The Power of Unity

Based on the scripture from 1 Corinthians 1:10-11, which says, "I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe's household have informed me that there are quarrels among you."

As we reflect on these words, it is evident that unity among believers is crucial in the body of Christ. When we are united, we can accomplish great things for the Kingdom of God. Unity is not just a nice thing to have, but it is a commandment from God for us to live in harmony with one another.

In Ephesians 4:2-3, we are reminded of the qualities of unity: humility, gentleness, patience, forbearance, and love. These qualities are essential in maintaining unity within the church and in our relationships with one another. When we exhibit these qualities, we are reflecting the nature of Christ and His love for us.

Unity is not just about agreeing with each other on every matter, but it is about coming together despite our differences and working towards a common goal. It is about putting aside individual preferences and egos for the greater good of the body of Christ.

When we are united, we are a powerful force in the hands of God. We are strengthened, encouraged, and empowered to do His will. Just as a bundle of sticks is stronger together than individual sticks, so are we stronger when we are united as one body in Christ.

Unity also brings about peace and harmony within the church and in our communities. When we show love and respect towards one another, we are building a strong foundation for lasting relationships and a vibrant community of believers.

Today, I urge you all to strive for unity in all aspects of your life. Let us put aside our differences and come together in love and harmony. Let us be known for our unity and love for one another, just as Christ has commanded us.

May we always be mindful of the power of unity and the impact it can have on our lives and the lives of those around us. Let us continue to walk in humility, gentleness, patience, forbearance, and love, so that we may be a shining light for the world to see.

May God bless you all abundantly as you strive for unity in all things. Amen. and may He strengthen you in your unity with one another, reflecting His love and grace to the world. Amen.

KEEPING OUR FAITH IN CHRIST IN ALL SEASON;

Good morning, brothers and sisters in Christ. I am addressing you in this sermon today to speak about the importance of keeping our faith in Christ during all seasons of life. Life can throw us unexpected twists and turns, and it is during these challenging seasons that our faith is truly tested. It is easy to have faith when life is going smoothly, but it is in the storms of life that our faith is truly revealed.

The Bible reminds us in Ecclesiastes 3:1 that "To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven." We have different seasons in our lives – seasons of joy, seasons of sorrow, seasons of abundance, and seasons of lack. These seasons often bring different emotions, experiences, and trials, but amidst them all, we must remember to keep our faith in Christ.

When we face trials and tribulations, it is natural to question God's plan and wonder why He allows these difficulties to come our way. However, it is essential to understand that our faith is not based on our circumstances but on the unchanging character of God. In Hebrews 13:8, it states, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever." Our faith should be grounded in the unwavering truth that Christ is with us, no matter the season we find ourselves in.

During seasons of joy and abundance, it is easy for us to become complacent in our faith. We may rely on our own abilities, resources, and achievements without acknowledging God's role in our lives. However, it is important to recognize that every good thing comes from God. In James 1:17, it says, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning." Our faith in Christ should be the anchor that reminds us to give glory to God and steward His blessings wisely.

On the other hand, seasons of sorrow and lack can be incredibly challenging to navigate. These are the times when our faith is tested the most. It is during these dark and difficult seasons that we may be tempted to lose hope, question God's goodness, or even abandon our faith altogether. However, we must remember that Christ is our refuge and strength, even in the midst of pain. In Psalm 46:1, it says, "God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble."

During seasons of sorrow and lack, we must cling tightly to our faith in Christ. It is in these moments that we can experience His grace, comfort, and provision in ways we may never have encountered before. Our faith in Christ becomes the light that guides us through the darkness, the hope that sustains us when all seems lost.

No matter what season we find ourselves in, whether it be a season of joy or sorrow, abundance or lack, let us remember to keep our faith in Christ. Let us hold fast to the promises of God and trust in His unfailing love. As Paul writes inRomans 8:38-39, "For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Lastly ; we must remember that our faith in Christ is not conditional on our circumstances but on the unchanging nature of God. May we stand firm in our faith, rooted in the truth that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Let us trust in Him and rely on His strength, His guidance, and His love in every season of our lives. Amen.

Break every Chain (The Master Chain Breaker)

Look at opposites. What is the opposite of good? Bad. What is the opposite of right? Wrong.

What is the opposite of girl? Boy. What is the opposite of light? Dark. What is the opposite of God? No opposite. You would be amazed how many Christians mistakenly respond that the Devil is the opposite of God. He would like us to believe that. We are not ignorant of his tactics. Satan and his demons are merely fallen, disgraced angels. God is all powerful, everywhere present, and nowhere absent.

The scripture says that Satan is the prince and power of the air (Ephesians 2:2). There is no doubt as one travels around the world entering countries, cities, and even villages, the power of that prince is felt. However, it is good to remember that we are more than conquerors through Jesus (Romans 8:37).

2 Timothy 1:7 says, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a Sound mind.” Fear is negative faith. We have power over the evil spirits called demons. There are numerous testimonies of missionaries and ministers in Africa walking into a place where the demons immediately recognized the presence of a “chain breaker;” a Jesus’ name, Holy Ghost filled man or woman of God.

The Book of Acts chapter 19 verses 13-15 explains how some itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to try to use the name of the Lord Jesus Christ without having experienced His power. They boldly proclaimed to the evil spirit that by using “the Jesus whom Paul preached” they would cast it out. The sons of Sceva embarrassingly received this reply, “We know Jesus and Paul…but who are you?”

Without the power of the Holy Ghost it is not advisable or possible to try and break the devil’s chains. When we are full of His Spirit we can take authority over demons and cast them out through the power of God’s Word. His Spirit that dwells in us allows us to “speak the Word” to evil spirits.

Now, not wanting to ruffle feathers, some of our practices are not biblical. Jesus never told His believers to bind someone, sit on them and then he would cast out the demon. In fact, we find where people tried to bind the demon possessed man that dwelt among the tombs. They could not bind him with physical chains or fetters. “Neither could any man tame him” (Mark 5:3). You cannot physically bind a demon possessed individual just like a man in his own power cannot set him free. Jesus is the powerful chain-breaker.

One night while preaching in Budaka, where I was in the missionary work, the message was preached and the altar call made. With any and every proclamation of the Word, you can expect a demonstration of God’s power. A young lady came to the altar and began to slither about on the floor like a snake. Immediately, as can be our Pentecostal custom, the saints began to try and subdue her physically. I told them, “Let her be.

We do not wrestle against flesh and blood.” I came close and began to rebuke the demon, commanding the evil spirit to loose and leave her. It began to react even more violently and she continued to move around like a snake all over the floor. However, it wasn’t long until the demon saw that God’s power was present in the Name of Jesus, so it departed. Very soon, she was raising her hands speaking in other tongues. The chains were broken.

On another occasion when still in Budaka in the Revival meeting there was a demon possessed man that came to the meeting, literally bound in chains. After prayer in Jesus’ name, the chains were broken as he was set free. I still have that chain in my office. It constantly reminds me that God can and will break the chains of the enemy.

Many are in bondage and addiction. To enter the strong man’s terrain and take back our possessions requires a stronger authority. We’ve got the power. It is still in the name of Jesus. Our mandate remains, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord” (Luke 4:18-19). “And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover” (Mark 16:17-18). People of the Name…let us go forth and break the chains of the spirits that bind souls, towns, cities, and countries in our sin-darkened world. We have the power…in the Name of Jesus.

An Envious Heart

Shakespeare called jealousy “the green sickness”, and we often speak of people being “green with envy”. And, in that regard, it’s all too easy being green!

The Greeks tell a story that has been passed down through the years. It’s about how the citizens in an ancient Greek city built a beautiful statue to one of the men in the city who was an athlete, a man who was a champion at their public games. But there was another man who was a rival of the honored athlete. He was envious, so much so that he vowed he would destroy the statue. Every night he went out in the darkness and chiseled at its base in an effort to undermine its foundation and make it fall. At last he succeeded and it did fall -- but it fell on him before he could get away. He died a victim of his own envy.

That ancient Greek was neither the first nor the last to become so furious in his envy that he did something foolish that hurt himself. Solomon said long ago, "Wrath is cruel and anger a torrent, but who is able to stand before jealousy?" (Proverbs 27:4). Paul lists jealousy as one of the works of the flesh in Galatians 5:20.

It’s been said that there are two kinds of people in the world -- those who are millionaires and those who would like to be. And that’s one example of jealousy, but it’s only a piece of it. When someone else does an outstanding thing or receives an honor and I say, "That’s great!", but inside I wish that I were in that position, that’s jealousy. When someone else receives all the attention because of their reputation or wit or ability to speak, and I think I ought to be the center of attention, that’s jealousy too.

Jealousy is that green-eyed monster we all have a problem with at times. The Corinthians were certainly having a problem with it. In I Corinthians 12, Paul talks about how each member of the body is given an ability and that each of our gifts is important. But there were some Christians who felt that their gifts were inferior. And there seems to have been a problem with some of the Christians being jealous of those with more important gifts.

So Paul says that in I Corinthians 13:4 that “Love does not envy." Love isn’t jealous. Rather, love will "rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep." (Romans 12:15).

I. The Problem With Jealousy

The problem with jealousy is that it’s very selfish. Most of our jealousy expresses itself in one of two ways.

First of all, it can say, "I want what you have." We call this "keeping up with the Joneses." For example, let’s say my neighbor gets a new car and I respond in the following way, "Oh, I wish I had that. How come he gets a new car? How can he afford it? He doesn’t make any more money than I do." This kind of envy is hard to avoid. We find ourselves wanting what everyone else has -- their clothes, their looks, their self-confidence, and their popularity, their ability to speak and persuade men.

And advertisers know how to manipulate our jealousy. They not only fuel our desire for things, but for more and better things than others have -- a better car, a better TV, a better computer. I read recently where someone made the statement, “If we did away with the sins of jealousy and envy, the entire American economy would immediately collapse.” I don’t think that statement is far off the mark at all.

A second -- and deeper -- way that jealousy manifests itself is by saying, "I wish you didn’t have it." The first level of jealousy is wanting what someone else has, but the second level is resenting that he has it. Jealousy doesn’t like to see others achieve recognition or prominence and will, whenever possible, seek to put others down. It’s been said that the only ones who will try to cut you down to size are those who are lower than you are. And that’s what jealousy does. It shows people how small we really are inside.

Envy has been called the great leveler; if it can’t level things up, then it tries to bring the other person down. Someone has said that an envious person is a lot like a crab. If crabs are caught by a fisherman in his basket and one starts to climb out, the other crabs will reach up and pull it back down.

It’s easy to be jealous, isn’t it? Somebody will give me a tape of another preacher and say, "Ivan, you’ve got to hear this guy. He’s fantastic!" Well, my first inclination, once I begin listening to the tape, is to say, "He’s not bad, but I’ve heard better." But if he’s really good, it’s hard for me to handle, because sometimes ego gets in the way. Now there are a lot of men that are better preachers than I am -- I just don’t listen to their tapes. No, that’s not true, but you understand what I’m talking about, don’t you? It’s very difficult to rejoice over somebody who does exactly what you do, but does it better.

I remember when I was a kid; I played foot ball for our Little League team. But one week, I missed schooling. When I got back, I found that I had been replaced. The second kid was short, but in the game that was played while I was away, he had made a fantastic catch, so he replaced me. You find yourself thinking a lot of terrible things in a situation like that as you sit on the bench. You want him to flub up and commit errors. Even worse, you wish that he would break his leg or something. Jealousy causes us to say and do terrible things, but it’s something we can all relate to, isn’t it?

And jealousy seems to be one of those sins that can tempt us no matter how much we grow as a Christian. An old story is told about Satan’s agents who were trying to tempt a holy man who lived as a hermit in the desert of northern Africa. Every attempt they made had met with failure. So Satan, angered with the incompetence of his subordinates, became personally involved in the case. He said, "The reason you have failed is that your methods are too crude for one such as this. Watch this."

He then approached the holy man with great care and whispered softly in his ear, "Your brother has just been made bishop of Alexandria." Instantly, the man’s face showed that Satan had been successful. A great scowl formed over his mouth and his eyes tightened up. And Satan said, “Envy is often our best weapon against those who seek holiness.” The story is just a fable, but I think it makes a good point.

II. Jealousy in the Bible

As we go through the Bible, it’s surprising how many sins are connected with jealousy. The first sin in the Bible involved the sin of jealousy. In Genesis 3:5, Satan encouraged Eve to eat the forbidden fruit and said, "For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." He said, in essence, "Eve wouldn’t you like to be like God?" And Eve must have thought, "Yeah, I sure would. Why should he be the only one with the knowledge of good and evil? I don’t want to be left out. I want to be like God!"

The next sin we read about in the Bible is murder. Cain killed Abel. Why? Because he was jealous -- jealous of God’s acceptance of Abel’s sacrifice over his own.

Remember Sarah and Hagar. Abraham and Sarah were promised a child. They got tired of waiting, so Sarah said to Abraham, "Why don’t you take my slave-girl Hagar as your wife and maybe you can have a child together." So, Abraham did and Hagar conceived. After that, she began to look at Sarah with disdain. "I’m going to have a baby and you’re not!" And that created jealousy toward Hagar from Sarah.

In Acts 7:9, we’re told that Joseph’s brothers sold Joseph into slavery because they were "envious". They didn’t like Joseph being honored – wearing that multi-colored coat that Dad gave him -- because that made them feel less important.

In Numbers 16, Korah and about 250 other Israelites came to Moses and Aaron and objected to the status of Moses and Aaron and claimed to be equal with them. They were envious of their position and ultimately God destroyed them because of their envy.

In the book of Esther, you remember how king Ahasuerus rewarded Mordecai for saving his life. He put Mordecai on a royal horse wearing a royal robe and led him through the streets of the city. And that drove Haman absolutely crazy. He was so envious that he determined to do everything in his power to have Mordecai and all the other Jews killed.

Envy was even one of the sins that caused the death of Christ. "For he knew that the chief priests had handed him over because of envy." (Mark 15:10).

In Luke 15, Jesus tells the familiar parable of the prodigal son. When the prodigal son came home, the father killed the fatted calf, put a ring on his son’s finger, gave him a robe and had a party. But his older brother "was angry and would not go in" (Luke 15:28). Why? Because he was jealous. His brother was getting all the attention that he deserved. After all, he’s been faithful to his father, hasn’t he? He hasn’t gone out and wasted his life in riotous partying; he hasn’t made a mockery of the family name. What’s in it for him, if this scoundrel brother of his can get such a royal welcome back home from the pigpen?

In Acts 13, almost the whole city of Antioch showed up to hear Paul preach. And how did the Jews react? "But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy." (Acts 13:45). Why? Because they weren’t receiving the attention they wanted to receive.

In all these stories, there is a recurring theme. In each of them, the envious character thought he would be more respected if he got rid of the one who was admired. In each case, envy not only said, “I want what you have” but also said, “I wish you didn’t have it.”

But it’s a lot easier to pick out jealousy in the lives of Bible characters than it is to recognize it in our own lives. And as long as we deceive ourselves into thinking that we don’t have a problem with jealousy, then we’re never going to grow in love. So let’s take a closer look at some of the different ways that jealousy manifests itself in our lives.

III. How Jealousy is Manifested

As children, we were sometimes jealous of brothers and sisters because they seemed to get more attention from our parents. As we got older, we may have been jealous because they were better looking or smarter or had privileges we didn’t. Sometimes those jealousies end up staying with us for a lifetime.

We’re sometimes jealous of people at work. Why did he get that promotion or honor? I deserved it more. How does she seem to get so much done with so little apparent effort?

Sometimes we’re jealous of friendships. Maybe I like Fred a lot. I want to spend a lot of time with him. But Fred spends most of his time with John. I’m jealous. I want Fred to consider me his best friend, not someone else.

Jealousy is a terrible thing. And the biggest problem is that it almost always causes strife. In fact, every passage in the New Testament that tells us not to be jealous connects it with strife. "Let us walk....not in strife and envy." (Romans 13:13).

James says that "Where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing will be there." (James 3:16).

Paul said to the Corinthians, "For you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?" (I Corinthians 3:3).

I don’t think this point can be emphasized enough: if you have jealousy, then you’re going to have strife. And if you’re involved in strife right now, it might be well for you to stop and see if perhaps jealousy is the root of the problem.

IV. What Can We Do?

Let me remind you of a story in the Old Testament. King Saul had a son named Jonathan, who was likely next in line to inherit the throne. Then along came a singer by the name of David. Not only was he a singer, he was also a great shepherd, a giant-killer, articulate, poetic, a supreme musician -- he had all kinds of abilities. One person with so much talent could be a very unpopular fellow. And with Saul he was. Saul hated him, didn’t he? He hated him because of his abilities. The people were giving David more praise than Saul. Maybe David would even try to take the throne! So, one day, in a fit of fury, Saul grabbed his spear and threw it at David, trying to kill him.

