Biblical Hope: Part II

Pastor Aaron Stiner

Sunday, August 14^th, 2016

Biblical Hope: Part II

****This is part II of the message Pastor Aaron Stiner shared this morning. There is so much great information from his message we decided to share it in two parts; you can read part I here****

Heavenly Hope Chart

What Hope is:

There are two kinds of hope referenced in the New Testament

1. A) Eternal Hope-also known as Heaven
2. B) Here Hope (what I call the things we hope for here and now on Earth)

To understand the “Here Hope”, we first must look at the “Eternal Hope”. I have this heavenly Hope Chart drawing to help better illustrate as a visual aid.

Here in the first “bubble” we have Heaven-our hope of eternity to come. Titus 1:2, 2:13, 3:7 all explain the hope of eternity.

Down at the end we have our “Faith Man”-and this demonstrates our walk of faith toward eternity

When we think of heaven, what do you think of visually? We often think of streets of gold, pearly gates, no tears, sea of glass, seeing Jesus face-to-face, reunions with loved ones and on and on. Hope has a lot to do with seeing or visualizing what is not manifested in the present…but we will get to that later!

I asked the congregation these questions:

Why do you have hope that you will go to heaven? What is your hope based on?

We base our hope on many things; some of the answers from the congregation I received were….. Love of God, Character of God, Word of God, Inner Witness of the Holy Spirit, Work of Jesus Christ

These “things” are the foundations your hope is not just hope. You have Faith in what you hope for, and that makes all the difference.

Faith cannot be easily convinced to let go of its object of hope. You can look at other examples (terrorists, atheism, etc) in the world where people are so convinced and believe in what they are doing that nothing can convince them otherwise. Even though they may be so convinced, we still have the ability to lead them out of darkness because we have a lively hope, a life giving hope and the Inner Witness of the Holy Spirit.

Biblical Hope is based on the foundations of God’s Word, Character, Work, and Inner Witness of the Holy Spirit; therefore it is something worth believing in or having faith in, because it is founded on the rock of God.

 

What is “Here Hope”?

What we are hoping for right now, working on…. If we can understand our eternal hope and what we base it on, then we will also understand how to get our “Here Hope”

I like to see biblical hope as seeing what God has promised and visualizing what I can be and do, through the work of God in my life. I have to mix my biblical hope with faith…. Faith is having what we hoped for manifested… Hebrews 11:1. To get my faith up in regards to what I am hoping for, I have to build my hope with the foundations.

I see it, I think about it, I find it in the Bible, I pray about it, I see myself doing it in my heart, I dream about it, I read how it’s God’s good pleasure to give me the Kingdom, I get caught up in pursuing the object of my hope.

And as my faith grows and gets a hold of the vision, there becomes the point where I see the manifestation of what I hoped for… This is how we do Here Hope as Biblical Hope.

 

Back to the Hope Bubbles… So when we start coming from hope into faith… our bubbles start getting busted (a good thing!)

Our “Hope Bubbles” may be anything in life, but these here are many big hope bubbles in our lives.

Provision-money– It is the Lord’s pleasure to provide us with what we need. Proverbs 10:22 “The Blessing of the Lord, it makes one rich and he adds no sorrow with it.” He will always provide us with what we need. Jeremiah 31:28 “ I will watch over them, to build, to plant says the Lord”

Character Changes– We all struggle with character flaw-anger, lust, fear, etc, etc. But who the Lord sets free is free indeed! For freedoms sake, He set us free. It make take a lot of work and time to be changed and free from our character issues, but the Lord can help us if we come boldly to his Throne of Grace and ask for help.

Healing- This is two-fold.. Healing for ourselves and miracles for others and also for anointing for ministry…
How many times have we heard “And by His stripes we are healed”? (From Isaiah 53:5)…. Jesus healed those who came to Him, The will of God is for us to prosper and be in health!

 

When we have hope and find the word of God and understand God’s character, look at the work of Jesus, follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, we can experience the manifestation that comes with our faith becoming active.

Our faith and hope can become instantaneous, we can hope and have faith at the same time and it can become manifested!

 

What happens if we hope for and find words on our hope and have faith and it doesn’t happen?

Especially with healing. So often we can ask, pray and believe that someone we love or ourselves will be healed and it doesn’t happen. What then?

