Echo.Church
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◾️ Have you ever wondered, “Why am I here?”
◾️ What if we told you that you have a unique purpose that was only given to you?
◾️ Today, join us for week three of Neighboring on Purpose, as we unpack how each of us with our specific gifts —- combined with others’ — was meant to make a difference way bigger than we ever could on our own.
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→ ✋ Decided to follow Jesus? We’d love to guide you in the next steps in your faith journey! https://echo.church/yes
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Thanks for joining us!
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👋🏽 We are so glad that you have chosen to join us for this series and a journey through what can be very personal, confusing, and challenging topics.
Here at Echo, we are an incredibly diverse community, which we celebrate and love here. Because of this we have lots of different opinions, so in order to have a respectful environment, here are some reminders:
1. We don’t have to all agree, in order to show respect and love each other. We welcome diverse thoughts, but we do not welcome disrespect or hatred. We can walk in harmony, even with variations of belief.
Though we love engagement here at Echo, today I want to ask you to not clap… because something important to you might be hurtful for another…
2. We are a community centered on Jesus and His teachings - so what we teach is based on our best understanding of the Bible, so we invite you to humbly and openly explore the ways of Jesus with us.
3. Our goal is to create bridges, not build walls - in our community, we acknowledge we are all broken, needing grace and forgiveness. This means we see all people as equal in value - even those who disagree.
So, again, throughout this series, regardless of who you are attracted to… whether you are gay, straight, Christian, atheist, confident about your identity, questioning your identity, living in freedom or feeling stuck in sin… YOU ARE LOVED HERE.
Galatians 5:13 NLT
Genesis 3:6 NIV
💡 The Enemy Convinced Them That Because It FELT Good, LOOKED Good, And Their Bodies LONGED For It, It Would BE GOOD For Them.
Galatians 5:16-17 NLT
💡 The Flesh DESIRES, WANTS, AND CRAVES What Is The Opposite To The Spirit.
Jeremiah 17:9 NLT
|| "What the heart loves, the will chooses, and the mind justifies."
~Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1500s
Galatians 5:19-23 NLT
🔶 FLESH <> SPIRIT 🔶
🔸 Sexual Immorality, Impurity <> Love
🔸 Lustful Pleasures <> Joy
🔸 Idolatry, Sorcery <> Peace
🔸 Hostility, Quarreling <> Patience
🔸 Jealousy, Outbursts of Anger <> Kindness
🔸 Selfish Ambition <> Goodness
🔸 Dissension, Division <> Faithfulness
🔸 Envy, Drunkenness <> Gentleness
🔸 Wild Parties <> Self-Control
💡 We Can Control Our Desires Or Our Desires WILL CONTROL US.
💡 When It Comes To Desires, We Can:
1. INDULGE
2. IGNORE
3. SURRENDER
Galatians 5:24-25 NLT
💡 Our Ultimate Desire Is FOR GOD.
Colossians 2:8-10 NLT
💡 You And I Are Only Made COMPLETE Through UNION WITH CHRIST.
Matthew 19:11-12 NLT
|| "My view is that when a gay person becomes a Christian, they must not repress or indulge their erotic longings or base their entire identity on such desires. Rather they need to remember that these longings originate from a more fundamental desire for God himself … Same-sex erotic desires are part of our fallen humanity … All human desire can be traced back to our desire for God, even if twisted by sin."
~David Bennett
Galatians 6:1 NLT
Galatians 6:3 NLT
1 Corinthians 15:43 NLT
Galatians 5:24-25 NLT
❔ What do you sense God asking you to do with today's message?
🎶 Worship Songs 🎶
Praise - by Elevation Worship
Same God - by Elevation Worship
More Like Jesus - by Passion Music
🎙️ TABLE TALKS PODCAST NOTES 🎙️
Galatians 5:19-26 NLT
💡 Sexual Immorality
1. ADULTERY [moicheia] - a married person engaging in sexual intercourse with someone other than their spouse.
2. FORNICATION [porneia] - broader term which includes lustful thoughts and any sex outside of the covenant of marriage of man and woman.
3. IMPURITY [akatharsia] - physical and moral impurity, corruption, and sinfulness.
4. LUSTFUL PLEASURES [aselgeia] - Lack of moral restraint and public decency - those who no longer try to control desires (lewdness, lasciviousness)
|| "The world sees our value reflected in our romantic status. One result of this is that we are seeing unprecedented rates of suicide and loneliness. This focus on our relational and sexual desires is only making us more miserable.
My story has taught me that as Christians, we have the privilege of showing the world what it looks like to no longer live under the constant oppression of desire, especially sexual desire. The Christian has forsaken this worldly commodification in order to be a bright signpost of God's love reflected in Christ, and a foretaste of his coming kingdom."
~David Bennett, A War of Loves - Pg 256
1 Corinthians 15:43 NLT