PASTOR DARRYL BAKER

Luke 14:33
In the same way, if you want to be My disciple, it will cost you everything. Don’t underestimate that cost!

Before Jesus left, He gave a clear mandate to His disciples to go and make disciples of all people. To be a disciple of Jesus takes more than just a born-again experience. To not become a disciple of Jesus Christ is to come short of what He desires for you to be. Why would we not want to become a true disciple, one who lives like Jesus, after all He has done for us.

As Jesus stated in the above verse it will cost you everything to become what He has planned for your life. The early disciples of Jesus knew this. Think about all they gave up in exchange for following Him. They willing chose to give up things in their life, choosing to walk into an uncertain future with a certain Savior. They did not know what all lay ahead of them, but they knew who they were headed down that road with.

To be a disciple of Jesus takes a complete abandoning of the old self nature to the person and the presence of Jesus Christ that lives in you now once born again. This is accomplished by yielding to the new nature within, no longer being ruled by our old carnal flesh. You now take your focus off of the flesh and focus on the things of the new spirit man. Anything less is not fulfilling what He has planned for our life, which is the greatest life you could live, following in His example.

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Christian Faith Fellowship – Ponder Texas

Hebrews 6:12
…imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

I remember when I started to ride bulls, I wanted to get connected with the guys who had proven themselves successful in the arena. It took some time for me to find someone who had done so that would help me, but when I did, I began to succeed, eventually earning my professional card. When I got born again, I took the same approach. I knew that if I could learn from those who had proven their faith, doing the works of Jesus, I could follow in their footsteps.

It saddens me today to see believers who do not understand this simple but powerful principle. I hear people say things against these great fathers of the faith who have proven God’s Word through their life and ministry. As a young bull rider, I never thought I knew more then those who had proven themselves. I was just grateful to have someone to learn from and to follow their example.

If you want to inherit the promises that God has given to us in this New Covenant, including doing the works Jesus did, it takes a willingness and humility to learn from those who through faith and patience have proven that they walk with God. If we are willing to learn from those who have done so, we too can experience the same results as those who have shown us the way.

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Habakkuk 2:2
Then the Lord answered me and said:
“Write the vision And make it plain on tablets, That he may run who reads it.”

The Word “vision” here means revelation, or what has been revealed. God has always emphasized writing things down. The reason we are to do so is shown in the later part of this verse of scripture, so that you may run with it, or simply put, become a doer of what God has revealed to you. How can you be a doer of what you have not retained knowledge of? This verse if followed can make a huge impact on changing your life.

Statistics say that the average person only retains around 5% of what they hear. What is one of the primary purposes of hearing God’s Word proclaimed? It is so that you will become a doer and not a forgetful hearer of the Word as James 1:22 tells us. The doer of the Word James said will be blessed. Why are many believers not doers of the Word? One reason is because they do not take notes on what they hear. When you take notes on key points of what you hear, your retention rate goes up to around 50%. If you review those notes within 24 hours, your retention rate goes up to 70%.

Think of how many hours are wasted by people who hear God’s Word preached or even read the Bible, but because they do not make a note of key things revealed to them, they only retain about 5%. To live a transformed life, you must have your mind renewed to God’s Word so that you can become a doer. Many assume what they hear they are doing. But to retain what you have heard as God has said, you need to write down what He is revealing to you when you hear or read God’s Word. Doing so will help transform your life.

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Isaiah 55:8-9
8 “My thoughts are not your thoughts,
and my ways are not your ways,” declares the LORD.
9 “Just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts are higher than your thoughts.”

Would you like to live in a “higher” way of life above what average people live? A life free from the worries and fears and stress that so many are affected by? Think about our God. Does He allow what happens here on earth to get Him worried or fearful or stressed out? Of course He doesn’t, but neither do we have to live such a life either. We can live a “higher” life like God.

