The Session: Living In The Victory Of The Cross

The Holy Spirit raised Jesus from the dead. If the same Holy Spirit lives in you, He will give life to your bodies in the same way. So then, Christian brothers, we are not to do what our sinful old selves want us to do. (Romans 8:11-13)

Living In The Victory Of The Cross Gives Us Confidence In The Battlefield Of The Mind

• The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (II Cor.:10:3-5)

Spiritual Warfare definition Weapons: prayer, Holy Spirit, scripture, hope and faith.

Living In The Victory Of The Cross helps us with guilt and shame

• “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more” (Hebrews 8:12).

The Holy Spirit helps with allowing individuals to release the burden of past actions and move forward with a clean conscience. Essentially, the Holy Spirit acts as a guide to acknowledge wrongdoing, seek forgiveness, and experience the peace that comes from being cleansed by God's grace.

Conviction:

• Isaiah 40:29, scripture says “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak”.

The Holy Spirit can bring awareness of sin and its consequences, prompting a person to feel guilt and desire to change their behavior.

Repentance:

• mAnd when he comes, he willnconvict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment John 16:8

Forgiveness:

• Once repentance is genuine, the Holy Spirit assures the believer of God's complete forgiveness, which can alleviate feelings of guilt and shame.

Transformation:

• The Holy Spirit works to transform a person's character over time, enabling them to overcome negative patterns associated with guilt and shame.

Living In The Victory Of The Cross will have a direct impact on our perspective

• The Holy Spirit guides us with truth, revealing God's will, and allowing us to see situations from a divine viewpoint, rather than solely from ou own limited human perspective.

Living In The Victory Of The Cross produces hope

• The Holy Spirit fills believers with strength and wisdom, intercedes for them, and gives spiritual gifts. As He dwells inside each believer, He fulfills various roles and functions. He gives life and hope that makes us new.

When we feel defeated and hopeless to overcome temptation in every day life.

• It is important that we take time to realize that we received the Holy Spirit when Jesus rose again.
• This helps because we can celebrate and call upon the Holy Spirit when temptation sits in. Because the Holy Spirit defeated sin and death, we can call on Him to defeat the enemy.

When we are feeling down and we are being disrespectful to ourselves

• We can call on the Holy Spirit to defeat the enemy and remind me of who I belong to and who I am to the Father.

To reach Tom Russell, go to https://www.heritagechristiancounselingofmansfield.com.

The Session: Lessons From The Life of Jesus

How Our Relationships Are Impacted by Jesus

Romans 12:9-13

Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love.Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction,faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

Uncondtional Love

Roman 12:10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.

• When we honor people in relationships, we honor what’s important to them and those things that they value.
• Unconditional love exists, even when the person’s performaynce or disconnection with you is present
• A great example is the prodigal son in Luke chapter 15

Forgiveness of Sin

• John 4:4-8

Now Jesus had to go through Samaria. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.

When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

Serving Others

• Jesus showed servant leadership

After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet,drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”

Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”

“No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”

Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”

“Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”

Accepting The Outcasts

• The impact in relationships is powerful. Accepting the outcasts and the sin of others not only shows grace but it also shows great forgiveness

Comforting The Grieving

• Relationships are enhanced when we grieve with the hurting. Jesus said “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted” (Matthew 5:4). The Lord will wrap His arms of love and comfort around those who trust in Him.
• Relationships are healed when we pray with loved ones. “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds” (Psalm 147:3).

Sacrificial Love

Jesus was a sacrificial leader. In John 3:16 the scriptures tells us, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” That was the ultimate sacrifice. When we sacrifice our plan or will in relationships it shows great love.

Patience

Jesus was patient. We read in Luke 10:38-42. “As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. When we are patient in relationships the relationships grow.”

To reach Tom Russell, go to https://www.heritagechristiancounselingofmansfield.com.

The Session: Self Forgiveness

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:30-31)

What to Do When I Know God Forgives Me, but I Can’t Forgive Myself, by Becky Weber

I Know God Forgives Me, But I Can't Forgive Myself - Steps Forward

Interesting helps on self forgiveness

• Ephesians 2:8, “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.”
• The enemy wants us to believe that we are too far gone to be helped.
• It is oftentimes the hurt, shame and guilt that we feel that won’t let us forgive ourselves. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’[a] 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] There is no commandment greater than these.”

Here Are 5 Truths about God’s SELF FORGIVENESS

1. It’s not about what we do.

• God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.” If our forgiveness is a gift from Jesus, we should be able to accept this wonderful thing that he did for us.(Eph. 2:8)
• 2. God’s forgiveness covers all of our sins. When God forgives us, it's not just for one thing that we have done, but for all past, present, and future sins. He doesn’t pick and choose. In 1 John 1:9, we learn this, “But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.”(I John:9)
• 3. There is no limit to God’s forgiveness. Peter denies Jesus three times. (Matthew 18 21-22)
• 4. God forgives us and doesn’t remember our sins. Even though our God is all-knowing, he chooses to not remember our sins. As it says in Hebrews 8:12, “And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.”
• 5. Through Christ we are new creations.Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”

Pay attention to your thoughts! We have thinking patterns in our minds that can be cyclical.

Helps For Forgiving Ourselves

• Practice thought-stopping and re-framing

· Pay attention to your thoughts! We have thinking patterns in our minds that can be cyclical.

1. Stop and acknowledge the negative thought (i.e. “I am a failure. I deserve to to punished”)

2. Repent and Re-frame it (i.e. “I am genuinely sorry for my choices. God has already forgiven me! I accept Jesus as my Savior and believe in the Word of God. I choose to believe that if I repent and turn to God, my sins will be wiped out and I will experience His refreshing! (Acts 3:19)

To reach Tom Russell, go to https://www.heritagechristiancounselingofmansfield.com.