{"id":3553,"date":"2020-05-01T06:00:06","date_gmt":"2020-05-01T11:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/?p=3553"},"modified":"2020-05-01T07:09:53","modified_gmt":"2020-05-01T12:09:53","slug":"found-gods-will-principle-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/2020\/05\/found-gods-will-principle-5\/","title":{"rendered":"Found – God’s Will: Principle 5"},"content":{"rendered":"
Six Principles – Seed of Ideas by John MacArthur Jr.<\/b><\/div>\n
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We are continuing our discussion from our last devotional thought.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Since God\u2019s will is not lost, it is not something to be found. Rather, it is something to be experienced.<\/span><\/div>\n
How, then, do we \u201cfind\u201d (experience) God\u2019s will?<\/span><\/div>\n
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We are looking at SIX PRINCIPLES to experiencing God\u2019s will. <\/span><\/div>\n
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The first four principles are: You Must Be SAVED; You Must Be SPIRIT-FILLED; You Must Be Living a SANCTIFIED Life; You Must Be Living A SUBMISSIVE Life.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Today, we look at the fifth principle:<\/span><\/div>\n
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5. You Must Be Willing to  S U F F E R <\/span><\/div>\n
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1 Peter 2:21-23 <\/span><\/div>\n
To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. 22 “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” 23 When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.<\/span><\/div>\n
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We are called to suffer and we must suffer Christ\u2019s way. We don\u2019t make our decision by lining up all the negatives that might happen and all the positives that might happen. If the positive outweighs the negative, then we decide it must be God\u2019s will.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Can you see Jesus making up such a list?  \u201cOK, if I go through with this, on the negative side, I\u2019m going to be falsely accused, spat upon, cursed at, beating within a hair of my life, speared on the top of my head with thorns, humiliated in nakedness on a cross, suffer the pain of the crucifixion and suffer the unbelievable pain of the Father\u2019s rejection of sin. OK, on the positive side, ugh\u2026\u2026.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
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If Jesus hadn\u2019t been willing to suffer, He would have missed the cross. We live in the heart of the Word of Faith movement. Word of Faith teaching holds that God wants His people to be financially prosperous, as well as have good health, and to live generally prosperous lives.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Word of Faith teaches that God empowers His people (blesses them) to achieve the promises that are contained in the Bible. Because of this, suffering does not come from God, but rather, from Satan. <\/span><\/div>\n
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As Kenneth Copeland’s ministry has stated, the idea that God uses suffering for our benefit is considered to be “a deception of Satan” and “absolutely against the Word of God.” <\/span><\/div>\n
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Well, contrast that lie with these truths of God\u2019s word!<\/span><\/div>\n
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When God called Paul into ministry, He said this to Ananias regarding Paul,<\/span><\/div>\n
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Acts 9:16 \u201cFor I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
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Modern Evangelism wouldn\u2019t think of using this approach. Listen to Paul\u2019s experience of what it cost him to follow Christ.<\/span><\/div>\n
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2 Corinthians 11:24\u201328 (NIV)<\/span><\/div>\n
24 Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, 26 I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. 27 I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. 28 Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. <\/span><\/div>\n
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Paul said to the Philippians,  \u201cFor it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him\u201d (Philippians 1:29). <\/span><\/div>\n
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Peter viewed times of suffering as part of God\u2019s will:<\/span><\/div>\n
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1 Peter 3:17 (NIV84)<\/span><\/div>\n
It is better, if it is God\u2019s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. <\/span><\/div>\n
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1 Peter 4:19 (NIV84)<\/span><\/div>\n
So then, those who suffer according to God\u2019s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good. <\/span><\/div>\n
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If we are not willing to suffer, we may never know God\u2019s will for our lives.<\/span><\/div>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Six Principles – Seed of Ideas by John MacArthur Jr.   We are continuing our discussion from our last devotional thought.   Since God\u2019s will is not lost, it is not something to be found. Rather, it is something to be experienced. How, then, do we \u201cfind\u201d (experience) God\u2019s will?   We are looking at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[140],"tags":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3553"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3553"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3553\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3555,"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3553\/revisions\/3555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}