Now we don’t know much in particular about Saul’s son, Jonathan, except for the fact that he shot an arrow fairly well. That’s about it. We don’t know anything about his musical ability, or his articulation or much of anything else about him. But, scripture does say one important thing about him, though. Jonathan never ever had any jealousy of David. You say, "Well, he didn’t stand to lose as much as Saul." But he did. He was in line for the throne, and from the human perspective it could one day have been his. But the Bible says this about Jonathan, "And he [Jonathan] loved him [David] as he loved his own soul." (I Samuel 20:17).

Do you see what made the difference between Saul and Jonathan? It was a difference of love. Saul was jealous, and Jonathan wasn’t. Jonathan loved David, and love can’t be jealous.

When a loving person sees somebody who’s prosperous, popular or powerful, he’s glad -- he rejoices. I think of Philippians 1 where Paul writes and says, "Yes, I’m in jail. And there are some new young preachers coming along that are being accepted by the people. They’re taking advantage of my imprisonment to make a name for themselves." In verse 16, he says they "preach Christ even from selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains."

How did Paul react to them? Was he jealous that they were in the limelight? Was he jealous that they were doing what he used to do, only they were getting all the glory? No. Look at his response in verse 18, "What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached; and in this I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice." You see, Paul had the spirit that says, "I don’t envy anyone who does what I do -- even if they do it better and get more applause."

Love rejoices in others’ success and usefulness. Let me briefly suggest three things that will serve as an antidote for jealousy:

A. A Changed Focus – The Kingdom of God

“Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all of these things will be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33)

Where are you looking? What are you focusing on? If your focus is not the glory and the kingdom and the will of God, it will be on something else, and that something else is bound to lead ultimately to jealousy and envy. When my focus is wrong, I compare myself with others. When my focus is wrong, I am ungrateful for what I have. When my focus is wrong, I am discontent and I seek to gain more for myself. Where are you focused?

B. A Changed Attitude – Gratitude

“In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” ( I Thessalonians 5:18)

This verse appears in my Top Ten toughest Bible verses -- in everything give thanks! You’re not being honest if you say that that is easy! And yet gratitude to God for everything will guard our hearts against the sin of jealousy. The more we’re thankful for what we have, the less will be our desire to compare what we have with what someone else has.

C. A Changed Perspective - Contentment

"I have learned to be content with whatever I have. I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me." (Philippians 4:11-13). There’s just no way to be content and jealous at the same time. It can’t happen.

Conclusion:

We don’t like to think of jealousy and envy as being all that bad. We like to think of works of the flesh being things like murder (that’s terrible!), fornication (what a horrible sin!), and drunkenness (disgraceful for any Christian to consider). But we sometimes forget that envy is in that same list in Galatians 5.

So how are you doing? Do you ever get jealous over someone who owns more than you, is more attractive than you, has a better job than you, is more eloquent than you, is smarter than you, is thinner than you, wears nicer clothes than you, drives a nicer car than you, has more friends than you, has a happier marriage than you, gets better grades than you, and so on?

This lesson is a reminder that Christianity is not something to be lived out in solitary confinement. We don’t lock ourselves up in monasteries so we don’t have to deal with people. And while we would never go to such extremes as that, I think sometimes we’re content to evaluate our Christianity simply by what we believe rather than how we act toward people around us. Christianity isn’t just something to talk about. It’s something that makes a difference in our attitude, a difference in the way we treat others.

May God help us to see the day when as a group of Christians, we can put all jealousy behind us and truly "rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep." Love doesn’t envy.

How God Makes a Way When There Seems to Be No Way?

We all have been in situations where we have wondered if there is a way out of our problem.

Abraham found himself in such a predicament when he took Isaac, his only son up to the mountain to sacrifice him before God. Yet, just in the nick of time God provided a solution. The Bible says, “Gen. 22:9-14,

“Abraham built an altar and bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven. “Abraham! Abraham! Here I am, he replied; do not lay a hand on the boy, he said. Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son. Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The Lord will provide. (El-Shaddai)”

Once we understand God then we can truly sing the song, “God will make a way when there seems to be no way. He works in ways we cannot see. He will make a way for me. He will be my guide, walking close beside my side. With love and strength for each new day. He will make a way for me.”

No matter what predicament, problem or difficulty you are facing the Lord has a way when there seems to be absolutely no solution in sight. God always provides a solution to any problem we are facing in the will of God. Let us look at the guidelines in complying with God’s will so we can experience His all sufficient grace, His enabling power and His sovereign working in our life.

1. Paul understood how God makes a way when there seems to be no way when he wrote, “It is God who is at work in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.” (Phil. 2:13,14) In order to be more like Jesus Christ we need to allow the Lord to motivate us and enable us to do the things that humanly impossible.

Know that the word of God and the Spirit of God are constantly at work in a believer to motivate and to enable one to accomplish all of God’s will for their life. Allow the Lord to use other believers, service and personal devotions to transform you more into what God wants you to be. By speaking the truth in love we gain a greater desire and power to grow up in all aspects into Him. Often it is in doing God’s will that we gain the desire to do it. (Phil. 4:8,9)

People who fail to train themselves to be like Christ will continue to act as spiritual infants who have to rely on others instead of the Lord for their help. Refuse to be driven and tossed about by all the adverse circumstances of life or by the opposition from evil that we fight against every day. Instead, ask the Lord to make you increasingly more like Christ in your thoughts, words and deeds.

The writer of this song knew what it meant that the Lord would find a way when there seems to be no way. “May the mind of Christ my Savior, live in me from day to day. By His love and power controlling all I do and say.” Christ’s mind is ours through the presence of the Spirit and the light of God’s word. Let us learn how to utilize it in a way that we can always find a way out of whatever predicament we find ourselves.

2. God makes a way when there seems to be no way when we ask the Lord to teach us the way to go. Moses wrote, “Teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you.” (Ex. 33:13) Once we know the Lord’s attributes we are better able to discern His ways for our life. David wrote, “Teach me your way, O Lord and I will walk in your truth.” (Psa 86:11).

Ask the Lord to fill you with the knowledge of His will with all spiritual wisdom and understanding so you can learn more about His way. Then you will be able to walk in a way that pleases Him in all respects and then bear fruit in every good work as you increase in the knowledge of God.” (Col. 1:9-11)

3. God makes a way when there seems to be no way when we ask, seek and knock. Jesus said,

“Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you.” (Matt 7:7) Too many people are not persistent in their asking, seeking and knocking so they are unable to find the way out of their problems.

God’s promise to provide a way out of our problems is sure but it is conditioned upon our tenacity to ask, seek and knock until He opens the best door. Be assured that when one door closes He always opens up a better one.

4. God makes a way when there seems to be no way when we admit that human ways are often contrary to His ways. Isaiah wrote,

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isa. 55:8,9)

Know that the sovereign will of God is often beyond human comprehension. Allow the Lord to work in ways that are beyond human reasoning. Trust Him to lead you in ways that may not seem to make sense at the time. Do not demand to understand but trust and obey for there is no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

5. God makes a way when there seems to be no when we confess our sins, inadequacies and shortcomings. David wrote, “Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Then I will teach transgressors your ways and sinners will turn back to you.” (Psa. 51:2,11,12)

Know that the Lord wants to use you to bring others into His ways. Admit that you are a sinner who needs the Lord’s teaching, reproving, correcting and training in righteousness that the word of God provides. (2 Tim. 3:16,17)

Be willing to admit that you need cleansing from all unrighteousness that involves the sins of commission, sins of omissions, sins of wrong attitudes and the sins of faulty assumptions. The Lord only teaches the humble his way. Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God and He will exalt you at the proper time. Too many people do not find the way out of their problems because they are not willing to humbly confess their sins and ask God to cleanse them from all unrighteousness.

Ask the Lord to use your mistakes, inadequacies and failures to be more effective in ministering to others.

6. God will make a way when there seems to be no way when you fix your eyes on Jesus as the author and perfecter of our faith. (Heb. 12:1,2) Jesus is not only the way to heaven, but He is the perfect way. God’s will is found in Christ and following His ways. No person has ever completed 100% of the will of God, as did Jesus Christ.

He is the way when there seems to be no way. If you want to know the way to go, follow the person, the words and the example of the Lord Jesus. His ways are perfect and all of His ways are peace. He works in us to empower us to do everything God asks us to do. Paul wrote, “I can do everything God asks me to do with the help of Christ who gives me the strength and power.” (Phil. 4:13)

Ask the Lord to perfect whatever concerns you regardless of the troubles you find yourself in. Allow the Lord to use your adversity to work patience, endurance and greater Christ-likeness in all areas of your life. (James 1:2-5)

7. God will make way when there seems to be no way when we ask the Holy Spirit and others to intercede for us. Too many people try to find the way out of their problems alone. Paul wrote, “We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints accordance with God’s will.” (Rom. 8:26,27)

Ask others and God to intercede on your behalf so that you can receive the maximum benefits of intercessory assistance in your time of need. The Lord will find a way out of your fears, problems with anger, disappointments, hurts, unmet expectations or needy situation.

Maybe you are struggling to see how God might solve your financial, emotional, or social needs, but He will provide a solution for every problem if you only ask for intercessory help.

8. God will make a way when there seems to be no way when we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and then He will provide all of our essential needs.

Too many people waste their lives using wrong priority thinking. Many people are notoriously pursuing human concepts of success but are miserable failures before God. Jesus wants us to focus on Him and kingdom and righteousness priorities. When we pursue the quantitative and qualitative expansion of His kingdom we will experience His blessings that will supernaturally affirm God’s ability to provide us with all of our physical, social, and human needs.

Order your life more around God’s priorities than your own natural tendencies to take of your own business first. Ask the Lord to guide you to ways where you can make align your lifestyle around His priorities instead of your own natural impulses and desires.

9. God will make a way when there seems to be no way when we work in collaboration with other members of complimentary spiritual gifts. Why do so many people think they can find the way out of their problem without working in synchronization with other members of Christ’s body?

Paul wrote, “He gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we reach unity in the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” (Eph. 4:11-13)

We cannot fully know the way of God unless we are willing to work in collaboration with other gifted members of the body of Christ. God uses a whole range of spiritually gifted people to equip us, to motivate us and to teach us what we need to know in order to come to full maturity.

People who try to find the way out of their problems alone are going to lack some vital things that are necessary for completion in Christ. No wonder there are so many people who fail to experience the full benefits of God’s way because they are unwilling to cooperate with the whole range of God’s spiritually gifted people.

Ask the Lord to help you get more well rounded by working in cooperation with the full range of spiritual gifts in the body of Christ.

10. God will make a way when there seems to be no way when we rely on the Spirit to fight our battles for us. Zech 4:6 says, “Not by power or by might but by My Spirit says the Lord.” Stop trying to work your own way out of your problems in your own strength. Allow the Lord’s Spirit to infuse you with His power, love and self-discipline. (2 Tim. 1:7) Too many people fail to find a way out of their difficulties because they prematurely give in to discouragement, frustration or fear.

Wait on the Lord and He will strengthen your heart. The Lord is strong and might to deliver you from any problem you are facing with the power of His Spirit. He is able to deliver you if you will allow the Spirit to fight the battles for you.

11. God will make a way when there seems to be no way when we ask Him to help us to wisely choose the battles that are worth fighting. There are many battles that are just not worth fighting. Ask the Lord to help you to know what is essential and what is non-essential. There are many times in traffic when it is best to just let the angry driver who is in a hurry to pass on by. Stop trying to fight every little challenge that comes your way. You are wasting valuable energy on things that do not ultimately matter. He will give you the wisdom to know the best ways to go if you will only ask Him. (James 1:5) James wrote, “If any of you lack wisdom let Him ask of God who gives to all men and it will be given to you.”

Trust the Lord to supply you with the knowledge, wisdom and insight to walk in His ways regarding your relationships, activities and ministries. He will give you supernatural wisdom that shows others how you are divinely inspired to evidence wisdom from above which is considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Reject the earthly kind of wisdom that is unspiritual, envious, selfishly ambitious and boastful. (James 3:13-17)

Ask the Lord to help you to put away the Machiavellian kind of thinking that the ends justify the means and trust the Lord’s wisdom to guide you in every good way.

THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD.

John 3:16.  I believe this to be the greatest verse in the entire Bible. It is the best loved and best known verse.

There are only 25 words in this verse yet no other single verse in all the Scriptures has been as blessed in the salvation of so many souls. Martin Luther called John 3:16 the miniature gospel. It has been called the gospel in a nutshell. It has been called a love letter from God written in blood and addressed to all.

If ever there was a verse that Satan would love to blot out of the Bible, it would be John 3:16. If ever there was a verse that makes hell tremble, it is John 3:16. If ever there was a verse that has lightened the path to heaven for multitudes, it is John 3:16.

Years ago a doctor in a hospital gave me only 2 minutes with a lost dying woman who had called for me in her dying hour. The doctor told me he would give me only 120 seconds with her. What could I say in so short a time? God spoke to my heart and said, "Give her John 3:16 and pray the sinners prayer with her. It was all she needed. She died in peace and at peace with her Savior.

Some have divided the verse into parts like

God’s Grace - For God so loved the world

God’s Gift - That he gave his only begotten Son

God’s Gospel - That whosoever believeth in him...

God’s Glory - But have everlasting life.

There are many ways to look at this verse but I want us to look at some of the words of this great verse.

FOR GOD - John 3:16 begin as the Bible begins, with the existence of God taken for granted. See Gen. 1:1 Only a fool would think otherwise. See Psa. 14:1 The whole Bible stands on belief in God. There cannot be a here without a there. There cannot be an upper without a lower. There cannot be a before without an after. There cannot be a creation without a Creator.

The Bible says that this God...SO LOVED - What is love? It cannot be defined in words. The word "loved" occurs 56 times in the Book of John. The dictionary says love is "to have a feeling, affection, or regard for, to be strongly attached to or attracted toward, to hold dear". There are also synonyms like affection, charity, devotion, fondness, liking, and passion. All these definitions are weak when defining the word "love". The difficulty becomes greater when you add the word "so". GOD SO LOVED..."so loved" surpasses illustration. Many have tried to apply it to the love of a mother for her child. The following ad appeared in a Daily Monitor newspaper years ago.

TO MY BOY WHO LEFT HOME MONDAY NIGHT,

SEPTEMBER 15

My darling boy, if you should see this, which I pray our Heavenly Father you may, please let your distressed mother know where you are.

Mother!

The notice was signed with one word - "Mother". That was all. No name. Nothing to let the world know who she was. Just the cry of a mother seeking her lost boy. Not a word about whose fault it was. No blame. No reproach. Just the reaching out of a mother’s love seeking to bring her wanderer back. But a mother’s love falls short of the love of God.

The mind of man will never grasp the love of God. All we can say is the love of God is uncaused, uninfluenced, spontaneous, sovereign.

Deut. 7:7-8 says God loved you because he loved you. Jer. 31:3 - I have loved thee with an everlasting love. His is an everlasting, unending love with no beginning. God had no beginning so his love had no beginning. All earthly love had a beginning but God’s love reaches back to before the world was as well as forward to when all mountains are but dust. God’s love is infinite, illimitable, unbounded. The little chorus sung by children says it best, "Wide, wide as the ocean, High as the heaven above, Deep, deep as the deepest sea Is my Savior’s love"

A SINNER MAY GO TO HELL UNSAVED, BUT HE CANNOT GO TO

HELL UNLOVED.

THE WORLD - The word "world" is found 77 times in John. This is not talking about the matter-world or the world system but the world people. The greatest love of man or woman is love of self. What a narrow love that is! One writer said that "No one in all the world could possible love everyone in the world. In fact most people find it difficult to love all their relatives." But God has found it possible, with His great heart of love, to love every individual in the entire world in spite of his faults.

God loves the Jews - but also the Africans, Russians, Chinese, Arabs, Americans, etc.

God loves black people - but “red and yellow, and white, they are precious in his sight" God loves the civilized - but also the heathen. God loves the Pentecostals, Baptists - but also Methodists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Catholics. God loves the fundamentalists - but also the liberals and the communists. God loves preachers - but also murderers, gamblers, bartenders, and prostitutes. God loves ALL - ALL colors, ALL individuals, ALL social groups, ALL...

God loved a world of saints - NO - A WORLD OF SINNERS.

He loves the sinner not the sin, the criminal not the crime, the rebel not the rebellion, the liar not the lie, the idolater not the idol.

THAT HE GAVE - The world knows a little about giving but God’s giving costs something. Most of the giving we know about is giving that really has no element of sacrifice in it.

