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.

January 24 2016 Daring To Imagine

DARING TO IMAGINE

Daring Faith: The Key To Miracles – Part 3

Three Categories in the Bible

Some things we shouldn’t imagine

Some things we can’t imagine

Some things we should imagine

WHY DREAM?

1. My imagination shapes my life.

Proverbs 23:7 (KJV)" . . . For as a man thinks in his heart, so he is."

Proverbs 4:23 (TEV)"Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts."

Genesis 11:6 (Amp) The Lord said, "Now that they are one people speaking one language, this is only the beginning of what they will do. Now nothing they have IMAGINED they can do will be impossible for them!"

2. Imagining is essential to living by faith.

Hebrews 11:1 (NLT) "What is faith? It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see."

2 Corinthians 4:18 (NCV)"We set our eyes not on what we see but on what we cannot see. What we see will last only a short time, but what we cannot see will last forever."

3. Great lives are built around great dreams.

Ephesians 1:18 (NJB) "May God enlighten the eyes of your mind so that you can see the hope that his calling holds for you."

Proverbs 29:18 (KJV)"Where there is no vision, the people perish . . ."

4. God’s dream for my life is bigger than my dream.

Ephesians 3:20 (Mes)"God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever IMAGINE or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by his Spirit working deeply and gently within us." 

Let the size of my God, determine the size of my goals

5. Doubt is the enemy of imagination.

James 1:5­7 "If you need wisdom, just ask God for it, because He is generous and enjoys giving to everyone. But when you ask God, you must believe in faith and not doubt. For a doubtful mind is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is driven back and forth, and tossed about by the wind. Such doubters cannot decide about anything they do, so they should not imagine receiving anything from the Lord."

Mark 9:22­24 (NLT) "The man said, ‘Please heal my son if you can.’ Jesus replied, ‘What do you mean, "If I can?" Anything is possible IF a person believes.’ The father replied, ‘I do believe, but help me not to doubt!’"

6. Growing my character will clarify my vision.

2 Peter 1:5­9 (NCV) "To your faith, add goodness; and to your goodness, add knowledge; and to your knowledge, add self­control; and to your self­control, add patience; and to your patience, add service for God; and to your service for God, add kindness for your brothers and sisters in Christ; and to this kindness, add love for everyone. IF all these things are in you and are growing, they will help you to BE USEFUL AND PRODUCTIVE in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But anyone who does not have these things CANNOT SEE CLEARLY."

7. If a dream is from God, it will be connected somehow to to His Church & Plan for the World

"If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will find true life." Mark 8:35 (NLT)

November 13 2011 Love That Lasts

Love That Lasts

Isa. 54:8 - I will show you my love forever, so say the Lord who saves.

John 15:12 - I command you to love each other in the same way that I love you.

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

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

Five Steps To Making Love Last:

Step One: Experience God’s love.

Eph. 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.

I John 4:19 - We love because he first loved us.

Step Two: Forgive your enemies.

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

Step Three: Think loving thoughts.

Phil. 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 a loving way.

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:
 

• Love your enemies
• Do good
• Bless those who curse you
• Pray for those who mistreat us

I Cor. 13

Step Five: Expect the best.

I Cor. 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

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

Trust Jesus

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

April 3 2011 The Word Of Healing

THE WORD OF HEALING

(John 19:28-30)
(Verse 28 – I thirst.)

1. Truth it was the cry of a human being.

(John 1:1 – In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.)

(John 1:14 – The Word became flesh and lived for awhile among us.)

(Hebrews 2:18 – Because He Himself suffered when)

(He was tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted.)

2. Truth it was a cry for the human race.

(II Cor. 5:14 – Because we are convinced that One (Christ) died for all.)

(Heb. 4:15 – For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have One who has been tempted in every way, just as we are, yet was without sin.)

(I Peter 5:7 – Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.)

3. Truth every person needs to respond.

(Matthew 25:37 – Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give You something to drink? And He will tell them, I assure you, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you were doing it to Me.)

(Prov. 25:21 – If your enemies are hungry, give them food to eat. If they are thirsty give them water to drink.)

4. Truth we can drink freely from Christ.

(John 7:38 – He who believes on Me out of him shall flow rivers of living water.)

(Psalm 63:1 – O God, you are my God and I long for You. My whole being desires You. Like a dry, worn out, and waterless land, my soul is thirsty for You.)

(Isaiah 53:4-5- He took our suffering on Himself and felt our pain for us. He was wounded for the wrong we did and crushed for the evil we did. The punishment which made us well was given to Him and we are healed because of His wounds.)

(John 7:37-38 – On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds. “If you are thirsty, come to Me!” “If you believe in Me, come and drink, for the Scriptures declare that rivers of living water will flow out from within.”)