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Covenant Class
Sandi Querin – October 6, 2008
Revival Center – Clovis
(Notes taken by MaryLinda Klienmann)

Most of our problems come from not thinking things through or from unforgiveness.  When we think things through, we need to ask ourselves:

1.  If I do this, who will get hurt?

2.  What will it do to the Lord?

3.  What will it do for my life?

Eight Principles of Forgiveness

1.  You need to assure yourself that what you are going through is not worse than what Christ went through.

2.  Remember kindnesses shown to you from other people and maybe from the person who hurt you.

3.  List the benefits you have received from the Lord:  The Lord did this for me…  Continually remind yourself of the goodness of God.  It will get you in the right perspective.  Remember the hopeful, good things that God has done for you.

4.  Thank Jesus daily that He has forgiven you and for Who He is.

5.  Look for an opportunity to help or bless the ones who hurt you.

6.  Make a concentrated effort to forget what they did.  Erase the memory.  The woman who started the Red Cross said:  “I distinctly remember deciding to forget that.”

7.  Each night after you pray and read, repeat the Lord’s prayer.  It will provoke your soul to honesty.

8.  Read the book of James every day.  It teaches you how to live the Christian life.

Definition of Identity:  State of fact of remaining the same, especially under varying conditions.  The condition of being one self and not another.

Preference: Choosing one thing over another.  A choice deliberately being made.

Perseverance:  Steadfast and persistent.  These are qualities we need.  Especially if you are single.  Know to be steadfast in your decision.  Society and your peers will try to get you to put somebody else over Christ.  You need to have nothing get in your way to preferring the Lord.

An identity based in someone else reaps depression, wrong choices, etc. and you lose your identity.  You will become double minded.

You want the Lord but you want the other person too…a love affair that is not godly.  Learn how to hold on so that your decision is automatic.  There is no time for thinking to prefer Christ.

Ron Clark Story

Dream big….take risks

Ron Clark kept saying that he was a teacher.  He knew his identity.  He said he raises test scores.  He made up 55 essential rules and made the kids repeat the rules everyday.  They changed lives and traveled with him four times a year.  That class turned out to have many gifted kids in it.  He stayed in touch with them after that.  He was called to teach.  That means you won’t quit.  The kids ended up in the top 5% of grades in New York.

We need to ask ourselves:

- Who am I?

- What do I know?

- Will I be honorable and have integrity?

- Will situations change who I am?

Rise to the standard --- prefer Christ.  If you are not whole, you will end up a mess.  Will you be the same in every situation? 

Why do we change our minds?  Double minded, based on feelings, desire.  I want that. (selfish)  What does the Lord want?  Put your identity in Him…go after that with all you’ve got.

Samson wanted what he wanted, not God.  He gave provision for the flesh.  He didn’t realize his strength came from the Lord.  If you don’t prefer the Lord and be steadfast in the Lord, you will lose sight of what is important.

Sandi’s Mom told her:  “Hang tough kid!  I know that is who you are.  You can do it because you will prefer Christ and know His grace is sufficient.”

Pray the Lord on everything and let it go.  That is who we are.  We can do it.

Samson never gave credit to the Lord; however, he was caught thanking God in Judges 15:18.  (read Judges 15:17-16:1)

He was thirsty and called upon the Lord.  He acknowledged God but then said, “What is going to happen to me?  Now God better do what I want.”  He didn’t have any humility before God.  He did not understand his identity that he was to be a powerhouse for God.  He was God’s servant but not His friend.

Judges 16:20  He didn’t know the Lord departed from him.  How did he get there?  Pride, lost touch with God, and was playing games;  he was not walking in true knowledge of God (recognizing, discerning and acknowledging Him).

There is protection in that.  He is God and He’s got me.  Know the fact that God is.  Don’t get shook up at what is happening.  Recognize God is doing it and it will look different every day.

Read 1 Peter 2.  It touches on a lot of things.

Also read Galatians 5, Ephesians 2 and Romans 13.  They are about standing firm and bringing the mind under subjection and making no provision for the flesh.  They tell us to stand fast in the liberty, not to fulfill the lust of the flesh and mind. Cast down every thought, imagination, etc. under the cross.  Prefer the Lord.  If you don’t see Jesus doing it, don’t do it.  On a diet, don’t buy chocolate cake just to have it or go in a bar if you have a drinking problem or, if you have a problem with lust, don’t be alone with someone.

