May 3 2015 Freedom From Our Hurts

FREEDOM FROM OUR HURTS

Isaiah 57:18 – I have seen how they acted, but I will lead them and help them and I will comfort them that mourn.

DENIAL BUSTERS 

1. Crises

2. Confrontation

3. Catastrophe 

Hebrews 11:6 – Anyone who comes to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.

THREE STEPS TO GET HELP FOR OUR HURTS

1. Acknowledge God’s existence.

Romans 11:20 – Since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen.

Psalm 19:1 – The heavens declare the glory of God.

Psalm 14:1 – The fool says there is no God!

2. Understand God’s character.

Colossians 1:15 – Christ is the visible expression of the invisible God.

• God knows all about my situation.

Psalm 31:7 – You have seen the crisis in my soul.

Psalm 69:5 – You know how foolish I have been.

• God cares about my situation.

Psalm 103:13-14 – He is like a Father to us, tender and sympathetic, for He knows what we are made of, dust!

Jeremiah 31:3 – God says I have loved you with an everlasting love!

Romans 5:8 – God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us.

• God can change me and my situation.

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

Luke 18:27 – What is impossible for men is possible with God.

3. Accept God’s offer to help you.

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

2 Timothy 1:7 – The Spirit that God gives us fills us with power, love and self-control.

HOW TO PLUG INTO GOD’S POWER

• Believe Christ died on the cross to save me and help.
• Believe that He cares and has power to help me.
• Surrender my all to Him

Isaiah 43:2-3 – When you go through deep waters and great troubles, I will be with you, you won’t drown!  When you walk through the fires of oppression, you won’t be burned up!

January 6 2013 How To Know The Real God

HOW TO KNOW THE REAL GOD
Exodus 20:4-5

The second commandment is a natural extension of the first.  Once you understand that God is to have first place in your life, the natural question is:  What kind of god is God?  What is He really like?

Step two to the Better Life in 2013:
“You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything, you shall not bow down to it or worship it.”

The principle things are to be used, but not loved.

I.  What happens when we turn things into “gods?”

3 Consequences

1.  Things will disappoint you.
Jeremiah 10:14 - Those who make idols are disillusioned because the gods they make are false and lifeless.

Hebrews 2:8 - What’s the use of an idol?  It’s only something that a man has made.  What good does it do for its maker to trust it?

2.  Things will deceive you and lead you astray.
Ezekiel 14:3 - They have given their hearts to idols and are letting idols lead them into sin.

3.  Things will begin to dominate you.
Psalm 115:8 - Those who make idols will become like them, and so will those who trust them.
Jeremiah 2:5 - They worshiped worthless things and became worthless themselves.

II.  How to know the real God.

Isaiah 40:18 - To whom, then, will you compare God?  What image will you compare Him to?

Acts 17:29 -  We should not think that the Divine Being is like gold or silver or stone, an image made by man’s design and skill.

2 Corinthians. 4:4 - Christ is the exact likeness of God.

Colossians 1:15 - Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.

Benefits of Worshiping the Real God

1.  There is fulfillment.
Romans 10:11 - Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.

Psalm 37:4 - Seek your happiness in the Lord and He will give you your heart’s desire.

2.  There is freedom.
John 8:31-32 - Jesus said, “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”

Galatians 5:22 - The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy and peace.

3.  You become like God.
2 Corinthians 3:18 - As the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like Him.

December 4 2011 Christmas Is The Answer To Life's Demands

Christmas Is The Answer To Life's Demands

The Mighty God

Isa 9:6 - And His name shall be called the Mighty God.

Some Demands In Life

• Demands of circumstances.
Prov. 1:27 - When calamity overtakes you like a storm, when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind, when distress and troubles overwhelm you.

• Demands of life's relationships.
Psalm 102:7-9 - I lie awake, I have become like a bird alone on a house top. All day long my enemies taunt me. Those who rail against me use my name as a curse.

• Demands that are emotional.
Job 30:22 - You snatch me up and drive me before the wind. You toss me about in the storm.

1. We need to see the meaning of Mighty God.
John 5:23 – That all should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father.
John 10:30 – I and My Father are One.
John 14:9 – He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.
John 1:1 – In the beginning was the Word and the Word with God and the Word was God.
John 20:28 – My Lord and My God.
Luke 19:9 – Zacchaeus, this day is salvation come to this house. 

2. We see the might of the Mighty God.
John 1:3 – All things were made by Him, without Him was not anything made that was made.
Col. 1:15, 16 – Who is the image of the invisible God, the first born of every creature, for by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, all things were created by Him and for Him.
John 8:56 – Your Father Abraham rejoiced to see My day.
Hebrews 4:26 - The reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Eqypt.
Joshua 5:13 -15 -
John 5:26 -I have the power to lay it down and I have the power to take it up again. 

3. We see the Mission of the Mighty God.
Romans 3:23 – For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
Col. 1:9-11 – For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that you might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might, according to His glorious peace, unto all patience and long suffering with joyfulness.
Phil. 4:19 – But my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

4. We see the must of the Mighty God.

The Psalmist said He is the Lord, Worship Thou Him.
Isa. 9:6 – For unto us a Child is born, His name shall be called, The Mighty God.