There are two key areas you will have to change if you want to live a higher and much better life. The first area you have to change is how you think. If you don’t take time to go to God’s Word and learn to think they way He does you will think like the world. Choose to accept God’s Word as the final authority in your life. Whatever His Word says about you as a child of God, believe it and begin to declare it over your life. Cast down every thought contrary to what God has said, refusing to think on those things but instead, thinking as God thinks.

The second area has to do with our way of doing things. When we learn how God does things and then choose to continue to do things our way instead, we are going to live far below the kind of life God has for us. God’s ways work much better, and they will always lead us to live a much higher way of life. Check up on what you have been thinking and doing. Choose to think and act like God, and you can begin to rise up into the life God has for you.

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Christian Faith Fellowship – Ponder Texas

Philippians 1:9-10
9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment,
10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,

In theses two verses we have one of the most important truths about walking in the God-kind of love that many believers are unaware of, or do not understand. Many Christians think that walking in the love of God means we are to be everyone’s friend, and never say anything that may offend someone or hurt their feelings. Please look carefully at the above verses. We are told here that our love is to abound with knowledge and discernment, so that we may remain pure and blameless when Christ returns.

Many believers do not understand we are to have knowledge of God’s Word about the love of God, what it looks like, and use discernment when walking in God’s love. Many do not have this knowledge, nor do they use discernment when walking in the love of God. For example, Proverbs 12:26 tells us that the righteous (believers) should choose their friends carefully, for those who live sinful lives will lead you astray. If you do not walk in the knowledge of God’s Word and discernment, and you have friends who live sinful lives, they often lead the believer down the same path.

In Galatians 6:1 we are told if someone is overtaken by sin, we are to try and help restore them back to God. To do so you will have to confront the sin. This may offend them at first, but if they repent, you have helped to restore their fellowship with God. This is God’s love in action. We are told to speak the Truth in love. Jesus told more than one person to go and sin no more. Many think to address wrongful behavior is not walking in love, but not doing so is not waking in the knowledge of God’s love. So, learn to walk in knowledge and discernment with the love of God, and you can save yourself and others from the destructive and deceptive ways of our enemy.

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1 Peter 1:18-19
18 knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers,
19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.

Six different times Jesus shed His blood for us and each time a payment was being made to redeem us.

1. The first time blood was shed was in the garden of Gethsemane where Jesus was praying about going to the cross. He prayed not His will, but the Fathers will be done, and as He prayed in agony the Bible says He sweat drops of blood. Jesus paid to deliver us from our own human will so that we could live in the Father’s will for us.
2. Then He being arrested was scourged at the whipping post, paying the price for our healing, for by His stripes we are healed.
3. After this the soldiers put a crown of thorns upon His head and blood flowed out paying the price for us to have a renewed mind as scripture teaches us that we have the mind of Christ.
4. Then He was crucified, nails driven through His hands so that we could live free from the dominion of sin, for the Bible says we are to lift up holy hands to the Lord.
5. They drove a nail through His feet, and He provided for us authority over evil, for Luke 10:19 tells us we can trample upon all the powers of darkness.
6. Finally, they pierced His side near the heart and the blood that poured out delivered us from the old spirit man within and purchased for us a new spirit.

The key to walking in all that He has purchased for us is found in Revelation 12:11. We overcome by the blood of the Lamb (faith in what He has done), the word of our testimony (declaring what His Word says), and we love not our lives to the death (no longer living out our will but His). May you walk in the liberty of all Christ has freed you from through His precious blood He shed for you.

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Christian Faith Fellowship – Ponder Texas

Matthew 16:16, 18
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
18 …upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.

Here in Matthew 16 Jesus had asked His disciples who do men say that I am and they had responded that some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets. Then Jesus said but who do you say I am and Peter responded in the scripture above that He was the Christ, the Son of the living God. Then Jesus said to Peter that flesh and blood had not reveled this to him, but the Father, and it is upon this rock that the gates or powers of hell will not be able to overpower His church. What is the rock He referred to?

