Firm Foundation with Bryan Hudson

The Power of Your Seed

Mark 4:26 And He said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, 27 and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how.

Removing Barriers to Success

Removing obstacles has less to do with focusing on negative forces in and around your life and more to do with focusing on your own attitude, habits and preparation. Phil 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me
There are three critical things we must do: 1) Forgive others and yourself 2) Change your thinking 3) Follow Instructions
Forgive
Heb. 12:14 Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: 15 looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled; 16 lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright.
Detoxification defined: 1. the process of removing toxic substances or transforming them into something harmless 2. the treatment of an alcoholic or drug addict by controlled withdrawal of the toxic addictive substance.
Toxin defined: any substance said to accumulate in the body that is considered to be harmful or poisonous to the system
The toxin of self-will or idolatry poisons our heart.
Psalm 51:10, Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Psalm 86:10, For You are great, and do wondrous things; You alone are God. 11] Teach me Your way, O LORD; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name. 12] I will praise You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, And I will glorify Your name forevermore.
Psalm 27:14, Wait on the LORD; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the LORD!
Psalm 34:18, The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, And saves such as have a contrite spirit.
Renew Mind / Change Thinking
Rom 12:1 (Message) 1-2 So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
What is a mindset? 1) It is a belief that affect somebody’s attitude. 2) Habitual or characteristic mental attitude that determines how you will interpret and respond to situations
What is an attitude? 1) A personal view of something 2) Manner, disposition, feeling, position, etc., with regard to a person or thing; tendency or orientation of the mind:
For example. If you get a poor grade on an exam and the teacher shows you exactly where you came short, simply being aware of the shortcomings won’t raise your grade.
Follow Instructions
Prov. 10:17 He who keeps instruction is in the way of life, But he who refuses correction goes astray.
Prov. 6:23 For the commandment is a lamp, And the law a light; Reproofs of instruction are the way of life,
Prov. 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Prov. 8:10 Receive my instruction, and not silver, And knowledge rather than choice gold;
Prov. 12:1 Whoever loves instruction loves knowledge, But he who hates correction is stupid.
Prov. 15:32 He who disdains instruction despises his own soul, But he who heeds rebuke gets understanding.

Change Your Mindset, Change Your Life

If we have changed after hearing the Word, it is because we have not renewed our minds. Our mindset much change for our conditions to change. If our thinking does not change, we don’t change.
What is a mindset? 1) It is a belief that affect somebody’s attitude. 2) Habitual or characteristic mental attitude that determines how you will interpret and respond to situations
What is an attitude? 1) A personal view of something 2) Manner, disposition, feeling, position, etc., with regard to a person or thing; tendency or orientation of the mind:
For example. If you get a poor grade on an exam and the teacher shows you exactly where you came short, simply being aware of the shortcomings won’t raise your grade.
Rom 12:1 (NLT) And so, dear brothers and sisters,[a] I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.[b] 2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Instruction is the Way of Life

Prov. 10:17 He who keeps instruction is in the way of life, But he who refuses correction goes astray.
Prov. 6:23 For the commandment is a lamp, And the law a light; Reproofs of instruction are the way of life,
Prov. 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Prov. 8:10 Receive my instruction, and not silver, And knowledge rather than choice gold;
Prov. 12:1 Whoever loves instruction loves knowledge, But he who hates correction is stupid.
Prov. 15:32 He who disdains instruction despises his own soul, But he who heeds rebuke gets understanding.

The Perfecting Power of Your Anointed Assignment

2CO 1:17, Therefore, when I was planning this, did I do it lightly? Or the things I plan, do I plan according to the flesh, that with me there should be Yes, Yes, and No, No? 18 But as God is faithful, our word to you was not Yes and No. 19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us—by me, Silvanus, and Timothy—was not Yes and No, but in Him was Yes. 20 For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us. 21 Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God
Your assignment is the reason for your anointing. Your anointing is your God given ability to serve His purpose and fulfill your assignment. Your anointed assignment is more than the sum of your talents, education, connections and job. God can use all of this, but we cannot trust in it. We must trust in the same God who called us.
People who have an anointed assignment become perfected by the instructions and discipline required by the assignment. Accepting and committing to your assignment changes your whole life.

The Amazing Power of Agreement | NCC Vision Keys for 2011

Matthew18:19 “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”

Jesus My Best Friend

It is amazing to realize that we have the opportunity not only to worship God, not only to reverence him, and stand in awe of him, but we were invited to be friends with God.

