Cityreach Cumberland

Worry is a mental distress or agitation resulting from concern over something that’s anticipated.  Since worrying will divide your attention and draw you in another direction; Jesus clearly instructs us not to do it.  Today, Pastor Fred concludes his teaching on worry, by sharing some practical questions that we must answer if we want to live worry-free lives.

Living free from worry is a key element in building a life with rock solid foundation.  In Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, He tells us not to worry about the things that pertain to our everyday lives. In today’s message, Pastor Fred teaches on the first of three questions that we can ask ourselves that will help us in eliminating worry from our lives.

Jesus tells a story at the end of the Sermon on The Mount about two men who built a house. These two men both had the same desire to build, listened to the same teaching and experienced the same storm. However, in the end, one man’s house stood because it was founded on the rock, while the other man’s house fell.  Listen to this teaching by Pastor Fred to learn how to ensure that your foundation is rock solid.

Even at the young age of twelve, Jesus had a keen awareness of His purpose when He told His parents that He must be about His Father’s business.  Twenty-one years later, after Jesus fully completed His assignment on earth, He passed the baton to His disciples (and to us) when He said, “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”  In the same way the Father sent Jesus on a mission, Jesus commissions us; and as long as there is still ONE who is far from God, the Father’s business remains unfinished.

When “the Word became flesh,” Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament prophecy that a virgin would bear a Son and they will call His name Immanuel which means “God with us”. When Jesus took on human flesh, He gave the world a visible expression of the true nature of God the Father.  When Jesus came, grace came because Jesus is the Person of grace.   

When the angel announced that “in the City of David there has been born for you a Savior,” he wasn’t only speaking to the shepherds because the good news of the Savior’s birth was for “all people.”  In today’s teaching, we’ll look at each of the four names that Isaiah says that the Savior will be called; Wonder Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father & Prince of Peace and how they apply to us personally.  

If the enemy can’t keep you from being saved, he’ll do his best to keep you from serving.  Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, gives a prophecy about Jesus just months before His birth.  In that prophecy, he says that we are saved to serve, but all too often, many people get saved to be served. Listen to today’s teaching and hear how we are to serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him and all the days of our life.

King David had first-hand experience with difficult times, but he didn’t allow his situations to control his life. In tough times, he would remind himself of God’s benefits; that God forgives all sin and heals all disease; that God redeemed his life, crowned him with love and mercy and satisfied him with good things. There is great value in remembering who God is and what He has done because He doesn’t change and He doesn’t play favorites. If He did it before, He’ll do it again and if He did it for someone else, He’ll do it for you!

Jesus has called us into a place of co-laboring with Him where He literally writes us into equation of bringing His will to pass. However, when you’ve had people telling you your whole life that you’re inadequate, it’s not uncommon to start thinking that you’re not qualified work with God. The good news is that God has already qualified you and when He qualifies you, you’re never unqualified, underqualified or even disqualified.

The Apostle Paul said that we are co-laborers with Christ.  We know that God can do anything that He wants, completely independent of us, but He chooses not to.  What an incredible thought - that we actually get to partner with Him and have the opportunity to shape history by having a creative effect on our surroundings.

A renewed mind doesn't merely think the thoughts that God thinks, but actually thinks those thoughts from the same perspective that God thinks from.  In other words, the renewed mind thinks from a different direction and a different reality.  However, having a hardened heart will limit the degree to which your mind is able to be renewed.  In today's teaching, you will be able to evaluate your own thought processes as we look at three different encounters that Jesus had with His disciples in which their hardness of heart affected how they responded to a particular situation.

If you think that your lifestyle choices only affect you, then you’re forgetting that we are all part of the same body.  In order for the whole body of Christ to reach the fullness that God intends, each member must do his or her part and that includes our lifestyle.  Only when we allow our minds to be renewed and our attitudes to be changed can we be successful in putting off the former way of life and putting on our new self.

Do you ever struggle with saying "No" to the wrong things that your flesh wants to do? God's Word says that the solution for not carrying out the desires of the flesh is to walk in the Spirit. But what does that mean? If you want to experience absolute victory in your life, listen to today's teaching and hear about seven practical ways that you can walk in the Spirit.

Jesus didn’t save you so that you would be stuck in your sin for the rest of your life. In order to help us to live in newness of life, the Apostle Paul tells us that there are a couple of things that we need to know. Since the old man was crucified with Christ, sin no longer has any power in our lives. So much so, that we are to consider ourselves as dead to sin and as alive to God as Jesus is. You now have a brand new nature that is completely righteous, just like Jesus, and He empowers you to live a life free from sin.