 

Remember our biggest “Hope Bubble” to burst is eternity. The person who died and wasn’t healed when we really prayed and asked and had faith IS healed eternally and perfect and whole. When we pop that bubble, all the other bubbles pop too-provision, character changes, healing and all the other “hope bubbles” of our lives-It’s the big win of faith..

The ultimate victory-the realization of all hope. It’s seeing face-to-face with the one who is our hope.

1 Timothy 1:1 “Jesus Christ , which is our Hope”.

1 John 3:2 “Beloved, now we are the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.”

Luke 24:13-36 “Hope becoming Faith and Faith witnessing the manifestation of the hope.”

 

image from pixabay.com

We have the tools to understand hope will work to increase and activate true faith. Faith that calls things, that are not, as though they were, faith that truly moves mountains. But we have to get our hope right so it can work with our faith to become powerful.

Biblical Hope: Part I

Biblical Hope

Pastor Aaron Stiner

Sunday, August 14^th, 2016

Part I: Faith and Hope

Faith is probably one of the most researched subjects in the bible, and rightfully so; “by grace we are saved through faith”. Love is also another big bible subject, this is important because the Word says that “to know the Love of Christ which passes all knowledge that you may be filled with all fullness of God.”

The Word says in 1 Corinthians 13; the “Love” chapter, “And now abide in Faith, Hope, Love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

Love is the greatest but the other two aspects are foundational. In the Word, faith and love are link many times together (example, Galatians 5 “faith works by love”) and faith and hope are linked as well.

          (image from pixabay.com)

 

We as humans tend to put faith and hope in the same box. They are often thought of as the same word or idea, but they are not the same. We can view hope from a worldly perspective:
“I hope life gets better” “I hope I feel better today” “I hope my kid stops screaming”

And on and on. This is “pie in the sky” hope, some passing thought that that we wish would happen but we really don’t expect it to. A lot of people have faith pretty similar to that world’s version of hope:

 

“Well I am holding onto faith for something, but if it doesn’t happen, that must just be God’s will.”
We can be in a place as believers that out faith are just like our hope. It is penny wishing in a well; “wouldn’t that be nice if God does that for me”.  But there is a difference between faith and hope, and if you can understand hope will work to increase and activate true faith. Faith that calls things, that are not, as though they were, faith that truly moves mountains. But we have to get our hope right so it can work with our faith to become powerful!

(image from pixabay.com)

This is an introduction of the message Pastor Aaron Stiner shared this morning. There is so much great information from his message we decided to share it in two parts; so don’t forget to come back and read part II 🙂

 

 

Sermon Snippet:Quit Just Making it Through One More Week

Sunday May 8-Pastor Aaron Stiner

 

Quit Just Making it Through One More Week

 

We as believers have the opportunity to reign in this life. Reign over troubles, cares and the stress that binds so many in the world. We are supposed to stand out from our unsaved communities, not because we talk a big game, but because we have love, peace, and joy. These divine character traits that set us apart from the world’s hate, stress, and depression, should shine out like a light. Sadly, for many of us these traits are our Sunday best, and not our weekly routine. The world has a TGIF (Thank God It’s Friday) mentality because their lives are full of anxiety, Christians have a TGIS(Thank God It’s Sunday) mentality because of the same. We suffer through the drudgery of life to refuel on Sunday, and then it is back to the grind. This is living below our birth or rebirth right.

In Matt. 6:24-34 we hear Jesus say “Take no Thought.” Thoughts in Greek refer to anxious thoughts, therefore Jesus is telling us to not worry. Interestingly, Jesus isn’t rebuking the people, of his time, for worrying about silly things like gold pieces and new donkeys. He is telling them not to worry about things that are absolute necessities; life, food, clothes, tomorrow. He wasn’t talking to rich people but people who mostly lived a subsistence life. If they didn’t bring home the bacon they were going to die and no one would help, or care.  Jesus also, told them the truth that if they sought God, and left the necessities up to God, they would be provided for.

This is the major truth that allows us to live outside the world’s cycle of anxiety and toil. We must take no (anxious) thought for necessity, and only trust God for provision. As we seek Him, He will provide for us. A promise from God is a promise you can take to the bank. We must get God’s position as center of our life, and provider of our needs right. This frees us to live an anxiety free life. This faith is the key to peace in a world of turmoil, love in a world of dog eat dog, and joy in a world that lives in depression.