God did not give the cattle on a 1000 hills or silver and gold. He gave all he had in the person of his Son. "He gave" means suffering. We think a lot about the suffering of the Son but have you ever thought about the suffering of the Father. Could you stand in a window of your house and watch an angry mob spit on, beat, abuse, and kill your son with the power to stop it in infinity of a second’s notice. God could have stopped it but HE GAVE... Because he loved and for us.

HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON - Here is a word of relationship. David was a "son" to King Saul in I Sam. 26:21-25 by association. God the Father is called "Father" not because of relationship to his creatures but because of his relationship to his Son.

A child was once trying to quote this verse and said "his only forgotten Son" and how true it is. He has been forgotten by most people.

THAT WHOSOEVER - This means all. All have sinned and all need a Savior. It means any who will. It means those who believe. It means you. I am glad that it did not have my name in it because when I was 12 years old, I met another child the same age as I was with the same name, Ivan Ssewankambo. If a name had been put in this verse I would have wondered for whom was the promise intended.

If a name had been put here then all other people would have been left out. Thank God he said "whosoever". Whosoever meaneth ME. Whosoever meaneth YOU.

BELIEVETH - The word "believe" with its various endings occur 100 times in John. Believeth denies salvation by any other way but by faith. It denies works, even good works as a means of salvation. Look at Nicodemus. Nicodemus was educated, rich, moral, religious, a do-gooder, a "church member", intelligent, but not saved. Jesus told him in John 3:3 "ye must be born again". The doors of heaven swing on this experience. We are saved by faith and not by works. See Eph. 2:8-9 and Titus 3:5

IN HIM - Acts 4:12 and I John 5:12 show us that salvation is in a Person and that person is the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is not found in believing in the preacher, the church, a good Christian, but in Christ.

SHOULD NOT PERISH - Men of the old world perished but Noah was spared. People of Sodom perished but Lot was spared. The first born of Egypt perished but Israel was spared. Jericho’s citizens perished but Rahab was spared. Whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish eternally in hell but make heaven their eternal home. There is a heaven to gain and a hell to shun.

BUT HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE - Life is mentioned 36 times in the Book of John. Notice the verse begins with God and ends with life. Everlasting life is not just eternal existence because if that were the case, the devil and all sinners would have it.

What is everlasting life? It is having Jesus. He said "I am the life" in John 14:6. The Bible says life is in the Son and whosoever has the Son has life. I Jn.5:12 John 11:25 says, "I am the resurrection and the life..." John 1:4 says, "In him was life..." Eternal life is Christ living in me. Christ in you - Col. 1:27 Christ liveth in me - Gal. 2:20

I saw a poem years ago that said:

For God - the Lord of earth and heaven,

So loved - and longed to see forgiven,

The world - in sin and pleasure mad,

That he gave - the only Son he had,

His only Son - to take our place,

That whosoever - Oh, what grace,

Believeth - placing simple trust,

In Him - the righteous and the just,

Should not perish - lost in sin,

But have everlasting life - in HIM.

How God Tests Our Faith?

The Bible says in Matthew 9:29 "According to your faith it will be done unto you." That’s one of my favorite verses in the Bible. What are you expecting God to do in your life? This is the law that God has established. It’s called the Law of Expectation. The fact is, we tend to get what we expect out of life. We tend to see what we expect to see. We tend to hear what we expect to hear. We tend to feel the way we expect to feel. We inevitably accomplish what we expect what we’re going to accomplish. This is the law of faith. God says you get to choose. Because "According to your faith it will be done unto you."

Another important verse on faith in the Bible is Hebrews 11:6. "Without faith it is impossible to please God." How many of you are parents? How many of you are pleased when your children trust you? God is the same way. God is our heavenly Father and God is pleased when we trust Him. That’s why the Bible says without faith it’s impossible to please God.

You can obey God. You can do the right thing and still not be pleasing God because you’re not doing it in faith. So it’s important to learn how to live expectantly as you learn to live by faith.

"Whatever is not of faith," the Bible says in Romans 14, "is sin."

Because that’s true we need to talk today about how do we grow in our faith. In Luke 17:5 the apostle said to Jesus, "Lord increase our faith." How do you do that? I’d like to have more faith. I know you’d like to have more faith. If that’s what pleases God then I want to have more of it. The question is how? If faith is what makes my life rewarding and fulfilling and confident how does God build my faith?

Let me ask you this: do you take vitamins for it? No. Is there some kind of therapy you go through to have your faith built? No. Is there some seminar that’s going to build your faith? No, not really.

Here’s the secret. And it’s not really something you’re real excited about when you first hear it. But the truth is God builds your faith and my faith by testing it. He builds our faith by putting it to the test, by trying it. Faith is like a muscle and when it’s stretched and it’s pulled then it develops. When you test your muscles against weights then your muscles develop. And your faith develops as it is tested.

You don’t develop your faith just setting on your blessed assurance in church. James 1:3 says this "The testing of your faith [circle this] develops perseverance [circle "develops perseverance"] so that you may be mature and complete." He says the purpose of these tests is that our faith, our perseverance will grow and will be mature and complete.

Job says the same thing speaking from experience in Job 7:17-18 "What is man that You make so much of him and that You give him so much attention and that You examine him every morning and test him every moment."  Did you realize that God is testing you every moment of your life? Life is a test and it is temporary assignment and it’s a trust. These are the facts of life. Every moment of the day your faith is being tested. In fact all this past week it was tested and all this next week your faith is going to be tested.

Every day you have faith building opportunities. The problem is most of us don’t recognize them when they’re there. We flunk the test because we don’t even realize it is a test and that God is trying to help us grow.

So if God wants me to live by faith and if God builds my faith by testing it then the natural question is how does God do it?

I want to give you the four ways that God tests our faith so that you’ll be aware of them. Actually there are more than these but I just want to cover the most common. These are the four most common ways that God tests and builds our faith. You’ll probably get tested on every one of them this week. Count on it. In fact you’ll probably have them sometimes in a day.

1. God tests our faith through difficulties.

That’s trials, problems, pressures, tough circumstances. All the stresses of life. 1 Peter 1:6-7 "For a little while you have had to suffer great and all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." That’s a very powerful verse. The trials and the problems and the difficulties that come into your life come to test your faith and to prove your faith.

Nothing ever happens by accident in the life of a follower of Jesus Christ. Everything is Father filtered. Please don’t misunderstand me. I’m not saying that God plans all the bad things that happens to you. He doesn’t have to. We live in a broken world. A lot of problems we bring on ourselves and things like that. A lot of problems other people bring on us and we’re innocent victims.

What I am saying is that nothing comes into your life if you’re a child of God, nothing comes into your life without God’s permission. It couldn’t happen without God’s permission. There are no accidents in the Christian life. There are accidents in life. Of course there are. But God uses them and our disappointments are His appointments.

Sometimes God has to custom make a problem to teach you faith, to test you.

Jonah had a custom made problem. It just swallowed him up and got his attention. Sometimes God creates problems that swallow you up. You say, "There’s nothing else to look at except the Lord." And I’m sure that’s the way Jonah felt. In fact in Jonah 2:7 the Bible says, "When I lost all I once again turned my thoughts to God."

God uses these kinds of things to test our faith. Notice it says "all kinds." If life were easy then it wouldn’t require any faith. If you could feel God all the time then you’d just go by your feelings. Sometimes God removes His feelings -- the feelings of His presence -- just so you learn to trust Him in the difficulties.

Here’s a great verse when you’re going through tough times. Isaiah 48:10 "I have refined you though not as silver. I have tested you in the furnace of affliction."

What is the furnace of affliction? You’ve been there. It’s when the heat’s on. When the heat’s on it’s a real test. How are you doing in the furnace of affliction? Are you feeling the heat right now? Have you felt it this past week? Are you under pressure? Is it getting a little hot under the collar? The Bible frequently compares our problems and difficulties to a furnace. The furnace of a refiner’s fire who heats it up so high that the gold and silver melt and all the impurities are burned away.

I heard of an old silversmith who was once asked, "How do you know when the impurities are burned away in the silver?" He said, "When I can see my reflection in the silver." When God can see His reflection in you then He knows that the impurities in your life have been burned away. That’s a test.

So what should I do when I’m going through difficulties? How should I respond?

The Bible tells us. When the problems come that God’s trying to test my faith James 1:2-3 "Consider it pure joy... whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance." He says when you’ve got a problem relax. In fact he says, rejoice. Take it easy. Thank God. Praise God. Why? Because I know that God is with me. God has a plan for me. He has a purpose for my life and He’s going to help me through it. God’s purpose is greater than the pain or the problem or the difficulty I’m going through right now.

This is the first lesson. If I want to learn to live by faith I must learn to rejoice continually. James says "Consider it all joy when you go through problems." Notice he doesn’t say be thankful for the problems. God doesn’t expect you to thank Him for bad things in your life. Like if you get cancer you don’t say "Thank You God, for this cancer." Of course not. It says, be thankful in the problem." I must learn to rejoice in the situation continually if I’m going to learn to live by faith.

I want you to evaluate yourself on each of these four tests of faith. From one to ten. How quickly do I praise God when things go wrong? If you say "never", you rate yourself down at the bottom -- "1" or "0". If you say "Sometimes I thank God, I praise God in the problem," you get a "5". If you say, "I always do it. It’s my habit to continually rejoice when I’m dealing with a difficulty because I know God will help me." You get a "10."

The Bible says "Rejoice in the Lord always [That means all the time] And again I say rejoice," because God uses difficulties. And He tests our faith and He builds it not in the easy times of life but in the difficult times.

2. God tests our faith through demands.

He asks us to do things that are seemingly impossible. There are, in just the New Testament, 1050 commands for believers to obey. Of all these commands, some of them seem unreasonable. Some of them seem inconvenient. Some of them seem down right impossible. So what do you do when you have an impossible command that feels like a demand?

They are there; you realize they are there to test our faith.

When you have a command and it seems like I can’t do that, the issue at that moment is, Who am I going to believe? Who is it I’m going to trust? Am I going to believe what God says to do or am I going to believe what I think is right to do? All of the promises, all of the commands are there to test us. Some of them may seem simple at first but when you look at them that is demanding.

A command like "Don’t worry about anything." Anybody struggle with that one? That can be a tough one. Or a command like "Do good to your enemies." Or "Forgive other people." Or "Be thankful in everything."

Every time. Every time God gives us a command in the Bible it is a demand that is placed on our life and it’s a test. Like "Confess your faults to one another." That’s a test. The test is am I going to trust what God says to do, what He says is right. Or am I going to trust my own opinion, what I think is right in my own eyes?

There are literally hundreds of examples in the Bible of people that God said, "Do this" and they trusted Him, they had faith, even though it didn’t make sense to them, even though it seemed impossible to them.

The people of Israel on their way from Egypt where they had been in captivity to the Promised Land. God put a demand on their life, something called manna. It was a command. Manna you might remember was the bread like substance that fell from the sky, flaky stuff. They had to go out each morning to gather enough to eat. God said here’s the command. All you can get is enough for that day.

Exodus 16:4 "The people are to go out each day and gather enough manna for that day. In that way I will test them and see whether they will follow My instructions." There were all kinds of reasons why that command didn’t make sense. "Just enough for today? Why can’t I gather enough for the week? It’d be more convenient that way. It’d be a better use of my time that way. Just enough for one day? What if I get sick tomorrow? What if I trip and hit my head on a rock and a snake bites me? There’s all kinds of reasons why I need at least two days worth, God."

But that wasn’t the point. The point wasn’t does it make sense to you. The point was I want to test you so that you’ll trust Me in a day to day way. Follow My commands. I want to grow your faith. That was the point.

Often God asks us to do the impossible. Why? He wants to grow our faith.

A guy by the name of Abraham. You remember his story. He was seventy-five years old. He was about to hang it up and God said I want you to take it down. I want to take you out somewhere to make a difference in this world. I want you to go somewhere where you’ve never been, you don’t even know where you’re going. Abraham says, "Where exactly am I going?" God says, "I’ll tell you." "How am I going to get there?" I’ll show you. "How will I know when I get there?" When you get there I’ll tell you that you’ve gotten there.

How would you do with a command like that? We might say, "God, could I Google that first? I’d like to check it out. I’d like to get on MapQuest and get a point by point direction. Then I’m ready to follow Your directions."

Faith is often a risk. When it’s a risk it means you can’t understand it all in advance. Why would God do that? He’s not just interested in making us comfortable, helping us to see all the directions and points on the map. He’s wanting to test and grow our faith.

As we end I’d like to give you the chance to personally have a few minutes with God and talk to Him.

Prayer:

The question again is do you want to live by faith? Are you willing to pray? I want to encourage you to pray that dangerous prayer, Lord, increase my faith. It’s dangerous because the way God increases our faith is by testing our faith. All these ways we’ve talked about this morning and many others. But if you’re willing to pray with courage, that prayer, just say it to God right now. "Lord, increase my faith."

You might need to pray specifically, "Father, by faith I’m going to begin rejoicing continually no matter what happens because I know that You’re in control." Or you might need to pray, "Father, my faith, I’m going to begin obeying immediately. When I see something in your word, when I hear it in church, or a tape and You speak to me and touch my heart, I’m going to do it. I’m not going to procrastinate by faith I will act."

Maybe you need to pray, "Father, by faith I’m going to begin giving generously. I realize it all comes from You in the first place." Or maybe your prayer needs to specifically be, "Father, by faith I’m going to begin waiting patiently. I don’t know when the answer is going to come. I don’t know when the miracle is going to happen, I don’t even know how You’re going to work it all out. But by faith I do know I can trust You. So by faith I’m going to begin waiting patiently."

If you prayed that prayer of faith just now God’s smiling on you. Because the Bible says He is pleased whenever we trust Him. Without faith it is impossible to please God but by faith we please the heart of God. So today He’s smiling on you. And Father, together we thank You. We thank You for Your word that builds our faith. We thank You, Jesus, for Your unconditional love for us. Thank You that we do not have to earn Your love. That just in faith we can receive it. Lord, I pray that we would trust You to use these tests in our lives to make us more like You. We pray this together in Jesus’ name. Amen.

“JUST LET IT GO”

There was a dog that just could not stand for another dog to get the best of him in any way. One day the dog came across a chunk of meat that had fallen off a butcher truck. The dog picked up the meat and started running with it. All was going well until he started across a bridge with water underneath. He noticed, there under the bridge was another dog with a big steak in his mouth. He began to growl at the dog, and it looked as though the dog was growling back at him. He got so upset that he went to bark at the dog, and when he opened his mouth, the steak fell out into the river and sank to the bottom never to be seen again. Only then did he recognize he was looking at a reflection of himself in the water. When those feelings of anger rose up inside of him, all he had to do was “just let it go” and he would have enjoyed that steak.

ILL. A couple of years ago in Little Rock, a man was driving with his family, and was rudely cut off by a taxi driver. It really made him angry. When the traffic stopped, he jumped out of his car to give the driver a piece of his mind, and maybe even a piece of his fist. When he went after the taxi driver, the driver responded by pulling out a gun and firing. The man fell dead in front of his wife and his kids. He never thought that decision to get even would cost him is life, and his family untold suffering and grief. All he had to do to avoid this tragedy was too “just let it go” when he felt wronged.

Jesus came with a strong message dealing with revenge. He said in Matthew 5:38-39 "You have heard that it was said, ’Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.”

This one verse is enough to keep some people from giving their lives to Jesus Christ. They’re thinking, “I’m not going to be a wimp”, “nobody is going to take advantage of me”, “if they hit me I’m going to hit them back.”I hear so often when someone is in trouble, “well she should not have called me a name, or he hit me first.” Yet this person is the one in trouble, and not the other one.

In sports, the person who usually gets the penalty is the one who responded to an injustice in anger. In school, the person who is usually in the principal’s office is the person who was getting even. In life, the person who usually ends up in prison, is the one who is getting back at somebody.

When Jesus tells us to turn the other cheek, he is telling us to choose to live on a higher level and leave the idea of revenge to God. Think for a moment, who is it that you might have an idea of getting revenge against this day?

Is it an ex-spouse who did you wrong. Is it your child’s father or mother who’s acting the fool? Is it someone who has taken the person you loved? Is it a boss whose mean or a co-worker who has stolen credit for your work?

Is it someone who has cheated you out of something that rightfully belonged to you? Is it someone who has hurt you because of something that was said or done? All of these situations lead to the desire to get even, to get revenge. Some people plot and plan for a long time before they finally strike back. Action movies and popular novels…

There is a lot more to following Christ than showing up at church. To follow Jesus means a willingness to be obedient to God, even when it hurts and you don’t feel like it. You cannot be a wimp and follow Jesus Christ. You truly have to be a person of courage and of faith.

