PASTOR DARRYL BAKER

1 Corinthians 9:24,26-27
24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it.
26 Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air.
27 But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.

The ultimate prize for a believer is to know our God, and to therefore walk by faith in Him. The apostle Paul stated at the end of his life he had fought the good fight, he had finished his race, he had kept the faith. We are to live a life of faith in what Jesus has done for us. Those who “live” by faith daily walk trusting in what God has said, never moved by what they see around them. This takes two major things. Desire and discipline.

This takes a desire to follow after Jesus, and Paul certainly had that desire. In Philippians 3:10 he stated his desire was to know Jesus. Not to know about Him, but to know Him intimately as a close friend. If this is not our daily desire above everything else, we will not fight the good fight of faith. How can you have faith, putting your complete trust in someone you do not know. This is the biggest hindrance to most believers walking by faith. Without a desire to know Him, it will be very difficult to fully trust in someone you don’t know.

It also then takes discipline to get to know Jesus. Paul disciplined His body. If you do not apply discipline in your life in dealing with your flesh, you will automatically drift to pleasing your carnal nature instead of drawing near to God. James 4:8 tells us if we draw near to Him, He will then draw near to us. He is waiting on us. As verse 26 above reveals, Paul lived his life with a determined purpose, and that was to walk with God. You can as well. It just takes a desire above all else to know Him, and some discipline to do so. You will not regret it.

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Christian Faith Fellowship – Ponder Texas

Colossians 1:19-20
19 For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell,
20 and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.

The word reconcile means to bring back to a former state of harmony. The word peace means to establish harmony. If you have ever heard a group of singers, you can always tell when someone is singing out of harmony with the rest of the group. But when they sing together in harmony it not only sounds beautiful, but you also don’t notice individual singers because they sound as one.

So it is when we get born again. Because of the sin nature of our old spirit man, we were out of harmony with God. But once we get born again, we become one spirit with the Lord. This harmony with God is what makes us so powerful in the earth. The devil wants to keep us blind to the fact that we are one with God. If he can do this, he knows he can take advantage of our life through deception.

When a believer realizes they are one spirit with the Lord, and they begin to walk in harmony with God; they can go through life victorious for God will never be defeated and neither will the child of God who knows and walks in the light of their union with Him. No weapon formed against a child of God that knows who they are in Christ will prosper, because they are one spirit with the Lord, and the greater One lives in them.

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Christian Faith Fellowship – Ponder Texas

Ephesians 4:15
Instead, by truth spoken in love, we are to grow in every way into Him—the Anointed One, the head.

One of the key aspects of love that you don’t hear much about today is speaking the truth, because if you love someone you tell them the truth. We are told by many today that to go to a believer and address any sin in their life is in fact judging them and not walking in love, when in fact to not do so is to not walk in the love of God. If we do not speak the Truth to those who are deceived or seduced into sin they will not walk in freedom, for it is the Truth that sets us free.

Galatians 6:1 tells us that if a believer is caught in sin, those who are spiritual (not flesh ruled) are to go to them to try and restore them, helping them get out of their sin. That is what love does. As scripture reveals in 1 John 4:8, God is love, and Jesus was God manifested in the flesh. What Jesus did here on earth was love in action, and as Ephesians 5:1 tells us, we as God’s children are to imitate Him.

Jesus (Love Himself) told a man who was healed by Him, ” See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.” Because Jesus loved Him and did not want to see something worse happen to him, He addressed his sinful actions. He did not condemn Him by doing so, but cared enough to speak the truth. Love speaks the truth. It does not overlook someone’s sin and stay silent. And for those who receive it, the truth will set them free.

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Christian Faith Fellowship – Ponder Texas

Amos 3:3
Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?

Far too many Christians on a daily basis are choosing to disagree with God. God believes one thing, but they believe something else. This is revealed in how they speak of themselves. Have you ever thought about what God believes about you? What does He actually believe about your life? All we have to do is go to the Word of God to find out, for His Word clearly reveals what God believes about us.

For example, Romans 8:38 tells us that even in the midst of a world filled with challenges that come against us, because of what Jesus has done for us we are “more than conquerors” through Him who loved us. Not going to be, we already are. Yet many believers’ words speak of themselves as defeated and overcome. Yes, we face challenges, but when we speak contrary to who God says we are, we will not walk together with God in the victory He has provided.

We need to agree with God in believing and speaking in line with who He says we are, what He says we have, and what He says we can do. Like Abraham, we are not to consider what we see in the natural, but instead consider what God has said (Rom. 4:19-20). We cannot walk together with God in all He has for us until we choose to agree with Him. When we do, things change.

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Christian Faith Fellowship – Ponder Texas

Psalms 18:30
As for God, His way is perfect;
The word of the LORD is proven;
He is a shield to all who trust in Him.

It is wonderful to know we have God as a shield in this life we live who will protect us from evil and the works of darkness in this world. How do we get this protection? We must put our complete trust in Him. What does it mean to completely trust in our God? He tells us in the first part of this verse.

As for God, His way is perfect for the Word of the Lord is proven. Think about that for a minute. God’s ways are perfect. That word perfect means complete, lacking nothing. Man’s ways are not perfect. If we choose to do life our own way, we are headed down an imperfect path, and this will give satan opportunity to take advantage of our life. How do we find out about His perfect ways? From His Word.

In Luke 6:46-49, Jesus said if you come to Him and hear His sayings and don’t do them you are building on sand. When storms come you will go down. But if you do what He says, when storms come not only will you stand, you will not be shaken. So many believers say they trust in God, but still do their own thing. God’s ways are perfect. When we choose to stop living life our own way and do what Jesus said, we are trusting in Him, and He will shield us from the storms.