You get several different answers but the simple truth is always right in front of us. Many refer to the fact that Jesus in His response saying that he was Peter, which means a small rock, was what the church would be built on. But the church is not built on a small rock, He just meant that Peter was a part of the rock or church being built. The key is that Peter knew who Jesus was not by his flesh, or carnal mind revealing it to Him, but he had heard from God the Father who Jesus was. This is all about relationship, not man-made religion.

The Pharisee’s and others as the disciples revealed did not know who Jesus was. But Peter did because He had learned in walking with Jesus about a relationship with the Father. Who will the powers of hell not be able to prevail against? Those who develop an intimate relationship with God. As John 8:31-32 tells us when you abide in the Word, and Jesus is the Word made flesh, you then abide in relationship with God, getting to know Him personally, you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free. God and His Word the Truth are one. Get to know Him intimately, and the powers of hell don’t stand a chance against you for you will know who you are in Him.

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James 4:7 – Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

One of the easiest ways to keep the devil and his works out of your life is found in this verse of scripture. It is known as the power of positive resistance. Every time you submit your life to the ways of God, you are automatically resisting the devil. In doing so, you are taking your focus off of what the devil is trying to mislead you to do and looking to God instead.

For example, God’s Word teaches us that we should find our pastor and be a part of a local church body. Satan does not want you in God’s house, so when you go to church you submit to God and automatically resist the devil. God wants us to forgive, give to the work of God, present our bodies as a living sacrifice unto Him, etc; and as we do the things God’s Word teaches us, we are automatically resisting satan who wants us to do the opposite.

The opposite of this verse is true as well. What if you know you should be in a good church but do not go? What if you know you should forgive, and give to the work of God but you don’t? Then you would be submitting to the devil’s ways and resisting God. Some people do not realize their biggest problem is not the devil, it’s the fact that they are not resisting him by choosing to submit to God. You can resist the devil by simply submitting your life to the will of God. When you do, he will flee.

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James 1:26
If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless.

To walk by faith, you must believe in your heart what God’s Word says, but if you deceive your own heart, you will not have faith in God. James tells us we must deal with our tongue to keep from deceiving our hearts. If we speak contrary to God’s Word, we convince our heart God’s Word is not true, which leads to deception.

To change our words, we must change our thinking for our thoughts will determine what we believe, and what we believe will come out of our mouth. There are three primary influences that wrongly affect our thinking. They are observation, association, and falsification. Observation means what we look at or focus our attention on, and we must guard against doing so with things contrary to God’s Word.

The second thing that affects our thinking is associations. Scripture teaches us to choose our friends carefully for even the wicked will lead you astray. The third area is falsification, which refers to false teachings from God’s Word where people are not taught the truth but are taught man-made religion instead. So, to guard your heart from deception you must address observations, associations, and falsifications. Right thinking leads to right believing, right believing leads to right speaking, and right speaking will bring right results in your life.

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Hebrews 9:24
For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; …

When God breathed into Adam the breath of life, the first thing Adam saw was the face of God. This is where man’s identity came from, his Creator. When Adam sinned, the Bible says he hid himself from the presence of God, which that word in the Hebrew means the face of God. Man now looked to the creation, turning away from the Father for his identity. He could not see God’s face. But Jesus did something about that.

Hebrews 9:24 tells us Jesus went before the presence (face) of God for us. Jesus provided the way for us to find our value and worth again from our Father, our Creator, and not the creation (things of this world, or other people). By cleansing us of our old sinful spirit man within, He reconnected us with the Father. When you are trying to find your worth in life through things or other people, you will never be satisfied, for we were designed by God to find our worth by identifying with Him.

How do we see His face today? Look to God’s Word, for Jesus is the Word made flesh, especially looking to the New Testament which tells you who you now are in Christ. Jesus said if you have seen Me, you have seen the Father. You are a new creation, more than a conqueror, one spirit with the Lord. So don’t look to the things of this life nor other people to find your worth, look to your Creator by looking to His Word.

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Christian Faith Fellowship – Ponder Texas