Freedom United – Pastor Luca Groppoli – The Empowered and Transformed

Pastor Luca Groppoli shares her message at Freedom United Conference. Main points:

1. Repent

2. Be Baptised

3. Transformation

“BE BAPTIZED for the remission of sins; AND you shall receive the Gift of the Holy Spirit.” Acts 2:38

“Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’” Genesis 1:28

You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet. Psalm 8:6 Rend your heart, and not your garments, return to the Lord, your God. Joel 2:13

Rev Daren Mehl – The War on Transformation Testimony – Freedom United

Reverend Daren Mehl shares his testimony and the war that was going on inside him and outside him to destroy the promises and will of God in his life. Daren shares the power of Jesus to save and restore him from a life in homosexuality to one of life married to his wife. Daren shares of overcoming the battle through faith in Jesus Christ. Daren also discusses the religious war that is around us that is trying to make the testimony of Jesus illegal. The present darkness which is lying and robbing people of hope in Christ cannot stand after Daren shares the power of Jesus to transform.

No space for the Adversary

Today I am reminded of the words of Politician Paul Wellstone, yes, he was a Democrat,  and… wisdom comes from many places.

He said: Do not let your  words be different than the way you live.

Very wise, I believe Jesus addressed this issue as well, its called hyprocisy, when you do, you give the enemy a place to attack. This is how a foothold, becomes a stronghold.

 

Bless you in the name of our Lord Jesus the Christ

Luca

 

Loving God, and Loving His People

Greetings everyone,

Please forgive me for the length of time since my last blog.. though I know it’s a blog, I’d rather say “my last letter” I do enjoy writing letters, more so than a “blog” it sounds so, I don’t know, not personal, disconnected, an act of doing, while a letter is more heart to heart.

It takes me a while to get rolling, so I like to chat a while first, since it is my belief that writing you a letter, is more personal, I like to chat, so you can have some insight into me, Luca, the person, not just a blogger.

Didn’t you love it, when you were younger( I’m 58, so I have a lot to look back on) and you received a letter in the mail? Not a bill, or post card, but a real handwritten letter? Me too, I felt special! Well, if I understood technology more, I could hand write a letter and share it here, but I’m not that savvy! (Why the need for two Vs?) See, there I am all over again!

This morning in my reading, as I finished my OLDER Testament, and moved to the NEWER, I was in Matthew 5, the lovely BEATITUDES! Oh my, talk about the “How to rule and reign and have dominion on the earth.” Genesis 1 and Psalm 8

I could write an entire sermon for hours on each beatitude, however, for this purpose and point, today we shall focus on Matthew 5:4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”

As I listen to parents, and families, loved ones of the LGBTQAI, goodness that’s a lot of letters LOL. I imagine myself being in their position, I’ve never been married, nor did I ever give birth, so I can only try, best I can, to place myself in these people who are so hurt, and try asking Holy Spirit “How can I comfort people?” HELP ME!!!

The hours these folks must spend, on their faces, crying out for their loved ones, to belong to Jesus and or be restored. Ya see, the thing is, with this specific issue, is, there really is no difference than any other flesh issue. Adam and Eve blew it in THE GARDEN, the issue there was the pride of life, lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh. Oh Eve, why didn’t you just say “I don’t talk to strange snakes while my husband isn’t home” LOL Honestly!

Then we see in Matthew 4, After our Lord was baptized, He went in the wilderness to be tempted, I always ponder, to be tempted, as in ON PURPOSE?? this woman says yes, intentionally!!! God cannot let us feel only good. However, and for 40 days (hmmm I wonder how that coincides with the counting of Omer, or the leading up to Shavout, the day of Pentecost?” Just another rabbit trail I can go down.

Jesus was tempted with the same things as in the Garden, the pride of life, lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, but this time, Jesus defeated Satan with what? THE WORD OF GOD!! “NO Satan, it is written.”

“Blessed are those who MOURN for they SHALL be comforted” (Emphasis mine) What is up with this mourning business? I thought we are only meant to feel good? No, NOT!!! God doesn’t care about our comfort level, perhaps He does care about our willingness to join Him in His suffering of weeping and mourning. Taken from Enduring Word commentary, David Guzik . “Blessed are those who mourn: The ancient Greek grammar indicates an intense degree of mourning. Jesus does not speak of casual sorrow for the consequences of our sin, but a deep grief before God over our fallen state.”

As my pastor says “O my then” The book goes on to say “The Greek word for to mourn, used here, is the strongest word for mourning in the Greek language. It is the word which is used for mourning for the dead, for the passionate lament for one who was loved.” (Barclay)

The weeping is for the low and needy condition of both the individual and society; but with the awareness that they are low and needy because of sin. Those who mourn actually mourn over sin and its effects.

