Desert Breeze Community Church

A citizen is a person who legally belongs to a country and has the rights and protection of that country. Citizens adopt the culture and practices of the nation or kingdom to which they belong. Every person is born into the kingdom of this world, in which Satan rules (2Cor4:4) and must be born again to see and enter the Kingdom of Heaven (John3:3,5). You are born again by grace through faith in Christ Jesus (John1:12).

Insecurity: is a feeling of general unease or nervousness that comes from perceiving of oneself to be vulnerable or inferior in some way that can lead to doubts and fears that control us.

Are you God’s Masterpiece? Is there evidence that God is working in you? Is there evidence that the God who began a good work in you is carrying it on to completion (Phil1:6)?

Over the centuries church “membership” has become less like what God intended and more like what quenches our earthly desires. Culturally "being a member" is more relative to a "club" that serves its customers, offering narrowly defined enjoyments, a singular identifying label and limited benefits that can expire. On the contrary, God’s vision for church membership is about blood-bought Kingdom citizenship. It offers a multifarious kingdom inheritance with eternal benefits and an imperishable identity that cannot be revoked.

Why do Christians gather every week? What are we doing? We gather to worship. Not to be entertained, not because it provides social standing in the community, and we certainly don’t meet to fulfill some sort of religious duty. We’re gathering because of this: We are Worshippers!

Imagine having courage to face anything, joy beyond circumstances, edifying and healing relationships, a perpetual song in your heart and a life abounding with thanksgiving and loving service to others. Sound too good to be true? The Spirit-filled life is the most amazing life you could ever hope or dream to live this side of heaven!

It doesn’t make sense that Almighty God would have children characterized by inordinate anxiety, anger and hopelessness. Chronic inordinate emotions in a believer is often the result of Gospel amnesia. To the degree you remember and relish who God is, who you are as his child, and what you have been given by His grace is to the degree you will experience love, joy, peace and abounding hope in all circumstances.

God is not a restrictor but a liberator! You are never freer than when you are fully devoted to Jesus Christ. Freedom isn’t doing whatever you want to do but doing what you were created to do. We were designed to know, serve, and love God supremely - and when we are faithful to that design, we flourish.

Everyone is building their identity on something. Our identity is what gives us meaning (What are you living for?) and worth (How well are you doing?). Identity apart from God is fundamentally unstable. Understanding our identity in Christ will give us an unshakable Identity of meaning and worth that all the success in this world can’t give you and all the suffering in this world can’t take from you.

Spiritual warfare is a hotly contested issue. One author said “Some people make the mistake of seeing Satan as a second god, viewing life as an ultimate conflict between good and evil.” Not only is this a misunderstanding of spiritual warfare, it also rejects the biblical view of the sovereignty of God over Satan. We must go to Scripture to understand what role we play in spiritual warfare. Throughout the book of 1 John we have seen that true spiritual warfare is done by abiding in Christ, fighting for righteousness, having pure doctrine, and lastly we will end the series by talking about prayer. Prayer is one of the most powerful weapons we have in this spiritual warfare and John gives us instruction for how and why we should be praying.

The Corona Virus has put our world on edge. As the number of confirmed cases grow so does fear and uncertainty. As Christians how should we be responding to this Pandemic? With Faith that overcomes Fear! Christianity is not a denial of the reality of this pandemic but embracing a greater reality that we have a God who is bigger than this pandemic, and we have a God who is stronger than any of the challenges we may face in the future.

It is not always easy to know who you can trust. It is not always easy to distinguish the good guys from the bad guys as the movies would lead you to believe. Truth and error are not as obvious as we would like them to be primarily because Satan masquerades as an angel of light (2Cor11:14). The battle field is our minds and what we believe (2Cor4:4, 11:3-4). If you don’t learn to be discerning between truth and error, you will inevitably be victimized (John8:31-32, 10:10; 2Cor10:3-5).

Our love for God and others grows out of an experience of God’s love for us. You can’t just grit your teeth and try harder to be a more loving person. True spiritual fruit of love, joy and peace comes from being swept up in intimate, loving encounters with Jesus Christ.

The Bible is very clear that everyone is in one of only two families. You are either in the family of the Devil or the family of God (John 8:35-47). We are born into this world as children of the Devil, but we must be born again to be children of God. In our pluralistic world that is not very politically correct, but it is very Biblically true, and the characteristics of each family are very distinct. The Children of God love God’s Son (Theological), love God’s Word (Moral), and love God’s people (Social). This love for God’s people is more than just words it is love in deed and truth (v18).

Righteousness is a characteristic that is unmistakably important to the Christian life. Nevertheless, many professing believers misunderstand it, substituting it for other concepts and vice versa. One of 1 John’s primary purposes is communicating what righteousness is and what it looks like in our lives. In chapter 3 John takes on the subject unapologetically.

The Christian life is not a morally restrained will but a supernaturally transformed heart. It is not behavioral modification but heart transformation. Fear and pride can restrain the will but only God’s love can transform the heart.

Our beliefs have consequences. If we come to believe wrong things about God, we will think, feel and behave in wrong ways about ourselves and life’s circumstances. Lies about God will reduce our potential, impair our vision and imprison our lives. Lies will enslave you but the truth will set you free

If we as Christians do not change from the inside-out—we are tempted to find external methods to satisfy our need to feel that we are different from those outside the faith. Boundary-Marker Spirituality is highly visible, relatively superficial practices that allow people to distinguish who is an insider and who is an outsider of the Family of God. Even worse, insiders become proud and judgmental toward outsiders. (John Ortberg “The Life You’ve Always Wanted”)

Maturity isn’t age, appearance, activity, achievements, or academics. Maturity is becoming more and more like Christ in character and conduct

Some people are easier to love than others. The gospel frees you to love people who hate you without needing love from then in return. All the love you need you have in Christ. It is the love you have been looking for your whole life!