Romans 12:17-19… In other words, God is saying, “I saw the wrong that was done, now just let it go.” But God, we’re talking about my money here. God says yes, but “just let it go.”

You trust God to be able to make wrong right. Anybody can respond with a fight or a gun, but only the few and powerful can give it over to God. And this is a very important aspect of God’s plan of Salvation – restoring the image and likeness of God in fallen humans like me and you…

There are 4 major lessons we learn from the book of Esther:

1. God has a plan for your life.

2. Satan has a plan for your life.

3. You have a choice.

4. God has the answer.

1. God has a plan for your life. As you know the Jews rebelled against God by serving other gods and God let them be carried into captivity. The Northern Kingdom of Israel was carried into captivity by Assyria followed by Southern Kingdom - Judah which was carried into captivity by the Babylonians.

This wasn’t the end of the story for Israel, because God had a plan for them. His intention was to bring them back from captivity and the book of Esther gives us a glimpse of God’s plan of salvation.

In fact, God had in mind a much larger plan of salvation than just bringing the Jews back to their homeland, you see, God planned all along that a savior would be born in Bethlehem to a Jewish family, and that that child would grow up to be the savior of the world. His name - JESUS.

In order for Jesus to be born to a Jewish family in Bethlehem, God had to release the Jews from their captivity and bring them back to their homeland. The account of Esther begins in 483 B.C. some 37 years before Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the city walls.

Now we are in the 3rd ch. Of Esther… Mordecai told the fresh Queen Esther to keep her identity as a Jewess concealed, and so she did. Xerxes probably didn’t care where she was from, hey – he was in LOVE and he had a new Queen.

Mordecai had a job at the palace as one of the security officers - while on duty at the palace he uncovered a plot to assassinate the King. Mordecai told Queen Esther who in turn informed the King and the assassins were caught and hung. The incident was quickly forgotten.

We’ll come back to this point that God has a plan for your life, but consider this…. God was setting in motion the plan of salvation for the Jews and he was using another unknown, virgin, Jewish girl to make it happen. Sound familiar?

2. Satan has a plan for your life. Esther 3:1-15 God’s plan with Israel was awesome…Another pattern that emerges is the Devil’s desire to destroy the Jews. Why did Satan work so hard to destroy the Jews? He tried to kill all the baby boys in Egypt – Why? Because he knew a type of a savior was going to be born – that savior (small “s”) was Moses. The Devil likes it when people are in bondage to him. The children of Israel were in bondage in Egypt and Satan wanted to keep them there until anything spiritually will be erased from their memory.

God had other plans, and he miraculously delivered Moses from sure death, and he went on to lead the Jews out of slavery. Then Satan started working overtime to try to spoil God’s plans for the Jews. He tried to destroy the Jews when he led them into the rebellion, idolatry and witchcraft for which they were exiled to Assyria and Babylon.

And now, Satan hatched a plan to kill the entire population of Jews. We shouldn’t be surprised because Jesus said of Satan that in John 10:10, “that he comes only to steal and kill and destroy; but I have come that you may have life, and have it more abundantly.”

Satan knew that if he could wipe out the Jews, he would spoil God’s plan of salvation for the world. Do you recall that King Herod ordered all the baby boys born in Bethlehem during the time of Christ’s birth to be killed? Who do you suppose put that idea in his head? Satan thought he was finally successful the day they nailed Jesus to the Cross at Calvary. Oh, was he in for a surprise!

When the church was born Satan didn’t stop pushing for his plan. Historically, Satan has tried to eliminate both Christians and Jews. He was highly successful during the middle ages and more recently with the Jewish holocaust in Nazi Germany. Listen, Satan hates God’s people. He wants nothing better than to kill you, rob you and destroy your soul. Satan has a plan for your life – his plan is to stop you from achieving God’s intended purpose for your life. Don’t let him do it! This leads us to our 3rd point:

3. You have a choice. A choice of faith which involves risk or a choice to do nothing (which also has a risk – the risk of losing it all). Let’s go back to the book of Esther and meet a man by the name of Haman. Now Haman did not know God. But as far as this world was concerned, he was top dog, he was the man, and he had it all going on for him. King Xerxes had elevated Haman to the #2 position in the kingdom. He had great wealth as well.

When Haman walked by, the people were to treat him as some kind of a junior god. They would kneel down and pay honor to him. The king even commanded that they do so. All this praise and attention caused Haman to get a really big head. Now in the kingdom of Xerxes which stretched from India to North Africa, God’s people the Jews were scattered throughout the kingdom. Some of the Jews had a real problem bowing down to a man. They knew that God and God alone deserved to be worshiped. No doubt some of the Jews bowed, just to stay out of trouble.

But one guy, by the name of Mordecai would not bow down when Haman passed by… Imagine the top leader of Persian Empire riding and looking as people on the left & right are kneeling down. But one man, Mordecai is standing… How embarrassing…

One of the things that lead to us being hurt, is to have an over estimated opinion of who we are. Haman just knew he was somebody, and everybody was going to worship him and give him the respect he was due.

Sometimes we forget that we are not as important as we think we are. If we remember that we are here to serve Jesus Christ in every situation we find ourselves in, we realize there are plenty of insults that come our way. Yet often all we have to do is “just let it go.”

If somebody spit in our face, most of us would forget all about Jesus and come down like a nuclear bomb on the person. Yet that may be our moment of truth in our faith. Somebody might turn to Christ depending on how they observe our response.

People spat in Jesus’ face too, and Jesus said, whatever they did to me, they will do to you also. Jesus did not spit back. He kept his mouth closed.

Haman took Mordecai’s action as spit in his face. He was so angry, just killing Mordecai was not going to be enough. He wanted to wipe out every person that had Mordecai’s background. He wanted to kill every Jewish person, man, woman, boy, girl, and the elderly whether they had bowed down to him or not.

He was even willing to pay a large sum of his money to help the people carry out this plot. He convinced the king that a certain group of people were a threat to his kingdom and did not deserve to live because they would not obey the king’s laws.

He didn’t mention Mordecai’s name because he probably didn’t want the king to know that this was really about a personal vendetta. He didn’t even mention it was the Jews he was after. He simply called them a certain group of people.

The King accepted what Haman said. He let Haman write out the law. Haman had rolled the dice to decide what day and month this massive slaughter of people was going to take place. It was going to be on the twelfth of the month of Adar. Adar would correspond to our month of February.

4. Gad has the answer. The circumstances were so extreme, only to demonstrate the danger of not following God’s plan as 1st choice… Obedience to Him and His commandments no matter the cost. Haman is passing by the gate every day, to see the king…Self confident, proud. And at the gate, Mordecai standing. Ah! How dare you? Do you know who I am? I am the god of this world, I have the power over you, I can keep you here alive outside of king’s palace IF you… worship me! Worship!

Luke 4 NKJV – Jesus temptation… (read) Temptation 40 days… Satan revealing his plan/desire – worship me! Worship was and still central in God’s plan with you and me… Who & What you worship is your Master/Savior… Worship money? Money= your savior... Haman took Mordecai’s integrity very personal. He was so angry; just killing Mordecai was not going to be enough. He wanted to kill every Jewish person, man, woman, boy, girl, and the elderly whether they had bowed down to him or not.

"Satan will arouse indignation against the minority who refuse to accept popular customs and traditions.“(PK 601)" The Apocalypse of John tells of a time when those who refuse to worship the beast will be under threat of death. READ Rev. 13:15-17.

ILL. Dietrich Boenhoffer story… His integrity cost him his life, but saved thousand of Christians who were uplifted by his example…

1. God has a plan for your life.

2. Satan has a plan for your life.

3. You have a choice.

4. God has the answer.

Call… Make the choice for Jesus today!

When we trust.....amazing things happen

When I think about all the remarkable things that happen in this world. When I look at some of the greatest achievements. There is a common thread…they happened because there was a significant level of trust. Trust that something good, Trust that something great would come from people’s times and efforts.

When Jeff Bezos left his job at an investment management firm to establish Amazon, he needed significant trust.

Amazon is now a company with over $40 billion of assets.

Jeff needed to trust that even though the business was unlikely to make any money for four to five years that it would succeed.

Jeff needed to trust that even though many other internet and book businesses were going broke, that Amazon would not just survive but also thrive. When we trust amazing things happen!!

Trust is important for life. The truth is every day we find ourselves in situations where we need to trust for things to happen, for life to occur.

It has been said that one of the reasons people delay making decisions and acting is that they are lacking trust. Lacking trust in themselves, lacking trust in others, even lacking trust in God. However when we trust amazing things happen!!!

One Pastor made a clear statement that the commodity of the church is trust…us trusting God and us trusting others. Trust is essential for a congregation to be healthy.

Think about it when we trust each other….grace and forgiveness flows freely. When we trust we are more willing to do what God is calling us to do..When we trust each other our relationships grow stronger. Trust is important for us as a church. When we trust amazing and good things happen!!

So it is not surprising that when we open up the pages of scripture we see God calling us first to trust Him. Proverbs chapter 3 verses 5 and 6 says: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight”

But do you also realize God is also calling us to be a community where we trust each other. Over 40% of the New Testament letters encourage the Christian communities to grow in a trusting relationship with each other. For instance Paul writes the following to a young pastor called Titus he wrote the following, which we find in Titus chapter 3 verses 8 to 11… “This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone. But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless. Warn a divisive person once, and then warn them a second time. After that, have nothing to do with them. You may be sure that such a man is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.”

The problem with divisive people is they often do things that cause good friends and other people to distrust each other. However this is not what God desires. God wants us to be a community that trusts and do well for each other. As a result of people trusting God and trusting each other the church grew, they met together and Acts chapter 2 tells us they even sold everything so more could get to know this trusting God. When trust exists….amazing things happen. And in our Gospel reading we see what happens when someone trusts God

I invite you to hear part of this reading again…Reading from Matthew chapter 14 verse 25

25 During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. 27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” 28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” 29 “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.

Imagine being Peter….How would have you felt? Taking those first steps on the water…. Imagine the stories you could tell your family and friends, your grandkids 'I still remember that day when I was with Jesus and I trusted him'

'I walked on water….'

What an experience!!!

When we trust amazing things happen!!!

But Peter was distracted….he lost that trust in Jesus because of some stuff that was going on around him then what happened?

PLOP!!!He began to sink!!The troubles around him started to affect him, in a negative way. Isn’t that similar to some of our lives? At some stage in our lives we may have had this strong trust in Jesus, We keep focused on him. But then we see problems…We worry

We begin placing our trust in other things, ideas and people instead of God, We question whether God is really going to help us. Our relationship with God is tested.

This may even lead to us spending less time with God in prayer, worship; bible reading and a life group the very things that help us trust God. Jeff Bezos placed his trust in the research and planning he had undertaken when Amazon was initially established. There were times when people questioned him….There were times when internet and book companies were going broke around him. He could have lost trust but he didn’t allow these things to affect him or his decisions. And now Amazon is a company with assets of over $40 billion

Fortunately for Peter and for us even when we lose focus and stop trusting him Jesus still hangs around ready to help us. Listen to what happened shortly after Peter began sinking reading from Matthew 14 verse 30 to 36 “30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” 31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?” 32 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.” 34 When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret. 35 And when the men of that place recognized Jesus, they sent word to all the surrounding country. People brought all their sick to him 36 and begged him to let the sick just touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed.”

Sometimes it takes us to lose something or to face a difficult situation to recognize or be reminded that we need God. Fortunately for Peter he was willing to trust Jesus again. So Jesus saved him.

But it is important to remember that Jesus is not just there clean up after all our messes…or to pull us out of trouble, He is also the one who wants to guide us and help us live a way of life that is fulfilling. I wonder what Peter told his friends….Jesus made it possible for me to walk on water….or would have also said Jesus rescued me after I had failed to trust him. Or perhaps he said what an idiot I was…Jesus was helping me walk on water..but I let the wind and storms scare the living day lights out of me…and I stopped trusting Jesus….then plop into the sea I went…but thankfully Jesus was willing to rescue me when I placed my trust back in him.

It is important to remember that God has our long term best interests at heart

He calls us to follow him and trust him so amazing things can happen not only for us, but also for others through us. There are two other interesting things in our reading.

The first is that because of this event of Jesus walking on water, Peter walking on water and Peter being rescued….all the disciples trust in God grew. They proclaimed that Jesus really is the Son of God

Here is something for you to think about…What are the significant things that have happened when you have trusted God? Think about how these affect your life and your relationship with God. What can you share about them with others?

The second other interesting thing from our reading is that because people trusted Jesus to heal them they were healed. When we trust….amazing things happen!!!So what about you…

How is your trust with God going? Are you trusting God a little or a lot or somewhere in between? When we trust God we will be more willing to do what God asks of us….When we trust God we will see that being regularly involved in prayer, worship, bible study and reading, life groups will be of benefit to us……When we trust God…God will do amazing things for us and through us. When we trust God others will get to know how great and good God is.

There is a cartoon story I watched lately about some chipmunks near a popular scenic look out in the Rocky Mountains. Chipmunks normally are very wary of humans. But not these chipmunks…They would bravely come right up to people to take food out of their hands. These little creatures had willingly changed their lifestyle—They set aside their previous fear of humans, in order to receive something essential to their existence: FOOD. They were not afraid of anyone’s hand because they had become familiar that the human hand feeds them. And so they allowed their lives to be radically changed in order that they might be fed by humans.

As disciples of Jesus we, too, should be like these chipmunks. When we trust God, He feeds us and gives us a real life. And this should change us so that we can not only be rescued by him but also continually blessed by him in many ways, so our life radically changes.

Go trusting God….Go growing in trust, Because when we trust…amazing things happen. Amen!!

A Prophetic Word for Year 2017: Pastor Ivan

NOTE: Understanding season is very important, there are seasons to Plant and seasons to reap what you sow

Year 2016 was a year of preparing yourself to receive what belongs to you in a perfect and complete way. In other words 2016 looked to be like a barren year. A season where we planted our seeds but the land seemed to be barren. But this is what the Lord says in 2017, “Thou shalt be blessed above all people: there shall not be male or female barren among you” Deut 7:14

YEAR 2017 is a year of "complete and perfect victory” a year of expansion! God has decreed that He desires to bless His people greatly, moving us from seasons of barrenness to great fruitfulness

Whatever looked to be barren and whatever you sowed and thought the seeds are dead, 2017 everything is to be recovered, perfected and completed in your life.

When we look in the scriptures in the Holy Bible Number 17 symbolizes "overcoming the enemy" and "complete victory.

Now allow me to remind you that Jesus Christ gained a complete victory over death and the grave when God resurrected him near sunset on Nisan 17 (Saturday, April 30 A.D.). John 19:31"Jesus crucified

Exodus 12:12-13 says, and also on the 14th of Nissan, our Lord Jesus Christ (Yeshua Hamashiach) was crucified as a lamb, on the cross for the sins of the world.

This year 2017 has a number Seven which is the number of completeness and perfection (both physical and spiritual). It derives much of its meaning from being tied directly to God's creation of all things.

In the book of Hebrews, written by the apostle Paul, he uses seven titles to refer to Christ. The titles are 'Heir of all things' (Hebrews 1:2), 'Captain of our salvation' (2:10), 'Apostle' (3:1), 'Author of salvation' (5:9), 'Forerunner' (6:20), 'High Priest' (10:21) and the 'Author and finisher of our faith' (12:2).

REVELATION 13:1-8 prophecies 2017 as God will protect only those that exempt him as Complete Victory will be theirs.

"And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.

2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.

3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.

4 And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?

5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.

6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.

7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.

8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

Assurance of Victory (very important)

Revelation 12:11 11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

Revelation 21:7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.

Positionally satan was is defeated as Roman 16:20 'And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen. May this year 2017 be a year of your full/complete and perfect Victory in the name of Jesus. Amen!!!

I Wonder as I Wander - John 1

As John brings the prologue to his gospel to a close, the last five verses - verses 14 through 18 - are like the mighty finale of a musical composition played by some great symphony orchestra. We hear the rolling of drums, the crashing of cymbals - the entire percussion section of the orchestra comes alive. The fingers of the harpist fly across the strings and the trumpets blast.

In these five verses three arresting facts surface regarding the incarnation of our Lord - the mystery by which God became man. First of all, let's note:

I. The great condescension (v. 14a)

The Word became flesh and took up residence among us.

To condescend means to lower oneself to a level not normally occupied - physically, mentally, or socially. It means to descend voluntarily to the level of another person. And with human beings, this is not always done with kindness. Sometimes there is an air of contempt, snobbery, and haughtiness in human condescension. But there is another side to the use of this word. It also means to be graciously willing to do something regarded as beneath one's dignity. This is what God did when He became flesh. With a mysterious mixture of Divine grace and love, He performed the greatest act of condescension of all time and eternity.