Beloved, that is pretty intense, perhaps the Lord Jesus is saying to us, to join Him in mourning, why? It is my hypothesis, when we mourn, it moves the heart of God, Jesus was moved by compassion, God is close to the brokenhearted, what do you do when your children weep? You comfort them, you draw closer to them, you want to give them the desire of their heart, within reason of course. What if our mourning for our loved ones, is the position the Lord intends for us to have towards the entire people, HIS PEOPLE, HIS creation, not ONLY our children specifically, but all HIS CHILDREN.

If…Did you know the word “If” is mentioned in scripture more than ANY other word, including His Name” If, it is all contingent, in a way, on that if, IF we love God, we will keep His commands, yes? Anyway, bunny trail.

Anyway, God loves His creation, and He wants that NONE shall perish, but have life eternal, God is moved by our tears, it’s in scripture beloved, so allow yourself, to feel the sorrow of these matters, and watch it move the heart of the Father, not in a manipulative way, but out of love for the Father, I want Him to receive all the glory for His suffering, the reward is us! I want Him to have all His babies with Him.

If I love God, than my heart will want what He wants, He wants His children, He wants a full table at the wedding feast of the Lamb. My natural response will be, then I will love people, because my heart loving God, will be asking What is the desire of HIS heart, and not my own. When God says I will give you the desire of your heart, that can go both ways.

Do not be depressed that your child is far from the Lord, but stand on His promises, there are over 8,000 of them in scripture, God spoke the world into being, speak the truth over your children, scripture says, His word cannot come back void beloved, that means the word you speak (Good and bad) watch it, have an assignment on them, as if to say, what you say, leaves your mouth, and looks to accomplish what you said. There is life and death in the tongue. Proverb 18:21

Do not be afraid to feel godly sorrow, allow yourself time, often, to be brought to your knees and cry out to the Lord, ask Him, weary Him, but also, remind Him of His word, and speak those things that are not, as though they were, Hebrews something. LOL. You’ll get use to me.

You shall be comforted” there you go, you’ll be comforted, and I will be comforted, because God is going to respond to His word! He is obligated to Himself, to hold true to His word. Scripture says, it is HIS name, HIS reputation at stake, not ours, He has more a vested interest in seeing it happen that ANYONE ELSE. I hope this helps. If there is something you wish I address, or if you have questions, please feel free to reach out. If you wish to help me in the work of the ministry, it would be appreciated.

 

Bless you.

Leaving a comment is lovely

 

 

 

 

A review of LGBTQ Doctrines

A Time for Agape Playlist – LGBT Doctrines (multi-show)

Watch Live Friday’s at 4:00 PM

Episode 1 Starting Out – Our Beliefs and Language

Episode 2 Understanding Doctrines

Episode 3 Side B Part 1

Episode 4 Side B Part 2

Episode 5 Side B Part 3

Episode 6 Side B Part 4


Episode 7 – Sanctification

Episode 8 – Transformation Part 1

Episode 9 – Guest Andrew Rodriguez (PsycoBible) – Exposing “Conversion Therapy” myths

Episode 10 – Moving towards love

Episode 11 – The Devasting Impact of Side B Gay Christianity – Calling MN Leaders to Repent

Differing Views – 4 Columns of LGBT Doctrines (PDF)

The document was created by Portland Fellowship and is a very useful discussion guide to quickly explain the doctrines found in the LGBTQ space.

Agape First Ministries has a breakout session as part of Freedom United to go into this in depth.

This is a useful reference and teaching aid, the four columns document helps us quickly reflect on the main doctrines around LGBTQ issues. Side A/Side B Progressive Gay Christianity? Resist temptation for life, or heart and mind transformation? Is there change of desire in Jesus resulting in no more desire for sodomy? Yes, Jesus Transforms.

Research – 39% of GenZ Identify as LGBTQ


Barna research shows 39% of GenZ self identified as LGBTQ in 2021.

https://www.arizonachristian.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/George-Barna-Millennial-Report-2021-FINAL-Web.pdf

Agape First Ministries will help the church understand how to bring people who identify as LGBTQ to repentance and into the church as disciples of Jesus. We will help the church wield the hope for transformation we have in Jesus with faithfulness to scripture and the promises of being made like Christ. We have a challenge before us that we can overcome with love and truth.

Additionally, we found this report which speaks to the worldview of Pastors today. I think these go hand and hand to explain how we’ve arrived at 39% of Gen Z identifying as LGBTQ. The doctrines being taught make room for that.

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