So, what position is God holding in your life?

 

Ref. Scripture: Matt. 6:24-34, Prov. 23:7, Phil. 4:6-7, 1 Pet. 5:7, JH 16:33, Heb. 10:35

 

 

Sermon Snippet: Breaking the Volunteer Spirit!

Sunday May 1^st –Pastor Aaron Stiner

 

Breaking the Volunteer Spirit, in 4 Short Verses

 

Many in the Church today have a volunteer spirit when it comes to the things of God. What is a volunteer spirit you may ask? Well, let me give you example. If you volunteer to help serve thanksgiving dinner, you’re not going to show up on Thanksgiving Day do everything yourself and work for 18 hours strait. You’re not going to miss your family thanksgiving because no one else will help. You would be like, Hey, I volunteered for this I ain’t getting paid, I’m out. This is how many treat the things of God. If it gets too hard or inconvenient people will simply draw back or quit altogether. That’s a volunteer spirit, they want to do it their way and if that’s not possible they aren’t going to do it at all.

 

Israel had this attitude when they were at the foot of Mount Sinai they said/volunteered to God, all that you command we will do. But soon after, they were drawing back from God’s presence out of fear, and a few weeks later they were forsaking God and serving the golden calf. They talked a big game but they weren’t sold out to God. They drew back and then completely abandoned Him, they acted like volunteers. Sadly this is how many serve. They want God to work on their schedule and the Church to do everything their way. They won’t do the heavy lifting because after all if they are volunteers they still retain control over themselves, so they want things; lite, easy, and convenient. Acts 1:6-8 tells us we have the “Power (vs 8)” of the Holy Spirit to be his witnesses throughout the whole world, but we want God’s “Power (vs 7)” of authority, foresight, and control because we lust for control. This lust for control over our lives is the volunteer spirit.

This brings me to the 4 verses that squash this spirit pretty quickly. In Luke 9:59-62 Jesus confront two men. The first He commands to, “Follow me.” The second volunteers saying, “Lord, I will follow you.” Jesus accepts them both, but they both request a small time delay on their following. Jesus rebukes them both by saying, (I paraphrase) “You must be about my Kingdom (authority and reign) and forsake your life.” See, both the called and the volunteer are presented with the same truth, if you’re going to follow Jesus, you’re going to have to do it His way. Forsake what you want for His will. There is no other option that pleases God. This isn’t because God is a control freak but, because He knows what is best for you; whether you know it or not. We must lay down our lives for the sake of the Gospel. We must lose our lives, if we are to find real life.

 

Ref. Scripture: Ex. 19:8 20:18-21 32:1, Acts 1:6-8, Luke 9:59-62, 1 Corn. 7:22-23,

Sermon Summary: Guest Speaker Sonny Misar

Lego Church- Healthy Spiritual Relationships

Sonny Misar-March 20, 2016

The word Pastor Sonny brought when he was here a couple of weeks ago both challenged and encouraged me to live a more intentional with my brothers and sisters here at Ascension. I organized my notes to review the points he made. Here are a few of the things he shared. Look on the table in the foyer for a printed copy if you wish to have one. ~ Carolyn Brubaker

 

Body of Christ is to:

Show the world who He is

Restore relationship with Him and with others

Our only commonality- relationships in and through Christ

 

The Church is like Legos

-Close compacted

-Bound firmly together

The example Nehemiah gives for us: rebuild the wall adjacent to your home, this provides community and protection

 

Lego Effect

(Danish) leg-got means play well, get along

(Latin) means “I put together””

Two Aspects of Legos that are seen in the church:

1) Initiation-the ability to extend yourselves to others –vulnerability, the post of the Lego

2) Reception-the ability to let other people into my life-receptivity, bound together

Acts 2:41-44 (NIV) “Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common.”

What brings us together?

-Apostle’s teachings

-Fellowship

-Breaking Bread

-Prayer

Acts 5: 12-14 “The apostles performed many signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade. ¹³ No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. ¹⁴ Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number.”

John 14: 14-15 (NIV) “ You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. If you love me, keep my commands.”

What we don’t receive from God, we demand from others

 

Jesus’ Model for Healthy Spiritual Relationships

1) Not an option, every Christian needs Triune God relationship. Our #1 priority is to be with Him.

