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The Seasons of Our Lives: What Seasons Do We Have as We Live Our Lives?

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The Seasons of Our Lives

What Seasons Do We Have as We Live Our Lives?

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The Seasons of Our Lives: What Seasons Do We Have as We Live Our Lives?

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"To everything, there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven" so wrote the writer of Ecclesiastes. From birth to death our lives traverse many seasons. And each season has a great purpose indeed in the plan the Almighty Creator God has for our lives. How can we take advantage of these seasons for our ultimate good according to the plan and purpose for which He created us?

Sermon Notes

Gal 6:6  Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things.
Gal 6:7  Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
Gal 6:8  For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
Gal 6:9  And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

1Pe 1:3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
1Pe 1:4  To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
1Pe 1:5  Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
1Pe 1:6  Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:

Heb 10:26  For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,
Heb 10:27  but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.
Heb 10:28  Anyone who has rejected Moses' law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
Heb 10:29  Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?
Heb 10:30  For we know Him who said, "VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY," says the Lord. And again, "THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE."
Heb 10:31  It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Heb 10:35  Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward.
Heb 10:36  For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise:
Heb 10:37  "FOR YET A LITTLE WHILE, AND HE WHO IS COMING WILL COME AND WILL NOT TARRY.
Heb 10:38  NOW THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH; BUT IF ANYONE DRAWS BACK, MY SOUL HAS NO PLEASURE IN HIM."

The problem with PATIENCE is that... you do not get it right away...

Heb 12:1  Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
Heb 12:2  looking unto Jesus, the author, and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Heb 12:3  For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.
Heb 12:4  You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin.
Heb 12:5  And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: "MY SON, DO NOT DESPISE THE CHASTENING OF THE LORD, NOR BE DISCOURAGED WHEN YOU ARE REBUKED BY HIM;
Heb 12:6  FOR WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE CHASTENS, AND SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES."
Heb 12:7  If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten?
Heb 12:8  But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons.
SOMETIMES trials are brought about just to develop in us what WE NEED... sometimes they are CORRECTIVE to steer us away from a wrong path...

Heb 12:9  Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?
Heb 12:10  For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness.
Heb 12:11  Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
Heb 12:12  Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees,
Heb 12:13  and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.
In the midst of a Trial always meditate to see if it is Corrective or for Extra growth...

Joh 9:1  Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth.
Joh 9:2  And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"
Joh 9:3  Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.
Joh 9:4  I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work.
Joh 9:5  As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world."
Joh 9:6  When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva, and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay.
Joh 9:7  And He said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing.
Joh 9:8  Therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was blind said, "Is not this he who sat and begged?"
Joh 9:9  Some said, "This is he." Others said, "He is like him." He said, "I am he."
Joh 9:10  Therefore they said to him, "How were your eyes opened?"
Joh 9:11  He answered and said, "A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, 'Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.'
Joh 9:12  Then they said to him, "Where is He?" He said, "I do not know."
Joh 9:13  They brought him who formerly was blind to the Pharisees.
Joh 9:14  Now it was a Sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes.
Joh 9:15  Then the Pharisees also asked him again how he had received his sight. He said to them, "He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see."
So I went and washed, and I received sight."
Joh 9:16  Therefore some of the Pharisees said, "This Man is not from God because He does not keep the Sabbath." Others said, "How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?" And there was a division among them.
Joh 9:17  They said to the blind man again, "What do you say about Him because He opened your eyes?" He said, "He is a prophet."
Joh 9:18  But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind and received his sight until they called the parents of him who had received his sight.
Joh 9:19  And they asked them, saying, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?"
Joh 9:20  His parents answered them and said, "We know that this is our son and that he was born blind;
Joh 9:21  but by what means he now sees we do not know, or who opened his eyes we do not know. He is of age; ask him. He will speak for himself."
Joh 9:22  His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had agreed already that if anyone confessed that He was Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue.
Joh 9:23  Therefore his parents said, "He is of age; ask him."
Joh 9:24  So they again called the man who was blind, and said to him, "Give God the glory! We know that this Man is a sinner."
Joh 9:25  He answered and said, "Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see."
Joh 9:26  Then they said to him again, "What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?"
Joh 9:27  He answered them, "I told you already, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become His disciples?"
Joh 9:28  Then they reviled him and said, "You are His disciple, but we are Moses' disciples.
Joh 9:29  We know that God spoke to Moses; as for this fellow, we do not know where He is from."
Joh 9:30  The man answered and said to them, "Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes!
Joh 9:31  Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him.
Joh 9:32  Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind.
Joh 9:33  If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing."
Joh 9:34  They answered and said to him, "You were completely born in sins, and are you teaching us?" And they cast him out.
Joh 9:35  Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him, He said to him, "Do you believe in the Son of God?"
Joh 9:36  He answered and said, "Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?"
Joh 9:37  And Jesus said to him, "You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you."
Joh 9:38  Then he said, "Lord, I believe!" And he worshiped Him.
Joh 9:39  And Jesus said, "For judgment, I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind."
Joh 9:40  Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, "Are we blind also?"
Joh 9:41  Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, 'We see.' Therefore your sin remains.

1Co 11:28  But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
1Co 11:29  For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.
1Co 11:30, For this reason, many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.
1Co 11:31  For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged.
1Co 11:32  But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.

Alexis De Toqueville stated that Liberty can't be established without Faith and Morality.
“Liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith.”
― Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America - Search more quotes:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/465.Alexis_de_Tocqueville

2Co 11:1  Oh, that you would bear with me in a little folly—and indeed you do bear with me.
2Co 11:2  For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
2Co 11:3  But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
2Co 11:4  For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!
2Co 11:5  For I consider that I am not at all inferior to the most eminent apostles.
2Co 11:6  Even though I am untrained in speech, yet I am not in knowledge. But we have been thoroughly manifested among you in all things.

2Co 11:22  Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I.
2Co 11:23  Are they ministers of Christ?—I speak as a fool—I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often.
2Co 11:24  From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one.
2Co 11:25  Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep;
2Co 11:26  in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;
2Co 11:27  in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness—
2Co 11:28  besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches.

2Co 12:1  It is doubtless not profitable for me to boast. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord:
2Co 12:2  I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a one was caught up to the third heaven.
2Co 12:3  And I know such a man—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows—
2Co 12:4  how he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.
2Co 12:5  Of such a one I will boast; yet of myself I will not boast, except in my infirmities.
2Co 12:6  For though I might desire to boast, I will not be a fool; for I will speak the truth. But I refrain, lest anyone should think of me above what he sees me to be or hears from me.
2Co 12:7  And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure.
2Co 12:8  Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me.
2Co 12:9  And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
2Co 12:10  Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

JOY is Not the Same as Happiness.

Jos 13:1  Now Joshua was old, advanced in years. And the LORD said to him: "You are old, advanced in years, and there remains very much land yet to be possessed.
Jos 13:7  Now, therefore, divide this land as an inheritance to the nine tribes and half the tribe of Manasseh."

Luk 7:37  And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil,
Luk 7:38  and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head, and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil.
Luk 7:39  Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he spoke to himself, saying, "This Man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner."
Luk 7:40  And Jesus answered and said to him, "Simon, I have something to say to you." So he said, "Teacher, say it."

Luk 7:41  "There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.
Luk 7:42  And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more?"
Luk 7:43  Simon answered and said, "I suppose the one whom he forgave more." And He said to him, "You have rightly judged."
Luk 7:44  Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head.
Luk 7:45  You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in.
Luk 7:46  You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil.
Luk 7:47  Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little."
Luk 7:48  Then He said to her, "Your sins are forgiven."