April 3 2016 Your Future And God's Faithfulness

YOUR FUTURE AND GOD’S FAITHFULNESS

Psalm 34:4 – I sought the Lord and He answered me, He delivered me from all my fears.

Psalm 145:13 – The Lord is faithful to all His promises.

GOD’S FAITHFULNESS

1.  Helps me keep standing when I’m tempted.

1 Peter 5:8 - Watch out for attacks from the devil, your great enemy.  He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for some victim to devour.  Take a firm stand against him, and be strong in your faith.

1 Corinthians 10:13 - The temptations that you have are the same ones that all people have.  But you can trust God.  He will not let you be tempted more than you can stand.  When you are tempted, God will also give you a way to escape.  Then you will be able to stand it.

2.  Helps me keep standing when I’m overwhelmed.

2 Corinthians 1:21-22 - It is God who gives us the ability to stand firm for Christ.  He has commissioned us, and He has identified us as His own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts.

Philippians 2:13 - For God is at work within you, giving you the will and the power to achieve His purpose.

3.  Helps me keep standing in the storm.

Isaiah 41:10 - So don’t worry, because I am with you.  Don’t be afraid, because I am your God.  I will make you strong and will help you.  I will support you with my right hand that saves you.

Psalm 46:1 - God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble.

HOW TO RECEIVE GOD’S STRENGTH

1.  Call out to God.

James 4:6-8 - God gives grace to the humble.  So give yourselves completely to God.  Draw close to God, and God will draw close to you.

2.  Fill your mind with God’s Word.

Psalm 119:25 - I am completely discouraged; revive me by your Word.

3.  Accept support from God’s people.

Galatians 6:2 - By helping each other with your troubles, you truly obey the law of Christ.

4.  Hold on to God’s promises.

Isaiah 40:29-31 - He gives strength to the wary and increases the power of the weak.  Even youths grow tired, but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint.

2 Corinthians 4:18 - So we don’t look at the troubles we can see right now; rather, we look forward to what we have not yet seen.  For the troubles we see will soon be over, but the joys to come will last forever.

Philippians 4:13 – I have strength for all things in Christ who empowers me.  I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him who infuses inner strength into me.

March 20 2016 The Word Of Trust

THE WORD OF TRUST

Luke 23:46-49

Verse 46 – Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit My Spirit.”

1. Christ was committed to prayer.

Mark 14:38 – Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.

Mark 11:24 – Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you will receive it and it will be yours.

2. Christ was committed to the scriptures.

Psalm 31:5 – Into Your hands I commit My Spirit.

Psalm 118:11 – I have hidden Your Word in my heart that I might not sin against You.

3. The commitment of Christ brought peace.

Verse 46 – Into Your hands I put Myself.

2 Timothy 1:12 – I know Whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him.

John 15:5 – I am the vine; you are the branches.  If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit, apart from Me you can do nothing.

4. Christ’s commitment set an example.

1 Peter 2:21 – Because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His steps.

2 Corinthians 5:19 – He has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

5. We need a commitment of trust.

His hands are big enough to bless us.

Psalm 139:5 – You both precede and follow me.  You place Your hand of blessing on my head.

His hands are scarred enough never to forget you.

Isaiah 49:15 – Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne.  Though she may forget, I will not forget, I have engraved you on the palm of my hands.

His hands are strong enough to hold us steady.

2 Corinthians 1:8-9 – I think you ought to know, dear brothers, about the hard time we went through in Asia.  We were really crushed and overwhelmed, and feared we would never live through it.  We felt we were doomed to die and saw how powerless we were to help ourselves, but that was good, for then we put everything into the hands of God, who alone could save us, for He can even raise the dead.

February 21 2016 The Word Of Comfort

THE WORD OF COMFORT

John 19:25-27

Verse 26 – Dear woman here is your Son and to the disciple here is your Mother.

Isaiah 40:1 – Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.

1. Comfort in suffering.

2 Corinthians 1:5 – For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort over flows.

Romans 5:5 – God has poured His love into our hearts by The Holy Spirit Whom He has given to us.

Philippians 2:5 – Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.

1 Peter 4:1 – Since Christ suffered and underwent pain, you must have the same attitude He did.  You must be ready to suffer too.

Exodus 20:12 – Honor thy Father and thy Mother.

2. Comfort in sorrow.

Verse 26 – Here is your Son.

2 Timothy 4:9-10 – Do your best to come to me quickly, for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me.

John 14:16 – I will give you another counselor. (Comforter)

Luke 1:38 – I am the Lord’s servant; may it be to me as you have said.

3. Comfort in service.

Verse 27 – Here is your Mother.

Matthew 28:20 – And surely I will be with you always.