The Word that John personified is the very expression and manifestation of God. The creative power of God was in the Word (1:3). With such limitless power, the Word of God condescended to be compressed into human flesh.

John purposely used the crude, blunt word, "flesh." The sophisticated Greeks recoiled from the word flesh in regard to Deity. Flesh, to them, was corruptible, temporary, and doomed to be destroyed and cast aside. No God would deal with anything as degrading as human flesh. Yet that is exactly what God did. He entered human flesh, which stands for the whole person.

In becoming flesh, God accepted the limitations of humanity. He became vulnerable to those natural human weaknesses that accompany our flesh - hunger, thirst, physical weariness, and pain. He experienced the emotional traumas we experience - disappointment, sorrow, hurt, loneliness, and rejection. Because Jesus had no sin nature, He did this without the taint of sin.

While Jesus committed no sin while He was on earth, He experienced sin in a way that was far more overwhelming than committing sin. Why did He cry out in Gethsemane in horror? What caused Him to sweat "great drops of blood," and to plead with His Heavenly Father, "Abba, Father! All things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me" (Mark 14:36)?

Jesus was not about to succumb to some temptation to sin. It was worse than that. He was about to "drink the cup" containing all the sordid sins of mankind compressed together. He became sin for us. John said that Jesus "lived for a while among us." Literally, that means He "pitched His tent" or "cast His lot" with us. He moved in with us.

II. The amazing discovery (v. 14b)

We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Another word of deep significance in this description of our Lord's incarnation is glory. Human beings can achieve a degree of earthly glory. A person performs some outstanding deed, some benevolent act, or makes a great monetary contribution to some worthy cause. Often this person receives honor in a blaze of glory, admiration, and appreciation. Or, a person makes some astounding discovery that makes life easier or more pleasant or safer for us - like Jonas Salk who perfected the polio vaccine, or Louis Pasteur, whose process made milk and milk products safer for human consumption. A degree of human glory is attached to these people.

The first time we see the glory of God is when He declares, "Let there be light" (Genesis 1:3). What light was that? It was not the physical light of the sun, for the sun and stars had not yet been created. It was the glory of God in all of His heavenly brightness. God's glory filled the earth with indescribable beauty. The glory of God appeared next in the mysterious cloud that hovered over the Israelites from the crossing of the Red Sea until they entered the Promised Land 40 years later.

But John wrote, "We have seen his glory." He wrote of the glory of God in Jesus Christ. It was manifested every time He performed a miracle and in His life-changing teachings that arrested the people, convicted them of their sins, and showed them God's desire to forgive them and make them His children. Jesus' glory was revealed when He was transfigured with Moses and Elijah before Peter, James, and John.

What about now? Is it possible for us to observe His glory today? God's glory does not abide in one body now, as it did in the body of Jesus. In the Person of the Holy Spirit, this glory dwells within every believer. It is present not just in the stained-glass experiences we have in our corporate worship assemblies, but in the marketplace on Monday, in the school room, on the athletic field, and in everyday tasks in the home.

Evangelicals are sometimes so afraid of a social gospel that we skirt the edges of desperate human suffering. We can express the glory of God with supernatural effectiveness in such situations. Jesus reacted to human suffering when He healed sick and crippled bodies, and to human hunger when He fed the multitudes, and to human sorrow when He raised Lazarus and the widow of Nain's son from the dead.

The crowning statement John made provided:

III. The startling revelation (v. 18)

No one has ever seen God. The only Son - the One who is at the Father's side - He has revealed Him.

Moses had an overwhelming desire to "see God" (Exodus 33:18-20). It was not mere human curiosity, but the compulsion of a man who bore the awesome responsibility of leading Israel out of Egypt and into the Promised Land. Often Moses reached the point of exasperation because of the people's rebellion against his leadership. Feeling the extreme loneliness and sense of failure every leader feels, Moses believed that if he could only see God's glory, he could press on.

John declared that, in Jesus, we have the full revelation of God. No longer is He a faraway, mysterious Being, awesome and unapproachable in His glory and majesty. Rather Jesus communicated the love and tenderness of our God through His teachings and His compassion toward sinful, hurting, desperate people. "No man ever spoke like this!" (John 7:46), His enemies said of Him. "This man really was God's Son!" (Mark 15:39), the Roman centurion who led the crucifiers said of Him.

Indeed, Jesus gave to the world the eternal revelation of who God is and what He longs to become to those who will place their trust in Him.

Conclusion

What can you say about Him today? You can observe His glory, not with the natural eye, but with the eyes of your soul. You can know what God is like through a personal encounter with His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. You can experience the wonder that Joseph experienced when the angel revealed to him that his beloved Mary would give birth to the Son of God, who would be the Word made flesh.

When All You've Got Is A "Maybe"

1 Samuel 14:6-14:7 In looking at the passage in 1 Samuel, Jonathan seemed to be in a situation of uncertainty. The future, the absolute direction he needed for the present time just was not clear. All he could say in v.6 was "It may be..." He couldn’t be sure one way or the other. He seemed to, and probably did, feel that it was the right thing to do, but there is uncertainty revealed in his words. There seemed to be some doubt.

Doubt is the opposite of faith. In Ephesians 6, the apostle Paul talks about the "armor of God." In that discussion, he speaks of "taking the shield of faith, with a hitch we can quench the fiery darts of the enemy." If doubt is the opposite of faith, then it is faith that is needed to dispel the darts of doubt that the enemy tries to hit us with. There are times when we are just "hit" with doubt, and we need a shield of faith to quench Satan’s attempts to unravel our faith.

But I also believe that there are times when we have uncertainties and doubts, if you will, when the enemy is not majorly involved. There are times when we are just unsure and unclear on the right step to take, and the right move to make. Sometimes, all we have is a sense, a feeling, and something abstract. We have nothing concrete and sure. Most of the time, in every area of life, we like guarantees. We like the sure thing. 

But the "sure thing" doesn’t require any faith. In Hebrews 11:6, faith is identified as a prerequisite for pleasing God. The truth is, most of us will face more "maybe’s" than we will certainties in our walk with God. There will be times when we have a sense of what’s right, what God’s will is, but we will still have doubts and uncertainties.

Ecclesiastes 11 talks about "not watching the wind and clouds." What does that mean? I believe it means: Don’t get caught up watching the natural circumstances. Don’t get distracted by waiting for natural things to align themselves. Listen: If all we do is wait on the right time, on the right conditions, on the right people, or the right atmosphere, then all we will ever do is sit around talking about "how bad we need things to line up" so we can get things done!

The metaphor used in Ecclesiastes 11, relates this truth to sowing and reaping. "He who regards the wind will never sow, and he that observes the clouds will never reap." Whether sowing or reaping, you can’t sit around waiting on "perfect" conditions before you take action. Don’t wait on the wind, and don’t focus on the clouds. And if we wait to do anything for God, until we are absolutely sure that it’s the right thing, then we will only sit around and miss miracles!

Sometimes you have to move out on a "maybe." Now I’m not talking about senseless action, and trusting God to empower our every whim. But I do believe that there are times when you have to step out by faith, and that means that YOU WILL NOT BE SURE. To wait until you’re sure is not moving by faith. All you may have is a "maybe". But I believe the Lord would say, "If you will begin to move out on a maybe, I will transform your maybe into a MIRACLE!"

We are to walk by faith and not by sight. That means take a chance, move out even when you’re unsure. Move out on a "maybe". That means you can still have some doubts and reservations. You can still have questions, and not know the whole plan. But if you will move out on a "maybe," then God can do an awesome work, just because you stepped out in "maybe faith." 

So, what are you going to do when you’re not certain? Are you just going to sit back and wait on the natural circumstances to align themselves? Are you going to wait for conditions that are perfect to launch the ministry expansion God put on your heart? 

I want to try and help you in this area. I really believe what I’m about to tell you, so please hear me. Jesus said, "I am he that opens, and no man shuts; and shuts, and no man opens." I believe that God can open and shut doors that we, nor anyone else, can do anything about. *HOWEVER, I also believe that there are doors that God unlocks, but leaves closed, seeing if we have the faith to try the doorknob! I believe we have often missed God’s movement and direction, because we wanted to see the entire panoramic view. But God may just be wanting us to "push on the door" a little bit!

I believe that God will draw you to an unlocked door that is closed, and then give you a "maybe" condition, and see what your faith will cause you to do! Some people are worried about making a mistake. And it is a possibility. But I have come to know that you cannot make a mess so big that God cannot turn it around. You can’t make a mistake so big, that God cannot erase it. If you give yourself permission to fail or falter, you give yourself permission to try. And sometimes, that’s all God wants. He just wants you to try!

Now, you may think that we are only to move out on a surety. But do you realize how many natural decisions we make, based on a "maybe"? What about marriage? What about fishing? What about these deer hunters that get up a 3:00 A.M. while it’s still dark, put on camouflage, go to the woods, get in a tree stand and sit for EIGHT HOURS? They are doing all of that based on a "MAYBE!" *And if people will do natural, menial things based on a "maybe," could it be possible that God wants us to incorporate that kind of faith into the realm of Spiritual matters?

A man brought his demon possessed son to Jesus, to get him to cast the devils out. Jesus said, "If you can believe, all things are possible." But the man replied: "I believe. But help my unbelief." Now, that sounds like "Schizophrenic Faith." First he believes, then he doesn’t believe. But I believe that he was saying: "All I have hope in is a ’MAYBE!’ I know you can do it, but I’m not sure what you’re going to do." But Jesus moved on his behalf, and turned his "maybe" into a MIRACLE!

And his armor bearer coming to a place where they were facing a garrison of the Philistines. Some believe this to be up to 250 armed soldiers. So it was 2 against 250. What were they to do? Jonathan says, "Let us go over unto them, for IT MAY BE that the Lord will work for us." Now listen: An armor bearer didn’t have his own weaponry and armor. He only bore that of his master. So there was only one sword among them, and they want to "attack!" 

And the armor bearer, in v. 7, proves that he’s just as "crazy" as Jonathan, because he says, "I’m with you. Do what’s in your heart!" Oh Lord, give us a church full of people like that. People who will move out on a maybe, and others who will say, "We’re with you!" Let me try to bring this to an application for us.

Look at what these men were missing. They were at a place of insufficiency. They had insufficient personnel, insufficient weaponry or equipment, and insufficient plans. They weren’t equipped, or able in the natural to do it. But they also had something else: THEY HAD "MAYBE FAITH." They didn’t have assurance, but they had faith in a "maybe"! And God intervened on their behalf, and wrought a wonderful victory!

So listen in closing: I don’t want to excuse my inactivity any longer, nor the church’s inactivity, by giving lame excuses that are not full of faith, but full of doubtful reasoning. I don’t plan on my last words being "It’s just not time yet." I think it’s time that we analyze our faith, and begin to step out on a "MAYBE", and trust God to turn that "maybe" into a miracle! 

When all you’ve got is a "maybe," MAYBE God is wanting you to move on out, test the doorknob, push on the door, and step out in faith. And what is faith? What is it really?

Faith is what moves you, motivates you, and ACTIVATES you, WHEN ALL YOU’VE GOT IS A "MAYBE". 

Faith in the Midst of the Storm

Mark 4:35-41 35 That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, "Let us go over to the other side." 36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. 37 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?" 39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. 40 He said to his disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?" 41 They were terrified and asked each other, "Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!"

Jesus had just finished a long hard day of teaching and helping people. He was probably extremely exhausted. By piecing together the accounts from Matt, Mark, & Luke, we can get a picture of what kind of day this had been for Jesus. Mt. 12 tells us the Jesus healed a demon-possessed man who was blind & dumb (he couldn’t talk). After Jesus got through with him, he could talk! What a miracle! However, the Pharisees were not too pleased with this, because the people were starting to talk about Him being the Messiah, the King that Israel had been waiting for. Some of them resorted to slander and said that Jesus was casting out demons by Satan’s power. After dealing with what appears to be a lengthy confrontation with the Pharisees, Jesus went down by the lake to teach (maybe we should have church at the lake one of these days). He tells at least 8 parables and teaches the people all they can take for one day. At last, He is exhausted and tells the disciples, “Let’s go to the other side of the lake.”

Now, Peter, Andrew, James, John are manning the sail or the oars or whatever was appropriate, while Jesus was getting some much needed sleep in the stern of the boat. The fact that Jesus could sleep through the rain and wind tells us He must have been very tired. However, I believe that what really allowed Jesus to sleep through such a storm was His trust in His Father. He knew He was safe, because He was in His Father’s hands. That leads us to the main idea of the sermon today.

Prop: We can survive any storm that comes our way when we learn to live as people of faith.
Interrogative: How can we live as the people of faith God wants us to be?
TS: We will discuss several marks of a person who learns to trust in the Lord.

1. People of Faith Follow the Lord’s Instructions (35-36) “Let us go over to the other side.”
Obedience is the most natural expression of faith. Being in agreement with the Lord and following through with the direction He gives us is faith in action. 
The disciples were willingly following Jesus and were more than willing to go along with whatever He said. Each of them had been touched by Jesus in some unique way to such an extent that they would follow Him anywhere and do whatever He asked of them. That seems like a pretty noble commitment, but what strikes me is the impact Jesus must have had on each of them that would make them want to drop everything else and follow Him.

For Peter, Andrew, James, and John to leave their nets to follow Him is the same as someone quitting their career to do what Jesus wants them to do. Would you be willing to do that? I don’t know if they had other income to fall back on, but I am fairly certain that they continued providing for their families in some way, or Jesus would have had something to say about it. At least Peter was married, because it mentions his mother-in-law. He may well have had children, and could have been shooing them away when Jesus said, “Let them come.” Regardless, this group of 12 men (fishermen, a tax collector, a zealot, and others) left their jobs and joined themselves to Jesus at His request. 

As they walked with Him and got to know Him better, they did not always understand what He was doing, but they did follow Him and do what He asked them to do.
That’s a pretty good place for us to start. When the Lord puts something on your heart, just do it! Don’t wait around to see if He will change His mind. He is waiting for your obedience. Also know that whatever He asks you to do, He will enable you to do it, and He will provide for you all the way.

2.  People of Faith Will Encounter Storms in Life (37) “A furious squall came up, and… the boat… was nearly swamped.”
-Have you ever felt nearly swamped by the troubles and pressures of life? All people will face the storms of life. No one is exempt – not even people of faith. Some people face horrendous storms of pain, grief, and heartache. However, I firmly believe that God wouldn’t allow you to go through what you’ve been through unless He knew that you would make it and be better for it. Certainly, we can bring our own storms on ourselves by our choices and behavior, but even the most righteous person in the world will encounter some terrible storms throughout life. 

We need to understand that some very difficult times may come upon us, but that does not mean that God is not with us. The very same disciples whom Jesus told He would never leave all suffered violent deaths as martyrs (except John, who was boiled in oil, but wouldn’t die, and apparently exiled or imprisoned on the Island of Patmos). Did Jesus abandon them when they faced death at the hands of executioners? No, He was with them every step of the way. We may never face such an end, but we can be sure that we will face storms of some kind as we live this life.

TS: But that’s okay, because we know where our help comes from.

3.  People of Faith Know Whom to Call on for Help (38-39) 
The disciples were afraid and did not trust God with their safety, but at least they knew who to call upon for help.
Who do you call on when you need help? To whom do you turn when you need a miracle? People will seek help, comfort, or escape in all kinds of ways. Some decide they will distract themselves from the effects of the storm by pursuing pleasure (sexual encounters, adrenaline thrills, buying lots of comforts, overindulgence, etc). Others try to numb themselves to the storm through drugs or alcohol. They seek to hide from the storm until it passes- if it ever does. Unfortunately, they often end up with a worse storm on their hands as their lives fall apart. 

Whatever people try to do on their own to make it through the storm will not get them very far. There is only One who can calm a storm. There is only One whom even the wind and the waves obey. Unless they call on Him to help them and save them from destruction, they are not going to make it. Oh, they might weather a few storms, but they are not going to make it to the end. What’s at the end? Life or death.  Jesus or eternal punishment. Only those who call on Jesus in this life will make it to the next. This is why we must call on the Master, trusting that He will help us, not only in our crisis, but with our whole life.

A movie & soundtrack came out sometime in the ‘80’s. Some of the words to the song were “Who ya’ gonna call?” 
Well, who are you gonna call when you need help?

Psalm 121:1-8 where does my help come from? 2 My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. 3 He will not let your foot slip-- he who watches over you will not slumber; 4 indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The LORD watches over you-- the LORD is your shade at your right hand; 6 the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. 7 The LORD will keep you from all harm-- he will watch over your life; 8 the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.”
-Who ya’ gonna call? People of faith call on the Lord!

