Radiant Podcast

Immerse | A Ready Heart

Immerse: A Ready Heart 5.17.26 Mark 4:13-20. Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? 14 The farmer sows the word. 15 Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. 16 Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. 17 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 18 Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; 19 but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. 20 Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.”  NIV.  4 Degrees of Readiness Path: A heart where nothing sinks in.  Rocky: An emotional response with no roots.   Thorns: A heart contaminated by life’s distractions.   Good soil: A heart the follows & obeys God’s word.  Cultivating Our Hearts 1.  Read & obey God’s word.  2 Timothy 3:15-17  and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.   NIV.  2.    Pray daily. Colossians 4:2 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.  NIV. 3.   Pay attention to what is influencing your soul. Mark 4:24  “Consider carefully what you hear…” NIV.  4.   Protect your heart from spiritual weeds.

Immerse | Demolish Strongholds

Immerse: Demolish Strongholds 5.10.26 2 Corinthians 10:3-5  For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.   What Is A Stronghold Stronghold: A false refuge that protects our pain while imprisoning our soul.  Diagram of Stronghold. Demolish Strongholds: Recognize the lie, renounce the lie, replace it with God’s truth.   3 Common Lies We Believe Lie: I’m not good enough.  Truth: You are deeply and completely loved as a child of God. Romans 8:15-16  So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” 16 For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. NLT  Lie: I can’t forgive, the injury is to great.    Truth: Forgiveness releases us from the chains of our injury.  Matthew 18:21-22  Then Peter came to him and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me?  Seven times?”  22 “No, not seven times,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven!    Lie:  God’s forgotten me.  Truth: God’s with you, He sees you, and fights for you.   Hebrews 13:5-6 because God has said,  “Never will I leave you;  never will I forsake you.” So we say with confidence,  “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.  NIV

Immerse | Spiritual Gifts Part Two

Immerse: Spiritual Gifts Pt2 4.26.26 1 Corinthians 14:1-5   Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy. 2 For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands them; they utter mysteries by the Spirit. 3 But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort. 4 Anyone who speaks in a tongue edifies themselves, but the one who prophesies edifies the church. 5 I would like every one of you to speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be edified.    NIV Discerning Gifts Word of knowledge: A supernatural revelation of information pertaining to a person or event. Discerning of spirits: Ability to discern the true source of circumstances or motives of people. Word of wisdom: A Devine answer or solution for a particular event or situation. Dynamic Gifts Gift of Faith: An unusual measure of trust in the power of God for a situation. Gifts of healing: A supernatural restoration of physical, emotional, or spiritual health.    Gift of Miracles: A manifestation of God’s power that goes beyond the normal course of nature. Proclamation Gifts Gift of Prophecy: A message of encouragement to others imparted by the Holy Spirit.   Gift of tongues: Speaking supernaturally by the Spirit in a language not known to the individual. Interpretation of Tongues: The ability to express the meaning of a public tongue through revelation.   What Our Attitude Should Be Toward Gifts  Desire spiritual gifts. Pray to be empowered by the Holy Spirit. Seek opportunities to practice.

Immerse | Spiritual Gifts

Immerse: Spiritual Gifts 4.19.26 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. 2 You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. 3 Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.   4 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. 5 There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6 There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.   7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8 To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.  NIV  What Spiritual Gifts Are Spiritual gifts are the Holy Spirit’s empowerment expressed through believers.   Spiritual gifts are given to every believer for the benefit of others.   Spiritual gifts are not badges of honor or signs of spiritual maturity.    Discerning Gifts Word of knowledge: A supernatural revelation of information pertaining to a person or event. Discerning of spirits: Ability to discern the true source of circumstances or motives of people. Word of wisdom: A Devine answer or solution for a particular event or situation. What Our Attitude Should Be Toward Gifts  Desire spiritual gifts. 1 Corinthians 14:1 Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy.  NIV   Pray to be empowered by the Holy Spirit. Luke 11:14 “…how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” NIV   Seek opportunities to practice.

Immerse | Sexual Integrity

Immerse: Sexual Integrity 4.12.26 1 Corinthians 7:1-16 Now for the matters you wrote about: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” 2 But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband. 3 The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4 The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife.     5 Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. 6 I say this as a concession, not as a command. 7 I wish that all of you were as I am. But each of you has your own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that.    8 Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do. 9 But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.  10 To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband. 11 But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife.   12 To the rest I say this (I, not the Lord): If any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her. 13 And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him. 14 For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.  15 But if the unbeliever leaves, let it be so. The brother or the sister is not bound in such circumstances; God has called us to live in peace. 16 How do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or, how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?   NIV.    2 Observations About Sexual Integrity 1. Everyone has a sexual standard.     Corinthians 5:1-2 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man is sleeping with his father’s wife. 2 And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have gone into mourning… NIV.    2.  God designed sex for marriage covenant between a man and a woman.     Matthew 19:4-6 4 “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”  NIV