The Whisper of God!

Don't Miss the Whisper
Pastor Razel O. Jones

On Wednesday, August 8, 2012 we will enjoy part 2 of this month's Connect series at Victory Life entitled, "The Whisper: Recognizing, Hearing & Obeying God's Voice." 

We had a great start last week as we talked about how God still speaks and the importance of quieting down the distractions in our lives. We talked about why God often chooses a whisper - the intimacy, the attentiveness, the direct communication, the fine tuning.

Today, I would like to ask you - have you ever experienced a whisper from God? If so, I would love if you would tell me about your experience by leaving a comment on this blog or emailing me-pastorrazel@victorybr.com.

Tomorrow night we will dive into "Divine Input for the Day-to-Day!" I hope to see you there as we work to help you hear God's voice better and have the boldness to obey what He says. Don't miss the whisper!

Activities also available for children and youth - Victory Life Christian Ministries - Connect - Wednesdays at 7pm!

Connected!

Last night was a phenomenal session of Connect. It seemed like everyone in the room had something good to offer to the discussion. I had been away from Connect for a few weeks and was excited to be back!

In the sanctuary, I led a discussion on movement towards your victory entitled, "Run for it!" We looked at what the bible says about running. What it means to run naturally and spiritually and how the principles of running can help us to advance towards our destiny.

We talked about how there are some things we need to run to and some things we need to run from. I would love to hear your thoughts on the subject.

Here are some questions you could answer - answer one or answer them all - it's up to you!

• What kind of a race are you in? 
• How can you train to be ready to run?
• What happens if you stop running?
• How can running connect you to your victory? 
• Who is your competition in this race?
• Where is the finish line? 
• What happens if you win the race? 
• What are you running to?
• What are you running from?
• What kinds of things prevent you, or try to prevent you, from running?

I'm looking forward to hearing from you! 

Connect is back!

Last night we gathered together for Connect at 7:00 p.m. It was the first time in a couple months that we had Connect due to our 10 month Connect schedule and we were ready! Sister Jessica and team put together great offerings for adults, youth and children all focused on the subject of Love. Sister Vanessa taught the adult class about the Greek meanings of 'love' and how Christ is looking for us to give this love to Him and to our brothers and sisters! I have such a great time hearing the insights of the Overcomers and friends of the ministry who attend Connect. We have some great minds in our midst. From the profound, instigating insights of Dad Jones to the sincere reflections of brand new Overcomers, Connect provides us with an opportunity to hear multiple voices and to learn and to grow from whatever stage we're at in our spiritual development journey. It was a great start to February and phase 2 of the blessings, glory and favor of 2012 at Victory Life! I'm looking forward to diving deeper into the Word at Connect, every Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. from February to November! If you happen to be checking out this blog, take a couple minutes and let us know what you got out of Connect this week!

Romans 7 at Connect

I just have to say, if you're able to come to Connect and just aren't coming, you are missing an amazing time in the Word.

For those of you who were there last night, I'd love to post a lot of the revelation understanding we came to last night.

Share your takeaways!

Connected! Strengths, Purpose, Destiny...

Connect last night was insane. God gave a lot of revelation. I don't like coming on here and talking about what I talked about. So, I need your help. Help me recap what came out of the discussion on Strengths last night. It's your turn to talk - share the insights!

Strategies for Purity

This is our second session on purity this month. Wow, we really added to our strategies for purity! We received a purity checklist which we encouraged the youth to post somewhere where they could see it everyday. The checklist came from a program by Christine St. George. You can find it online. To paraphrase a few strategies:

• We will stay pure today & pray for our future husbands/wives. We learned to focus on inward qualities when praying for our future mates, not just physical characteristics :-)
• We will avoid putting ourselves in situations where we can be tempted. We learned to be in groups and/or have a chaperon.
  
• If we date, we will only date those who share a commitment to purity. The students decided that you should be friends first and discuss your commitment to purity. They decided if your friend couldn't honor your commitment that you show them the door to the relationship :-) These are some feisty students!
• We will be an example. We will be a light to other youth regarding purity. We will show the world what we stand for by our stand on purity. This may give other young people the courage to be pure!
• We will dress appropriately so that others won't lust. We decided that we didn't want to wear shirts that were too low cut, pants/skirts that showed our backside or bellies, or clothes that were too tight or short. We talked about how young men are sexually excited by what they see and young women are excited by feeling close to others.
  
