Gerber Bible Fellowship

IMPURITIES DULL OUR WITNESS What is in your heart? David asked the Lord to examine his heart. Psalm 26:2 says, “Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; try my mind and my heart.” Zechariah 13:9 says, “...refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested...” The word refine refers to that melting process to remove impurities from precious metals. Our faith is refined through fiery trials. Job 23:10 says, “He knows the way that I take, and when He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” The Amplified says, “...I shall come forth as refined gold (pure and luminous).” Is your witness dull, tarnished, blocked, or does it express the character of Christ? Psalm 34:5 says that they looked to Him and were radiant. When He looks into the gold of your life, does He see His own reflection? We live in glass houses. Others are watching our lives unfold through our trials to see if what we say is lived. Is your messenger the same as your message? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego had t

HIS WORD TRANSFORMS His word is living. Jesus Christ is alive, seated at the right hand of God the Father interceding for us. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever according to Hebrews 13:8. John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Nothing has changed. He is still the Word. John 1:14 says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” We still behold His glory today. 2 Corinthians 3:18 says, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory.” God’s Word is everlasting. Isaiah 55:11 says that His Word will never return to Him void. Jeremiah 1:12 says that He watches over His Word to perform it. Therefore the words we read in the Bible are the same yesterday, today, and forever. They are the truth that never changes from one generation t

WATERMARKS OF LOVE 1 John 4:16 says, “And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is LOVE, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.” Jesus described this love in John 15:9. It says, “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.” This verse holds up His standard, and a perfect ruler to check our growth. Unconditional means: wholehearted, unqualified, unreserved, unlimited, unrestricted, unquestioning; complete, entire, full, absolute, unequivocal. There is no ulterior motive or hidden agenda. 1 Corinthians 13:1 says that if we don’t have His love we will just be an irritating noise to those around us. Romans 5:5 says that His love was poured out in our hearts at salvation. We have His love in our hearts. John 15:12 says, “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” There is the qualifier. We are to love AS we have been loved by Him. Impossible in our flesh, but He has equipped us to love through His love!

WATERMARK: YIELDED TO THE HOLY SPIRIT “Let us go to the house of the Potter, and see what he does with a lump. How He carefully and skillfully shapes each vessel for His purpose above” (Holy Spirit song). Jeremiah 18:3-4 says, “Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something at the wheel. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make.” Clay is dry and solid. It has to have water worked into it in order for it to be shaped. So it is with our lives. Strongholds that the enemy has been able to set up in our hearts cause hardness of heart. Hebrews 3:13 says, “But exhort one another daily, while it is called ‘Today,’ lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” Inline image 1 You can see from the picture that clay needs much water to be pliable in the potter’s hands. It has to be malleable with no resistance. Do you have areas in your life that

Inner Truth~The Effective Messenger Notes for the message: 1 John 2:6 is our over arching verse for this class. It says, “He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.” To walk as Jesus walked is absolutely impossible in our flesh. Therefore we have to remember John 15:5 which says that without Him we can do nothing. An effective messenger stands in grace. Romans 5:1-2 says, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand...” We are saved by grace through faith. Our walk continues to be by grace through faith. Hebrews 11:6 says that it is impossible to please God without faith. Therefore faith, which comes by hearing the word is foundational, as well as grace which is bestowed on the humble. Jesus did nothing on His own. John 5:19 says, “Then Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himsel