As we saw last week we need to know God’s truth to thrive. This is more than verbally acknowledging the truth – it is walking in the truth in a close intimate relationship with God. This week we looked at some steps to living a full and truly prosperous life.
 
1. Know God and Show love
2. Be Filled with the Spirit
Jesus knew His disciples had to have the Baptism in the Holy Spirit to do the mighty works God planned for them. That hasn’t changed. Know Jesus as our Saviour and being filled with the Spirit
 3. Believe That With God, All Things Are Possible
God has a purpose for your life that’s exciting and beyond anything you can imagine without the Holy Spirit revealing it. 

Ephesians 3:20
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,
4. Live by Faith
The men of faith in Hebrews 11 accomplished great things by faith-by believing God. 

Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
 
5. Live in the Spirit!
Lay aside the things that hold you back and live as what you are – a Spiritual Being  You can be “spiritually minded” and experience life and peace. Or you can be “naturally” or “carnally minded” and think like the world thinks
 6. Believe God’s Promises
Know that God loves you and He is God – He has knowledge above and beyond it is not about what you want it is about God’s love and promises! His greatest promises is forgiveness and eternal loving adoption as children and heir.
 
Romans 8:28
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

God Bless 
Pastor Greg

Truth, as revealed by God, and love are the keys to us thriving in all areas of our life!
 
In 3 John 3 we see thatJohn wants Gaius to have the resources, health and all things needed to carry out the calling upon his life - to live an abundant life.
 
The prosperous soul walks in the truth and love, submits to apostolic authority, and imitates godly examples.
 
The three characters named in the book provide us with keys to pursuing a prosperous soul:
 
The prosperous soul walks in the truth and love
 To do this we need:

• To know the truth
• To walk and grow in the truth
• To express our love in actions

 
The impoverished soul as seen in Diotrephes (a negative example) 

• Loves to be first
• Uses gossip and slander to run down others
• Uses relationships to gain power
• Bullies and intimidates others

 
How do you discern whether a person is worth imitating or not? Look for evidence in the person’s life of:

• The fruit of the Spirit in his or her character. 
• Deeds of love 
• A positive reputation. John says, “the truth itself” bore witness to Demetrius’ good character. This means that his life was consistent with the character qualities and moral standards of God’s Word. 

 
God Bless
Pastor Greg

This week we continued to look at our theme for the year -Thrive. In 3 John 2 John prays for his friend Gaius. Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well.
 
John wants Gaius to thrive in every area of his life. He prays for good health for him so that Gaius is equipped to carry out God’s will. Even if we are in poor health we can still thrive if we seek God and do what He says. But we should be diligent to pray for ourselves and others that God protects us from illness. John prayed for Gaius’ material well-being. We see in the letter that Gaius was generous, helping visiting preachers. God gives us resources so that we can use them to further His kingdom. What matters is not how much we have but how we use it for God. Thirdly John mentions how he has heard that Gaius is faithful to the truth of the gospel. He knows God and walks in His ways. That is what we need to do to thrive. Just as John wants Gaius to thrive in every way so is that God’s heart for us. We will do so as we keep close to Him and seek His will in every area of our life.
 
God bless
Pastor Margo