scripture reveals raised Jesus from the dead and now dwells in every believer.

When the church begins to walk in an awareness of this glory, God’s very presence living in them, it is then His presence will manifest in and through His church to display His mighty power. In Ephesians 1:16-20, Paul prayed that the church would know by revelation within that God’s calling on our life is to know this glorious inheritance is in us now, and as we believe in this truth of what we have, we will see the exceeding greatness of His power manifest in and through us. May we become aware of the greater One within us for God wants His glory seen through His church.

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Christian Faith Fellowship – Ponder Texas

Ephesians 1:6
…to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.

The Father has accepted all who are born again because of what Jesus has done for us. Have you ever seen someone who wanted to be accepted by others so badly that they did whatever they could to gain acceptance, even leading them to act like someone they are not? People do many things in trying to feel accepted by others.

When we as believers in Christ try and find our worth in being accepted by others, it will often lead us to do things we should not do, going along with the crowd just so we can gain their approval. In doing so we then begin to drift away from God, no longer living as a Christ follower, and we therefore break our fellowship with Him. But God has already accepted us through the blood Christ shed for us.

We no longer need to try and find our value and worth in being accepted by others, for our sole worth comes from God. So, as a born-again child of God don’t try to be someone you are not to gain man’s acceptance, and don’t fall for the lie that God has not accepted you. Through the shed blood of Jesus, you have already been accepted by the Father because of what Jesus has done to make you a son or daughter of God.

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Christian Faith Fellowship – Ponder Texas

Luke 12:31
Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and he will give you everything you need.

This is a powerful and I believe often misunderstood truth. Why do believers worry about finances, or about having what they need in this life? It is quite obvious by this verse that if this be true, then we are not biblically seeking the Kingdom of God, for in the previous verses Jesus tells us not to worry about what we need in this life. The word seek simply means to pursue or endeavor to obtain. But what exactly are we in this verse being told what to pursue and obtain? A closer look at the original definition of the word Kingdom is quite interesting and usually taught differently then its actual meaning.

Vines expository dictionary defines this word Kingdom as follows: God calls upon men everywhere, without distinction of race or nationality, to submit voluntarily to His rule. Over and over again through different Greek scholars you continually see the word being defined as submitting to the dominion, authority, reign, and rule of the King over that kingdom. You see this truth in the story of a Roman Centurion, who came to Jesus wanting Him to heal a servant of his who was at the point of death. He knew if Jesus just spoke the Word his servant would be healed, for he to was a man under authority.

There is a lot in this account but simply put, someone who pursues and obtains submission of their life under the King of the kingdom, Jesus Christ, will not worry about anything in this life; for they know being submitted fully to Him means I accept and act upon what He has said. As I do, I will walk in all that is in the Kings domain. Want to never worry about anything in your life again? Then fully accept what God’s Word says about you as a child of God, and act in line with that Word, and all that you have need of will be added to you!

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Christian Faith Fellowship – Ponder Texas

John 8:10-11
10b “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?”
11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”

Here we have a picture of true love. Jesus is addressing a women brought to Him who was caught in adultery. Her accusers tell Jesus that a women caught in adultery according to the law should be stoned. Jesus said he who has not sinned throw the first stone. They all from the oldest to the youngest drop their stones and walk away. Then the exchange above takes place between Jesus and this woman.

True love said I am not going to condemn you. To condemn means to be damned, separated from the Father because of the sin nature within, and then facing God’s punishment to come. The reason Jesus did not come to condemn us is because we were already condemned. He came to restore us to the Father. When you witness to someone revealing their sin nature and they say you are condemning them that is not true. They are already condemned because of sin, their spirit man is dead, separated from God.

True love not only told this woman He had not come to condemn her, but true love also said to go and sin no more. The love of God addresses sinful behavior because sin is destructive to one’s life, and Jesus who loves us does not want us to continue to live a life that is destructive. If we walk in the love of God, we do not come to people to punish them for their sin, but we address their sinful lifestyle because of its destructive results. That is true love.

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Christian Faith Fellowship – Ponder Texas

1 John 5:14-15
14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.

One of the keys to effective prayer is knowing what you have prayed for is in line with the will of God for your life. You cannot believe you have received something from God if you do not know if it is His will for you. Faith begins where the will of God is known. To know if something is His will for us, we must confirm it through His Word.

Think of how much time people have spent praying not knowing if God heard them or not, but when we pray in line with His will, we can know God has heard our prayer. The first thing you must do is go to the Word of God and find scripture that gives you the promise of what you are believing for. In doing so you have clearly established that it is His will, for God’s Word reveals what His desires are for us. Once you find scripture for God’s promise, get it settled in your heart by meditating on His Word.

Some people also think God will hear them if they just pray long enough but that is not true either. God has no problem hearing any prayer that is prayed in faith according to His will. So, before you petition God for anything, find out His will in His Word. Settle it in your heart that it is His will for you. Then when you pray you will know He has heard you, and you will know that you have what you have asked of Him. Then just keep thanking Him for what He has said is already yours, believing you have received when you pray.

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Christian Faith Fellowship – Ponder Texas

Psalms 81:11-12
11 But my people did not listen to my voice; Israel did not obey me.
12 So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own plans.

Every failure in life can be attributed to not listening to and obeying God. Listening means we hear what God has to say, and then we do it. The reason it is a challenge to listen to God is because we often filter what we hear by what we want or what we think. His ways are not our ways, and we will have to deal with our flesh to submit to Him. You need to always remind yourself that His ways are always better.

