Josiahs Scott, 8/17/05 ● 9/10/05 ● 11/15/05

What does it mean to be connected?

(There are many things that it could mean: "Not connected with God unless you are connected with people; your love for God doesn’t mean anything until you love your neighbor" or "Salvation; Are you in relationship with the creator?" etc.) ● But swing with me on this one. Were not talking about these things particularly.  We’ll explain what we are talking about throughout this study.

Let’s start with the obvious: It is not thinking you are connected (i.e. I really felt the Lord)

Connection is beyond this, and is a thing determined and measured by God (not you, nor your feelings).

When it comes to talking about connection, it is probably one of the most important things that I have ever attempted to talk about.

Whether you realize it or not, this makes the difference of your whole Christian life.

Everything rises or false in your pursuit of Jesus depending on what you attain in this area of connection.

Jam 4:4-10 MKJV 4 … Do you not know that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever desires to be a friend of the world is the enemy of God… Do you think that the Scripture says in vain, The spirit that dwells in us yearns to envy? 6 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says, God resists the proud, but He gives grace to the humble. 7 Therefore submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, sinners; and purify your hearts, double-minded ones. 9 Be afflicted, and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness. 10 Be humbled before the Lord, and He will lift you up.

1Pe 5:5-7 WEB Likewise, you younger ones, be subject to the elder. Yes, all of you gird yourselves with humility, to subject yourselves to one another; for "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble." 6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time; 7 casting all your worries on him, because he cares for you.

Psa 68:5-6 WEB A father of the fatherless, and a defender of the widows, Is God in his holy habitation. 6 God sets the lonely in families. He brings out the prisoners with singing, But the rebellious dwell in a sun-scorched land.

2Co 6:14-18 MKJV Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers; for what fellowship does righteousness have with lawlessness⁴⁵⁸? [or unrighteousness] And what partnership does light have with darkness? 15 And what agreement does Christ have with Belial⁹⁵⁵? Or what part does a believer have with an unbeliever? 16 And what agreement does a temple of God have with idols? For you are the temple of the living God, as God has said, "I will dwell in them and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people." 17 Therefore come out from among them and be separated, says the Lord, and do not touch the unclean thing. And I will receive you 18 and I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.

(Also see: Idols vs. God 1Cor 10:20-21; Light/Dark 1Jn 1:5-7; Elijah vs. Baal 1King 18:21; Touch Nothing Unclean Isa 52:11/Ezk 20:34, 41)

Heb 12:14-15 KJV Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: 15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;

(Personal Examples: Dressel, Pena, Vega)

1King 13:6 NKJV Then the king answered and said to the man of God, "Please entreat the favor of the Lord your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me."

Mal 1:9 NKJV "‘But now entreat God’s favor, That He may be gracious to us. While this is being done by your hands, Will He accept you favorably?’ Says the Lord of hosts, (vs. 7-8 deal with ‘Defiled Sacrifices’)"

Deu 29:19-21 WEB and it happen, when he hears the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart, [Refusing to obey the Bible]… The Lord will not pardon him, but then the anger of The Lord and his jealousy will smoke against that man, and all the curse that is written in this book shall lie on him, and The Lord will blot out his name from under the sky. The Lord will set him apart to evil…

Isa 65:16 WEB …he who blesses himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth…

[Don’t settle for less; reach for God’s true connection and blessing!]

[Talking about shallowness and then relating it to connection]

Mat 8:19-23 WEB A scribe came, and said to him, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go." 20 Jesus said to him, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." 21 Another of his disciples said to him, "Lord, allow me first to go and bury my father." 22 But Jesus said to him, "Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead." 23 When he got into a boat, his disciples followed him.

Pro 25:14 MKJV A man boasting himself in a false gift is like clouds and wind, but no rain.

Luk 14:26-27 WEB "If anyone comes to me, and doesn't hate his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he can't be my disciple. 27 Whoever doesn't bear his own cross, and come after me, can't be my disciple.

READ Verses 28-32

Luk 14:33-35 MKJV So then, everyone of you who does not forsake all his possessions, he cannot be My disciple. 34 Salt is good, but if the salt has become tasteless, with what shall it be seasoned? 35 It is not fit for the land, nor for manure, but men throw it out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. -Read: Mat 10:31-39-

G458 ἀνομία anomia an-om-ee'-ah

From G459; illegality, that is, violation of law or (generally) wickedness: - iniquity, X transgress (-ion of) the law, unrighteousness.

G955 Βελίαλ Belial bel-ee'-al

Of Hebrew origin [H1100]; worthlessness; Belial, as an epithet of Satan: - Belial.

Spiritual Insights into Connection

We are not talking about intellectually deducible things that can be written down in a text book. We are talking about the mysteries of God. Don’t complain if they are not readily understandable. They are by nature, not understandable, though I hope you are able to understand them. Jesus made no apologies about the mysteries that He said, so that most people do not understand them to this day.

Mat 6:20-24 MKJV But lay up treasures in Heaven for yourselves, where neither moth nor rust corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Connection is not salvation, although all who are connected are saved.

Connection is not anointing, because many who have some kind of anointing from God are not saved.

Connection is God’s Grace (His favor) upon a person’s life.

Connection is not God calling you and drawing you (this can happen before you stop sinning) although it is out of Grace that He draws.

Favor reaches where discipline has no ability to reach

Favor is greater than discipline, though True favor always begets discipline (even if not seen immediately)

Favor is greater than discipline just as the worker is greater than his work.

If discipline is not the work of favor in your life (including "drawing favor"), then it is as "filthy rags," (Is 64:6) and comes from darkness.

If you have the favor of God’s light in your eyes then you will resonate and rejoice at what I am saying.

Favor without Truth, dies, and truth without favor becomes darkness within you. Truth will darken everyone who holds it without favor.

Favor takes you above the Law just as David was taken, and was not stoned when he deserved to die. (2Sam 12:1-13) -He also took back his wife after remarriage (2Sa 3:14-16) superseding the law.-

There is a favor that happens in an instant of time, which we sometimes experience, and there is a favor that takes hold of men’s lives. The latter is connection, and the former is what we aspire and pray to maintain if we have tasted it. A base of having connection upon a person’s life, inspires them to maintain a life experiencing and drawing that favor out.

 No Man is greater than his prayer life

 Be strong in the grace (2Tim 2:1; Lk 2:40)

Hype vs. Darkness both detract away from connection

● Acknowledge the verses in favor of excitement, but also determine to build nothing upon hype

● Darkness brings on depression

● Repeat After Me: It is not optional to have darkness

● Darkness is often composed of attempts toward Truth done in the flesh

There is a such thing as Graceless-Miracle-Workers

Not that the miracles themselves are "graceless" but that the people who do them are graceless.

-There are religious (unreasonable and anti-thinking) spirits that counterfeit spiritual mindsets claiming to have a connection with God. Acknowledge that God is reasonable (in the Truest sense, not in a human sense), and don’t be enticed by feely experiential speakers who can’t reasonably account for their actions.

-Hype and whimsical "connections" are not respected before God