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[Sermon Note] The Unforced Rhythm of Grace

Preached by Pastor Stephanie




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Judges 4:1-2 NLT

After Ehud’s death, the Israelites again did evil in the Lord’s sight.

So the Lord turned them over to King Jabin of Hazor, a Canaanite king. The commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-haggoyim.


The children of Israel very happy when God delivered them, but after a while they will forget God and be disobedient


God raised up Judges to deliver the people of Israel


Judges 4:3 NLT

Sisera, who had 900 iron chariots, ruthlessly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years. Then the people of Israel cried out to the Lord for help.


This time is 20 years. They oppressed children of God and they cried out to the Lord for help


Imagine 20 years of your life oppressed.


Oppressed-

To squeeze, press, oppress

Distress, afflicted, crush


Forcing labours, hardship on them

The devil oppress the mind. The Lord deliver us in respect of our spirit soul and body.


This oppression to the people not born again were living under stress and fear.


They are oppression today even to people who are born again.

Where is this oppression? In your spirit you are born again, the devil cannot possess the spirit. He can oppress the mind and cause all the fears.


Jesus free us from oppression


All kind of fear. Fear of lack. The whole earth belong to Him. Where is the fear if you know your Daddy God owns everything?


When you have the knowledge of who you are and who your Daddy is, you will not be fearful


Key to good sleep and good rest because of what Jesus has done for us.


No hope because of the devil.


Acts 10:38 NLT

And you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.


The devil has no power at all because Jesus has dethrone him.


ANOINTED JESUS

Holy Spirit

Power


The most powerful being is our God Jesus, Holy Spirit! Who we have in us is the most powerful! Jesus can go around healing.


Behind sin and sickness is satan.


Everyone who is oppressed is in the mind now.


Oppressed -

Harsh control over someone

To use one’s power against one

To exercise dominion against


Adam was supposed to have dominion

When we receive Jesus, we are born again


Jesus has done the defeating of the devil and we just need to step into His victory


When someone is oppressed, the person no longer can use this authority.


The devil is not scare of a baby (in the spirit) who receive Jesus

He is scare the baby has grown up and able to take the authority that has been given to him or her. The devil no longer has this harsh control.


The person is suffering and yet can be a believer.


Instead of we using the power to get rid of the devil, he is using his power to control our mind.


The dominion God gave to Adam and he gave away.

Now as new creation, God gave this dominion to us and yet we surround this dominion to the devil by not exercising the authority.


1 John 3:8

He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.


What Jesus did is permanent. He destroyed the works of the devil.


Jesus was manifested that He might DESTROY the works of the devil.


The works on the cross is finished work!


The devil attacks and we don’t just defend. His work has been destroyed 2000 years ago by Jesus.


Isaiah 10:27

It shall come to pass in that day

That his burden will be taken away from your shoulder,

And his yoke from your neck,

And the yoke will be destroyed because of the anointing oil.


His yoke from your neck and the yoke will be destroyed


Doctors cannot do permanent healing.

Jesus does permanent healing!


Totally destroyed means nothing.

The yoke will be destroyed because of the anointing oil.


Through Jesus. Jesus Christ means the anointed one.


The tangible anointing when you worship the Lord


Isaiah 10:27 NLT

In that day the Lord will end the bondage of his people. He will break the yoke of slavery and lift it from their shoulders


All the lies and lying symptoms are destroyed. The devil has no control over the mind if we don’t allow him to.


God is greater inside us. And we need to fill this in our mind.


Galatians 5:1

Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.


Slavery can be physical or mental

The truth of the word of God is we already healed. This is the freedom.


What is this yoke of bondage?


Grace is in Christ whereby He set us free.


Yoke

Entangled in half truth half lies

Continue to believe you are sick because of generation curse, this is lie


A yoke that is put on draught cattle

A troublesome laws imposed on one especially of the Mosaic law.

The law is like a yoke of slavery.

The origin is to join

Join to the law. To the requirement to the law by the yoke.


Galatians 3:13

Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:


Deuteronomy 28 there are blessings of the law and curses of the law if we disobedient.


If your experiences is inside this curses, you will think is because of your disobedience. Jesus redeemed us from the curse of the law.


Something bad happen to you, the law will beat you up and focus on you did not do this and that.

Grace is focused on what Christ has done.

Redeem means payment


Redeemed

By payment of a price to recover from the power of another

To buy off

To buy up


When we were born under Adam, we will in bondage to sin. Sin has the result of guilt, disease, lack.


The point of conversion we have a different father. Our father is now our Daddy God.


Jesus redeemed us from the power of devil over our lives.


Instead of punishing you and me, the punishment which is death, (the curse of disobedience to God), Jesus took the punishment upon Himself and He obeyed the law.


All the curses in Deuteronomy, Jesus paid the price to get our freedom. This payment is the blood of Jesus. Only Christ can buy our freedom for us.


We are already free! Walk out from the devil oppression in our lives


Galatians 5:1 TPT

At last we have freedom, for Christ has set us free! We must always cherish this truth and firmly refuse to go back into the bondage of our past.


