Why Settle for Less?

Embrace Who You Really Are,

And Have God’s Best!!

Discussion

God Honors Us

Jn 1:12–13 (NKJV) — 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right(authority, power, exousia]) to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

• This is an opportunity for us to embrace who we are!

  • It is contingent upon our accepting the offer.

• It is reminiscent of the very beginning. Gen 1:26-28. What was the purpose?

• 1 Ti 1:14 (NKJV) — 14 And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. 

• Eph 3:20 (NKJV) — 20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, 

• Ro 5:8 (NKJV) — 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 

• Jn 3:16 (NKJV) — 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

• John 10:10 emphasis on more abundantly!

• He has saved us, reconciled us unto God, made us the Father’s children, and that not enough, He has removed our citizenship from this world and made us citizens of heaven!

• You have been born again into greatness! Embrace it! 

  • What is this greatness?

• Mary is an example of one who submitted to the Holy Spirit. Can you name other examples? Whoever submitted to the Holy Spirit could do supernatural things!

How We Mature in the Spirit

• 1 Pe 2:2 (NKJV) — 2 as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby,

• Ro 12:2 (NKJV) — 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. 

• Many people are immature even though they attend church.

1 Co 3:1–3 (NKJV) — 1 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to Spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; 3 for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?

• We must study to grow in the word.

Heb 5:12–14 (NKJV) — 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. 14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

• One area of immaturity is us classifying one another in ways other than children of God.

Ga 3:26–29 (NKJV) — 26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. 

• As long as you are immature, you cannot expect to receive blessings that are reserved for those who are mature.

Ga 4:1–5 (NKJV) — 1 Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all, 2 but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father. 3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. 4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” 7 Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

One Great Promise to the Mature in Christ

• We are guaranteed answers to our prayers as children of God.

• Mt 7:7–11 (NKJV) — 7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? 11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! 

  • As a child of God, we can ask and we will receive!

  • As a child of God, whatever we seek after, it will be given to us!

  • As a child of God, whatever door we knock on, it will be opened for us!

• Jn 15:7 (NKJV) — 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 

• We have the guarantee of answered prayers when we are mature!

• The full measure of maturity in Christ is represented as follows:

Jn 15:12–17 (NKJV) — 12 This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. 14 You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. 17 These things I command you, that you love one another. 

• TOO MANY OF US ARE NOT MATURE ENOUGH TO RECEIVE THE THINGS THE GROWN CHILDREN CAN RECEIVE!

  • Jas 4:2–3 (NKJV) — 2 You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.

• What is the greatest characteristic of those who are mature in Christ?

Ga 5:14 (NKJV) — 14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 

• We must defeat our overwhelming desires to follow the patterns of this world.

Jas 4:4 (NKJV) — 4 Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever, therefore, wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”?

• Jas 5:16 (NKJV) — 16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. 

  • A righteous person is one who practices __________________. Therefore, we can expect answers to our prayers if we practice ______________.

• Like the prodigal son, we all need to come to our senses of who we really are.

• Satan will always try by deception to keep us from realizing the truth!

  • He does not want us to see ourselves as children of God. He does not want us to see our rich spiritual inheritance as children of God.

  • He wants us to settle for less, focus on the distractions of the world, and not embrace who we really are, so that we will not have God’s best.

• What are other ways he deceives us?