1 Peter 2 says we are a royal priesthood.  What does that mean?  That needs to be our identity, a priest and royal.  A daughter or son of God.  A Pastor’s daughter who was a friend of Sandi’s never wanted to do anything to harm her Dad or his ministry.  We need to say, “I can’t do this because I am a daughter or son of God.”  If you struggle with trashy things, you haven’t understood your identity.  Why did Christ die for you?  Because He was God’s Son and knew what He had to do.  If He wouldn’t have died, we would never have known God and that was His will.  Now we have dominion which is part of being a royal priesthood.  If you don’t know your identity, the devil will talk you out of it and steal it.

Covenant Class
Sandi Querin – October 13, 2008
Revival Center – Clovis
(Notes by MaryLinda Kleinman) 

Meaning of Perseverance:  Don’t give up; steadfast and persistent; keep on keeping on.

Preference:  A choice deliberately made.

Identity:  State or fact of remaining the same, especially under varying situations; condition of being oneself and not another.  If you lose that, you are measuring yourself against others and will never measure up.  You are not willing to pay the price it cost to get where they are.

In the first movie, 300, the King knew who he was---a Spartan.  He was trained and brainwashed that he was a Spartan.

If we persevere to prefer Christ, when the time comes to prefer Him, you will.

Surrender vs. Submission

If you are not steadfast in what and who you are, you can’t surrender.  You have to own it before you can surrender it.

How to prefer Christ:  deny your own desires; separate yourself from worldly things.  The flesh wants to do EVERYTHING so it has to be trained and taught by reading the Word.  Teach the flesh to do the right thing.  It has to die and make no provision for the flesh.

Colossians 3:23 “And whatsoever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men.”

If you prefer the Lord, you will follow the rules and run to service, to obedience.  You have then chosen Christ over yourself.  You have preferred Him.  When you make provision for the flesh, you set yourself up for failure.

WWJD (what would Jesus do):  Turn the other cheek, take a hit.  They are the authority over you:  Learn to turn the other cheek.  When you deal with people this way, you are telling God, “Build me.  Make me into an awesome child of God.”

If you don’t, and you make it easy to sin, then you have to deal with guilt and shame.  You become rebellious and call it independence or controlling and call it organized.

A lady Sandi knew was in an abusive marriage.  She learned to hear God and learned to quit provoking evil.  She finally got Colossians 3:23.  She said, “I am going to listen to God and do what He says.”  Her husband got saved.  As long as she didn’t provoke him, he didn’t beat up on her.

II Peter 1:3-8  “According as His divine power has given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that has called us to glory and virtue:  whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises:  that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.  And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.  For if these things be in you and abound, they make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

These things produce patience.  If you can’t learn that, you can’t go any farther.  Then the fruit of the Spirit grows in you.

If someone in authority over you asks you to do something and if you can’t handle that, then you can’t handle your life.  You have to lay down your independence and all making provision for the flesh. 

- Don’t hang around with people who gossip.

- If you have a problem with porn, shut the computer off.  “Keep the good years rolling” and don’t turn it on.

You don’t want to feed your spirit with this or with watching a movie about an adulterous affair. And you don’t want to teach your spirit it is okay by glancing at one of “those” magazines in the store.  You are not preferring Christ when you do that.  You are giving provision for the flesh.

Asking foolish questions that you don’t really want to know the answers to is feeding the flesh.  You ask the questions because you don’t want to have to deal with something in your life.

A man was broke and needed extra money and ended up embezzling funds and lost his job.  He should have asked someone to “close” with him.  He gave provision for the flesh and should not have done that.

On accident, you can get hooked on porn even by looking at spam.  I am going to take back everything that the devil stole.

God hates a person who will not move in Him.  He can’t stand it when you act weak.  Be careful not to provide for the flesh.

He is the reason you live.  Run to servanthood because your identity is a child of God.

If your boss wants you to do the work of three people, do it and pray for another job.  Do not give occasion for the flesh.  Forge ahead!

Tommy Boy

What was his identity?  A fat idiot.  He had two identities:  not smart and fatso. 