New creation is new and old things have passed away.


Our freedom is partaking on the tree of life. We depend on Christ and Christ alone.


Weaknesses failures - these are the past

Wrong belief - believe that cannot be healed, this is in the soul area


Romans 8:15

For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”


God allows us to make mistake.


Spirit where we become the child of God and we don’t fear.


If you are the son of the billionaire, will you have fear of lack? No fear.


Fear is in soul area due to the lack of understanding of who God is and our identity in Christ.


Romans 8:15 TPT

And you did not receive the “spirit of religious duty,” leading you back into the fear of never being good enough. But you have received the “Spirit of full acceptance,” enfolding you into the family of God. And you will never feel orphaned, for as he rises up within us, our spirits join him in saying the words of tender affection, “Beloved Father!”


Our Daddy God takes care of us.


Oppression is in the soul area when we don’t know who our Daddy God is and who we are in God


Psalms 32:8 KJV

I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go:

I will guide thee with mine eye.


Psalms 32:9 KJV

Be ye not as the horse,

or as the mule, which have no understanding:

whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle,

lest they come near unto thee.


Don’t be like the horse or mule because they don’t have understanding


Swallow, swift

Horse


Horse is strong and fast

They are strong and beautiful in their own might.


The horse in order to be of use, need to be tamed.


It is like the law. We cannot be controlled. We need the bit and bridle


The law is to help us keep in control until Jesus come. Grace came.


If we go under law we will always be under don’t do this and that


Mule - offspring of a donkey and a horse (strictly, a male donkey and a female horse), typically sterile and used as a beast of burden.


You are human being. The Lord loves us and don’t want us to be controlled by bits and bridle.


Onery

Bad-tempered or difficult to deal with

Grouchy

Grumpy

Uncooperative


Today the new creation is not onery. The old self has died.


In the new we born again and we have a new man. This new man has got new nature of God inside.


Sometimes we are grouchy because of our non-renewed mind.


The strength of sin is the law.

The more we tell children don’t do this and that, the more we do.


The strength of sin is the law


Psalms 32:9

Be ye not as the horse,

or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.


Understanding

Discernment

Able to distinguish

To have discernment, insight


To separate mentally

(Understanding is also inside soul area)

Wisdom.


The horse and mule don’t have wisdom


Understanding is very important. We don’t have to be like horse and mule without understanding and wisdom.


Sometimes law might be very fast but without understanding and wisdom


Today we can have His thoughts and His ways


1 Kings 3:4-6

The king went to Gibeon, the most prestigious of the local shrines, to worship. He sacrificed a thousand Whole-Burnt-Offerings on that altar. That night, there in Gibeon, GOD appeared to Solomon in a dream: God said, "What can I give you? Ask."

Solomon said, "You were extravagantly generous in love with David my father, and he lived faithfully in your presence, his relationships were just and his heart right. And you have persisted in this great and generous love by giving him—and this very day!—a son to sit on his throne.


After the tithing is offering. Offering is giving to God


God wants to give us more. The giving part is to destroy the dependency of money on living. Our dependency is on God.


When we give, we are sowing. Not that the money fly away.


God gives us more.

Each time you give, God can give you back much more.

David is Solomon’s father. David was more generous than his father.

When everything was ready, he gave to Solomon to build the building.

David live in the presence of God


Worshipping is an area where you will experience the presence of God


Worship together with giving

When God loves us He gave.


David had a right heart with God

David is a man after God’s heart.


One of the blessings of God’s favour upon our lives is to have a son to take over


Spiritual - not physical son or daughter

Is those people who will take the mantel from you


God bless him by giving a son to sit on the throne. There is succession.


1 Kings 3:7-8 MSG

"And now here I am: GOD, my God, you have made me, your servant, ruler of the kingdom in place of David my father. I'm too young for this, a mere child! I don't know the ropes, hardly know the 'ins' and 'outs' of this job. And here I am, set down in the middle of the people you've chosen, a great people—far too many to ever count.


He recognised the greatness of the people of God. God is going to make you great.


You are chosen as leader to impart or teach, see the people are great people.


Jesus sacrificed Himself for you and me.


When Jesus comes again, we become rulers.


1 Kings 3:9

Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?


Being a leader we need understanding


Judge - to rule, govern, judge

To decide controversy (of God, man)


Discern: Heb. hear


There is a place of understanding right and wrong


To be able to distinguish. If you have ears to hear, let him hear. Is very important to hear who is right and wrong.


Listen properly.


1 Kings 3:10-14

God, the Master, was delighted with Solomon's response. And God said to him, "Because you have asked for this and haven't grasped after a long life, or riches, or the doom of your enemies, but you have asked for the ability to lead and govern well, I'll give you what you've asked for—I'm giving you a wise and mature heart. There's never been one like you before; and there'll be no one after. As a bonus, I'm giving you both the wealth and glory you didn't ask for—there's not a king anywhere who will come up to your mark. And if you stay on course, keeping your eye on the life-map and the God-signs as your father David did, I'll also give you a long life."


