Petra Podcast

Luke 24 & Acts 1 – We’re going to be learning about the Holy Spirit. These two books are a continuation of one another. The author Luke is trying to show us is that the ministry that Jesus started on the earth, in the gospel of Luke, is continued through the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts. In fact, Jesus didn’t even start his ministry until the Holy Spirit came upon him in power in Luke 3. Jesus himself was dependent on the H.S. When you are born again and the Holy Spirit lives inside of you you become a continuation of his life and ministry on the earth.

When we think of the forefathers we often thing of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. But we often forget the importance of the fourth father of our faith, Joseph, the 11th son of Jacob. The Hebrew name Joseph means “to add to”or “repeat.” I know there are a lot of you with large families, and by the time you get to child 6, 7, 8, 9….picking names gets tough. So when Jacob got to his 11th son he basically said, “Let’s call him “Rerun.” But saw this “rerun” as a one of a kind and would use this him to save many nations. Joseph was also a dreamer. God prophetically gave him dreams and so he knew from an early age what God’s destiny was for him and his life.

We are in the midst of a series in which we are looking at the lives and legacies of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. Today we are looking at the life of Jacob. - Jacobs father was Isaac and Abraham was his grandfather. - Rebecca was his mother - Jacob became the father of the twelve tribes of Israel Jacob was a twin and his brother Esau was born just seconds before him. He actually was holding onto Esau’s heel as they came through the birth canal. This meant that Esau was the oldest and had the right to the birthright which granted him a greater portion of the inheritance and also the greater blessing. - Esau was a rugged outdoorsy, hunter and adventuresome type and was his father’s favorite. - Jacob was more of a homebody and favorite of his mother. - Because of the parents playing favorites with the kids it set up the kids to hate each other. Jacob and Esau lived most of their lives in conflict with each other. Even in their mother’s womb they were struggling with each other. Rebecca fe

We are in the second week of a four-part series called Four Fathers—an intentional play on words recognizing the four main characters of the second part of Genesis who also would be the forefathers of our faith. We often refer to these men as the patriarchs. They were Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. Last week Pastor Lester began our series taking a look at Abraham who is the main character in Genesis chapters 12 to 25. Isaac, Abraham’s son, is our focus this morning. Isaac doesn’t get nearly the print space that Abraham, Jacob, and Joseph have, but his story and the lessons we can learn from him are fascinating nonetheless. Many of you may be familiar with much of Isaac’s story—his long-promised and then miraculous conception, his date with destiny on Mount Moriah, finding Rebekah his wife, and then finally the embodiment of the term “sibling rivalry” with the births of the twins Jacob and Esau. As I dug into Isaac’s story, I was struck by something that I hadn’t really considered before: One of God’

We are beginning a new series called Four Fathers. We will be talking about four of the patriarchs of our faith - Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. The title is a play on words. They are four of our forefathers. Abraham is the first patriarch of Israel. A patriarch is a leader or ancestor of a family. Abraham became the patriarch of the Hebrew nation as well as other peoples. Judaism, Christianity and Islam all refer to Abraham as their father. Gal 3:29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. Because we are in Christ, Abraham is our father. The blessings of Abraham continue down through the generations to us today.

As Christians, what sets us apart from secular scholarship? As a believer it’s not enough just to believe in a historical event. This isn’t just a doctrine. For the believer, the death and resurrection of Jesus is an active force in my life. How do I access that force/power/life for myself? I want to answer that question this morning.

We’ve been learning how God our father doesn’t want his children to live lives clamped by worry and fear. We’ve been learning how to live courageously in the face of fear laying siege to our hearts. - Rejection in our relationships - In our financial calamity - Fear of failure, disappointment with myself - Fear for our families - Apprehension about death There’s one last topic we want to address. There seems to be a growing fear among Christians in the United States. The American church is feeling more and more like the outsider at the table. In our television shows and in our judicial decisions Christians are more frequently being painted into radicals who are infringing on the rights of others. Who are standing in the way. Fundamentalist is code word for radical. Evangelical is code word for judgmental. Christians are feeling this mounting sense of scapegoating, cultural labeling and ostracism. People are asking “where is this all heading.” Fear of mounting societal ostracism, and impending per

Today's message will specifically speak to parents and their fears for their children. But I do want to say that “Fearless about our Family” includes much more than the temptations that parents face regarding worrying about their children. You might be a young teenage worrying over your last remaining grandparent because of recent health issues, perhaps you have a cousin who you love like a brother, or maybe you are knees pleading with the Lord to change her husband’s heart. Or great-grandparents who are watching their family in the 3rd and 4th generation drift away from the Lord—no matter if you are single or married, parent or grandparent, childless or just a child—you have family that you love and care for. So I trust that as I share, God will apply my words to your specific life situation and challenge you and encourage you towards a life that is free from worry and anxiety regarding your loved ones.