Richard was an insufferable know-it-all, an oversmart, little guy.

After his Dad died, Tommy Boy said, “I don’t know who I am or where I am going, etc.”  He was having an identity crisis.

It was real easy for the father to make a sale; it came natural to him.  One of the meanings of identity is the condition of being one’s self and not another.  His Dad cast a big shadow and it was difficult to get out from under it.  Later in the movie we find out he does have the capacity to sell and be himself.

Who in the Bible has trouble getting out from under it?  Moses:  “I am not anybody…”

And Gideon thought he was the “least of the least”.  His Dad even had a satanic altar at their home and God was going to use his son to deliver Israel!  He had to move away from the stamp of his family.

In Tommy Boy, the Board had doubt, because he hadn’t done anything yet to prove himself.

Why did his Dad want to get married?  Because he didn’t want to be alone.  That is NOT a good reason to get married.

Galatians 1:17  "Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus."

Paul was purposed, unmoved and confident.  Why did he go to the Arabian desert?  He was a Pharisee and the son of a Pharisee.  He went to the desert to unlearn who he was.  He had to find out who he was and not let any of his past lift him up or hold him back.  For three years, he unlearned who he was.  Sometimes when we haven’t unlearned stuff, there is no room for God to impart anything….you’ve already got it!

Saul of Tarsus had stuff; he was honored, revered, a rich man; the Hitler of his day.  He set his ring down and threw it all away, preferring Christ.  “I am laying everything down.  I will crucify this flesh and make it obey abundantly.”

When Sandi got ahold of this verse, she started doing her brothers’ and sisters’ chores.  She wanted to do something for the Lord.  Our behavior toward others in disciplining ourselves is doing things for Christ.  We are doing things for Him when we do it for others.  Say, “What can I do to bless the Lord today?”

Case Study:  When you do critical thinking, you think beyond what is presented.  You have to find the point.  There are so many externals, it is easy to track to the right or to the left.

Covenant Class

Sandi Querin – October 20, 2008

Revival Center – Clovis

Meaning of Perseverance:  Ability to bear difficulty calmly without complaining.

Preference:  Practical advantage given to one over another.

Identity:  Knowing yourself.  Being yourself and not another.

Life Verse – Defines your time here and can take it through your whole life.  A powerful thing.

The Robot Movie

Follow your dream.  Never give up.  Why did Rodney leave?  He wanted to be an inventor.  He knew he was meant for more.  He wanted to be “somebody” and he knew he would not fulfill his potential if he stayed in town, the son of a dishwasher.  He rebelled against the identity that was trying to be put on him.  Sometimes we have to embrace what might hold us back before we can go forward.  What can keep us back?  Fear of the unknown, the past, constantly reminding us of mistakes and things gone wrong.  Fear of failure, lack of trust.

Paul in Galatians –A one-way ticket to somewhere.

Gal. 1:6  “I marvel that you are so soon removed from Him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel.”

The Galatians fell away and backslid.  It freaked Paul out that they did this so quickly.  Why did Paul go to the desert?  To unlearn his identity.

Saul of Tarsus’ occupation was killing Christians.  He separated himself from everything he knew and what held him back.  We need to separate ourselves from people we hung out with and became a product of our surroundings.

In the first few verses, Paul makes a stand.  He says God sent me forth.  I don’t have a dead religion.  So you better listen up.  God did it.  I didn’t do it.  Men didn’t do it.  It was God all along.  I just recognized the course I was to go.

The Robot had passion and faith, a goal, drive, persistence, perseverance.  He didn’t give up.  He had heart and determination.  He had a hope it would be different.  You have to have a hope God will meet you on the other side of your sacrifice.  Why is it important to separate?  We can’t co-exist with them because we will become like them.

Pride or guilt – one lifts up and the other tears down.  Both cause harm when growing up.

Acts 19:21  “After these things were ended, Paul purposed in the spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, After I have been there, I must also see Rome.”

He purposed… persevering to prefer the Lord.

Once you’ve decided to pursue the Lord above everything, you have to purpose in your heart which means  to settle in, to sink down into it… to be completely committed to it and totally steadfast in it.  “God told me I am going to do a thing and I’m going to do it.”

