February 7 2016 Daring To Plant In Faith

DARING TO PLANT IN FAITH

Daring Faith: The Key To Miracles – Part 5

Genesis 8:22 (NIV) God: “As long as the earth endures, there will be seedtime and harvest. . .”

Galatians 6:7a (Mes)“Don’t be misled: No one makes a fool of God. Whatever a person plants, he WILL harvest."

GOD’S LAWS OF PLANTING AND HARVESTING

1. EVERYTHING STARTS WITH A SEED

Genesis 1:11God said, “Let the land have seed-bearing plants and trees that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their varieties.”

A “SEED” IS ANYTHING VALUABLE that I give away

2. NOTHING HAPPENS UNTIL UNTIL THE SEED IS PLANTED

John 12:24 Jesus said, “Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, it cannot reproduce. But if it dies, it will produce much fruit.”

Mark 4:26-27 (NCV) Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is like someone who plants seed in the ground. Night and day, whether the person is asleep or awake, the seed still grows, but the person does not know how it grows.”

3. WHEN I HAVE A NEED I SHOULD PLANT A SEED

Ecclesiastes 11:6 (TEV) “Do your planting in the morning and in the evening, too! You never know whether it will all grow well or whether one planting will do better than the other.” 

4. WHATEVER I PLANT IS WHAT I WILL REAP.

Galatians 6:7b (TEV) “You will reap exactly what you plant.”

Galatians 6:7b-8 (Mes)“The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others, and ignoring God, harvests a crop of weeds. That’s all he’ll have to show for his life! BUT the one who plants in response to God, letting God’s Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life!”

5. I’M NOT THE ONLY SOWER.

John 4:38 “I sent you to reap where you didn’t plant; others had already done work before you, and you will gather the harvest.” 

6. I ALWAYS REAP IN A DIFFERENT SEASON THAN I SOW.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-5 “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. . .” 

7. I MUST BE PATIENT AND NOT GIVE UP

Galatians 6:9 (LB) “Let us not get tired of doing what is right, for after a while we WILL reap a harvest of blessing IF we don’t get discouraged and give up.” 

8. I ALWAYS REAP MORE THAN I SOW.

Mark 4:8 Some seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, MULTIPLYING thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times.” 

9. I INCREASE MY HARVEST PLANTING MORE SEED.

2 Corinthians 9:6-7“Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will reap generously. Each one should give what he’s decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

Proverb 11:24 (Mes) “The world of the generous gets larger and larger; the world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller.” 

10. I PLANT BY FAITH, NOT FEELINGS

Psalm 126:5-6 (NLT) “Those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of joy. They weep as they go to plant their seed, BUT they sing as they return with the harvest.” 

11. THE BEST TIME TO PLANT IS NOW

Ecclesiastes 11:4“Those who wait for perfect weather will never plant seeds; and those who look at every cloud will never reap a harvest.”

January 17 2016 How To Prepare For A Miracle

How to Prepare for a Miracle

Daring Faith ­ Key to Miracles Part 2

Mark 6:34­-44 – The Miracle of Feeding the 5,000

Memory Verse: Romans 8:28. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

1. ADMIT I HAVE AN UNSOLVABLE PROBLEM.

Mark 6:34-37a (NIV) "When Jesus . . . saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them . . . so he began teaching them. By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came and said, ‘This is a remote place.

Send the people away so they can go and buy something to eat.’ But Jesus answered, ‘You give them something to eat!’ They said, ‘That would take eight months of a man’s wages!’"

2. GIVE GOD WHAT LITTLE I ALREADY HAVE.

Mark 6:38 (NIV) "‘How many loaves do you have?’ Jesus asked. ‘Go and see.’ When they found out, they said, ‘Five small loaves of bread and two fish.’"

John 6:6 (NIV) "Jesus asked this only to test them, for he already had in mind what he was going to do."

3. PUT IT ALL IN THE HANDS OF JESUS.

Mark 6:41 (NASB) "Jesus took the five loaves and the two fish . . . He blessed the food and broke the loaves and He kept giving them to the disciples to set before the people . . ."

The boy gave what he had . . . willingly, cheerfully, & immediately.

4. EXPECT GOD TO MULTIPLY IT.

Mark 6:42-­43 (Ph) "Everyone ate and had enough. Afterwards they collected 12 baskets full of . . . leftovers!"

Mark 10:27 (NIV) "All things are possible with God."

John 12:24 (NIV) Jesus: "A kernel of wheat must be given away and planted in the soil. Unless it dies and is buried, it will remain a single seed. But its death will produce many more seeds and a great harvest!"

September 20 2015 Getting Connected

GETTING CONNECTED

Matthew 6:8 – For your Father knows the things you have need of.

Romans 12:5 – Even though we are many individuals, Christ makes us one body and individuals who are connected to each other.

