Hello all,

Hope you're doing well? Hope you're keeping safe and strong?

We begin this new series connecting to our Church Family, Transformation Church SC.

Let's together cultivate our rhythm this period.

RHYTHM – Episode 1

Pastor Derwin Gray

In the midst of this quarantine, in the midst of this pandemic, God is moving hearts, there is transformation taking place.

Have a daily rhythm, even if you're not going anywhere (which we shouldn't be), get up …just kind of have that regular routine.

We're introducing this new series called RHYTHM and RHYTHM is a metaphor for learning how to dance with God which is a double metaphor because it's simply walking with God living in the current of His grace and
mercy - being the people of God.

We were created for God by God to glorify
God and when that happens, that's when we really find life and purpose and value that God created us to be. He wants to express himself through us in all of life even in the midst of this epidemic, we are going to learn how to dance by faith in Messiah Jesus.

By faith in Messiah Jesus, we are going to learn how to cultivate RHYTHM which stands for:
Read Scripture - Holy Spirit - You - Trust - Hope - Mission

For today we're going to look at read scripture. At LifePort, we are a people of the sacred book the Bible. It's important for us to understand that the
Bible is not like any other book, we don't read the Bible like we're reading something academical, we're not reading the Bible for information, we're
reading the Bible for transformation so we become LifePorts (people can plug into us and experience the life of Christ) and it is God's word to us.

In the midst of this quarantine season you have to spend more time in the Bible than on Tik-Tok than on Facebook, than on Instagram, than on Twitter.

How can we trust that the Bible was copied accurately even though it is thousands of years old and it's been copied over and over?

When the Dead Sea scrolls were found, we realized that the Old Testament was copied accurately as well but let's look at the New Testament for now in comparison with other ancient literature.

Let's look at the New Testament - less than a hundred years between the original and the first copies and there's over 5,600 manuscripts it's actually close to 6,000 now and they are 99.5% accurate the 0.5% variance is just spelling/grammatical errors and not doctrinal.

3 Reasons Why We Should Read the Bible:
1. We get the honor of knowing and loving Jesus. (John 5:39-40 CSB, John 17:3, Philippians 3:8-9). The Bible is not about information it's about knowing Jesus on a very personal and practical level.
Jesus said the Scriptures don't give you an eternal life, they tell you about the one who is
eternal life. Wouldn't it be sad to spend your whole life reading the Bible and Jesus is right before you and you don't see Him? Maybe in this
pandemics God longs for you to know Him - are you spending time in His word?

2. We get to discover and participate in God’s will. (2 Timothy 3:16-17, Psalm 119:105, Psalm 119:103-104, Hebrews 13:20-21). God's will for
your life and my life is in response to Jesus's death on the cross in our place (substitutionary atonement).

He wants to share his life with us so we can dance to the rhythm of his grace and this is what his dance looks like - God, I'm gonna love You with all of my heart with all of my soul with all of my strength and I love my neighbor as I love myself, and the greatest way I love my neighbor is by introducing them to Jesus’ love.

Whatever talent and ability you have, express it as a service to God. If you do stocks and bonds,
do it that way. If you teach English, do it that way. If you're in high school do it that way - all of life is worship to express God's will.

3. We get nourished and built up in our faith in Christ Jesus. (Jeremiah 15:16, Matthew 4:4, Acts 20:32). Word of God nourishes us. When we
read the Bible do we rush through it or do we savor it? The bible is not just for information but for transformation into making us LifePort and all that God would want us to be. God wants to meet with us, perhaps the joy we're missing is because we're missing 'eating' this book.

Jesus was tempted in His humanity in the wilderness by Satan, look how Jesus responded. He answered, it is written, Jesus answered with the Word of God 'it is written, man must not live on bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'

Soul-tattoo: Read this affirmation daily: Spirit of God, give me a heart that hungers to know the Son of God, to the glory of God the Father. Lord
Jesus, give me grace to seek Your face as I marinate on Your sacred scriptures. I want to know and love You; I want a heart that overflows with Your divine love. Father, Your love is better than life. I’ve been created to dwell in Your glory and to live in Your story. May I take Your sacred
Scriptures and eat them daily. Nourish me and strengthen me. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Action Step: • Use the YouVersion app to start a Bible-reading plan.

```Focus for Daily Personal Reflections/Devotion for Monday April 27, 2020```

*Focus/Reflection:* In the midst of this pandemic, God is moving hearts, transformation is taking place. Romans 8:28

*Note/Prayers:* Father, I pray in the name of Jesus, that You help me to see how You are using this situation to work for my good.

