Join us at Thrive Church for Fall Fest! Enjoy a fun-filled evening with a craft fair featuring local artisans and a variety of food trucks serving up delicious eats! It’s the perfect way to celebrate the season with family, friends, and our community. Don’t miss out on the fun!
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GOD PART:
JOHN 15
1 “I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more.3 You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. 4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. 5 “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. 6 Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. 7 But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! 8 When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father. 9 “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. 10 When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. 11 I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!
ISAIAH 30:
15 For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel:
“In returning-(shoo-baw’)
Definition: retirement, withdrawal
and rest – (nakh’-ath- quiet attitude, rest of death)
you shall be saved; (Niph`al:
to deliver , be capacious, make wide, spacious, make sufficient, be or live in abundance)
In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.”-(gheb-oo-raw’)
Definition: strength, might
But you would not,
18 Therefore the Lord will wait, that He may be gracious to you;
And therefore He will be exalted, that He may have mercy on you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
Blessed are all those who wait for Him.
23 Then He will give the rain for your seed
With which you sow the ground,
And bread of the increase of the earth;
It will be [g]fat and plentiful.
In that day your cattle will feed
In large pastures.
24 Likewise the oxen and the young donkeys that work the ground
Will eat cured fodder,
Which has been winnowed with the shovel and fan.
25 There will be on every high mountain
And on every high hill
Rivers and streams of waters,
In the day of the great slaughter,
When the towers fall.
26 Moreover the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun,
And the light of the sun will be sevenfold,
As the light of seven days,
In the day that the Lord binds up the bruise of His people
And heals the stroke of their wound.
ASCEND
Every time an ascension happened in Scripture, something greater was released from heaven and came back to earth.
Enoch was one of the first mentioned in the Bible who ascended to be with God. “Enoch lived sixty-five years, and begot Methuselah. After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and had sons and daughters. So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him” (Genesis 5:21-24).
Enoch walked with God at such a level of communion that he and the Lord were just walking and talking in the spiritual realm, and they went the rest of the way together.
The ascension was awesome, but here’s the most incredible part: Enoch did all that while he had kids. Some say, “My kids occupy so much of my time that I don’t really have time to have that high level of walking with the Lord.”
If you ask the Lord, He’ll help you live in two realms at the same time. Nothing is impossible with God.
A true prophetic person is someone who can see two realms at once.
Moses: Moses ascended up Mount Sinai, spent several days with the Lord, and watched the fiery finger of God write His law upon the Ten Commandments.
He got so soaked in glory that he had to veil his face to prevent people from looking at him. Moses came back with the Ten Commandments and the Torah.
Isaiah– ascended to the throne room, had his lips cleansed, and received a prophetic commissioning (see Isaiah 6).
He ascended and then descended to give us the rest of the book of Isaiah, which spoke of Jesus some 700 years before He was born.
In chapter 66, he wrote about the new heavens and the new earth, which we have not yet experienced.
All three of those demonstrate what can happen when God grants access to ascension and allows you to see into eternity.
That’s the power of a throne room encounter. Spend more time in the secret place than you do in the public space.
JESUS– When one of God’s children ascends, something gets released—new levels, new dimensions. We saw this happen multiple times with Jesus.
When Jesus ascended for the last time, until the second coming, something greater descended ten days later: Pentecost.
When Jesus ascended into heaven, He sent to believers the same Spirit that raised Him from the dead, giving them the power to preach the gospel and perform signs, wonders, and miracles.
Jesus said, “Hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending” (see John 1:51).
There is coming a time—the kingdom age—when messengers of God will be given access to ascend and descend. And it will not just be angels as we know them, but also God’s human messengers.
“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33).
ABIDES
Abide in Jesus So You Can Bear Good Fruit
God loves you so much and He wants to do great things in you and through you. He wants to teach and train you to be kind and gentle, peaceful and patient, loving and forgiving like Him.
But you can’t develop that “fruit” on your own.
John 15:4, Jesus says, Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.
In other words, we need to spend time with God.
He wants a close, personal, intimate relationship with each of us.
When we stay connected to God through meaningful Bible study and prayer, we’re abiding in Jesus.