FOUR CONNECTION POINTS

I. Connection one: God made you to know Him.
   
A) Ephesians 1:4-5 – Before the world was made God had already decided that through Jesus Christ He would bring us to Himself as His children, that was His pleasure and purpose.

HOW TO GET CONNECTED

1. God reached out to us.

a) 1 John 4:10 – This is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

2. Respond to His love.

a) John 5:24 – I tell you the truth, whoever hears my Word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life.

II. Connection two:  God wants you to be like Him.

A) Romans 8:28-29 – We know that all that happens to us is working for our good if we love God and are fitting into His plans.  For from the beginning God decided that those who come to Him should be like His son.

HOW TO BE LIKE HIM

1. Make Christ your very life.

John 12:24 – I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single see, but if it dies, it produces seeds.

2. Allow circumstances to mold you.

Romans 8:28 – We know that all that happens to us is working for our good.

III. Connection three:  God made us to serve Him.

A) Acts 13:36 – For David served God’s purpose in his generation the then he died.

HOW DO I SERVE?

1. It’s a choice.

a) Romans 12:1-2 – Off yourselves to God, dedicated to His service, then you will be able to know the will of God, what is good, pleasing and perfect.

2. Serve God where you are at.

1 Corinthians 15:58 –Nothing you do in the Lord’s service is ever useless.

IV. Connection four:  We will live with Him.

A) 2 Corinthians 5:1 & 5: - For we know that when the tent we live in on earth is folded up, there is a home built by God for us, an everlasting home in heaven.  This is the purpose for which God made us.

HOW TO PREPARE

1. Make the Lord King.

John 6:40 – Everyone who believes in the Son will have everlasting life.

2. Begin to serve Him.

Matthew 6:33 – Be concerned above everything else with God’s Kingdom and with what He requires and He will provide you with all these other things.

February 9 2014 Living A Productive Life

Living A Productive Life 

Three Kinds of Fruit:

• Natural fruit.
• Biological fruit.
• Spiritual fruit.

John 15:8 – This is my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

Verse 16 – I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will last.

Four Steps to Productivity:

1. Establish some roots.
Jeremiah 17:7-8 – Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him. He will be like a tree planted by the water, that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when the heat comes. It’s leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.

Proverbs 12:3 – The righteous cannot be uprooted.

Psalm 1:2-3 – But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His law 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.

2. Eliminate the weeds.
Luke 8:11-14 –The seed is the Word of God, and the seed that falls among weeds stands for those who hear the Word, but the worries, riches, and pleasures of this life crowd in and choke their lives and their fruit never ripens.

Types of Weeds:

• Weeds of worry.
• Weeds of riches.
• Weeds of pleasure.

3. Cooperate with God.
John 15:1-2 – Jesus said, I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener. He lops off every branch that doesn’t produce and He prunes those branches that bear fruit for even larger crops.

Hebrews 12:11 – No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained in it.

1 Thessalonians 5:18 – Give thanks in all circumstances

4. Wait for the harvest.
John 12:24 – Jesus said, Truly, truly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

February 2 2014 God's Plan For Your Life

God's Plan For Your Life

WHAT IS GOD’S PLAN?

I. God made you to know Him.

Ephesians 1:4-5 – Before the world was made God had already decided that through Jesus Christ He would bring us to Himself as His children, that was His pleasure and purpose.

HOW TO KNOW GOD

1. God reached out to us.

1 John 4:10 – This is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

2. Respond to His love.

John 5:24 – I tell you the truth, whoever hears My Word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life.

3. Spend time with Him every day.

II. God made you to be like Him.

Romans 8:28-29 – We know that all that happens to us is working for our good if we love God and are fitting into His plans. For from the beginning God decided that those who come to Him should be like His Son.

HOW TO BE LIKE HIM

1. Make Christ your very life.

John 12:24 – Unless a kernel of wheat fall to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed.

2. Allow every circumstance to mold you.
Romans 8:28 – We know that all that happens to us is working for our good.

III. God made us to serve Him.

HOW DO I SERVE?

1. It’s a choice.

Romans 12:1-2 – Offer yourselves to God, dedicated to His service, then you will be able to know the will of God, what is good, pleasing and perfect.

2. Where you're at.

1 Corinthians 15:58 – Nothing you do in the Lord’s service is ever useless.

IV. God made you to live with Him.

2 Corinthians 5:1 & 5 – For we know that when the tent we live in on earth is folded up, there is a home built by God for us, and everlasting home in heaven. This is the purpose for which God made us.

HOW TO PREPARE

1. Make the Lord King.

John 6:40 – Everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life.

2. Begin to serve Him.

Matthew 6:33 – Be concerned above everything else with God’s Kingdom and with what He requires and He will provide you with all these other things.