Words of Encouargement -- Olu Talabi & Chetan Chadalavada -- March 21, 2021
http://rlcf.church River of Life Christian Fellowship 1306 N Lincoln Avenue Loveland, Colorado - 80537, USA
Summary
The central message emphasizes that the devil's goal is to distort the true image of God and Christ in the hearts of believers. This distortion can manifest as misunderstanding God's love, which requires the Holy Spirit to reveal God's truth through experience, not just intellectual knowledge. The speaker repeatedly points to Romans 8, highlighting that Jesus is interceding for believers, and that the Spirit testifies with us that we are adopted children of God, allowing us to cry out 'Abba, Father.'
Outline
The message in plain words, in the order it unfolds. Select a time to jump the video to that moment.
The devil's goal to distort our view of GodWhile Satan works to keep unbelievers from knowing Christ, his primary goal for believers is to give us a wrong, distorted image of who God and Christ are.
Destruction from a lack of knowledgeHosea 4:6 warns that God's people perish for a lack of knowledge, specifically the knowledge of who God really is.Hosea 4:6
The Holy Spirit reveals the FatherJesus states in Matthew 11:27 that no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son reveals Him, a work carried out by the Holy Spirit by experience.
Jesus and the Spirit interceding for usReflecting on Romans 8, Olu is moved by the reality that Jesus is at the right hand of God making intercession for us, and the Spirit also intercedes with groanings.
God as a father to the forsakenEven when human parents forsake us, Psalm 27:10 and Isaiah 49 show that the Lord will take us up and never forget us.
Living like spiritual orphansBelievers can follow Christ for years yet still act like spiritual orphans when circumstances arise, failing to truly know God as a loving heavenly father.
The spirit of adoptionRomans 8:15 explains that believers receive a spirit of adoption by which we cry out Abba Father, a reality testified to our hearts by the Holy Spirit.
The Father's personal love and unityJesus prays in John 17:23 that the world may know the Father loved His followers just as He loved Jesus.John 17:23
