Rethink Your Life | My Relationship With The Holy Spirit

Easter is right around the corner, and as we look towards the resurrection, our sermon series over the next few weeks will look at Christ’s road to the cross. We’ll follow His interactions and reflections through scripture as He was facing pain and death. As we study Mark’s account in chapter 10, we learn that the greatest moment of our lives is when we recognize, trust, and surrender to Jesus. Just as some in the crowd simply sat and ignored the call that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by, we, too, have the choice every day to either call out to Him or just sit with the crowd. The good news is that every cry for Jesus is heard by Him, no matter the level of the noise around you. What obstacles are currently preventing you from wholeheartedly calling out and surrendering your life to Jesus? If you have surrendered to Him, what are some symptoms of spiritual blindness being exhibited in your life? As always, if you’ve got questions or need prayer, we’d love to connect with you and take time to answer those questions and pray with you. Also, take the next step in your faith journey and celebrate it with us by visiting burnthickory.com/next.

We wrap up our sermon series on rethinking our lives as we kick off our month-long 321 Serve initiative. All March, we encourage everyone at Burnt Hickory to serve the community and neighborhoods at least three times personally, twice as a family, and once as a LifeGroup. In today’s sermon, we look at why we are saved in the first place, and that’s to serve others. We see in scripture that Jesus came not to be served as a deserving King but to serve. He is calling us to do the same, to get off the throne of self-advancement and become a servant. In God’s kingdom, the standard of greatness is measured in service, not in authority or accomplishment. What are you being called to as a servant? Are you following Jesus in His example of servanthood? What are you excited about as an opportunity for 321 Serve? As always, we’d love to connect with you, answer any questions you’ve got, and take time to pray with you. Reach out today! You can also celebrate your next step with us by visiting burnthickory.com/next.

As we rethink our lives, we explore what scripture says about dealing with temptation. Temptation is anything that promises satisfaction at the cost of our obedience to God. As followers of Christ, we are not given immunity from our sinful temptations once we accept Jesus, and we should realize that it often comes when we least expect it. Our best line of defense is to avoid the temptation by avoiding common areas where we encounter it and to flee from it at all costs. We have to count the cost if we do fall into temptation and remember that every moment of resistance to temptation is a victory in our faith journey. In light of this sermon, what are areas or people that you need to avoid in order to be victorious over temptation? How can you find support in being vulnerable with trusted Christians who can help you flee from temptation at any cost? As always, we'd love to connect with you, take time to answer any questions you've got and pray with you - especially over dealing with temptation. You can always celebrate the next step in your faith journey by visiting burnthickory.com/next.

As we continue our sermon series around rethinking our lives, we look today at the idea of finding freedom in forgiveness. God has called and commanded us as forgiven people to forgive. No matter what has happened to each of us, we can never forgive anyone more than God has forgiven us. You see, forgiveness is the act of pardoning an offender, an offense, or a debt, and true forgiveness does not bring other people who have nothing to do with the sin into the situation. True forgiveness makes the offender feel at ease and helps the sinner forgive themselves as you have forgiven them. God wants us to understand and be encouraged to walk in His full power and presence through our freedom in forgiveness. What stands out to you as a significant freedom in being forgiven? How do you need to walk out a life of forgiveness moving forward? Who do you need to forgive even though they may not be seeking your forgiveness? If you’ve got questions about Jesus and living our forgiveness, then connect with us today. We’d love to take time to answer any questions you might have and spend time with you in prayer. As always, you can celebrate your next step in your faith journey by visiting burnthickory.com/next.

Today, we explore our relationship with the Holy Spirit as we continue our sermon series, where we are rethinking our lives in light of scripture and faith. Through Jesus, we have been brought into the family of God forever, and our promised all-powerful holy helper is God, the Holy Spirit. The Bible shows that the Holy Spirit is an active helper who’s permanent and truthful in helping us live our obedience in faith. He is our advocate, and He intercedes for us on our behalf all while teaching us the truth. Based on today’s sermon, how do you view the Holy Spirit differently? What things in life are you allowing to take away your view of God and impede the truth the Holy Spirit is teaching you? Do you have questions about the Holy Spirit? Do you need to know more about Jesus? We’d love to connect with you and take the time to answer any questions you’ve got as well as pray with you. As always, you can celebrate your next step with us by visiting burnthickory.com/next.

