May 31 2015 Freedom To Change

FREEDOM TO CHANGE

Romans 12:1-2
 
Voluntarily submit to every change God wants to make in my life and humbly ask him to remove my character defects. 

Romans 12:1-2 – Offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to His service and pleasing to Him, and let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind.

I. Where Do My Character Defects Come From?

• My biological inheritance.

Genetics explain predisposition but don’t excuse sin.

• My circumstances, or how I was raised.

Character defects are often attempts to fill unmet needs.

• My choices in life.

Character defects are often positive qualities being misused.

II. Why Is It So Hard To Change Them?

1. Because I’ve had them a long time.

2. Because I confuse my identity with them.

3. Because they have a payoff.

4. Because satan discourages me.

III. How Do I Cooperate With God’s Change Process?

Romans 12:2 – Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

1. Focus on changing one defect at a time.

Proverbs 17:24 – An intelligent person aims at wise action, but a fool starts off in many directions.

2. Focus on Victory one day at a time.

Matthew 6:11 – Give us this day our daily bread.

Matthew 6:34 – Don’t worry about tomorrow, each day has enough troubles of its own.

3. Focus on God’s power not willpower.

Jeremiah 12:23 – Can a leopard take away his spots?  Nor can you who are used to doing evil now start being good.

BUT…..

Philippians 4:13 – I can master anything with the help of Christ who gives me strength.

4. Focus on what I want, not what I don’t want.

Philippians 4:8 – Fix your thoughts on what is true and good and right.  Think about things that are pure.  Think about all you can praise God for and be glad about. 

5. Focus on doing good, not feeling good.

Galatians 5:16 – If you are guided by the Spirit you will be in no danger of yielding to self-indulgence.   

6. Focus on people who help me, not hinder me. 

Proverbs 27:1 – As iron sharpens iron, so people can improve each other.

7. Focus on progress not perfect performance.

Philippians 1:6 – God who began the good work within you will keep right on helping you grow in His Grace until His task with you is finally finished.

February 15 2015 Perseverance Under Pressure

Perseverance Under Pressure

Seven things to give us perseverance under pressure:

1. Realize we are strangers in this world.

Verse 1 – To God’s elect, strangers in the world scattered.

John 17:15-16 – My prayer is not that you take them out of the world, but that you protect them from the evil one.  They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.

Don’t drive the stakes in too deep, you’re moving up in the morning.

2. Realize we are chosen.

Verse 2 – Who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ.

Three things about being chosen:

1. Our salvation is not haphazard.

2. God is willing to take risks.

3. We have value.
 
3. Realize the power of the resurrection.

Verse 3 – Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ.  In His great mercy He has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

1 Corinthians 15:19 – If only in this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.

Psalm 33: 13-22

4. Realize the riches of our inheritance.

Verse 4 – An inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade, kept in heaven for you.

Four facts about our inheritance:

1. It’s untouched by death.

2. It’s unstained by evil.

3. It will not fade away.

4. It’s reserved, set aside, for you.

5. Realize the protection of your salvation.

Verse 5 – Who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of Salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

Three meanings of protection:

1. You have a guard out front.

2. He identifies the problem.

3. He communicates the danger.
 
6. Realize the positive results of pressure.

Verses 6-7 – In this you greatly rejoice through now for a little while you may have had to suffer all kinds of trials.  These have come so that your faith of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

Suffering brings out the gold in life.

Four things about suffering:

1. It’s seasonal.

2. It’s necessary.

3. It’s revealing.

4. It’s sanctifying.

7. Realize you have present power.

Verse 8 – Though you have not seen Him, you love Him.

January 18, 2015 Becoming an Authentic Christian

Becoming an authentic Christian

James 2:19 – You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that and shudder.

James 2:26 – Faith without works is dead.

FOUR TESTS OF AN AUTHENTIC CHRISTIAN

1. The test of a major change.

Verse 8 – By faith, Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went even though he did not know where he was going.

Lesson Number One – An authentic Christian will follow God's leading without knowing where.

2. The test of a delayed promise.

Verse 9 – By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country, he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.

Lesson Number Two – An authentic Christian will wait for God's timing.

3. The test of an impossible problem.

Verses 11 & 12 – By faith, Abraham, even though he was past age, and Sarah herself was barren, was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise and so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.

Genesis 18:10, 12, 14 – The  Lord said, I will     surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son, so Sarah laughed to herself, then the Lord said, is anything too hard for the Lord?

Lesson Number Three – An authentic Christian will expect a miracle without knowing how.

4. The test of why.

Verses 17-19 – By faith, Abraham, when God tested him offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned. Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.

Lesson Number Four – An authentic Christian will trust God's purpose without knowing why.

Mark 9:24 – I do believe, help me overcome my unbelief.

August 1 2010 Help For Discouraging Moments Under Pressure

Help For Discouraging Moments Under Pressure

(Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God's elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.)

Four Things To Remember

1. God has chosen us to be a part of His family
(Verse 2 - who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.)
(Verse 3 - Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead)

2. God is still working in your life
(Verse 2b (TLB) - and the Holy Spirit has been at work in your hearts, cleansing you with the blood of Jesus Christ and making you to please Him.)

*He cleanses
*He changes

Two Benefits
1. Increasing freedom from fear and anxiety
2. No matter what happens, God will help you

(Verse 2 - who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.)
(verse 7 - These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.)
(2 Corinthians 4:17 - For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.)

3. God has secured my future
(Verse 4 - and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you)

*inheritance incorruptible
*inheritance is undefiled
*inheritance is unfading

4. We are protected by God's power
(Verse 5 - who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.)
(Ephesians 6:16 - In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.)
(Acts 1:8 - But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.")
(2 Timothy 1:7 - They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm.)
(Verse 6 - In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.)