Preserving Character & Possessing God's Best

Discover four key areas to preserve your character which leads to walking in God's best for your life.

Prisoners of Hope

Prisoners of hope are believers in Jesus who recognize a limitation in their circumstances, but refuse to be limited in their expectations and actions.
Too many people look at their circumstances and make the decision that they can do no more, or become no more than what they see.
You should be glad that many of your forefathers and parents who were socially imprisoned by segregation and other bad policies didn’t believe that. Before the year 1900, black and white people who believed in education for blacks
Zech 9: 2 Doom is certain for Hamath, near Damascus, and for the cities of Tyre and Sidon, though they are so clever. 11 “ As for you also, Because of the blood of your covenant, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit. 12 Return to the stronghold, You prisoners of hope. Even today I declare That I will restore double to you.
Zechariah prophesied doom for the cities of Hamath, Tyre and Sidon, but hope for the people of God who dwelled in or near those cities.
Abraham was a prisoner of hope who became the “father of faith” to us all. We learned about him last week in Romans 5.
Look at how God inspired hope and faith in him. He’ll do the same for you.
Hebrews 6:13 For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, 14 saying, “Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.”15 And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. 16 For men indeed swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute. 17 Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, 18 that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. 19 This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, 20 where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.
Prisoners of hope...
Focus on the promises of God more than focusing on the conditions and circumstances around us
Understand that the world is full of darkness, but know that they are full of light
Keep their love warm even in a cold world
Are not distracted from serving God by the pressures and activities of this world
Have high expectations of good things to come
Follow the example of our father of faith, Abraham, who hoped against hope and fulfilled God’s purpose in his life. Like Paul and Silas
Have hope as a refuge and anchor for our souls. We are steady and steadfast in all conditions because Jesus has already entered the presence of God for us.

Hope in 3D - Expectation, Desire, Purpose

EXPECTATION - Hope in the first dimension looks like our reaction or response to circumstances. Our expectation or anticipation in the moment comes from whatever is inside of us. Things happen and we try to deal with it. People do something unexpected or situations arise that put us in a bind.
This first dimension of hope will always be needed because you will always face situations that try to take your hope away. But this is not the only way to understand hope.
DESIRE - Hope in the second dimension looks like the things we want, or what we want to happen. We sometimes refer to this hope as our “dreams,” “goals,” or “desires of our hearts.” This hope is like a picture we paint of the kind of life we want to live. It looks like a picture of a reality other than we are currently experiencing. This kind of hope can be healthy or unhealthy.
This kind of hope is healthy when your hope is based on the Word of God and rooted in genuine faith that is willing to both trust and work towards the picture being painted.
This kind of hope is unhealthy when we are doing little more than engaging in “pipe dreams,” “wishful thinking” and daydreaming because we are unwilling to take the steps necessary to receive the promise.
This second dimension or aspect of hope is made health and active by faith in the grace of God. The same grace that brought salvation, justification and victory through tribulation, will produce the kind of character needed to sustain hope.
Read Romans 5:1-5
Hope is more than a survival strategy. Hope is not only for the hopeless. Hope is more than a campaign slogan. Hope is substance. Hope is a picture. Hope is a sustaining power from the Spirit of God. Jesus is the true hope giver.
PURPOSE - Hope in the third dimension looks like a mighty force for change and the emergence of greater purpose. This kind of hope shapes destiny and changes generations. This is kind of hope that Paul imparted to the Galatians. Col. 1:27 “To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” The J.B. Philips transition reads, “Christ in you, the hope of all glorious things to come.”
Rread Romans 4:16-19
Abraham was not simple trying to deal with a negative circumstance. He was not only tying to hand on to something he desired to have. Abraham was dealing with a promise from God. He was wrestling with something far bigger than what is mind could conceive. God not only promised him a son, but promised him that he would be the father of a many nations, and that through him every person in the earth, present and future, would be blessed.
Key points from this text:
Verse 17, as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”[d]) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did
Strong hope and faith comes from the direct presence of God
Verse 18, who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, 19And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb.
Strong hope permanently bends your expectation and anticipation away from the problems and towards the solution
Verse 20 He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, 21 and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.
Strong Hope produces a faith that will make you stand and not waiver at God’s promise because you know that Christ in You is your hope glorious things to come. You become fully convinced and persuaded that God can and will perform what he has promised.
Hope is: “Having Only Positive Expectations”