Acts 20:22-24, 26  “And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there:  save that the Holy Ghost witnesses in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me.  Wherfore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men.”

Paul was purposed, immovable.  If you won’t move, your process can’t stop.  How does that relate to your life in your preference for the Lord?  How many people you could help?  Only one thing is going to affect you and that is what Jesus says.  Why don’t we see it?  COST, WORK, FEAR…

Becoming immovable puts a quality in you that you didn’t have.  I’m going to do it because it is right.  If you can’t practice it in stupid things then how can you do it in important things?

Do something before you are asked because it will please someone.  It makes you a fool if you don’t do it and you know it would please someone.  It gives you control over someone by not giving them what they want.  Teenagers from 14 to 17 do this.  You have all the power to bless someone and you don’t do it.  That is forming you into how you will be in your life.  You are teaching yourself not to prefer the Lord.

Exercise godliness.  Make yourself to do something you don’t want to do.  Show God what you are made of.  It is to show you are selfless.

Acts 21:10-14  “And as we tarried there many days, there came down from Judea a certain prophet, named Agabus.  And when he was come unto us, he took Paul’s girdle, and bound his own hands and feet and said, Thus saith the Holy Ghost, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.  And when we heard these things, both we, and they of that place, besought him not to go up to Jerusalem.  Then Paul answered, What mean you to weep and to break mine heart?  For I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.  And when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, The will of the Lord be done.”

Paul was confident.  You have to know something and also know that you know if you are immovable.

Can’t know it is true unless abide in the Lord.

Read Psalm 91, John 17 and Psalm 57. 

Ask whatever you want and it will be done.  Confident you will ask the right thing.

Psalm 57:  My heart is fixed on God.  Immovable.

History about Paul

He was an apostle, born about the same time as Jesus.  His given name was Saul and he was a native of Tarsus, which is the capital of Silicia in Asia Minor.  The people who lived there were rich.  Paul wasn’t a slacker.  He had stuff, knew stuff and did stuff.  He spent his youth enjoying everything and placed high value on education.  His father was a Pharisee and he was raised to be that from the time he was born.  The power of what he gave up was great.  He traded it in.  His mother had an influence on him from youth up.  He was blameless about religious tradition, but didn’t have Jesus.  Had tradition and religion.  He had to come to the end of himself.

There is no indication he was ever married.  However, to be a member of the Sanhedrin, he had to be married.  Sandi thinks his thorn in the flesh was a woman, maybe back home, hounding him.  Saul witnessed Steven being killed and condoned it by holding the men’s coats who did it.  Steven forgave those who killed him.

On the Damascus Road, Paul was going to kill more Christians.  He believed he was doing God’s will.  God doesn’t miss anything.  Every portion of his life God used.  God will use everything in your life if you prefer Him.

Separation is a big deal from the trash that is pulling you down.  He had Roman citizenship.  He was free-born.  Went to college to be a Rabbi which is a teacher, preacher, lawyer all wrapped in one.  He was a tent maker and made the tents out of goat hair.  They were special goats.  Their hair was stronger and finer than any other.  He was very proficient in being a tent maker.

He was a student of the Law and sat at the feet of Gamaliel, the wisest man in the country.  He lived in all good conscience unstained by vices of the city and wanted to honor his father.

In Acts, Gamaliel gives a fantastic speech.  He says stop it, leave the Christians alone.  If they are from God, you can’t stop them.  That probably got Paul to thinking.  Gamaliel says leave them alone and Paul was told to kill them.  They saw the glory of God on Steven and killed him anyway.  Saul was there.  Maybe he started to think that maybe he was doing the wrong thing.  He saw Steven get stoned to death and glorify God the whole time.  Didn’t that shake Paul up?  When you live your life like that, people get saved.

Acts 9 is a point of surrender for Paul, a point of conflict.  Everything he believed was in conflict.  What Jesus says to him in Acts 9 brings this out.

For him to walk away from all of that, he had the power of the Jewish nation, the respect of the Roman nation.  It cost him everything, his entire identity.  What do you have to give up?

Please Note:  I am not going to be transcribing notes anymore because I want to be able to enjoy the class a bit more.  CD’s are online or available at the sound booth.

Note from the webmaster:  The covenant class will continue through December 8, but you can continue with the class by going to the audio messages.