Vengeance is mine, says the Lord


He asked for the ability to lead and govern well. God gives a WISE and MATURE HEART


Jesus’ government there is wisdom. With wisdom we will learn there is justice


WEALTH and GLORY

Solomon asked for understanding and wisdom and God gave him bonus. He gave him wealth and glory as well.


Stay on course - GPS

Holy Spirit is like the train

The track is the Word of God


Solomon did not follow the “GPS”

Solomon had a lot of concubines who are of different religions.


1 Kings 3:15

Solomon woke up—what a dream! He returned to Jerusalem, took his place before the Chest of the Covenant of God, and worshiped by sacrificing Whole-Burnt-Offerings and Peace-Offerings. Then he laid out a banquet for everyone in his service.


1 Kings 3:16-21

The very next thing, two prostitutes showed up before the king. The one woman said, "My master, this woman and I live in the same house. While we were living together, I had a baby. Three days after I gave birth, this woman also had a baby. We were alone—there wasn't anyone else in the house except for the two of us. The infant son of this woman died one night when she rolled over on him in her sleep. She got up in the middle of the night and took my son—I was sound asleep, mind you!—and put him at her breast and put her dead son at my breast. When I got up in the morning to nurse my son, here was this dead baby! But when I looked at him in the morning light, I saw immediately that he wasn't my baby."


1 Kings 3:22 MSG

"Not so!" said the other woman. "The living one's mine; the dead one's yours."

The first woman countered, "No! Your son's the dead one; mine's the living one."

They went back and forth this way in front of the king.


1 Kings 3:24-25 MSG

After a moment the king said, "Bring me a sword." They brought the sword to the king. Then he said, "Cut the living baby in two—give half to one and half to the other."


You need to hear the holy spirit.

Be led by the Spirit. Discern spirit voice and devil voice


The ways of God


1 Kings 3:26

The real mother of the living baby was overcome with emotion for her son and said, "Oh no, master! Give her the whole baby alive; don't kill him!"

But the other one said, "If I can't have him, you can't have him—cut away!"


One mother always give. The real mother would rather have the baby alive and give to the other mother.


Discern-> a giving heart.


God teaches us how to distinguish. The one who give is the one who has the heart of God.


1 Kings 3:27-28

The king gave his decision: "Give the living baby to the first woman. Nobody is going to kill this baby. She is the real mother."

The word got around—everyone in Israel heard of the king's judgment. They were all in awe of the king, realizing that it was God's wisdom that enabled him to judge truly.


God’s wisdom that enabled him to judge truly.


1 Kings 5:4

But now the LORD my God hath given me rest on every side, so that there is neither adversary nor evil occurrent.


Wisdom and understanding lead to rest.


Matthew 11:28-30 NKJV

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”


We need understanding and wisdom, than only rest will come.


My yoke is easy and light


Labour -

Weary, tired, exhausted (with toil or burdens or griefs)

To labour with wearisome effort, to toil of bodily labour.


To feel fatigue; by implication to work hard


Heavy Laden-

To place a burden upon, to load one with a burden (of rites and unwarranted precepts). To load up.


Matthew 11:28-30 MSG

"Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."


Rest, Walk with Him. Work with Him. Watch how to do it.


Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.


Rhythm generally means a “movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions”.


Who is the movement? If you join yourself to Jesus, you yoke yourself to Jesus, we are the weak one. Christ is the strong one. When we join ourselves to Christ, He is the strong one. We just let go and let Him.


We join to Christ through His Word and let Him lead.


Unforced. Means we don’t need to use our effort. We just relax and enjoy ourselves to the greater one.


We don’t need to focus on ourselves. We just follow Him


Matthew 11:27 MSG

Jesus resumed talking to the people, but now tenderly. "The Father has given me all these things to do and say. This is a unique Father-Son operation, coming out of Father and Son intimacies and knowledge. No one knows the Son the way the Father does, nor the Father the way the Son does. But I'm not keeping it to myself; I'm ready to go over it line by line with anyone willing to listen.


UNIQUE FATHER-SON OPERATION

Willing to listen. You are willing to listen, Jesus will teach you.


Observe how the Father does it


Jesus said just look at Me and My Father.

When we have the understanding of our relationship with God. God watches us. He has healed us. He does not oppress us.


There is no sickness in heaven and therefore no sickness in us.


Have the understanding of our relationship of our Father and us


He carries our burdens. Just sit on Him and rest in Him.


Psalms 32:8-9 TPT

I hear the Lord saying, “I will stay close to you, instructing and guiding you along the pathway for your life. I will advise you along the way and lead you forth with my eyes as your guide. So don’t make it difficult; don’t be stubborn when I take you where you’ve not been before.

Don’t make me tug you and pull you along. Just come with me!”


Understand why you tithe and why you give.


Understand why you take communion for your health and healing.


Never done before? There is always a start. Go on His shoulder and just follow.

When you tug, that is the law.


Come with Me. With understanding.


Trusting fully that the Father knows it all. Keep on building on who God is.


When we know we are resting in Him, we will not worry.


Have understanding and trust the Father with your journey in lives.




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