```Focus for Daily Personal Reflections/Devotion for Tuesday April 28, 2020```

*Focus/Reflection:* You are created for God by God to glorify God -that's when we really find life, purpose &value.
Colossians 1:16

*Note/prayers:* I receive the grace and sense to live my life with the full understanding that I am created for God's glory and not to fulfill any selfish desire of mine in Jesus name - AMEN

```Focus for Daily Personal Reflections/Devotion for Wednesday April 29, 2020```

*Focus/Reflection:* When we spend time to read and study Gods word, We get the honor of knowing and loving Jesus.
John 5:39-40

*Note/prayers:* Father, I pray in the name of Jesus that You help me to be deliberate and disciplined in spending time discovering and knowing You from Your word. AMEN.

```Focus for Daily Personal Reflections/Devotion for Thursday April 30, 2020```

*Focus/Reflection:* In this pandemic, God longs for you to know Him more and fellowship with Him. Are you spending time in His word? Philippians 3:8-9

*Note/prayers:* Dear Father, help me that in this pandemic I will be focused on spending more time to know You and fellowship with You. Help me to eliminate distractions.

```Focus for Daily Personal Reflections/Devotion for Friday May 1, 2020```

*Focus/Reflection:* God wants us to discover and participate in His will. He wants to share His life with us so we can dance to the rhythm of His grace.
2 Timothy 3:16-17

*Note/prayers:* Father, I ask in the name of Jesus that You help me discover and actively participate in Your will for my life. Help me to express everything I do in life as a service to You.

```Focus for Daily Personal Reflections/Devotion for Monday May 4, 2020```

*Focus/Reflection:* Do you limit your consciousness of God’s presence alone to the time you are in church or during devotions? Ephesians 2:19-22

*Notes/Prayers:* Father, help me that I will always be consious of Your presence. Help me to live in the reality that my body is Your temple and You are always with me. Amen

RHYTHM – Episode 2 with Pastor Derwin Gray

The Rhythm of God’s Presence (Holy Spirit)

We are thankful that in this season of slowing down and staying at home that Jesus is captivating us afresh and we're going to be more
Jesus centered, Jesus focused and Jesus empowered. Through this we have the divine reset that is going to cause us to dance to the rhythm of God's grace.

As we continue into the Episode 2 of our RHYTHM series, we will be looking at the rhythm of God's presence.

What do you give someone that has everything? We try to give them our best and as a result of being human beings (being broken) we
think that God wants what we do, but the reality is this, it's to dance to the rhythm of God's grace
God simply wants you and that as we experience his presence we begin to dance to the rhythm of his purpose. His presence leads us to his loving purposes in our lives.

God is saying I've created you because I want a family to enjoy. I want you to experience my presence.

God has always desired a family that He could dwell with, and in doing so, His loving purposes for the world could be realized.
(Ezekiel 37:26-28 CSB)

How Do We Practice the Rhythm of God’s Presence?

By Remembering:
1)We are God’s dwelling. (Ephesians 2:19-22CSB, Hebrews 13:10-12 NLT). God has always wanted a dwelling God has always wanted his people to experience his presence. In the Garden of Eden we realize that in the cool of the day God walked with Adam and Eve that's an anthropomorphic term for his presence. All through the old
testament we see that God always want the children of Israel to experience his presence right from the giving of the 10 commandments to Moses, building the temple and everything that
comes with it.

When Jesus came, John 1:14 means God tabernacled and pitched his tent with us. Jesus replaces the temple with himself and then when
he ascends after his resurrection guess where the Holies of Holies is? If you follow Jesus you are the Holies of Holies! The God who has always wanted to be with you is the God who now indwells us.

2)We have the Counselor. (John 14:26 CSB, Galatians 5:16-25). The Greek word for counselor is “Paraclete” it means the Advocate - it's like a defense attorney in court. He's our advocate he
is with us. God will never leave us nor forsake us because his presence will not leave the children that his father has given to himself through Jesus.
When you remember that you are the Holies of
Holies, you are the sacred place that the king of kings lives in you, it changes our behavior.

3)We are a living sacrifice. (Romans 12:1-2). Do you know what a living sacrifice means? -A living dead thing - in other words there are
things we have to die to that impede what Christ wants to do in our lives. There are some relationships we need to die to there are some
habits that we need to die to there are some patterns of thinking that we need to die to so we can live.

4)We have His power, His ministry and His mission. (Acts 1:
Ministry is how we minister to each other as followers of Christ. Mission means how we minister to those outside of Christ. Open your
mouth, open your heart befriend people because they're made in the image of God but let them know that in Christ alone can they be clean. God desires for them to come and sit at his table and enjoy his presence that in God's presence is God's power that in God's presence is God's purpose for their lives. Christ wants to make us
new, he wants to turn caterpillars into butterflies, he wants to fill the world with a beautiful colorful array of butterflies he does this in Christ alone. We have access to the father through the spirit in Christ alone.