Believers often think they are listening to God but if we are, then many times our flesh will feel uncomfortable, and we as humans don’t like that. But every time I have ever failed in any area of my life as a believer, it was because I was not fully listening to God. I was either not taking the time necessary to do so, or I was not willing to deal with my flesh to do what God had said. What often seems right to us is not right with God when we are seeing things through our old nature, and not through our new nature within.

God has never had anyone in the Bible who truly listened to Him walk in defeat. It has never happened. So, the question becomes are we really listening to God? God leads us by His Word and through the inward witness of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:16). When we are headed the right direction, we will have a powerful peace within. When we are going the wrong way, we will have an agitation, a red light so to speak in our spirit man. Choose to walk in the light of God’s Word, and the leading of the inward witness of God’s Spirit. The result will always be success.

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Christian Faith Fellowship – Ponder Texas

Luke 10:42
But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.

At the end of this tenth chapter of Luke we see Jesus going into the house of Martha and Mary. He is there to teach them the Word of God. Martha becomes distracted, and this leads her to getting up from her place of hearing the Word of the Lord, and she begins to wait upon the people by serving them. It was customary when someone came to your home to offer them something to eat and drink, but the Word of God is being delivered, and Mary is not going to budge. Martha begins complaining to the Lord to have Mary get up and help her.

Jesus responds and tells Martha she is worried and troubled about many things, but Mary has chosen that good part which will not be taken from her. Not much has changed in 2,000 years in the body of Christ. What caused her to be distracted, which led to her being worried and troubled about many things? Her focus was on herself and not the Lord. She was concerned that the people would not think she was a good host. She wanted their approval. This focus on herself pulled her away from hearing the Words of Jesus and enjoying fellowship with Him.

Mary on the other hand was focused on Jesus. What the Lord had to say was not going to be taken from her. How many believers today do not have time to go to God’s house and receive the Word that He has for them? You will find such people are distracted by other things, worried, and even troubled by what happens in their lives for they are not walking by faith. Be like Mary and not like Martha, for as Jesus said this one thing is needed, hearing His spoken Word, which is how faith comes. To do so you must get your focus off of you and on Him.

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Christian Faith Fellowship – Ponder Texas

1 John 2:5-6
5 but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him:
6 the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.

Many ministers talk about God’s love for us, but what about our love for God? Jesus said if we love Him, we will keep His commandments (John 14:23). We walk as He walked, living in obedience to the Word of God, motivated by love not by law. We do not keep His Word because it is a law, but simply because we love Him. Obedience to God’s Word is what faith is all about.

Faith is an act, and faith is revealed to the degree that we trust God. How far can you trust the Lord? That is the extent of your faith. Faith believes, speaks, and acts in line with God’s Word, but faith works when motivated through love. Jesus was obedient to His Father and He did so motivated by love. Jesus said He only did that which He saw the Father doing.

How different our lives would be if we would only do what we see in our Fathers Word, what He would have us to do. His Word is a lamp unto our feet, and a light unto our path. So, walk in the example of our Lord Jesus Christ, keeping His Word, motivated by love. It will be a life lived that you will not regret. A life filled with all that God is and all that God has for you, for He and His Word are one.

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Christian Faith Fellowship – Ponder Texas

Mark 11:24
Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

Think about the many hours of prayer that people have prayed in which they have seen no results. Sadly, there are many who pray petition prayers, praying to receive something from God, and yet never seeing what they pray for come into existence. What many fail to realize is it takes more than prayer to receive from God, it takes believing prayer. If you pray but do not actually believe in your heart you have received at that moment what you have asked from God, it will not work.

To believe you receive when you pray you must first establish that what you are believing for is God’s will for you. 1 John 5:14-15 tells us that if we ask anything according to His will, we know He has heard us, and we know that we have what we have asked of Him. You start by going to God’s Word and finding out what God has said you have a right to as a child of God. To pray in faith, you must base your prayer request on His Word, what God said is already yours through Christ Jesus.

Once you find God’s promise in His Word you must meditate on that promise, speaking it to yourself until you are fully persuaded in your heart just as Abraham was that God will do what He promised. Once you have done this, you can now petition God, believing you have received when you pray, and you shall then have what you have asked of Him. It takes more than just prayer to get the job done, it takes believing prayer.

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Christian Faith Fellowship – Ponder Texas

Colossians 2:6-7
6 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,
7 rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.

For all who have received Christ and been born again we are to now walk in Him, established in a lifestyle of faith. There are keys we must know to learn this new walk of faith.

1. FAITH IS ALWAYS PRENET TENSE
   Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is…”, which is present tense. When we look to God’s Word we align our life with who God says we are, what God says we have, and what God says we can do in Christ because we are now a new creation, not going to become one some day.
2. FAITH ONLY CONSIDERS GOD’S WORD
   Faith is the evidence of things not seen, which means we don’t base our belief on what we see in the natural, we base our belief on what God’s Word says. We walk by faith and not by sight. We are not affected by what is seen or felt, and like Abraham we consider not the circumstances, we only consider God’s Word. His Word is the source of our faith, so we feed on the Word of God, for this is how faith comes.
3. FAITH CALLS THOSE THINGS THAT BE NOT AS THOIGH THEY WERE
   Faith does not deny the circumstances we see, but only confesses God’s Word, magnifying God and His truth. We abound in faith with thanksgiving. Once faith in the Word of God has been released, believing we receive His promises when we pray, we then continually give thanks to God that we have what He promised.

We walk in Him the same way we receive the salvation we now have, by faith.

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Christian Faith Fellowship – Ponder Texas