October 2 2016 Connecting With The Real Jesus

Connecting With The Real Jesus

John 14:6 "I am the way, the truth and the life."

John 14:1-9 (NLT) “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. And you know the way to where I am going.” “No, we don’t know, Lord,” Thomas said. “We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. If you had really known me, you would know who my Father is. From now on, you do know him and have seen him! Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” Jesus replied, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am?

How Do We Connect to the Real Jesus?

1. I engage the way of Jesus through prayer.

Question: "How do you know what Jesus would do?"

John 14:13 "You can ask for anything in my name and I will do it because the work of the Son brings glory to the Father."

Matthew 7:7 "Keep on asking and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking and you will find. Keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives. Everyone who seeks finds and to everyone who knocks the door will be opened."

2. I encounter the truth of Jesus through Bible study.

John 14:9-11 Jesus replied "Philip, don't you even yet know who I am even after all the time I've been with you? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. Why are you asking to see Him? Don't you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?" "The words I say are not my own but my Father who lives in me, does his work through me." "Just believe that I'm in the Father and the Father is in me. Or at least believe, because of what you have seen me do."

Question: Have you ever seriously studied who Jesus is?

Common Myths:

• Jesus came to make us more religious.

See Mark 7.

•  Jesus was just a good human.

See John 2.

• Jesus was a good historical figure.

See John 18.

• Jesus will make your life easy

CS Lewis “I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

3. I experience the life of Jesus through believing.

Acts 16:31 "Believe on the Lord, Jesus Christ and you will be saved."

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only son so that everyone who believes in him would not perish but have eternal life.

Memory Verse: John 14:6 "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me."

March 6 2016 Daring To Wait On God

DARING TO WAIT ON GOD

Daring Faith: The Key To Miracles – Part 9

“God does everything just right and on time, but people can never completely understand what he is

WHAT TO REMEMBER WHILE WAITING ON GOD

1. REMEMBER THERE’S A NATURAL DELAY BETWEEN PLANTING & HARVESTING!

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven . . . A time to plant and a time to harvest . . . a time to scatter and a time to gather . . .” 

2. REMEMBER THERE’S AN UNSEEN BATTLE GOING ON.

“We are not struggling and fighting against human beings but against evil spiritual forces in the heavenly realm—the rulers, authorities, and powers of darkness.” 

3. REMEMBER GOD IS PREPARING ME FOR HIS BLESSING

“There is wonderful joy ahead, even though it is necessary for you to endure many trials for a while. These troubles test your faith, to show that it is strong and pure, just as fire tests and purifies gold—and your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold.” 

“Waiting does not diminish us any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We don’t see what is enlarging us, but the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy. Meanwhile, when we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He prays in us and for us . . .He knows us far better than we know ourselves, and knows our pregnant condition . . . That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.” Romans 8:24-28

4. REMEMBER I’M IN GOOD COMPANY WHEN WAITING ON GOD

 “People who lived in the past became famous because of their faith.”

5. REMEMBER GOD ALWAYS KEEPS HIS PROMISES!

God says, “At the time I have decided, my words will come true. You can trust what I say about the future. It may take a long time, but keep on waiting—it will happen!” Habakkuk 2:3 (CEV) 

WHAT TO DO WHILE WAITING ON God

1. WRITE DOWN THE LESSONS I’M LEARNING

“At the Lord’s direction, Moses kept a written record of their progress.” Numbers 33:2a (NLT)

“Remember what you have learned about the Lord through your experiences with him.” Deuteronomy 11:2a (TEV) 

2. ACT AS THOUGH I ALREADY HAVE IT

Jesus said, “I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” Mark 11:24 (NIV) 

3. IMITATE THE HABITS THAT GROW STRONG FAITH

“We do not want you to become lazy, but to IMITATE those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.” Hebrews 6:12 (NIV) 

Paul: “KEEP ON putting into practice all you learned from me and heard from me and saw me doing.”  Philippians 4:9a (NLT) 

DON’T put my life on hold.

• KEEP ON  PRAYING

“Keep on asking, and you WILL be given what you ask for. Keep on looking, and you WILL find. Keep on knocking, and the door WILL be opened!” Matthew 7:7 (NLT) 

• KEEP ON SERVING

“Never be lazy in your work, but serve the Lord enthusiastically.”  Romans 12:11 (NLT)

• KEEP ON GOING TO CHURCH

“Don’t give up your habit of meeting with other believers. Instead keep on encouraging each other!” Hebrews 10:25 

• KEEP ON SOWING

“Keep on sowing your seed, for you never know which ones will grow—perhaps they all will!” Ecclesiastes 11:6 (LB)

• KEEP ON BELIEVING

“You must keep on believing the things you have been taught. You know they are true . . .” 2 Timothy 3:14 (LB)

TRUST GOD INSTEAD OF PANICKING

“Even when I am afraid, I keep on trusting you.” Psalm 56:3 (CEV)

October 13 2013 Building A Life Of Faith

BUILDING A LIFE OF FAITH

Heb. 11:6 – Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.

FAITH IS...

1.  Believing when I don't see it.
Heb. 11:1 – Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

2.  Obeyingwhen I don't understand it.
Heb. 11:7 – It was by faith that Noah built an ark to save his family from the flood.  He obeyed God, who warned him about something that had never happened before.

Heb. 11-8 – It was faith that made Abraham obey when God called him and go out to a country God had promised to him.  He left his own country without knowing where he was going.

3.  Giving when I don't have it.
Heb. 11:4 – It was faith that made Abel's offering to God a better sacrifice than Cain's.  Through his faith God approved of his giving.

II Cor. 8:2-3 – Because of their great joy, they gave even more than they could afford.

II Cor. 4:6 & 8 – Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, but whoever sows generously will reap generously.  And God will generously provide all you need.  Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others.

4.  Persisting when I don't feel like it.
Heb. 11:27 – It was by faith that Moses left Egypt and was not afraid of the King's anger.  He held to his purpose like a man who could see the invisible.

5. Thanking God before I receive it.
Heb. 11:30 – By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched around them for seven days.

Mark 11:24 – When you pray and ask for something, believe that you have received it and you will be given what you ask for.

6. Trusting if I don't get it.
Heb. 11: 39-40 – They were all commended for their faith yet none of them received what had been promised.  God had planned something better.

HOW GOD BUILDS MY FAITH

Rom. 10:17 – Faith comes from hearing the Word of God.

I Peter 1:7 – These trials are only to test your faith, and your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold, it will bring you much praise and honor on the day of His return.

November 21 2010 Attitudes Of Positive Believing

Attitudes Of Positive Believing

(Matthew 7:7-11 - "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!")

Attitudes are perhaps the most determining factor about life in the today and the tools which are carving out our tomorrows.

Three Attitudes of Positive Believing

1. Dependence on God

(Matthew 7:7 - "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.")

(Isaiah 44:3 - For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground)

2. Assurance

(Matthew 7:8 - "For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.")

(Mark 11:24 - "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.")

(Hebrews 11:6 - And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.)

(Psalms 37:4 - Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.)

3. Trusting in God's character

(Matthew 7:9-11 - "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!")