Mark 3: 14-15 He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons.

2) Healthy Spiritual Relationships are God’s primary instrument for our personal transformation. Speaking into each other’s lives.

John 1:41-42 The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus, Jesus looked at him and said “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter). Name changed at rebirth.

3) Healthy Spiritual Relationships have different levels. Jesus had the 70, the 12, the 3, and then John. Need all three levels-a Paul (mentor), a Barnabas (a peer), and a Timothy (younger man to guide)

4) Healthy Spiritual Relationships-must be able to speak the truth in love.

Luke 9:54-56 When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them? But Jesus turned and rebuked them. Then he and his disciples went to another village.

5) Healthy Spiritual Relationships-requires transparency. Our IQ not as important at our EIQ-Emotional intelligence quotient. Receptive to feelings-next level- faith and vision

Matthew 26:36-39 “Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me. Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

6) Healthy Spiritual Relationships contend for spiritual development; strengthen your brothers, reminding them what God says about them.

Luke 22:31-32 “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” But he replied, Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.”

7) Healthy Spiritual Relationships will disappoint you. Handle with abundant forgiveness. We are human.

Luke 22:59-62 “About an hour later another asserted, “Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean.” Peter replied, “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. 61 The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly.”

Hebrews 10:24-25 “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching”

Sermon Summary: FEAR is not FORCE

Message from Pastor Aaron Stiner from March 13th, 2016

“Nehemiah, Fear isn’t Force”

Nehemiah 1,2,4&6

In the book of Nehemiah we see a man of God, receive and execute a heavenly mandate in the face of  much opposition. The greatest opposition to Nehemiah’s purpose wasn’t supply problems, sin problems or war with his enemies, it was fear.

The enemy came against the work of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem with threats and lies, all of which was intended to put Nehemiah and the people in a state of fearful paralysis.

The enemy always brings fear as God’s people try to accomplish works of Faith.

Whether the work is giving more offerings, talking to someone about God, or fulfilling a big God sized destiny.

Fear comes to stop us from moving forward.

We need to understand just as Nehemiah did:

Nehemiah 6:13, “Therefore was he hired, that I should be afraid.”

Fear is the ultimate enemy of God’s work in your life, but we can be confident in this fear isn’t force. Fear is just a perception of what might happen. If we step out, in faith, bad things might happen and the enemy is going to make sure we know that, but we shouldn’t be controlled by fear of what might be.

We should be controlled by our faith filled expectation of God showing up and showing off.

Meet the Pastor!

Aaron and Alissa Stiner are excited to be a part of Ascension Life Church.

The following is a short biography written by Aaron so you can get to know their family a bit better.

“Hello, we are Stiner family and we are so excited to be a part of Ascension Life Church. Here is a little bit more about ourselves. Alissa and I have been married for 8 years. We have two children, Owen (4) and Lydia (2). We as a family enjoy reading library books, traveling, museums, gardening, the Muddy Monkey (frozen yogurt shop in Richmond, IN), and having bonfires in our backyard. I have been preaching for the last six years and when God opened the door here at Ascension, the peace that we had in saying “YES” was so refreshing. God has truly brought us here and the joy and excitement that we feel being a part of this congregation I hope is evident. We have been so blessed by your welcoming spirit and hospitality. Our family is so thrilled to begin this new chapter in our lives and we are looking forward to getting to know you all and growing together as the body of Christ.

As I pastor, my heart is for an effectual work of God in my life and others. God has placed in me a desire for what causes true change in people’s lives. I want the anointing and truth to propel God’s people into a life of impact. A people, that is no longer the same year after year, but ever changing into His image. I know that I have stepped into a Church that is already in pursuit of God’s will, the freedom and desire at ALC is truly refreshing, and I am excited to keep moving forward in God.”

~ Aaron Stiner

Sermon Snippet: Unity

The following is a summary of the message shared by Aaron Stiner last Sunday.

Sunday, February 14th, 2016.

Unity

In John 17:20-23 we read of Jesus’ prayer the night before his arrest and crucifixion. This prayer is for “them which shall believe,” or the Church. On this night before His passion Jesus prayed for what was most important because His time was short. Did He pray for power, authority, or knowledge? No, Jesus prayed for oneness, for the unity of His body.