• We will take impure thought and temptations to God in prayer. We talked about the images, lyrics that we may see/hear/read about on television, movies, songs, magazines, books and the internet.

It was a great session! Our youth are great leaders who are learning God's plan for their lives. Encourage them! We'd love to hear more from you!

Purity

Youth discussed purity this week. What a relevant issue for the pressures that our youth are faced with, including pressures to have sex before marriage, pornography and sexting to name a few. We talked about three Bible truths:

• God wants us to attain purity as a mark of his presence in us. 1 Thessalonians 4: 3, 7, 8
• Gaining purity is not a one-time event, but a process. 1 Thessalonians 4: 1, 2
• Purity keeps us from abusing one another. 1 Thessalonians 4: 4-6

We talked about strategies that help us in this process including:

• Avoiding being alone with members of the opposite sex.
  
• Surround yourself with other young people who value purity.
  
• Wait until you are old enough to date.
  
• Listen to your parents advice regarding your relationships.
  

Any other advice for our youth? Post so we can share with them!

Connect - In His Image, In His Strength

We had a great discussion at Connect last night. This month I'm talking about our strengths. We entered the month last night discussing the fact that we were created in the image of an omnipotent God. Each of us reflects God in some way. We have some traits, characteristics, mannerisms, abilities and strengths that reflect God and identify our connection to Him.

We learned that a strength is:

• a developed talent
• a recognized and appreciated gift
• an opportunity capitalized upon
• actualized potential

God gave us some great insight and revelation into Romans 8:28-37 (King James Version). Below I've listed 3 of the verses; tell me what you get out of these and how this relates to our Strengths!

²⁸And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

²⁹For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

³⁰Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

Exodus

In our discussion of Exodus this week in Connect, we tried to answer several questions. We had great responses with life changing applications for our own lives. Questions and responses are highlighted below. Add your responses and comment on our responses!

What can we learn about leadership from Moses' example?

• Anyone can be a leader. God enables us.
  
• Leaders follow God's instructions/obey God.
  
• Leaders respect God.
• Leaders lead by example and do what is right.
  
• Leaders respect and care for the people they are leading.
  
• Leaders pray for their people/advocate for their people.
  
• Leaders are persistent and persevere.
  
• Leaders are sometimes isolated.
  
• Leaders are content in serving others and serving God regardless of other people's opinions.
  
• Leaders don't compromise what God told them to do.
  
• Leaders realize their role and function effectively within that role.
  
• Leaders surround themselves with people who will hold them up as Aaron held up Moses' arms/staff when he became week.
  
• Leaders can't be everything to everyone.
  
• Leaders are humble.
  
• Leaders are responsible for the people they lead.
  
• Leaders must be totally dependent on God.
  
• Leaders are anointed.

What have we learned about God's nature toward His people while reading Exodus?

• God is patient and long suffering.
  
• God leads by loving example.
  
• God has emotions.
  
• God has high expectations for his people.
  
• God will never call you to do something that you cannot do.
• God desires intimacy with his people.
  
• God speaks to us.
  
• God can/will change his mind for us.
  
• God honors his promises and we need to remind him of his promises to us.
  
• God is faithful.
  

How are we like the children of Israel? What lessons can we learn from them?

• We don't take heed right away.
  
• We often don't internalize God's instructions so that they guide our decisions.
  
• We need deliverance.
  
• Many of us don't know our own identity.
  
• Many of us are living beneath our privilege.
• Many of us have a slave mentality.
  
• Many of us believe the labels that are put on us and consequently live out those labels.
  
• Many of our prolong our process/"How long will you make your process?"

What did we learn about the Holy Spirit in Exodus?

• The Holy Spirit guides leaders around the other leaders with special anointing to meet needs.
  
• The Holy Spirit gives us gifts that may not be common.
  
• The gifts that the Holy Spirit gives us may be the first time that we have seen that gift seen. Your anointing may be the FIRST.
  

We also discussed wisdom as it is discussed in the first five chapter of Proverbs, but we'll have to hold off on that discussion for a future blog. We have plenty to meditate on already! Looking forward to reading your posts and revelations! Don't miss Connect next week. We will continue with our plan of reading the Bible in the year. See the website for our reading plan and jump on the bandwagon. It's not too late to start!

