January 8 2017 Your Choice: Blessed Or Stressed

YOUR CHOICE: BLESSED OR STRESSED

Decade of Destiny – Part 1

Deuteronomy 28:2-8 - You will experience all these blessings IF you obey the Lord your God.  You will be blessed in your towns and in the country. You will be blessed with many children and productive fields.  You will be blessed with fertile herds and flocks.  You will be blessed with baskets overflowing with fruit, and with kneading bowls filled with bread.  You will be blessed wherever you go, both in coming and in going.  The Lord will conquer your enemies when they attack you, and the Lord will BLESS EVERYTHING YOU DO and will fill your storehouses with grain.

Job 42:12 – The Lord blessed Job in the second half of his life even more than in the first half of his life.

GOD PROMISES TO BLESS MY LIFE

1. If I meet with Him daily.

Proverbs 8:34 – Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway.

Psalm 31:19 – You have stored up great blessings for those who honor you.  You do so much for those who come to you for protection, blessing them before the watching world.

2. If I study and do His Word.

Psalm 1:1-3 – Blessed is the man whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His Word he meditates day and night.  He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither.  Whatever he does prospers.

James 1:25 – The man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it, he will be blessed in what he does.

3. If I tithe my income.

Malachi 3:10 – Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my hours.  Test me in this, says the Lord Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.

4. If I help others in need.

Psalm 41:1-2 – God blesses those who are kind to the poor and helpless.  He helps them out of their own troubles.  He protects them and keeps them alive; He publicly honors them and destroys the power of their enemies.

Proverbs 22:9 – A generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor.

Proverbs 11:11 – Good people bless and build up their city.

5. If I share the good news.

Philemon 1:6 – I pray you will be active in sharing your faith, so that you will fully understand every blessing we have in Christ.

1 Corinthians 3:8 – The man who plants and the man who waters have on purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor.

6. If I participate in fellowship.

Romans 1:12 – I’m eager to encourage you in your faith, but I also want to be encouraged by yours.  In this way, each of us will be a blessing to the other.

Now that you know these things, you will be blessed If you Do them.

October16 2016 The Life God Blesses

THE LIFE GOD BLESSES

FOUR PITFALLS ON YOUR JOURNEY

1. Cultural distractions
2. The voices of doubt
3. Tempting short cuts
4. Discouraging delays

LESSONS FROM NOAH: GENESIS 6-9

1. I must dare to be different than my culture.

Genesis 6:12 – God observed all the corruption in the world, and He saw violence and depravity everywhere.

Genesis 6:5-6 – When God saw the extent of human wickedness, and that the trend and direction of men’s lives were only towards evil, he was sorry He had made them.  It broke His heart.

Genesis 6:8 – But Noah was different.  God liked what He saw in Noah.  Noah was a pleasure to the Lord.

Genesis 6:9a – Noah was the only truly righteous man living on the earth at that time.

2. I must listen to the voice of God, not the voices of doubt.

Hebrews 11:7a – It was by faith that Noah heard God’s warnings about things he could not yet see.

Hebrews 11:7b – Noah’s belief in God was in direct contrast to the disbelief of the rest of the world.

Genesis 6:9c – Noah walked with God.

3. I must do exactly as God tells me to do.

Genesis 6:9b – Noah always tried to conduct his affairs according to God’s will.

Genesis 6:22 & 7:5 – Noah did everything exactly as God had commanded him.

Hebrews 11:7b – Noah obeyed God and built a large boat to save his family.

4. Refusing to give up my God given dreams that God gives me.

Hebrews 11:7a – Noah trusted God.  When he heard God’s warning about the future, Noah believed Him even though there was no sign of a flood.

Hebrews 11:7b – By his faith, Noah showed that the world was wrong, and he became one of those who are made right with God through faith.

Genesis 6:8 – Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

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 16 2014 Becoming A More Loving Person

BECOMING A MORE LOVING PERSON

Galatians 5:22 –But the fruit of the Spirit is Love.

Misconceptions About Love:

• Love is a feeling.
• Love is uncontrollable.

Facts About Love:

• Love is a choice.

Colossians 3:14 – Over all these virtues, put on love which binds them all together in perfect unity.

• Love is a matter of conduct.

1 John 3:18 – Let us not love with words or tongue, but with actions and in truth.

Five Steps to Becoming a Loving Person:

Step One – Experience God’s love.

Ephesians 3:17-18 – I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts, living within you, as you trust in Him May your roots go down deep into the soil of God’s marvelous love, and may you be able to feel and understand, as all God’s children should, how long, how wide, how deep and how high His love really is and to experience His love for yourself.

1 John 4:19

Step Two – Forgive your enemies.

Colossians 3:13 – Forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another.

Step Three – Think loving thoughts.

Philippians 2:4-5 – Don’t just think about your own affairs, but be interested in others too, and in what they are doing. Your attitude should be the kind that was shown us by Christ Jesus.

A fact of life: Hurt people hurt people.

Step Four – Act in loving ways.

Luke 6:27-28 – Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.

Four Ways To Act Lovingly:

• Overlook their faults.
• Do good to them.
• Bless them.
• Pray for them.

1 Corinthians 13

Step Five – Expect the best.

1 Corinthians 13:2 – You will always believe in Him, always expect the best of Him.

Taking the First Step

• Remember God loves you.

John 3:16 – For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only Son, that whosoever believes in Him, shall have everlasting life.

• Repent and turn to God.

Acts 3:19 – Repent then, and turn to God.

• Trust Jesus for forgiveness and power.

John 1:12 – All who received Him, He gave the power to become children of God.

September 22 2013 The Art Of Gratefulness

THE ART OF GRATEFULNESS

Luke 17:11-19

FOUR TRUTHS ABOUT GRATEFULNESS FROM LUKE 17

1. It’s easy to forget about God during the good times. (v. 17)

2. God blesses the grateful and the ungrateful alike. (v. 14)

3. It matters to Jesus whether or not I say Thank You. (vv.17-18)

4. Grateful words reflect greater faith. (v. 19)

FOUR STEPS TO DEVELOPING AN ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE

1. PRAISE God first thing in the morning

Psalm 59:16 ““But as for me, I will sing about your power. I will shout with joy each morning because of your unfailing love.”

2. REMOVE all complaints from my life.

Memory Verse: “In everything you do, stay away from complaining and arguing.” Philippians 2:14

3. SAY thank you to those who bless me. 

Luke 17:15-16 ““One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus, shouting, "Praise God, I'm healed!" fell face down on the ground at Jesus' feet, thanking him for what he had done.”

4. ENJOY today as if I were on vacation

Ecclesiastes 3:22 “There is nothing better for people than to be happy in their work. That is why they are here! No one will bring them back from death to enjoy life in the future.”

Psalm 100 (A Psalm of Thanksgiving) Shout with joy to the LORD, O earth! Worship the LORD with gladness. Come before him, singing with joy. that the LORD is God! He made us, and we are his. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture. his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and bless his name. For the LORD is good. His unfailing love continues forever, and his faithfulness continues to each generation.”