(photo from unsplash.com)

Unity is of utmost importance to God for many reasons. One is as Jesus said in Matthew 12:15 “every city or house divided against itself shall not stand.” We can look through the Old Testament and see the many times God delivered his people by putting the enemy in confusion, or disunity. Another reason, and the principle reason, is that unity is the environment for the anointing. In Acts 2 we see the 120 believers in, “one place and one accord,” this unity became a perfect environment for God’s Spirit and anointing to flow. In Psalms 133 we read “how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard; that went down to the skirts of his garments.” The “precious ointment,” is the anointing oil, this represents the anointing of the Spirit of God. It flows from the head (leadership), to the beard (eldership, mature believers), to the skirts (whole body). This flow is facilitated by the unity of the brethren, everyone rowing in the same direction. In Acts 5 we see how severely God dealt with the first attempt of the enemy to sow disunity into His church through the selfish, deceptive actions of Ananias and Sapphira. We can be assured unity is a big deal to God, and we need to do our part to maintain unity, and peace.

 

Genesis 11:1-8 tells us of the tower of Babel, but I want us to see what facilitated these people taking on such an audacious, misguided endeavor. Genesis 5:6 “And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.” Unity of purpose and ambition was the environment for this great and self-centered building project. God recognized that nothing is “restrained” from people in unity. How powerful would it be, if this principle of unity was used more readily by God’s people to build His kingdom in power and anointing?

(photo from unsplash.com)

Finally in Philippians 2:1-8 we see Paul pleading with the Church that if they have love, the Spirit, and mercy, “Fulfill you my joy, that you be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, or one mind.” Paul wanted them to be in unity, and continues on to say if they aren’t in unity it is because of “strife or vainglory” which appears when people aren’t humble. See humility promotes unity and unity promotes a flowing of the Spirit and anointing because everyone is on the same Holy Ghost page. As Charlie shared, “love is a circular pond, with shallow edges, that is deep in the middle, as we all individually move deeper into love we become closer to each other and more unified.” As we move deeper into love and the things of God, self dies and unity increases, and unity causes nothing of the things of God to be “restrained.” The destiny God has for our body will be fulfilled through our love and unity.

 

 

To hear more, please join us on Sunday mornings at 10:30 AM. All are welcome!

 

 

Sermon Snippets: Spirit, Soul, Body

The following is a brief summary from the message Aaron Stiner shared last Sunday, January 31st.

1 Thessalonians 5:23
Shows us that are composed of 3 parts that combine to make us a person. We have a Spirit, a Soul, and a Body. The Spirit is our inner being that, when born again, is in complete unity with the Spirit of God. The Soul is our mind, will, and emotion. The Body is not just our natural shell but also the part of us that is carnal, or the spirit of flesh.

We as Christians need to understand how these 3 parts of us interact.

First we need to understand that the enemy’s battle ground is our souls (mind, will, and emotions). He comes through the spirit of flesh to attack the soul. He does this because, “as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” If the enemy controls the soul, he controls your life. The enemy desires to bring your mind into bondage to carnality. If we are preoccupied in the carnal and earthly, we will not fulfill God’s will in our lives.

Romans 8:6 “To be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritual minded is life and peace.” This verse teaches us that there is a option for both in a Christians life. Just because you’re saved doesn’t mean you don’t have to choice between carnality and spirituality. In fact, because we are saved, and have the Holy Spirit, we now have the option to choose, and are empowered to be spiritually minded.

(photo from unsplash.com)

This brings me to the next point, we have to allow the Spirit have control over our Souls. We need to let our Souls be sanctified. This has to be a purposeful pursuit in our lives, this doesn’t just happen. We have been programmed from birth to think carnally, selfishly, and sinfully. We have to let the Spirit and the Word, reprogram our Souls. We do this through firstly recognizing that this needs to be done. Then by filling our minds with God’s Spirit revealed word, not just dead letter, and walking it out by faith. Faith and obedience to the word are truly inseparable.

The Spirit in us longs to have expression through us, and this comes by the “renewing of our Minds/Soul.” So, if we desire this walk, and I’m sure we all do, we will have success because it’s not just our desire but God’s desire. God will have His Will done in us, if we are willing.

Let’s purpose in our hearts to allow the Spirit to dominate our Souls, so our lives become an expression of His character and power.

If you enjoyed this Sermon Snippet; please come join us this morning at 10:30 AM!

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