Soul-tattoo: Daily Prayer - Precious Holy Spirit, Remind me that I am in Christ and that Christ is in me. Remind me that He is my greatest treasure and that He is my life. Father, Remind me of Your mercy. Transform my mind with words of grace. May I be a living sacrifice! Lord Jesus, Remind me that Your ministry and
mission is my ministry and mission. In Jesus’ Name

```Focus for Daily Personal Reflections/Devotion for Tuesday May 5, 2020```

*Focus/Reflection:* God desired a family that He could dwell with, and in doing so, His loving purposes for the world could be realized.
Ezekiel 37:26-28

*Notes/Prayers:* Father, thank You for desiring me enough to be part of Your family even when I don't worth it. Help me to prioritize our family connections above everything.

```Focus for Daily Personal Reflections/Devotion for Wednesday May 6, 2020```

*Focus/Reflection:* If you follow Jesus, you are the Holies of Holies! The God who has always wanted to be with you is now in you. Hebrews 13:10-12

*Notes/Prayers:* Father, I know this will be difficult for my human mind to comprehend, help me to live in the consciousness that I am the Holies of Holies, Your dwelling place.

```Focus for Daily Personal Reflections/Devotion for Thursday May 7, 2020```

*Focus/Reflection:* God dwells in us by his Holy Spirit, our Advocate, our defense attorney in court. John 14:26

*Notes/Prayers:* Holy Spirit, help me to take advantage of Your ministry in my life. I refuse to live in fear and guilt because You are my advocate.

Take note.

```Focus for Daily Personal Reflections/Devotion for friday May 8, 2020```

*Focus/Reflection:* There are some relationships/habit/patterns we need to die to so we can live.
Romans 12:1

*Notes/Prayers:* Father, help me to keep presenting my body as a living sacrifice to You. Help me to die to anything that hold me back from living for You.

```Focus for Daily Personal Reflections/Devotion for Saturday May 9, 2020```

*Focus/Reflection:* Open your mouth, open your heart, befriend people because they're made in the image of God but let them know that in Christ alone can they be clean.
Acts 1:8

*Notes/Prayers:* Lord Jesus, remind me that Your ministry and mission is my ministry and mission. Help me to spread Your love to humanity, help me to love people just as You loved them.
In Jesus Name, Amen.

Dancing To The Rhythm of His Love (You)

RHYTHM – Episode 3 with Pastor Derwin Gray

Let’s go through some diagnostic procedures and check what’s going on in our hearts by asking these questions:
- Do you consistently feel that you don't measure up…maybe you don't measure up to your friends, you don't measure up at work, you don't measure up in your marriage, you don’t measure up to the person you are dating… you don't just measure up in life.
-Do you consistently feel like you're not enough, that you're not good enough, unworthy of love and you deserve to be treated the way you have been treated?

The truth is we allow people to treat us the way we feel about ourselves.

People continue with abusive, harmful and damaging relationship at the
end of the day because many of us feel like I am unworthy to be loved, I am unworthy to be treated with kindness and compassion, hence you see him/her doing you a favour by being in a relationship with you no matter how he/she treats you (like trash).
- When you talk to yourself (because the most important conversation you and I are ever going to have is talking to God and talking to ourselves – as a matter of fact we talk to ourselves more than anybody else), do you speak to yourself like someone you love? How much empathy and compassion do you have for yourself? How much grace do you have for yourself? How much encouraging words do you speak to yourself?

In this world, we are conditioned to love things that are beautiful to love things that are perfect. Yes, God is beautiful and perfect and you and I are not beautiful and we're not perfect at times we do ugly things, but God is telling us we can never love ourselves until we understand that God loved us when we were not perfect and unlovable.

The way we begin to love ourselves is to learn to dance to the rhythm of HIS love. Be honest with yourself and say I am not enough but
Jesus is my enough…outside of His love, I am unlovable but Jesus is my love…in Christ I have become something new and we learn how to dance to the rhythm of God's love, God wants you to see yourself as he sees you in Christ.

It is hard to love people around you when you don't love you. That insecurity clouds our minds and souls you, hence God wants us to see
ourselves as he sees us in Christ by opening our eyes to his amazing grace.
“Grace humbles us without degrading us and elevates us without inflating us.” – Dr. Ken Boa (1 Corinthians 6:17 CSB)

How Do You Dance to the RHYTHM of God’s Love?
-By remembering that in Christ, you are:
1. Loved (Psalms 86:3-5, 1 John 3:1 Zephaniah 3:17 NLT)
Always remember that in Christ you are loved. To be joined to Christ is the same thing as you are in Christ. You can't impress God - you are in
Christ Jesus and he has done the impressing for you. The Father loves you the way He loves His son Jesus…the way God the Father loves His
son is the way God the Father loves you.
John 3:1- See what great love the
Father has given us (some translations say lavished love). See what great love the Father has given us that we should be called God's children.
How can you not love yourself when God takes delight in you?

2. The Father’s Children (Ephesians 1:3-6 CSB) - Before time ever began, God decided that whoever trusts His son would be adopted…He
predestined us to be adopted as sons and daughters through Christ Jesus for himself. He's already signed the adoption papers not in ink but in the blood of Jesus…all you have to do is walk up and grab His hand and He will adopt you.

He has already paid the price, it wasn't with silver or gold,it was with the blood of Jesus. Jesus has verified you - Jesus is your verification. If nobody knows your name except for Jesus, that's enough and if everybody knows your name but Jesus doesn't know it, everybody knowing your name will never be enough - Jesus is our verification.

3. The Body of Christ (Romans 12:4-
We think our significance is going to come from accomplishments or what we've done or not done. But what makes us significant - we're the
body of Christ that's what makes us significant, not the number of IG, twitter or tik-tok followers you have. Your union with Jesus’ significance
is not something you strive for it's your birthright and it's not based on your accomplishments it's based on His accomplishments.

Grace is so unfair, the rhythm of God's love is so unfair because it's not dependent upon you, it is dependent upon the One who so loved the world
that He came to give us life.

Soul-tattoo: Read this affirmation daily - Father, Help me to believe that what You say about me is true. Help me to see what You see in me. Help me to take hold of who You say I am in Your beloved Son. Lord Jesus, Help me to believe I am loved with an unending Love. Help me to believe that I am clean and blameless because of Your precious blood. Help me believe that all that You say about me, and have done for me, is true. Holy Spirit, Help me believe that I am all that God says I am because of the grace of the One who is called The Great I Am. In Jesus name, Amen.