God wants us to be so rooted and grounded in His love that nothing can shake us—so we’re able to bear good fruit in even the hardest, most difficult seasons of life.
ADVANCE
Keep Your Eye on the Prize
Philippians 3:13-14, the apostle Paul said, …One thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Make a determined decision to let go of the past and press on to experience a fuller, richer, more abundant life in Christ.
Pray today: “God, I’m tired of dragging this heavy load around with me. I’m ready to let it go so I can get on with my life and experience a closer relationship with You.
JAMES 1
Trials and Temptations
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,
3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.
4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
TESTING:
Cognate: 1383 dokímion– what is found approved (genuine) after testing, focusing on the inevitable results of thiS.
FAITH:
Faith (4102/pistis) is always a gift from God, and never something that can be produced by people. In short, 4102/pistis (“faith”) for the believer is “God’s divine persuasion” – and therefore distinct from human belief (confidence), yet involving it. The Lord continuously births faith in the yielded believer so they can know what He prefers, i.e. the persuasion of His will (1 Jn 5:4).
PRODUCES:
2716 katergázomai (from 2596 /katá, “down, exactly according to,” intensifying 2038 /ergázomai, “work, accomplish”) – literally, “work down to the end-point,” i.e. to an exact, definite conclusion.
ENDURANCE:
5281 hypomonḗ (from 5259 /hypó, “under” and 3306 /ménō, “remain, endure”) – properly, remaining under, endurance; steadfastness, especially as God enables the believer to “remain (endure) under” the challenges He allots in life
HEBREWS 11
By Faith We Understand
1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Original language:
Is now Faith of hoped for assurance, of things the conviction not being seen.
2 For by it the elders obtained a good testimony.
3 By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.
FAITH:
4102 pístis (from 3982/peithô, “persuade, be persuaded”) – properly, persuasion (be persuaded, come to trust); faith.
Faith (4102/pistis) is always a gift from God, and never something that can be produced by people. In short, 4102/pistis (“faith”) for the believer is “God’s divine persuasion” – and therefore distinct from human belief (confidence), yet involving it. The Lord continuously births faith in the yielded believer so they can know what He prefers, i.e. the persuasion of His will (1 Jn 5:4).
HOPED:
1679 elpízō (from 1680 /elpís, “hope”) – to hope, actively waiting for God’s fulfillment about the faith He has inbirted through the power of His love (cf. Gal 5:6 with Heb 11:1)
ASSURANCE:
5287 hypóstasis(from 5259 /hypó, “under” and 2476 /hístēmi, “to stand”) – properly, (to possess) standing under a guaranteed agreement (“title-deed”); (figuratively) “title” to a promise or property, i.e. a legitimate claim (because it literally is, “under a legal-standing“) – entitling someone to what is guaranteed under the particular agreement.
CONVICTION:
Cognate: 1650 élegxos (a masculine noun) – inner conviction focuses on God confirming His inbirthing of faith (“the internal persuasion from Him,” see 4102 /pístis). See 1651 (elegxō)1. a proof, that by which a thing is proved or tested.
SEEN:
991 blépō – properly, to see, be observant (watchful). 991 (blépō) suggests “to see something physical, with spiritual results (perception).” That is, it carries what is seen into the non-physical (immaterial) realm so a person can take the needed action (respond, beware, be alert)
The Parable of the Sower
MATTHEW 13
1 On the same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea.
2 And great multitudes were gathered together to Him, so that He got into a boat and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore.
3 Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: “Behold, a sower went out to sow.
4 And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them.
5 Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth.
6 But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away.
7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them.
8 But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
9 He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
The Parable of the Sower Explained
18 “Therefore hear the parable of the sower:
19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside.
20 But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy;
21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.
22 Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.
23 But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”
UNDERSTANDS:
4920 syníēmi (from 4862 /sýn, “together with” and hiēmi, “put, send”) – properly, put together, i.e. join facts (ideas) into a comprehensive (inter-locking) whole; synthesize.
4920 /syníēmi (“put facts together”) means to arrive at a summary or final understanding (complete with life-applications). Accordingly, 4920 (syníēmi) is closely connected with discerning and doing “the preferred-will of God” (2307 /thélēma)