Everything is Spiritual

We had such a great time in Connect last night as we went deeper into the series entitled "Everything is Spiritual." We began our study by observing simple objects in the room such as, keys, pens and pencils, and even cell phones and shared insight on how those items were spiritual or a representation of something spiritual. Let's take the cell phone. A cell phone allows you to hear someone that you cannot see! How about the keys. Keys give you access or authority over places that you otherwise may not be allowed. With a pencil, I could draw a picture which gives others a visual of my thoughts! Let's play a game. Name an item around you and tell me how it can be spiritual.

Youth Connect

We had such fun in Youth Connect this week. We started off with a hilarious game of "Ha!" You'll have to join us to find out how to play and enjoy this game with us. We then cut up bananas and tried to put them back together with tape, staples, glue, etc. It didn't work! We discussed how we need to think about the consequences of our actions/decisions before we act because we can't fix our mistakes once they are made. But never despair, we learned that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23 NIV). We also learned that the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23 NIV). Thank God for the hope that He gives us. These scriptures are our basis for our lessons in October. We'll earn more prizes by memorizing and reciting these this month. We ended our session playing Bible Blink and Uno and enjoyed pizza and pop delivered by Pizza Hut! Come join us on Wednesdays at 7:00 p.m. in the Life Suite!

Connect Revelations

Isaiah 43:25 (New International Version)

²⁵ "I, even I, am he who blots out
your transgressions, for my own sake,
and remembers your sins no more.

Blot: to stain, to cover, to remove...

Indeed He has blotted our transgressions away - and, what did He use to stain and to cover our sins... His blood. Now, when He sees us, instead of seeing our sins and transgressions, He sees the blood of Jesus. This verse, which we studied in Connect the last two weeks is full of truth and sets the Lord up as our perfect example of a forgiver.

Last night it was so interesting as we got to the subject of God forgiving and forgetting to see the rejection of this concept to our own personal lives. For us, it is more manageable to forgive than to forget. God though, being our example of forgiveness, determined that He would forgive His people and for His own sake remember their sins no more. When we forgive, do we forget? Can we truly forgive without forgetting? He said He would remember our sins no more. That word, 'remember' is an interesting word.

Remember:
recall knowledge from memory - keep in mind for attention or consideration - recapture the past; indulge in memories; call to remembrance; keep alive the memory of something

When we constantly recall negative memories from people who have wronged us - when we keep their actions in mind for future attention or consideration - when we recapture the past and indulge in negative memories from our past - when we call past hurts, pains, defeats, let-downs and keep these memories alive in our heads and hearts, we have not forgiven in the way the Lord has demonstrated forgiveness. The thing to remember is that forgiveness does more for the forgiver than for the forgiven. There's a famous statement that says that "resentment (unforgiveness) is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die." Another famous quote says, "Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the only one who gets burned." In this scripture we find this sentiment echoed by our Lord... "I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more." He has forgiven us for His sake.

In the words that many of us pray every night... in the middle of the prayer lies this secret as we are instructed to pray - forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. The two concepts are connected - the only way to receive forgiveness is to give forgiveness. Lord, please give us a heart that forgives!

Pastor Razel Jones

Victory Life Christian Ministries

Introductions

Greetings,

This is a blog from the Christian Education Ministry of the Victory Life Christian Ministries. Our goal is to inform you of current and upcoming programming and provide you with inspiration through the written word.

Connect is our midweek service. During this time, Wednesdays 7:00-8:00 p.m., a variety of sessions are offered. We rotate through a variety of sessions, which may include topical Bible studies, book discussion groups, recreational activities which promote Christian fellowship, activities to promote physical, financial, emotional and spiritual well-being. The activities target interests of overcomers of all ages: six months to eight years in Kid's Konnection, eight years and up for Youth Connect and adults of all ages.

For the week of August 18, three classes were offered during Connect:

• Pastor Razel taught on the topic of "Failure and Redemption". The adults in the class received and shared revelations regarding the cleansing, pardon and rewards of God.
  
• Brother Jake taught the youth about the "Parable of the Lost Son". They then unscrambled limericks reflecting the memory verse about rebellion.
  
• Sister Tracey presented stories and activities around the theme of "Love God by Making Good Choices" during Kid's Konnection. Their story was based on 1 Kings 3: 1-15 when King Solomon had a dream and God told him that he could ask for whatever he wanted. King Solomon asked for wisdom. They then determined if people made good or bad choices.
  

Come out for the August 25 Connect classes and learn more. We have classes for all ages!

We're looking forward to part two of our financial freedom series with Bro. Bobby. It will cover credit and loans and will begin in October.

Feel free to suggest future topics that you would like to discuss in Connect or titles of books for our book discussion groups during our Connect times.