```Focus for Daily Personal Reflections/Devotion for Monday May 11, 2020```

*Focus/Reflection:* Do you consistently feel that you don't measure up to your friends, at work, in your marriage/relationship, etc. Remind yourself you are complete in Christ. Col. 2:10

*Notes/Prayers:* In the name of Jesus, I declare, because I am complete in Christ, I come against all feelings of inadequacy, low self esteem and poor self image. The greatest price was paid for me I am valuable.

```Focus for Daily Personal Reflections/Devotion for Tuesday May 12, 2020```

*Focus/Reflection:* The truth is -we allow people to treat us the way we feel about ourselves. Decide to change the way you think about yourself. Prov. 23:7

*Notes/Prayers:* Father, help me to think of me the same way You do. I refuse to allow myself to be treated as invaluable. I see myself as extremely valuable and precious.

```Focus for Daily Personal Reflections/Devotion for Wednesday May 13, 2020```

*Focus/Reflection:* We can never love ourselves until we understand that God loved us when we were imperfect and unlovable.
Romans 5:8

*Notes/Prayers:* Father, I pray that You help me live in the reality of the truth that You loved me and gave me the best gift when I was imperfect and unlovable. AMEN.

```Focus for Daily Personal Reflections/Devotion for Thursday May 14, 2020```

*Focus/Reflection:* You can't impress God - Christ has done the impressing for you. The Father loves you the way He loves His Son Jesus.
I John 3:1

*Notes/Prayers:* Dear Father, help me to quit trying to impress You, help me to absolutely depend on what Jesus has accomplish for me by His death and resurrection.

```Focus for Daily Personal Reflections/Devotion for Friday May 15, 2020```

*Focus/Reflection:* Jesus has verified you even if twitter or IG doesn't -Jesus is your verification. If nobody knows your name but Jesus, that's enough. Eph. 1:3-6

*Notes/Prayers:* Father, I ask in the name of Jesus that You help me to keep living in the validation of Jesus verification no matter what anyone or the society thinks.

```Focus for Daily Personal Reflections/Devotion for Saturday May 16, 2020```

*Focus/Reflection:* Your significance is not the number of social media followers you have, its based on your union with Jesus. It's not based on your accomplishments but on His accomplishments. Rom12:4-8

*Notes/Prayers:* Dear Father, help me believe that all that You say about me, and have done for me, is true. Holy Spirit, help me believe that I am all that God says I am because of the grace of the One who is called The Great I Am. In Jesus name, Amen.

Focus for Daily Personal Reflections/Devotion for Monday May 18, 2020

*Focus/Reflection:* How do you trust God in hard times? God does His best dancing with us when it is hard…we learn His secret moves - deeper grace & mercy. Isaiah 41:10

*Notes/Prayers:* Father, help me that my faith and trust in You will not be shaken when I go through hard and challenging times. Help me to learn Your dance moves of grace and mercy at such times.

Focus for Daily Personal Reflections/Devotion for Tuesday May 19, 2020

*Focus/Reflection:* Trials increases our endurance and this makes us mature -this is always God's greatest goal, to make us mature into the image of Christ. James 1:2-4

*Notes/Prayers:* Father, help me that in all of my challenging experiences. I will cooperate with Your Spirit to help me become more like Christ through the entire process.