GIG246 This Is the Day
Growing In God with Gary Hargrave
Growing In God Podcast Web Description: The book of Zechariah records the specific day on which Zechariah’s prophecy was voiced. This emphasizes the significance of this prophecy and how much we should be expecting God to fulfill His Word in our day. We look eagerly for the fulfillment of these promises of God’s blessings on Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem. This is the day they come to pass. Show Notes: The prophecy of Zechariah is one of the greatest messianic prophecies that we have. And in Zechariah 1:7, we are given the exact day when that prophecy came. The significance...
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GIG245 I Stand at the Door and Knock
Growing In God with Gary Hargrave
Growing In God Podcast Web Description: The Lord begged the church in Laodicea to open the door to Him, so He could dine with them. This need to dine with God does not make sense to our Christian thinking. But it makes total sense in the Hebraic context of making a covenant over a meal. God is knocking on the door of the Church in this day. And regardless of how far removed we are from Him, if we open the door, He will make a covenant with us to bring us into everything He has promised. Show Notes: The Laodicean church was a lost church, having fallen away from God. Yet...
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GIG244 The Difficulties of Deliverance
Growing In God with Gary Hargrave
Web Description: At the Passover God delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt to bring them into the land He had promised their fathers. But their focus was on the difficulties that this deliverance meant to the life they had adapted to. Moving from our present age into God’s Kingdom can also feel like a disruption to the life we are comfortable with in this world. Our focus must be on His Kingdom and not on the difficulties of deliverance. Show Notes: Passover celebrates the deliverance of Israel from their slavery in Egypt. When they first heard that the Lord had come...
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GIG243 Christian Persecution
Growing In God with Gary Hargrave
Web Description: Christianity is suffering tribulation today even if we as individuals feel unaffected by it. We need to be one with our fellow Christians who are suffering and be praying for them. Let us not be fearful of what satan might do to us because Christ defeated him at the cross. Even if we must face death ourselves, we overcome satan by simply exercising Christ’s victory. Show Notes: The Lord said to the church in Smyrna, “I know your tribulation and your poverty.” Just as God knew then what the Christians in Smyrna were suffering, He is aware of what Christians...
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GIG242 Religion or Relationship?
Growing In God with Gary Hargrave
Web Description: The religion of their day prevented many from receiving Christ when He appeared in the flesh. Religion is no different in our day. Religion tends to establish orthodox interpretations about God rather than lead us into a relationship with God. However, the promise is that we will all know the Lord. And we need to honestly deal with that which prevents us from knowing Him, even if it is our own religious thinking. Show Notes: It is important to understand the degree to which our lack of awareness is based on our religious upbringing. Religious orthodoxy encourages...
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GIG241 Will You Be Aware?
Growing In God with Gary Hargrave
Web Description: The Scriptures warn us that just as we are unaware of a thief at night, we could be unaware of the Lord’s appearing. Perhaps the greatest problem we face is not the circumstances in the world but our own unawareness of God. It is imperative that we seek the Lord for a greater awareness and understanding of what He is saying and doing today. Show Notes: A characteristic of the end-time is the unawareness on people. We see this in the flood of anti-Semitism that is moving through the world today and even sweeping through many churches. What enables the anti-Semitism...
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GIG240 Purim—How God Works Deliverance
Growing In God with Gary Hargrave
Growing In God Podcast Web Description: In the story of Esther, the king was not personally involved in delivering the Jews from the destruction imposed by Haman. However, his signet ring in the hand of Mordecai gave Mordecai all the king’s authority and power to deliver the Jews as if he were the king himself. Likewise through the name of Yeshua (Jesus), we have been given the signet ring of God Himself. Let us accept who we are as His instruments and use His authority and power to bring Christ’s deliverance to the earth. Show Notes: In the story of Esther, King Ahasuerus gave...
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GIG239 You Are Born by the Will of God
Growing In God with Gary Hargrave
Web Description: Get out of your mind that you are here on the earth by happenstance, wondering, “Why am I here? What is my purpose?” Instead of spending a lifetime trying to answer those questions, simply know that you were brought to birth by the will of God to be on earth at this time. And God is working in you and through you to accomplish exactly what He wants to accomplish. Show Notes: There is so much confusion in this age that it can be overwhelming. This level of confusion can lead people to feel ineffective in their lives and even develop a sense of uselessness or...