4. People of Faith Learn to Overcome Fear (40-41) "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?" 
Trust is the greatest antidote for fear. How do we get trust? How can we learn to trust Jesus with our lives? 
Well, at the risk of sounding too simplistic, let me say that the Bible gives us every reason to trust God with our lives. He has a 100% fail proof system of coming through for those who call on Him in faith. Read in the OT. Read it in the New. God has a way of always coming through. Rom. 10:17 says that “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” The Bible is the historical testament of the faithfulness of God. What is one of the greatest conclusions from the Bible? GOD CAN BE TRUSTED!
We may face what seem to be valid fears – a terminal illness, financial shortfalls, family troubles, and so on. However, we must learn to overcome the paralyzing fear, worry, and confusion these things bring, and trust the only One who can do anything about them. 

TS: When we begin to understand that God is totally trustworthy, then this next principle becomes a reality in our lives.

5. People of Faith Have Peace in the Midst of the Storm (38)
All it took was a word from the Master and the storm died down. Jesus has all authority and power, not only over the elements of the earth, but over the problems in your life. He can handle it! He can be trusted to bring the calm assurance of His presence to your heart and mind. 

He may not calm every storm you face, but sometimes the storm inside us needs to be calmed more than the storms of life we face. Trust produces tranquility. Faith results in peace. When we are able to place our fears in the Master’s hands, we will not need to wake Jesus up and say, “Lord, don’t You care that we are perishing?” We will be able to trust that nothing can harm us that doesn’t first go through Him. If it got through Him, then He must be sending it on to us, because He knows we can handle it as we continue to trust in Him.

The greatest reason to trust in the midst of the storm is that Jesus is in the boat with us. The greatest reason to fear would be because we have gone sailing without Him. Which story is yours?

Conclusion: As we close, do you have the Lord in your boat? Is Jesus in your life? If not, you can ask Him and He will always be with you. If you have never asked Jesus to be Your Lord and Savior, the leader of your life, I hope you will do so today. 

Maybe you have asked Jesus into your life and you are a believer, but you seem to have trouble letting Jesus handle the storms you face. You try to row yourself out of trouble, or bail the water out of the boat all by yourself. You need to invite the Master to ride in the boat with you as you sail through the good water and the bad. Maybe you tend to only call on Him when you are in trouble. People of faith follow the Lord’s instructions and consistently do what He asks.

People of faith will face storms in life, but they know they can always call on the Lord to help them. People of faith can overcome fear with trust, and as a result, they will know the peace of God in their lives.
If you need to pray and talk to the Lord about anything from the sermon today, I urge you to take the time to do so. If you have questions you need answers to and would like to speak with me, I am available for that anytime. If you need someone to pray with you, please come and ask. There’s a song that we always sing “He Knows My Name.” The last line of that chorus says, “He hears me when I call.” God knows all about your storm and will hear you if you call on Him with whatever level of faith you have.

7 Steps from Storm to Victory

We all hit points a storm (Confusion in Life) in our Christian life—times when we don’t seem to be growing like we wish or when we are struggling to gain energy in spiritual growth and storm (challenges) are surrounding you.  Are you there? Do you want to get out from that level up to another victorious level?

1“SPIRITUAL VICTORY”

1. REJOICE EVERMORE. (Meshach, Abednego … in fire)

It trains our thinking toward noticing the blessings and thanking God for His goodness. Attitude (Character/manner) is a choice!

1 Thessalonians 5:16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not despise prophecies. 21 Test all things; hold fast what is good. 22 Abstain from every form of evil.

2.GIVE THANKS.

At any given time, all of us could voice legitimate irritations or share ongoing trials. But in those same moments, we could also voice thanks. Like rejoicing, thanksgiving is a choice. All of us have so much to be thankful for. The practice of offering God thanks helps us to be filled with MANNER.

3.DON’T QUENCH THE SPIRIT.

The Holy Spirit prompts us to serve and warns us against sin. He will lead us in paths of truth and guide our thinking and our decisions if we will listen. Be sensitive to His will and obedient to His voice today.

4. ABSTAIN FROM ALL EVIL.

1 Thessalonians 5:22 ‘’

“2.VICTORY RIGHT FROM THE STORM”

5. PRAY CONSTANTLY.

Prayer should be more than an activity; make it a habit.

6. RECOGNIZE THE PRESENCE OF JESUS

Do you know that Jesus is a gentleman every time we don’t recognize His present he remains asleep.

Mark 4:37 37 And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. 38 But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”

39 Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!”And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. 40 But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?

7. DON’T LOOSE FOCUS;

Matthew 14:29 So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. 30 But when he saw that the wind was boisterous,[b] he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!”

31 And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”

When these actions are set in motion, they drive us toward the victory God wants us to experience on a daily basis.

"Getting Motivated for Ministry" 1 Timothy 1:18, 19 2 Timothy 2:3-7

It takes a great deal of effort in this day and age to "get motivated". We all tend to get so busy, become involved in so much, travel in so many directions that our bodies, our minds and our spirits are exhausted. 
Many of you may be reading this right now, saying to yourself, if Ivan isn’t very exciting and enthusiastic today, I just know I’m going to fall asleep and not read.

Like the little boy who was playing with a set of blocks, said "I’m building a church and we must be very quiet." His father, eager to encourage this unexpected reverence, asked "why are we to be quiet in church?"
The little boy responded, "Because the people are asleep."
I’m going to try to lay it out to you the way God has laid it out to me this morning. Hopefully, we won’t have a situation like the one where the Indian attended services one Sunday A.M... The sermon, being without real spiritual food had been very loud in spots. The Indian, being a good Christian was not impressed. When asked how he had liked the sermon he said, High Wind, Big Thunder, and No Rain!

Getting motivated for Ministry--the very essence of the word motivate means to incite to action--causing motion. As you hearken unto the word of the Lord today, my prayer is that you will be called to action and continue on in your journey of faith.

There is a problem in the Body of Christ today---spiritual malnutrition. How can we be suffering from malnutrition? We live in Uganda, the pearl of Africa, so many churches, weekly seminars.............
The problem comes when we rely on our nourishment to come from the experiences of others, rather than our own. We’re undernourished and overfed with the things of God. We have listened to all of the right stories and illustrations, gone through our Sunday dose of pastoral counsel and then we gallop off into the week only to run out of steam before we really get started.
Does this sound familiar? Have you ever experienced spiritual exhaustion?

Paul had a theory about those who went through these dry seasons in their walk with God. In 1 Timothy 1:18,19 he says to Timothy,
"This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare.(fight the good fight).....having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected, concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck.

You must always remember that you are in the midst of a fight. You’ve got an enemy that longs to take you out of the game and the only way he will win is if you take the fight less seriously than he does. Many Christians are going to fall short on strength and stamina simply because they don’t realize the seriousness of this fight between good and evil.

It’s possible to know God’s Word, cling to God’s promises and still come across times in your life where your ship of faith becomes shipwrecked. The shipwreck occurs when we reject the faith, turn our back upon God and start to rely on our own ability. The bible says trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean NOT to thine own understanding. In ALL your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your path.
Paul exhorts Timothy, I charge you, I challenge you to stay in the battle.....remember the prophecies concerning you ........sometimes you have to fall back upon the promises that God gives you through those closest to you but to remain truly strong, you need to experience those promises first hand. In my opinion, prophecy is nice, personally is better.
We have so many promises to stand on, but rather than standing on the promises, too many people in church are simply sitting on the premises.

Sitting on the premises and I won’t shout
Don’t want to take a chance and let the praises out
My lips are sealed , My eyes are closed not looking all about
Sitting on the premises of church
Sitting on the premises and I won’t clap
you won’t catch me in that ol’ charismatic trap
No, I put my hands together and I lay them on my lap
Sitting on the premises of church
Sitting on the premises we’re almost through
That’s good because there’s so much that I’ve got to do
Besides my foot has gone to sleep inside my shoe
Sitting on the premises of church

Maybe this morning you are sitting here with so many things on your mind, so many struggles, schedules, troubles and difficulties. I want you to "cast all of your burdens upon the Lord" right now. Give them to Him so that you can clear your mind up of all the distractions. It could be that you are one of those whose faith isn’t sailing swiftly anymore; maybe your faith-ship has become dry-docked. There is one that is able to put your boat back into the water, to not only make you sail but enable you to fly.
We are all in this race together and if we look into God’s Word, we will see one who is spurring us on, telling us to keep on walking, keep on believing...

As Paul said, I do not count myself as having apprehended, but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Phil 3:13,14

If you are one who is frightened to share your faith, if you feel like you are all alone, confused, nothing to say, or lacking the power that you once had--------through God’s promises today you are going to get motivated for ministry. Carman wrote a song that says it like this:
It doesn’t matter who you are, it doesn’t matter where you’ve been, 
it doesn’t matter what the scar, it doesn’t matter what the sin, 
it doesn’t matter how you fell somewhere along the way.
There’s healing for your life today.

Look with me at the three examples of ministry in 2 Timothy 2
1-endure hardship as a good soldier
2-compete and train as an athlete
3-toil as a farmer

Three meaningful examples that do not go into great detail nevertheless, they still drive the point home to all of us. It’s important to know that ministry is service, and a minister of the Gospel is primarily a servant of God’s word. 
(Read the caption at the end of 2 Timothy)

Endure hardship as a soldier...............to become a soldier, there is a rigorous period of time known as boot camp. Here each person learns how to climb, run, walk, jump, roll, leap and hide so that when the war begins, they will be ready. Paul says that no one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life. His main desire is to please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.
Let me paraphrase this . You are sitting in boot camp this morning and the shepherd of the flock is going over exercises with you that you will need to draw upon when you wage the good warfare. You were asked to move around, shake hands, clap a little bit, lift you hands in praise and shout out unto God with a voice of triumph. 
Now just as a soldier may say to his Sergeant, under his breath, I don’t know why we have to run this crazy obstacle course, you may have already said, 
I don’t know why he always asks us to clap or raise our hands.
I just don’t want to shout today and I really don’t feel like singing.

God, our Sergeant, is desiring us to worship Him today. He leads us in these spiritual exercises because there is going to come a time when you have to shout out your faith to be heard over the yelling of your adversary. You’re going to need to clap your hands to summon those angels when Satan unleashes his demonic forces against you. You must already be familiar with and know how to worship when the warfare begins.
The soldier goes through all of this because he only wants to please the one who enlisted him. He doesn’t know all of the reasons, nor does he need to know them, he must simply endure. He must endure hardships, watching others get hurt in the battle, repairing the wounds of those closest to him after they’ve been ambushed. He must tolerate it, he must develop sustaining power and he must always submit to the one in charge. 

Compete as an athlete....athletes are a rare breed. They are focused on winning, achieving their best, overtaking their opponent. They go through high-intensity training, working their bodies, making the body submit to the task at hand. Have you ever noticed how much better you feel when you exercise? Physical exhaustion comes from a body that is not in good enough condition for the task at hand. Training and conditioning as an athlete does are done in different styles and techniques depending upon the type of competition they are training for. 
Runners-run weight lifters-lift weights

Spiritual exhaustion comes from a spirit that has not been properly trained and conditioned; It is not fully developed due to lack of exercise. When the competition gets more intense, the spirit fails under the pressure.
Galatians 5:7......"you were running a good race--who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth."
That kind of persuasion does not come from the One who called you.

This race for the prize that God has set before us is going to be very competitive and long-lasting. But God’s word says to us to not lose heart...though the outward body is wasting away---
Though the teeth, the hair and the stomach are all falling out---inwardly we are being renewed day by day. Praise God!
Old Age looks back-----Youth looks ahead--------middle age looks tired.

A boy stopped before a large bronze plaque in the foyer of the church and looked up at the minister and asked----"what are all those names up there?" "Those sonny, are the names of people who died in the service."
"Which one asked the little boy, the morning or the evening service?"

If you want to get physically stronger, you work the muscles of the body.
If you want to get spiritually stronger, you work the muscles of the spirit.
Endurance in training so that we can continue to run this race comes from repetitions. Doing the same things over and over.
Reading the word, praying without ceasing, rejoice evermore, in everything give thanks. The bible says this is the will of God.

The athlete knows what lies ahead but he also knows the size of the trophy that is going to the winner of the event. No one who competes ever gets the trophy unless they play by the rules. We fix our eyes upon Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. He keeps our faith from being shipwrecked and keeps us on the path that leads to fullness of joy. Let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due season, we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Press on towards the prize.

The hardworking farmer....here is the picture of intense labor, day after day working the same piece of land, planting and watering and planting and watering. The farmer is at work at the crack of dawn and continues until the sun sets many hours later. All of his labor goes forth for a season and then there is a period of waiting before he sees the harvest. However, he’s done this before; it’s been a consistent cycle-he knows that if he plants and if he waters, he is going to produce a crop. He knows that he must work the ground, preparing it properly for taking in the seed. Then he waits patiently because he knows the end result.

What does God say to us through these three examples of ministry? Simply this:
He is the Commanding officer and you are the private. There is a way that you must prepare and a fitness level that you must achieve if you are going to be able to endure hardships. The church must become important to you and you must look at each week with new enthusiasm and excitement--anticipating the next set of instructions from the Commanding Officer through the pastor. 
You’re going to have to train. You’re going to read God’s word over and over. You’re going to have to wear a path out in the grass running to and from the house of God. Prayer must be consistent and constant. Praying in the spirit over and over will keep your spirit in tune with what is going on about you.
We’ve got to till the ground, break up the hard places and get them ready to receive the seeds that we are wanting to plant. We’ve got to water those seeds and we must remain patient as we wait upon the Lord for the Harvest.

God wants us to minister to the needs of this community and this country. He wants to inspire others through the testimony of what he has done for you. He wants us to stir up the love and good works in the house of God---exhorting one another---esteeming each other above ourselves.

The ministry today is a war zone. Many are falling by the wayside because they were not prepared to fight the good fight of faith. Today He is inciting you to action. If you endure, if you train hard and if you are patient and hardworking, you are going to be blessed and eventually you will receive the trophy you are wanting-----eternal life in heaven with God the Father Almighty. 

Seven Things Your Faith Can Do (If You Let It)

Mathew 17:14-17:20. In the scripture read, the disciples were perplexed as to why they could not rebuke the devil and thus heal and restore the boy. Jesus answer was simple—they had a lack of faith.
Webster defines faith as “unquestioning belief, complete trust or confidence, loyalty.” Hebrews 11:1 defines faith “The substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” It is what makes the abstract become the physically tangible. Faith is what, in a court of law will prove the case, since it is the evidence demanded for a verdict of things that we cannot see.
There are many things that faith will accomplish in our lives, if we are willing to allow it to happen. This morning, I feel that God has led me to focus on seven things that faith can do.

YOUR FAITH CAN HELP SAVE YOU

“FOR BY GRACE ARE YE SAVED THROUGH FAITH…”EPHESIANS 2:8
We are not saved by faith. We are saved by GRACE (God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense). But faith is the funnel through which the grace reaches us.
Luke gives an account of a time when Jesus was eating supper at a Pharisee’s house. During the course of the meal, a known sinner woman came in and began weeping on Jesus feet, anointing his feet with oil, and drying His feet with her hair. She was so broken that she could not stop weeping, she knew that her condition was so hopeless outside of Jesus. The Pharisee began doubting Jesus, but Jesus responded to the woman saying, “Thy sins are forgiven. Thy faith has saved thee. Go in peace.”

FAITH WILL DEFEND YOU

TAKING UP THE SHIELD OF FAITH, WHEREWITH YE SHALL BE ABLE TO QUENCH ALL THE FIERY DARTS OF THE WICKED ONE.”EPHESIANS 6:16

The Roman armor included defensive pieces such as a helmet and a breastplate, but the first defensive equipment that a Roman soldier had was his trusty shield. Many a mace, club, arrow or sword were deflected by the shield. The shield didn’t do the soldier any good if he did not pick it up, though. If not for the shield, the survival of the soldier would have been much more difficult.
Christians are constantly under attack. The devil walks about seek whom he may devour – and that includes you and me! Sometimes an attack will come from the most unexpected places. But we can rely on this faith to be our constant defender. But if we don’t use it, it will do us no good whatsoever. So don’t leave home without it.

FAITH WILL HELP PROVIDING FOR YOU

“AND THEY THAT KNOW THY NAME WILL PUT THEIR TRUST IN THEE; FOR THOU, LORD HAST NOT FORSAKEN THEM THAT SEEK THEE.” PSALMS 9:10
This verse presents to us an if-then proposition, and example of cause and effect. It is sort of like the children’s book says, “If you give a mouse a cookie, then he will want a glass of milk” and so on. If we grow close to God and put our trust and faith in him, then He will not forsake us.
“Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: 
And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you…” Matthew 6:28-30

FAITH WILL CEMENT YOU

“BELIEVE IN THE LORD YOUR GOD, SO SHALL YE BE ESTABLISHED…” 2 CHRONICLES 20:20
It is only by faith in God that we can obtain a firm foundation. Any other source is on shaky ground and is not reliable. Just like the hymn that we sing: “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness; I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus name. On Christ the solid rock I stand; All other ground is sinking sand, All other ground is sinking sand.”
What better object for our faith, trust, belief and reliance than the One who is our creator and sustainer?