This week, we continue our sermon series on rethinking our lives in light of scripture by diving into our view of prayer. Prayer is hard because it’s spiritual warfare, but it also unleashes an unstoppable eternal power from God. God deeply desires that we as His children honestly communicate with him from our hearts. We see in the bible that our pattern for prayer is not to just get something from God but to experience Him more fully. We don’t impress him with our prayers, but through humble adoration, total submission, wholehearted petitioning, and obedient responses, God will hear and answer our prayers. Are you praying intending to grow closer to God, or are you looking for something from Him? Are you growing weary in the spiritual warfare and need encouragement in your prayer life? If you need prayer, we’d love to spend time with you in prayer and take time to answer your questions, so reach out today! Our prayer hotline is 770-590-0372, or you can email prayer@burnthickory.com. You can always take the next step in your faith journey and let us know about it by visiting burnthickory.com/next.

The biblical definition of success in life might look drastically different from what the world’s standard is. We see in scripture that humbly serving without need of gain or repayment and giving attention and time to ensure that our generation hears the truth about Jesus’ love for them are a true indication of success. When we follow the Holy Spirit by faith, even in the hard times and finish the race of life, we are successful. In Acts chapter 20, we learn that being faithful and obedient to Christ as well as being deeply committed and constantly investing in the church are signs of success. As we rethink the definition of success in our lives, we should be giving more than we ever expect to receive because our measure comes from meeting God’s standard of seeking first His kingdom and righteousness. What is your measure of success in life? Do any of the scriptural definitions stand out as areas that you need to grow in? Are you seeking God’s kingdom and His righteousness first? As always, if you’ve got questions or prayer needs, we’d love to connect with you and take time to answer them and pray with you. Also, if you’re ready to take the next step in your faith journey, let us know today by visiting burnthickory.com/next.

As Christians, we see that worship is the only logical response of a life that realizes what Jesus has done, is doing, and will do in eternity. Worship is so much more than just a song that we sing, it’s putting God’s worthiness on display, and we live this out in so many ways throughout our lives. We learn from scripture that there is danger in flippantly approaching and worshipping the Holy God, and yet His intention was and still is to bless us with His presence. We will never worship God with all our heart if our concern for what others think is stronger than our concern for what God thinks. What are you worshipping through your life? What does your worship tell others about the value you place on God? Are you aware of what Jesus has done and is doing in your life? If you’ve got questions, we’d love to connect with you, take time to answer and pray with you – so reach out today. As always, you can take the next step in your faith journey by visiting burnthickory.com/next.

In continuation of our sermon series called Rethink Your Life, we explore our relationship with the word of God. We know we can trust the word of God because not only is it a reliable collection of historical documents and is written directly by eyewitnesses, if fulfills so many specific prophecies. As Christians, we can place faith in the fact that its ultimate author was God, not man. Even Jesus himself fully trusted it and quoted it back so many times. Because it is so reliable and written by God, we can have full trust in its authority to deliver to us the truth of God. Do you trust the God of the bible? Have you placed your faith in Jesus and asked Him to be your savior? If you’ve got questions or want someone to pray with, we’d love to connect with you. Reach out today! As always, you can let us know about the next step you want to take in your faith journey by visiting burnthickoyr.com/next.

We start an amazing sermon series this week where we will take time over the next few weeks rethinking our lives in light of scripture. This week, we look at our relationship with Jesus. While sin is an action, it is also a universal starting condition of all of mankind’s hearts. We so often replace living inside God’s authority while we follow our own desires. What we see from scripture is that God’s grace is the base of salvation, and we can only find that salvation through faith. Instead of beginning with changing for the better first and then finding our way to God, we see that life change and good works are, a result of His salvific work in us. Has there been a time in your life where you have confessed you need for God’s forgiveness, placed your trust in Him, and invited Jesus to be your Lord and Savior? Is there tangible evidence of your salvation? What is keeping you from giving your heart to Jesus right now and receiving the free gift of salvation? If you’ve got questions, please reach out today. We would love to take time to answer your questions and take time to pray with you. You can always take the next step in your journey life accepting Jesus as savior and let us know about it by visiting burnthickory.com/next.