Romans 15:3 – Each of us should please his neighbor, for it’s good to build him up.

REMEMBER IF YOU ARE IN PAIN

• Jesus cares about your pain.
• Don’t handle pain alone.
• Find someone to help.
• Look up to Jesus.

January 3 2016 What Happens When You Have Faith

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU HAVE FAITH

Daring Faith: Key To Miracles - Part 1

Romans 1:17 “The Gospel shows us how God makes people right with himself—that it begins and ends with FAITH. The Scripture says those who are right with God will live by trusting in Him.”

Memory Verse: Hebrews 11:6 (NIV) “Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”

FAITH IS seeing from God's point of view. 

Hebrews 11:1 (NLT) “What is faith? It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen and to be certain of things we do not yet see.”

Ephesians 1:18 “I pray that the eyes of your heart will be flooded with light so that you can see the wonderful future God has promised to those he called . . .” 

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE SEE

(Numbers 13-14 - Spying out the Promised Land)

WITH EYES OF FEAR?

1. WE EXAGGERATE our difficulties

Numbers 13:27b “It’s a magnificent land BUT the people living there are powerful, and their cities are fortified and large! What’s more, we saw Anakim giants there!” -28

Numbers 13:31-32 “. . . other spies said, “They’d crush us!” So the majority report of the spies was negative.”

2. WE UNDERESTIMATE our own abilities

“We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.” Numbers 13:33

3. WE get discouraged

“Then all the people began weeping aloud, and they carried on all night!” Numbers 14:1

4. WE START TO to gripe about our life

Numbers 14:2 “All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron . . . ‘We wish we had died in Egypt!’ they wailed, ‘Or even here in the wilderness!’”

5. WE EVENTUALLY give up and we blame God.

Numbers 14:3 “Why is the Lord bringing us to this land to be killed with swords . . . We’d be better off going back to Egypt!”

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE SEE WITH EYES OF FAITH?

1. FAITH shrinks my problem

Genesis 18:14a “Is anything too hard for the Lord?”

Luke 1:37 “For nothing is impossible with God!”

2. FAITH opens the door for a miracle

Mark 11:22-24 Jesus said, “Have faith in God! If you have faith in God and you don’t doubt, you could tell this mountain to get up and jump into the sea, and it would. Whatever you ask for in prayer will be yours, IF you only have the faith.”

3. FAITH moves God to act on my Behalf

Matthew 9:29 Jesus said, “According to your faith it will be done to you.” 

4. FAITH unlocks all the promises of God

2 Corinthians 1:20a “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are all ‘Yes’ in Christ!”

5. FAITH turns God-given dreams into reality

Ephesians 3:20 (LB) “Glory be to God, who by his mighty power at work within us, is able to do FAR

MORE than we would ever DARE TO ASK or even DREAM of—infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, or hopes!” 

6. FAITH GIVES ME  power to hold on in tough times. 

2 Corinthians 4:8-9 (NLT) “We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we’re not crushed and broken. We’re perplexed, but we don’t give up and quit. We’re attacked but God never abandons us.

We get knocked down, but we get up and keep going!”

John 3:16 (CEV) “God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who has faith in him will have eternal life.” 

How To Grow In Your Faith during the DARING FAITH SERIES

1. Listen to all 10 Weekend Messages of the campaign.

2. Carry the weekly Bible verse with you.

3. Set 3 faith goals for growing, giving, and going.

April 5 2015 The Dynamics Of Easter

THE DYNAMICS OF EASTER

Philippians 3:10 and Ephesians 1:19-20

Philippians 3:10 – I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection.

Ephesians 1:19-20 – I pray that you will begin to understand how incredibly great His power is to help those who believe in Him.  It is the same power that raised Christ from the dead and seated Him in a place of honor at God’s right hand in heaven.

THREE DYNAMICS TO EXPERIENCE

1. Dynamic one:  Power for real life.

John 10:10 – I came that you might have life and have it to the fullest.

John 3:17 – For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.

2. Dynamic two:  Power to help you.

Ephesians 1:20 – I pray that you will begin to understand how incredibly great His power is to help those who believe in Him, the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead.

Philippians 4:13 – I have the strength to face all conditions by the power that Christ gives me.

3. Dynamic three:  Power to trust His promises.

2 Corinthians 1:20 – He carries out and fulfills all of God’s promises, no matter how many of them there are.

1 Peter 1:3 – We have been born again into a life full of hope through Christ rising again from the dead.

Philippians 4:19 – And my God will meet all your needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus.

John 5:24 – I tell you the truth, whoever hears my words and believes in Him who sent me has eternal life.  He will not be judged, but has already passed from death to life.

Romans 10:9 – If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

Revelation 3:20 – If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and fellowship with him.