FAITH WILL ADD PUNCH TO YOUR PRAYER

“THIS IS THE CONFIDENCE THAT WE HAVE IN HIM, THAT , IF WE ASK ANYTHING ACCORDING TO HIS WILL, HE HEARETH US.” 1 JOHN 5:14
Possibly the greatest failure that exists within the church today is our lack of faith in our prayer life. Time and time again God continues to prove His ability to provide and answer our prayers, when we ask according to His will. Yet we, like the Israelite children, continue on in our ignorant ways, running around in circles.
Moses prayed and parted the sea, and God heard; Joshua prayed for the sun to stand still, and God answered; David prayed and dropped a 9 foot 9 inch giant to his knees, empowered by a stronger hand.
“Faith lives in folded hands, mountains move when you take a stand, It’s never been a case of sleight of hand, it the power of a praying man!”

FAITH WILL HEAL YOUR FAMILY

“THE HOUSE OF THE WICKED SHALL BE OVERTHROWN: BUT THE TABERNACLE OF THE UPRIGHT SHALL FLOURISH.” PROVERBS 14:11
No other physical institution is as important to the church today is the institution of the home. We as Christians should have the pinnacle example for those in the world to follow, but it is not so.
When the family fails, it is not God’s fault. All our problems begin when we turn our eyes off God. We will seek answers in the arms of another lover instead of praying with our mate. We will try to answer the problems of marriage through our own understanding instead of following God’s principles of commitment and fidelity that are found in His Word.
When will the family be saved? When the children of God get the guts to say that it is MY sin, MY neglect, MY avoidance of issues and MY refusal to live according to God’s Word. Let’s quit pointing the finger as someone else—it is our own fault, so let us act like it.

FAITH WILL MOVE MOUNTAINS AND KILL GIANTS

“IF YE HAD FAITH AS A GRAIN OF MUSTARD SEED, YE SHALL SAY TO THIS MOUNTAIN, REMOVE HENCE TO YONDER PLACE AND IT SHALL REMOVE, AND NOTHING SHALL BE IMPOSSIBLE TO YOU.” MATTHEW 17:20
It doesn’t take a lot of faith to make us powerful through God’s power. David had so much faith in God that he took five stones to defeat the giant Goliath. But he only had one stone for Goliath, and one stone for each of his sons, Ishbi-benob, Saph, Goliath Jr, and the one with 12 fingers and toes(2 Samuel 21:22).

KNOW AND BELIEVE THE LOVE OF GOD

“… And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (Eph 3:17-19).

Another proof that Jesus Christ is not just a man, but also God. His love is beyond our ordinary human comprehension. Paul had to pray in order that other Christians would “have power” just to know the “love of Christ” – the love “that surpasses knowledge”! Could a mere man capable of exercising that kind of love?

But the questions we are more concern to answer this time are: Do we really know the love of God? Do we believe it? Do we experience its joy and excitement?

We hear such teachings as “God is love”; “His love is unconditional”; “God hates sins, but loves the sinners”; “He loves everyone”; “He loves even those who reject Him, even those who choose to be in hell,” etc. Some believe that because God is love, He will not allow anyone to suffer for eternity in hell.

Are all those perceptions of God’s love being taught by God’s Word? Or, are we trying to color some of them with our egoistical or human-centered mind set? 

Before, I thought God has an “equal amount” of love for everyone – not only for the believers, but even for the unbelievers. The Bible, however, taught that love could be applied in different degrees. We read in Luke 7:47, “But he who has been forgiven little loves little." We can love little and we can also love much.

The Son of God said that our love for Him should be greater than our love for any member of our family. “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me” (Matt 10:37).

And in Mal. 1:2-3, God declared that He loved more Jacob than Esau. In fact, the passage says that “Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated…”

Let’s go on to examine the Bible and find out “how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ” -- “to know this love that surpasses knowledge.”

Who are the objects of this kind of love, aside from Jacob, Abraham, David, John, Paul, etc.?

We read in 2 Cor 9:7 that “God loves a cheerful giver.” Do you believe that God loves more a cheerful giver than a stingy one? 

In Ps. 37:28, we read: “For THE LORD LOVES THE JUST and will not forsake his faithful ones.” And in Ps. 146:8, “…the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down, the LORD LOVES THE RIGHTEOUS.” I hope you also believe that God loves more the just and the righteous than the unjust and the wicked.

Notice also Ps. 32:10, which says: “Many are the woes of the wicked, but the LORD’s unfailing love surrounds THE MAN WHO TRUSTS IN HIM.” Not all men trust in the Lord. But those who do are surely loved more by God. Do you believe it?

How about Ps 86:5? It says, “You are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in love TO ALL WHO CALL TO YOU.” Do you also believe that he who calls upon God receives an abounding love than the one who mocks Him?

Now, let us read Ps 103:11 & 17, “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for THOSE WHO FEAR HIM. . . But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD’s love is with THOSE WHO FEAR HIM, and his righteousness with their children’s children.” Indeed, God’s love is greater for those who fear Him than those who defy Him. 

In Deut 7:9-10, we find these words, “Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of THOSE WHO LOVE HIM AND KEEP HIS COMMANDS. But those who hate him he will repay to their face by destruction; he will not be slow to repay to their face those who hate him.”

Are those who love God and keep His commands enjoy His greater love than those who “do not have the love of God” in their hearts (John 5:42)?

Then in Ps 36:5-10, “Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the great deep O LORD, you preserve both man and beast. How priceless is your unfailing love! Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings. They feast on the abundance of your house; you give them drink from your river of delights. For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light. Continue your love to THOSE WHO KNOW YOU.”

Could we also say that those who know God intimately are loved more by God? For those who do not know Him “will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed” (2 Thess 1:8-10).

And in John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM shall not perish but have eternal life.” Do you also believe that God has greater love for the believers – those who belong to Him or “His own who were in the world” (John 13:1) – than for the unbelievers?

Know and treasure how the Word defines God’s love for the believers:

-- SO LOVED (John 3:16; 1 John 4:11).
-- LOVE THAT ENDURES FOREVER (1 Chron. 16:34).
-- ABOUNDING LOVE (Ps. 86:5).
-- WONDERFUL LOVE (Ps. 31:21).
-- GREAT LOVE, REACHING TO THE HEAVENS (Ps. 57:10).
-- LOVE THAT IS BETTER THAN LIFE (Ps. 63:3).
-- GREAT LOVE (Ps. 86:13).
-- HOW GREAT IS THE LOVE THE FATHER LAVISHED ON US (1 John 3:1).
-- FOR AS HIGH AS THE HEAVENS ARE ABOVE THE EARTH, SO GREAT IS HIS LOVE (Ps. 103:11).
-- LOVE THAT STANDS FIRM FOREVER (Ps 89:2).
-- UNFAILING LOVE (Ps 107:21).
-- HOW PRICELESS IS HIS UNFAILING LOVE! (Ps 36:7).
-- LOVE THAT IS FROM EVERLASTING TO EVERLASTING (Ps. 103:17).

Perhaps, we can love from now on and forevermore. But only God can love us “from everlasting to everlasting” and that kind of love is directed to the true believers, to those who fear God – whom He inspired to have that kind of fear (Jer. 32:40). Even before the material universe – from everlasting – those who are “His own” are already loved by the Everlasting God!

But the real reason why the love of Christ would defy even our human comprehension is when He described His love in John 15:9 -- "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you…”!!!

How did the Father love the Son?

We will just go to two Scriptures. In John 3:35, we read: “The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands.” Also in John 5:20: “For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does…”

God the Father loves His Son by placing everything in His hands and by showing the Son all the Father does. (Please read Part 2 to see many wonderful favors He intended to do for the believers – the object of His great love.)

How God the Father loved the Son is the same how He loved the believers. Is there any power that will severe Christ from the love of the Father? In the same way, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” (Rom. 8:35.)

With such kind of love lavished on us, surely, nothing will be able to separate us from the great love of God (Rom. 8:38-39).

PRAYER: Our Loving Heavenly Father, we praise and thank You for the great love You lavished on us. Reveal more to us Your Magnificence and the wonder of Your love. Help us to delight more and more in Your Presence as we savor the sweet love that is in Your Son. Bless us with more opportunities to exalt You and draw others to the sufficiency and glorious joy of Your love. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

THE SECRET OF THE FATHER

“The secret of the Father is with them that fear Him and to them he will show his salvation.” 

It seems to me everything in life is coded. This perhaps is the reason the commonest thing with people is questions. Right from the time a child is born, he seems to have come with a probing mind. The new born would try to understand everything around him. So, as he grows up, he begins to ask questions.

One thing about questions is this: Every question has an answer but not everyone has the answer to every question. When you ask a question from the person that does not know the answer to it, there is little or nothing he can do to help you. Ask a question from the right person and then you have the answer to the mystery.

Every manufacturer always reserves a part of their technological knowledge to themselves alone so that they remain the only final authority as far as that product is concerned. And the best person to explain a product to you is the manufacturer.
God, who is also the designer and manufacturer of every product on earth, including you and I, has the final answer about all.

Life is a mystery, and only people that have the secrets enjoy it. The Father has all the secrets about life and can reveal it to whosoever asks of Him.

Mark 4:11
And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables: 

There are mysteries about the kingdom; Things too deep for the ordinary mind to discover or comprehend. There are secrets of success in the heart of the Father waiting to be revealed to those that have found favor in his sight.

Whatever problem one is facing in life has a solution. The solution may not be known by man, but God knows the solution. HIV/AIDS may not have solution yet with men but ever before the problem was discovered, God has the solution to it. There is yet no problem that has no solution with God. Whatever your problem might be, take it to God in prayers; He has the solution to it.

When you gain favor with the Father, there is no secret that can be revealed that He will not reveal to you. Just as the scripture says, ‘it is given unto you to know the secrets of the kingdom’. 

You want to know the success of true prosperity, connect to the Father’s heart. You want to know the secrets of supernatural enablement (anointing), it is in knowing the mind of the Father. When you have the heart of the Father, you have everything about the Father.

In life, only in a father-Son relationship can there be true revelation of the secrets of success. Hardly can you find someone prospering in life that will be willing to share with others the complete package of his success. Only God can give the total secret of success to His children.

If you are a child of God, it is your right to be successful. If you are not being successful, it is simply that your ears are far from the Father’s heart. Only those who lean on the Lord’s chest can pick deep revelation from Him.

On one occasion while Jesus was talking to His disciples and they were not getting the full message, Peter had to beckon on the disciple that was leaning on the Lord’s chest to get out the secret.

The Throne of Grace

All Christians struggle with two crucial areas that will make or break us in the Christian life: perseverance in times of trial; and, prayer. As you know, they are connected. A vital prayer life is essential to endure trials.

Failure to endure trials is the mark of the seed sown on rocky soil. Jesus explained that this seed represents those who, “when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy; and they have no firm root in themselves, but are only temporary; then, when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they fall away” (Mark 4:17). Endurance is one mark of genuine saving faith (Heb. 3:6).

Prayer is our supply line to God in the battle. His abundant, sustaining grace flows to us through prayer. Because prayer is so vital, the enemy tries to sever that supply line. When we suffer, the enemy often whispers, “God doesn’t care about you and He isn’t answering. Why waste your time with these worthless prayers?” It’s easy to get discouraged and quit praying, which cuts us off from the very help that we need!

Our text is one of the most encouraging passages in the Bible when it comes to perseverance and prayer. The first readers of this epistle were tempted to abandon their Christian faith and return to Judaism because of persecution. The author has just given an extended exhortation, using the bad example of Israel in the wilderness. They failed to enter God’s rest (a picture of salvation) because of unbelief and disobedience. Therefore, we must be diligent to enter that rest. If we will respond in faith and obedience to God’s Word, it will expose our sin and show us His ways. It is foolish to think that we can hide our sin from God, because everything is naked and laid bare in His sight (4:12-13).

Rather than trying to hide because of our sin, the author shows how we should draw near to Jesus, our sympathetic high priest, who gives us access to God’s throne. For those who are in Christ, that throne is not a place of fear but, rather, a throne of grace!

Since Jesus is our great yet sympathetic high priest, we must persevere and we must pray.

There are two commands here: Hold fast our confession (persevere; 4:14); and, Draw near with confidence (pray; 4:16). They are both based on the truth about who Jesus is: Since Jesus is our great high priest, the Son of God, who has passed through the heavens, we must hold fast our confession. And, since Jesus is a high priest who sympathizes with our weaknesses, we should draw near to the throne of grace for help in our times of need. Thus His transcendence to the right hand of God’s throne and His humanity are both essential elements of His unique effectiveness as our high priest. If we want to persevere through trials and receive His help through prayer, we must understand who He is.

1. Since Jesus is our great high priest who has passed through the heavens, we must persevere (4:14).

The author tells us who Jesus is and how we should respond.

A. JESUS IS OUR GREAT HIGH PRIEST WHO HAS PASSED THROUGH THE HEAVENS.

We see Jesus’ greatness in two ways here:

1). JESUS IS GREAT IN HIS OFFICE AS HIGH PRIEST AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD.

We have difficulty relating to the concept of a high priest, but to the Jews, it was an important office. Moses’ brother Aaron was the first high priest. He was the mediator between the people and God. He and his fellow priests offered the sacrifices on behalf of the people. They had to follow a detailed procedure spelled out by God. Any variance or innovation meant instant death, as Aaron’s two sons, Nadab and Abihu discovered when they offered “strange fire” on the altar (Lev. 10:1-3).

Once a year, on the Day of Atonement, the high priest alone would go into the Holy of Holies to make atonement for all the sins of the nation. If he entered there improperly or at any other time, he would die (Leviticus 16). He would sprinkle the blood on the mercy seat in the very presence of God. When he came out alive, the people heaved a sigh of relief, because it meant that God had accepted the sacrifice for their sins for another year.

Jesus is not just another high priest in the line of Aaron. Rather, He is our great high priest according to the order of Melchizedek (5:6). Rather than entering the Holy of Holies in the temple, He has passed through the heavens (in His ascension) into the very presence of God. The Jews thought of the sky as the first heaven. The stars are the second heaven. The presence of God is the third heaven (2 Cor. 12:2). Whether the author has this in mind, or is just using “heavens” in the plural because the Hebrew word is always plural, we cannot say for certain.

But his point is that Jesus, our great high priest, is unlike any merely human high priest. He has entered the very presence of God. The Father has said to Him, “Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for your feet” (Ps. 110:1). No earthly priest would dare to sit in the Holy of Holies! They always stood. But Jesus sits at the right hand of God’s throne because once for all He made atonement for our sins (Heb. 10:12). So Jesus is a great high priest, in a class by Himself, because of His office as a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek (which the author will explain more in the following chapters).

2). JESUS IS GREAT IN HIS PERSON AS GOD IN HUMAN FLESH.

“Jesus” is His human name, calling attention to the full humanity of the Savior (see 2:17). If He had not been fully human, He could not have atoned for our sins. But He is also “the Son of God,” which refers to His deity (John 5:18). As a certain Bishop said, “A Savior not quite God is a bridge broken at the farther end.” Our author has shown in chapter 1 that Jesus is fully God. Thus Jesus is uniquely great in His office as high priest and He is uniquely great in His person as God in human flesh. Therefore…

B. WE MUST PERSEVERE.

The words, “hold fast our confession,” imply danger and effort on our part. Picture someone hanging on for dear life as their raft goes down the raging rapids in the Murchison falls dam. “Hold fast!” “Confession” implies not only our private belief in the essential doctrines of the faith (especially with regard to Jesus’ deity and humanity), but also our public declaration of this truth in the face of persecution. We make such a public profession of faith in baptism, but that profession is put to the test when persecution arises. Are we only fair-weather believers who deny the Lord when it becomes costly to believe, or will we stand firm even to death because we know whom we have believed?

While God must give special grace at such a time, we would not do well in persecution if we grumble and walk away from God when we face lesser trials. Paul says that we’re not only to persevere in trials, but to do so with great joy (Rom. 5:3)! So hold fast your confession of faith in Christ when He takes you through difficult trials. He is none other than your great high priest, God in human flesh, who now sits “at the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Heb. 1:3).

