Grace Fellowship Church

1. Pastor/TeacherJim Rickard Grace Fellowship Church Tuesday,July 31, 2012 www.GraceDoctrine.org

2. DoxologyPraise God, from whom all blessings flow;Praise Him, all creatures here below;Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.—Amen.

3. Spiritual InitiativePart 5

4. Taking the Spiritual Initiative against Daydreaming! “Arise, let us go from here!” John 14:31

5. EGEIRO Passive, Imperative, “to waken, and to rise up.”“Apply the doctrines which I just taught you!”

6. Contemplating something in order to do it properly is right, but daydreaming about something when you should be doing it is wrong.

7. Daydreaming, “A dream like musing or fantasy while awake; thinking about something pleasant when you should be doing something more serious.”

8. Reverie, “Pleasant thoughts that make you forget things, or pleasant thoughts that make you forget what you are doing or what is happening around you.”

9. When our inclination is to spend time daydreaming over what we have already been told to do rather than doing it, it is unacceptable and God’s blessing is never on it.

10. Daydreaming is a humanistic defense mechanisms which bolster individual failure, so that the believer does not respond to the Divine initiative of antecedent grace.

11. Defense mechanisms associated with daydreaming include:

12. DenialFailing to acknowledge some aspect of external reality that would be apparent to others.James 1:23-24; Jude 1:4

13. Jude 1:4, “For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”

14. James 1:23-24, “For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; 24for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.”

15. ProjectionMaligning, gossiping, or creating a public lie about someone; projecting your flaws on to them.

16. John 8:7, “But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her”.”

17. RationalizationDevising self-serving or reassuring but incorrect explanations of your behavior, attitude, or relationship toward another person. John 12:35; Rom 1:22; 1 Cor 1:20-21

18. John 12:35,“So Jesus said to them, “For a little while longer the Light is among you. Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you; he who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes”.”

19. DelusionFalse belief based on incorrect inference about external reality. What you believe to be reality in spite of what the Bible teaches or mandates.Rom 1:21-23

20. IdealizationWhen a person attributes exaggerated positive qualities to self and others. Mat 23:1-7; Luke 16:15; 2 Tim 4:3

21. 2 Tim 4:3-4,“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, 4and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.”

22. Luke 16:15,“And He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God”.”

23. IntellectualizationExcessive abstract thinking to avoid reality or experiencing some very disturbing feelings about self.Eccl 12:12; Mat 6:7; Eph 4:17-19; 1 Cor 3:18; 1 Tim 6:4-5

24. 1 Cor 3:18,“Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise. 19For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God.”

25. 1 Tim 6:4-5,“He is conceited and understands nothing; but he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions, …

26. …5and constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain.”

27. False Memory SyndromeJustify self by imagined victimization, then blaming and falsely accusing others for your own sinful behavior. Ex 16:2-3; Num 11:1-6; Rev 22:15

28. James 12:25,“…not having become a forgetful hearer…”

29. Self-AbsorptionExtreme withdrawal into excessive daydreaming or retreat into fantasy in the pursuit of human relationships, effective action, or true problem solving.

30. Eccl 5:3,“For the dream comes through much effort and the voice of a fool through many words.”

31. Eccl 5:7,“For in many dreams and in many words there is emptiness. Rather, fear God.”

32. Eccl 6:9 (NLT),“Enjoy what you have rather than desiring what you don’t have. Just dreaming about nice things is meaningless; it is like chasing the wind.”

33. Isa 56:10,“They love to lie around, sleeping and dreaming. 11And they are as greedy as dogs, never satisfied. They are stupid shepherds, all following their own path, all of them intent on personal gain.”

34. Jude 1:8,“Yet in the same way these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and revile angelic majesties.”

35. Col 2:18, “Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind.”

36. The Eleven Problem Solving Devices found in God’s Word function to provide Spiritual Initiative, the motivation for the function of your very own spiritual life.

37. They are the basis for your victory in the 4 battles of the soul.

38. a. The battle of stress in the soul; the outside pressures of adversity versus the filling of the Holy Spirit.

39. b. The battle of sin in the soul; the filling of the Holy Spirit versus sin nature control of the soul.

40. c. The battle of false doctrine in the soul; false doctrine versus metabolized Bible doctrine.

41. d. The battle of defense mechanisms in the soul; defense mechanisms versus Problem Solving Devices.

42. 2 Cor 10:5, “We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.”

43. Eph 3:20,“Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us.”

44. 2 John 6,“And this is love, that we keep walking according to His mandates. This is the mandate, just as you have heard from the beginning, that you should keep walking in it.”

45. Eph 5:2,“And walk in (the sphere of) love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.”

46. 1 Cor 15:58,“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.”

47. Grace Fellowship ChurchTuesday, July 31, 2012Tape # 12-085 Spiritual Initiative, Part 5The Spiritual Initiative Against Daydreaming!John 14:31; Eccl 5:3, 7; 6:9; Isa 56:10; Jude 1:8James H. Rickard Bible Ministries 2012