We are going to talk about some of the fears and worries that surround the issue of finances. Rob Heagy is joining me in sharing some insights and about he and Tara’s journey in the area of trusting God with their finances. Rob works for High Concrete and Tara has a hair salon. The fear surrounding finances is one of the top fears and causes of anxiety in people’s lives. The fear of not having enough or the fear of losing what you do have is something people struggle with. Jesus talked a lot about money. He taught 38 parables that dealt with money management. He talked more about the role of money in our lives then he did on prayer. I believe he did this because he knew the power money can have over us if we don’t learn how to handle this issue in our lives. One of these teachings of Jesus about material things in our lives is found in Matthew 6.

Isaiah lived around 700 B.C. He was called to the southern Kingdom of Judah. The northern Kingdom had already collapsed and been taken captive by Assyria and know Assyria was threatening Judah. Judah had reason to be afraid, their fortified cities were attacked and captured by Assyria and now they were coming to the capital city, Jerusalem. Isaiah was a prophet, a seer which meant not only did he see the current situation and what God’s word was for that situation but he also saw into the future. He is seeing about 100 years into the future when the Jewish people would be slaves in Babylon and is speaking to these people as well.

Today we begin our 6-week series called “Fearless”. In addition to the many great passages in the bible we are also using the book called “The Fearless Life” by Jentezen Franklin as part of our personal devotional and small group discussion guide. This study is about helping each of us to embrace a courageous faith. God our father does not want we his children to live lives full of worry and fear. It is possible to experience peace in the midst of all the pressures of life that come at us. Max Lucado writes about the power of fear. He writes…. [Fear] turns us into control freaks … [for] … fear, at its center, is a perceived loss of control. When life spins wildly, we grab for a component of life we can manage: our diet, the tidiness of our home, the armrest of a plane, or, in many cases, people. The more insecure we feel, the meaner we become. We growl and bare our fangs. Why? Because we are bad? In part. But also because we feel cornered….. Fear releases the tyrant within.

Today is the last part of the series about our identity in Christ. Having a good understanding of our position in Christ is key to living a life of victory. Identity is so important. None of us wants to just feel like a number. We want to have a sense of worth and value. We feel violated when someone steals our identity and identity theft is a big criminal enterprise today. Well the Devil has stolen our identity and Jesus came to restore it back to us. Jesus gives us a brand new identity in him and invites us to sit with him in heavenly places. In other words, we no longer need to walk in defeat, instead Jesus gives us a new name and a new power to become more then conquerors. In this last message I would like to focus on some of the titles and names God uses to help us understand both our roles and relationship we have with him. These names our powerful, freeing and life changing when we grasp the truth in them. How we view ourselves is so important both in the natural as well as the spiritual. In th

Today is part four of the series we are doing about our identity in Christ. We are answering the question “Who am I”. We have embraced the truths that ….. - We are designed and created by God. - We are chosen and adopted by our Heavenly Father. - We have been born again and given a new nature – the old self or old nature has been crucified with Christ and we have a new nature that desires to please God. - We have been set free to live in the newness of the Spirit –We are set free from earthly ambitions and given spiritual ambitions. We are here on a mission from God. To walk in our freedom and to fulfill our mission assignment on earth we need to have our minds renewed or transformed by the power of God. If we try to live the Christian life with an un-renewed mind we will live a life of frustration because we keep hitting the wall. Our un-renewed mind keeps us locked into old patterns and mindsets. It keeps us bound to a form of godliness or spirituality without the power to go with it.

Today is the third message in our series on our identity in Christ, helping each of us to have a clear sense and understanding of who we really are because of our belonging to Jesus Christ; helping us to see ourselves in light of what God has done for us and in us in Christ Jesus. Today we are focusing specifically on our freedom in Christ. We are free in Christ is something often said. This sounds wonderful, but what does it really mean. What are the practical implications for our lives? I want us to look at four passages of scripture that will help us to understand more fully what freedom in Christ actually means. Three of these passages use the same Greek word translated free, freedom or liberty. The idea conveyed by this word is literally “unrestrained”, that is to say, to come and go at your pleasure, not a slave, exempt from obligation. As the redeemed of Jesus Christ this is our standing, freedom, unrestrained by outside forces, no longer a slave.

Today is part two of the series we are doing about our identity in Christ. In this series we are going after a foundational core issue of how God sees us and how we see ourselves. I believe that our spiritual growth, authority in prayer and ability to walk in victory is directly related to our understanding of who we are in Christ. The devil knows if he can keep you from understanding who you are in Christ, he can keep you from experiencing the victory and freedom which is your inheritance as a child of God. This is so important because how we perceive ourselves affects our behavior. The devil knows if he can deceive us in this area he can more easily trip us up. For instance…. If we see ourselves as weak we will give in more If we see ourselves as failures we will fail more If we see ourselves as poor we will have a poverty spirit If we see ourselves as victims we will continue to act like victims If we see ourselves as inadequate we will walk in fear If we see ourselves as having little wo

Christian faith is not about what I need to do or believe, per say. You can do all the right things and believe all the right doctrines and still miss the very essence and spirit of our faith. At it’s core our faith has to do with relationship and personhood. Who do I belong to, and how does he relate to me and see me. Out of that core truth will flow these six messages that touch on: - Our relationship with God - His victory over sin, and freedom in us - His authority to conquer darkness under us - His purpose and ministry flowing through us