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Christian Faith Fellowship – Ponder Texas

1 John 4:18

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.

Every person at different times in their life will be confronted by fear. If we do not deal with fear when it comes, we will give place for the enemy to work in our life. Whenever fear comes you need to address it immediately so that you don’t allow darkness to take advantage of you. Here are some things you can do to overcome fear.

• As the verse above tells us, perfect love casts out fear. God is that perfect love. If you take time to draw near to God, become aware of Him through worship, prayer, or His Word, being in the presence of Love Himself will cause that fear to go.

• In 2 Timothy 1:7 we are told God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind. In the verse before this we are told to stir up the gift of God (the Holy Spirit) within us. You can do so by praying in the Holy Spirit. When you do your spirit man is praying, and as you become more aware of your spirit man you can overcome fear.
• In Ephesians 6:16 we are told to take up the shield of faith, which will quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. It is through these fiery darts (thoughts) fear can come. Go to God’s Word that addresses any area you may be dealing with fear and meditate on those verses. Faith will rise and you can quench every fiery dart.
• In Isaiah 26:3 we are told God will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed upon Him. Don’t focus your time on negative things. Get your focus on God and He can bring you peace, removing fear.

Do these things and you can defeat fear when it comes.

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Christian Faith Fellowship – Ponder Texas

1 Peter 1:3
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, …

Because of what Jesus did in restoring our relationship with God we now have a living hope, for our hope is in Him. Hope means a confident expectation of good to come. As a believer we should be living in hope every day. We can do so by first looking to hope in the past that has been fulfilled. The children of Israel had a promise given to them by God of good to come. A Messiah would come and deliver them from their sin. That expectation of good came to pass just as God had said.

We can now live in hope present, looking at all that scripture teaches us that Christ has fulfilled for us, that every promise God has given to us in this New Covenant is now ours by faith. Jesus in shedding His blood for us has taken what was a promise and made it a present-day reality. As we learn of these promises fulfilled, and exercise faith for them, faith being the substance of these things hoped for, we expect good to come in our lives today.

We can also live in hope to come, as we know Jesus will return for His church, and we will ever be with the Lord. All who are born again are no longer without hope, for God is their hope. Don’t live a hopeless life. The Messiah has come, and every promise He has fulfilled for this life we can walk in by faith, knowing we will also see Him come again. We have a living hope in Jesus Christ our Lord.

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Ephesians 1:5
He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, …

We are not adopted into the family of God we are born again by His Spirit into God’s family. The term “adoption as sons” refers to us being placed in a position to which we did not originally belong. Once we are born again, we are placed in the position of a son, no longer a slave to the world. The children of Israel once taken captive in Egypt were slaves to Pharaoh and lived their lives under his control, but God sent Moses and delivered them.

Moses was a type of Jesus, and Egypt a type of the world. Like the children of Israel, we have been delivered through Jesus Christ from Egypt (the world), no longer slaves to the world and its ways. But the first generation of Israel did not enter the promise land and the new way of living God had for them, except for Joshua and Caleb. The problem was God had gotten them out of Egypt, but He could not get Egypt out of them. Their thinking had not changed, and they did not see themselves as sons and daughters of God. This hindered their faith in God and His ability to work in their lives.

Scripture tells us they limited God. Why? Because they did not renew their minds to the fact that they had been delivered, no longer slaves but sons and daughters of the Most High God. So it is with many born again today. They have been taken out of Egypt, but if they do not renew their minds to who they have now become in Christ, they have not gotten Egypt out of them. As Galatians 4:7 declares, “Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.” Renew your mind to who you now are, sons and daughters of God, and walk in the inheritance that is yours.

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Galatians 2:16
…even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified.

We were justified (given right standing with God) not by works, but through faith in Christ. Justified means God declares you righteous or in right standing with Him. God sees you just as if you had never sinned, for you are a new creation in Christ Jesus. As Romans 5:1 tells us, we having been justified by faith now have peace with God.

The wrath that God has toward man because of sin is taken away in Christ Jesus for all who have received Him, and continue to walk with Him, they will escape the wrath to come. The devil will try to get us to pull away from God because of our past sin. Don’t fall for this lie. Because we have peace with God we can draw near to Him. We now choose to do what is right in God’s sight because He made us righteous (right with Him).

As a believer if you do sin don’t run from God, repent, acknowledge the sin, turn from it, and run to Him. You have not lost the peace He has given to you through being justified. Peace means harmony between God and man. God is for us, so don’t fall for the lie that God must be against you. Because we are justified through our faith in what Christ has done for us, we have been made right with God, placed in harmony with Him, so we can always come boldly to His throne of grace and receive the love and help that He provides.

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2 Corinthians 5:18
Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, …

Through Jesus Christ we have been reconciled to God. Reconciled means to restore relationship with, and to make an exchange. He took our sin on the cross so that we could receive His righteousness. It is this righteousness (right standing with God) that gives us the right to all that we have in Christ. We now all have a ministry, to go and reconcile others to God.

In the verse that follows the above scripture, it goes on to tell us that God was in Christ Jesus reconciling the world to Himself, no longer counting their sins against them. To reconcile others to Christ, we need to let people know that God has already dealt with their sins through the cross. It is not the sinner’s sinful acts that will keep them from eternal life, but as Jesus said, it is because they have not believed in Him.

In the eyes of God, the world has been reconciled to Him, for there is nothing more that He needs to do. They simply need to turn to God and put their faith in Him, receiving Jesus as the Lord of their life. Time for the church to go to those in darkness and to let them know God is waiting to receive them back into fellowship. It is not their sins that is keeping them from God, for if they will turn to God and call upon the name of the Lord, they shall be saved from the wrath to come and receive eternal life.

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Christian Faith Fellowship – Ponder Texas