2. Since Jesus is our sympathetic and sinless high priest, we must pray in times of need (4:15-16).

A. JESUS IS OUR SYMPATHETIC HIGH PRIEST.

The author uses a double negative, “We do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses….” Probably he was anticipating an objection: “You’ve just said that Jesus is a great high priest who has passed through the heavens. How can someone beyond the heavens relate to me and my problems?” The author responds, “No, Jesus is not unsympathetic. He understands your deepest feelings.”

We all need someone to sympathize with our problems and weaknesses without condemning us. Sometimes that is enough to get us through, just to know that someone else understands what we’re going through. I read about a boy who noticed a sign, “Puppies for sale.” He asked, “How much do you want for the pups, mister?”

“Twenty-five dollars, son.” The boy’s face dropped. “Well, sir, could I see them anyway?”

The man whistled and the mother dog came around the corner, followed by four cute puppies, wagging their tails and yipping happily. Then lagging behind, another puppy came around the corner, dragging one hind leg.

“What’s the matter with that one, sir?” the boy asked.

“Well, son, that puppy is crippled. The vet took an X-ray and found that it doesn’t have a hip socket. It will never be right.”

The man was surprised when the boy said, “That’s the one I want. Could I pay you a little each week?”

The owner replied, “But, son, you don’t seem to understand. That pup will never be able to run or even walk right. He’s going to be a cripple forever. Why would you want a pup like that?”

The boy reached down and pulled up his pant leg, revealing a brace. “I don’t walk too good,either.” Looking down at the puppy, the boy continued, “That puppy is going to need a lot of love and understanding. It’s not easy being crippled!” The man said, “You can have the puppy for free. I know you’ll take good care of him.”

That is a limited illustration of our Savior’s sympathy for our condition. Since He became a man and suffered all that we experience, He sympathizes with our weaknesses. He demonstrated His compassion many times during His earthly ministry. But His humanity was not diminished in any way when He ascended into heaven. We have a completely sympathetic high priest at the right hand of God!

B. JESUS IS OUR SINLESS HIGH PRIEST.

He was “tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.” At first, we may wrongly think that being sinless would make Jesus unsympathetic and distant from us, since we all have sinned many times. Perhaps a fellow sinner could relate more to my failures. But that is not so.

[D]o not imagine that if the Lord Jesus had sinned he would have been any more tender toward you; for sin is always of a hardening nature. If the Christ of God could have sinned, he would have lost the perfection of his sympathetic nature. It needs perfectness of heart to lay self all aside, and to be touched with a feeling of the infirmities of others.

Others object that if Jesus never sinned, He must not have been tempted to the degree that we are tempted. But as many have pointed out, that is not so. The one who resists to the very end knows the power of temptation in a greater way than the one who yields to sin sooner.

When it says that Jesus was tempted in all things as we are, it doesn’t mean every conceivable temptation, which would be impossible. Nor was Jesus ever tempted by indwelling sin, as we are. In this, He was like Adam and Eve before the fall. Temptation had to come to Jesus from without, not from within.

But Jesus knew every type of temptation. He knew what it is like to be hungry, thirsty, and tired. He knew the horrible agony of physical torture, which He endured in His trial and crucifixion. He knew what it is like to be mocked, distrusted, maligned, and betrayed by friends. From the start of Jesus’ ministry to the very end, Satan leveled all of his evil power and strategies to try to get Jesus to sin. But he never succeeded. Jesus always obeyed the Father.

Verse 15 raises the question, “Was it possible for Jesus to have sinned?” We need to answer this carefully

 Scripture clearly affirms that Jesus never committed sin (Heb. 7:26; 1 Pet. 1:19; 2:22). It also affirms that His temptations were real, not just playacting. The Bible also affirms, “God cannot be tempted by evil” (James 1:13). Since Jesus was fully God, how then could He really be tempted, much less commit a sin? Here we plunge into the mystery of how one man can be both fully God and fully human, as Scripture plainly affirms of Jesus.

Since Jesus is one person with two natures, and since sin involves the whole person, in this sense, Jesus could not have sinned or He would have ceased to be God. But the question remains, “How then could Jesus’ temptations be real?” The answer seems to be that Jesus met every temptation to sin, not by His divine power, but by His human nature relying on the power of the Father and Holy Spirit. As Grudem explains, “The moral strength of his divine nature was there as a sort of ‘backstop’ that would have prevented him from sinning…, but he did not rely on the strength of his divine nature to make it easier for him to face temptations…”

As you know, Scripture sometimes affirms something of Jesus that could only be true of one of His natures, but not both (Matt. 24:36). Jesus’ divine nature could not be tempted or sin, but His human nature could. Don’t stumble over the fact that you cannot fully comprehend this. Rather, accept the testimony of Scripture: Jesus truly was tempted and He never sinned. These facts mean that He understands what we are going through and He is able to come to our aid when we are tempted (2:18).

Because Jesus is a sympathetic and sinless high priest…

C. WE SHOULD DRAW NEAR IN PRAYER.

“Draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” “Throne of grace” is an oxymoron. To the ancient world, a throne was a forbidding place of sovereign authority and judgment. If you approached a throne and the king did not hold out his scepter, you were history! You definitely would not draw near to the throne for sympathy, especially with a trivial problem. But the author calls it the throne of grace. He makes it clear that we are welcome at this throne. He answers four questions: (1) Why draw near? (2) When should we draw near? (3) How should we draw near? And, (4) What can we expect when we draw near?

1). WHY DRAW NEAR? WE SHOULD DRAW NEAR TO THE THRONE OF GRACE BECAUSE WE ARE WEAK AND WE HAVE THERE A SYMPATHETIC HIGH PRIEST.

We don’t come because we’ve got it pretty much together and we just need a little advice. We come because we are weak (4:15). Jesus didn’t say, “Without Me, you can get along pretty well most of the time. Call Me if you need Me.” He said, “Without Me, you can do nothing” (John 15:5). And when we come to the throne of grace, He doesn’t ridicule us or belittle us for our weaknesses. He welcomes us as a father welcomes his children to his side to protect them from some danger.

2). WHEN SHOULD WE DRAW NEAR? WE SHOULD DRAW NEAR TO THE THRONE OF GRACE WHENEVER WE NEED HELP.

We should come in a “time of need,” which is at all times! A main reason we do not pray is that we don’t realize how needy we are. We think we can handle things on our own. Just call in the Lord when things get really intense. But the fact is, we depend on Him for every breath we take and for every meal we eat, even if we’ve got a month’s supply of food in the freezer. Praying without ceasing (1 Thess. 5:17) is necessary because we are constantly in over our heads. Prayer is the acknowledgement that our need is not partial; it is total!

3). HOW SHOULD WE DRAW NEAR? WE SHOULD DRAW NEAR TO THE THRONE OF GRACE DIRECTLY, WITH CONFIDENCE IN OUR HIGH PRIEST.

The author does not say, “Draw near through your local priest.” He says, “Let us draw near.” Us means every believer.

Thankfully, we do not have to go through any human priest to draw near to the very throne of God. We could not dare come in our own merit or righteousness. But we can come with confidence because the blood of Jesus, our high priest, has gained us access (Eph. 3:12). Our confidence is not in how good we’ve been or in how well we can pray. Spurgeon pointed out that God will overlook our shortcomings and poor prayers just as a loving parent will overlook the mistakes in the sentences of his toddler. Even when we have sinned badly, if we draw near to confess our sins, He will cleanse our wounds and begin the healing process, just as a parent would carefully clean and bandage the wounds of his child. Finally,

4). WHAT CAN WE EXPECT WHEN WE DRAW NEAR? WE WILL RECEIVE MERCY AND FIND GRACE TO HELP IN OUR TIME OF NEED.

What a wonderful promise! We won’t be scolded for having a need. We won’t be told that our need is too trivial for such an important high priest to be troubled with. We will receive mercy and find grace to help. “Help” is a technical nautical term that is used elsewhere only in Acts 27:17 to describe the cables that the sailors wrapped around the hull of Paul’s ship during the storm so that it would not break apart. We encountered the verb in Hebrews 2:18, where it has the nuance of running to the aid of someone crying for help. When your life seems to be coming apart at the seams because of the storm, cry out to our sympathetic high priest at the throne of grace. You will receive mercy and find grace to help.

What is the difference between mercy and grace? They somewhat overlap, but mercy has special reference to God’s tenderness toward us because of the misery caused by our sins, whereas grace refers to His undeserved favor in freely forgiving our sins, which actually deserve His judgment. Together, both words reflect the good news that “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them” (2 Cor. 5:18). All that trust in Christ and His shed blood as the payment for their sins have free access at the throne of grace to God’s boundless mercy and undeserved favor!

Conclusion

I like John Piper’s analogy that prayer is our walkie-talkie to get the supplies we need in the spiritual war that we are engaged in. It’s not an intercom to call the maid to bring extra beverages to the den. In other words, prayer isn’t to make us comfortable and cozy, oblivious to the advancement of God’s kingdom purposes. Prayer is our walkie-talkie to bring in the needed supplies as we seek first His kingdom and righteousness. If you’re under fire in the battle, persevere—hold fast your confession, because Jesus is our great high priest. If you have needs, pray—draw near to the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace to help in the battle.

“WHAT IS FAITH?”

Hebrews 11:1- 4 6-7-08.
Today I want to talk for a little while about “faith”. Everybody has some type of faith, people have faith in many different things, when we get into our car we have faith that it will crank and get us to our destination, we have faith that our doctor knows what he or she is doing; everybody has this mindset of faith of some kind or another. No one can live a single day without exercising faith. 

Faith is also expressed in the spiritual realm. Each of us regardless of our backgrounds expresses faith. The difference between the faiths we exercise in our daily routine and our religious faith is the object of that faith. 
Everyone places his or her faith in something or someone. The Moslem puts his faith in the Koran and in Mohammed. The humanist put his faith in himself, a religious person in his own good works. None of these can save, because in each case the object of faith is wrong.
Our faith is only as good as the object in which we place our faith. 
We’re told in the Bible that we are to personally put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ. 

Acts 4:12 ‘Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.’
Hebrews 11:1-4 
‘Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. 
By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.’

I. WHAT IS FAITH ? 
To understand what faith is we must get past certain misconceptions about faith.
There are people that think that as long as they are sincere about what they believe then that faith will be good enough. 
But Paul says in 2 Timothy 1:12 ‘-- for I know whom *I have believed- so saving faith is not in an object or some self concocted idea, but it’s in Jesus Christ.’
If your beliefs are not founded on the right person it don’t matter what else you believe.

Hebrews tells us what real faith is. Hebrews 11:1-3 ‘Now faith is the sub stance* of things hoped for,--we notice the word “sub-stance”, a good way to understand the meaning of “sub- stance” is to think of a sub-floor, it is what is holding up what is above it, it is the unseen support. 
Faith is the affirmative response to God’s will and Word. Man possesses faith when He takes God at His Word. We don’t need to see something to believe it. Faith is the acceptance of something simply because God has said it. 
Jesus said in John 20: 29 “… blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed” 

Now faith is the sub stance* of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen. Hope is faith relating to the future; conviction is faith relating to the present. For by it the elders obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
No man was present to witness the Creation; it must be accepted by faith. He created something out of nothing, so that things that are seen were not made of things, which do appear. The book of Genesis explains the events of this creation, and that explanation must be accepted through faith.

True faith is simple obedience to and believing God’s word in spite of circumstances or consequences. Faith is described in a two-fold way. It is the “substance of things hoped for,” and “the evidence of things not seen.” 
again, the word “sub stance” means literally ‘to stand under or to support.’ Faith is the foundation that gives the believer the confidence to stand. “Faith is the confidence of things hoped for.” 
God has two ways in which men can come to Him today. The first is that you can come to Him by works. That is if you can present perfection in your works, God will accept you—but so far nobody has been able to do that. Adam didn’t, and no one since has ever been able to do it. Abraham didn’t, and David didn’t, and Daniel didn’t. None of them made it by being perfect. Therefore, this is not a satisfactory way to come to God, but many people are hobbling along that futile route.
Listen as I tell you about a missionary named Hudson. “When Hudson first went to China, he was on a sailing vessel, and their vessel had come very close to the shore of cannibal islands because the ship was caught in a calm, and it was slowly drifting toward the shore …and the savages were eagerly anticipating a feast.
The captain came to Mr. Hudson and sought him to pray for the help of God. ‘I will,’ said Taylor, ‘provided you set your sails to catch the breeze.’ The Captain declined to make himself a laughing stock by unfurling the sails in a dead calm. Hudson said, ‘I will not undertake to pray for the vessel unless you will prepare the sails.’ And so it was done.
While he was in prayer, there was a knock at the door of his stateroom. “Who is there? Hudson ask” and the captains replied, ‘Are you still praying for wind?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Well,’ said the captain ‘you better stop praying for we have more wind than we can manage.’” Hudson had faith in what was unseen as yet.

Another word describing what faith is, is “evidence” and it means “conviction.”
1Now faith is the sub stance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. This inward conviction enables the believer to believe things not yet seen, that God will do what he has promised. 
That is the conviction that only faith can bring.

Verse 4 again to do with Abel’s faith.
4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.

Even though Able is dead today his faith is still speaking out as we read about here from the Word of God.

Romans. 10:17 says faith comes by hearing the word of God.
God revealed to Adam the only way back to Him was by a blood sacrifice, something must give its life, an animal had to be killed, its blood had to be shed in order for man to come back to Him, that was Gods way at that time, and it was pointing to the future when Jesus Christ would give His life, He would shed His Blood, He would become The Lamb of God.
This lamb sacrifice was made known to Able and Cain, god would receive no other offering, and it had to be Gods way. And God has not changed His mind or the way back to Him today. 
John the Baptist said in John 1: 29 ‘The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.’
John 3: 16-17 says ‘For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.’ 

Faith Caused Abel to Worship God (v. 4) 
4By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh. 
Adam had without a doubt told both his sons,” Able and Cain” the word of God, the way back to God.
Adam chose the choicest lamb as an offering and he brought it to the place of sacrifice.
The lesson which is taught us by this first example of faith is that, Abel believed that which he had heard from God on this all important subject, and Cain did not believe God. 
But notice, Cain was not godless, as some folks may think. In fact Cain’s offering may have in some sense cost him more than Abel’s.
But the way back to God that Cain chose was his own way. 
While the way which Abel took was the way that had been made known and had been revealed and laid down as God’s way.
Cain had heard the “report” as well as Abel, but he did not believe God. He invented what he must have supposed to be a better or more excellent way.
Cain brought of the fruit of the ground, an offering unto Jehovah” (Gen. iv. 3). 
But, that ground the LORD God had just before put under the curse for man’s sin, and had said to Adam Genesis 3. 17 “cursed is the ground for thy sake” 

Cain, brought as his offering to the LORD that which God had pronounced to be “cursed.” Abel brought of the firstlings of his flock, and the fat thereof.
What was it that made Abel’s a more excellent sacrifice than Cain’s? We can understand it when we remember what the Words “by faith “means.
They mean that God had spoken; that Cain and Abel had heard; that Abel obeyed God and Cain did not!
It was a question, as we have seen, of believing what had been spoken as to “THE WAY BACK TO GOD” God’s way back (which Abel took) was by sacrifice, by the death of a substitute, by the blood of Atonement.
This was the law of redemption, which was afterwards laid down in Israel’s legislation. 
Man’s way back (which Cain invented) was “without blood “; and a way which he had devised out of his own heart. But in Hebrews 9:22 we read, without the shedding of blood is no remission of sin.
Cain’s way was the “ New Theology “ of his day: and it consisted in not believing what God had spoken; and in inventing a “ New “ way of his own. 
Cain’s way, is mans way, Cain’s way is actually where all the man made religions of the world sprout up from. 
The extents of these two ways are this:
One is God’s way, the other is man’s, One is by faith, the other is by mans imagination, One is of grace, the other is of merit, One is of faith, the other is of works, One is Christianity the other is Religion.
The one rests on what God has said, the other rests on what man thinks.
The one rests on what Christ has done, the other rests on what man can do.
These two words sum up and embody the two ways—“ DONE “ and “ DO.”
As to what man is to “do” there is no end to the variety. 
God put down the principle once and for all that men must approach Him on only one basis: by faith, and that salvation will be by faith in Christ. Not only did Abraham see Christ’s day and rejoice, but alsodid Abel.
There at the very beginning God made clear the way to Himself: Heb. 9:22 “Without shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins.” We come to God on one basis, that we are sinners and that the penalty for our sins must be paid. That is the reason a lamb had to be slain. That lamb couldn’t take away sin, but it foreshadowed the coming of Christ who is “the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.” And it was offered in faith.
Abel’s offering pointed to Christ, and he came by faith—that is the way of salvation. God made the way very clear at the beginning, God has made it very clear to us: Christ is the way to Himself; God gave Him to die for our sins. Abel, illustrates to us the way of faith—it is the blood-sprinkled way, the way that is Christ.