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GIG238 Appropriate All His Provisions
Growing In God with Gary Hargrave
Web Description: The parable of the king who invited guests to his wedding feast is something we want to apply to our hearts today. God has made a great provision of salvation through the sacrifice of His Son on the cross. It is His free gift to us by His grace, but we still must show up before Him and appropriate all that He has made available. This means we need to get rid of any excuses and everything that we would value more than God’s great provision. Lord, help us to come before You with prepared hearts, worshipping You with thankfulness for all You have given us. Show...
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GIG237 God’s Word Is for Now
Growing In God with Gary Hargrave
Web Description: If God put us in this world by His will, then we accept that He has enabled us to do His will. That means whatever He makes real to us in His Word is not something only for the past or waiting for the future. His Word is something He wants us to walk in now. Therefore, we ask God’s help to end our double-mindedness by making our conscious and subconscious minds a united force to manifest His Word in the present. Show Notes: As Christians we believe that the Scriptures are the Word of God. But we need to change our conditioning that relegates everything in the...
info_outlineGrowing In God Podcast
Web Description: Thanksgiving is a wonderful time set aside for giving thanks to the Lord. But the scriptural example of thanksgiving is not something that is done only on specific days. It is a continual practice of giving thanks and praise to the Lord every day. The pattern in our lives should not be thanking the Lord whenever we feel He has blessed us. We should have an attitude, a mindset, and an intentional emotion of gratitude for everything God is and does. Let this Thanksgiving be the beginning of a new lifestyle of overflowing gratitude before the Lord.
Show Notes: In the transition from the Tabernacle to the Temple, David commanded the Levites to thank and praise the Lord every morning and evening. This concept of giving continual thanks and praise to the Lord goes deeper than our concept of giving thanks. When someone gives us something, we say, “Thank you.” And so our definition of thanksgiving still has this idea of thanking God after He blesses us. A better word for the scriptural concept of continual thanks to God is gratitude.
The Scriptures show us that we can develop a mindset, an attitude, and especially an emotion of gratitude before the Lord. Even when we face difficulties and negative situations, we can still have this emotion of gratitude because it is not dependent on our circumstances. We do not have to deny what may be happening to us, but we can continually focus on the Lord and develop within ourselves the sense of wonder and gratitude for all that God is and all that He does.
Therefore, let us celebrate Thanksgiving this year with gratitude. Let it be an expression of our continual thanks and praise to the Lord and not isolated to one specific gift or answer to prayer that He has given us. Let our gratitude become something that we develop within the depths of our being as part of our relationship with God, whereby we say daily, “Lord, we are not thankful for one or two things that You did for us. We are overflowing with gratitude for all things that You are to us and have provided for us.”
Key Verses:
• 1 Chronicles 23:30. “They are to stand every morning to thank and to praise the LORD, and likewise at evening.”
• Psalm 92:1–5. “It is good to give thanks to the LORD and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High.”
• 2 Peter 1:3. “His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness.”
• Colossians 2:6–7. “As you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, … overflowing with gratitude.”
Quotes:
• “We don't just want to say ‘thank you’ for something. We want to develop in our hearts an attitude of gratitude.”
• “When we talk about gratitude, it's not just an action; it's an emotion that is being expressed from within the depth of our being.”
• “There is an unending list and an unending focus of what we should be giving praise and thanks to the Lord for.”
Takeaways:
1. David introduced a new responsibility and ministry for the Levites. They were to stand every morning and evening to thank and praise the Lord. It is also important for us to find a new expression in our giving of thanks and worship to the Lord.
2. It is good to set aside one day at Thanksgiving to express our thanks to the Lord. But we need more than just a practice of thanking the Lord on one day and afterwards reverting to a life of ungratefulness. We need the Levitical pattern of thanking and praising the Lord continually.
3. Giving thanks when we are blessed is still a limited emotion in response to our circumstances. We need to develop an intentional emotion of gratitude that is a continual expression of praise and thanks to the Lord.