Prayer: Our Father, we acknowledge you and thank you for being with us. We thank you for choosing us to be your children. We thank you for sending your son Jesus Christ to take on the fullness of our sins and wipe them out for all time. Father, be with your children. Open our hearts and wash us clean. Help your people to serve you faithfully, and to fully realize the truth of your place in the center of all that is, and was, and will be. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
We know we owe a lot to God, the creator of the universe. We owe him our existence, our health, our prosperity, all the good things in our lives, which are gifts from God.
My grandmother recently slipped and broke her hip, and I went to see her in the hospital after it happened. I remember seeing her there and talking to her. She kept saying "Jesus, it's Jesus. If we can just all get to Jesus, everything will be ok." Talk about a woman who is finishing her faith strong. On this bed, tubes in her arms, in her 90s, tired, in pain, on all these medications, she's still talking about Jesus. A few days later she had been transferred to a rehabilitation facility. She asked me if I remembered when I got her the wind chime she keeps hanging at her back patio. It had been many years ago when I'd gotten it for her. She said that when I was deep into the troubles of my past, she would watch the wind chime blowing in the wind. And would think of me and pray for me. She knew that when it was really blowing around hard, I was having a hard night, that I was in danger. For years she watched it. Certain nights she would watch, terrified that the wind chime would blow off it's hook and fall to the ground broken. But no matter how hard the wind was blowing, no matter how much it got knocked around, it still held its place. One day she had seen me stop at her house, sad, lost, troubled. She got on her knees, angry, disappointed, and just fed up and said, "WHEN JESUS, WHEN!" Not long after that, she saw me restored, with Christ within, and ever since the wind chime has seemed quite calm.
Many of us, without knowing it, have been saved by the desperate, persistent prayers of their grandmothers and families. God may allow us to be shaken, brought low, humbled, but many prayers may just save the most troubled us all of us, from detaching and falling to pieces.
Today let's dive into self examination. Because with God in our lives, the Holy Spirit working in us, and Jesus Christ as our best friend, walking with us... nothing can stop us.
So the thought I want you to take into your heart today the most is: With God, I can. I know we can often look at all the demands of a Christian life and say wow, that's a lot to do. I don't know if I can do that.
Let me encourage you today, let go of that kind of attitude. "With God, I can." It doesn't take a special man, it takes a special God. It takes a God personal to each of us. A God that's halfway across the world in Bangladesh helping a boy to get ahold of a Bible. It takes a God at that same moment guiding police to a house in Russia to save girls who were stolen from their homes. It takes a God who at the moment is also in the Philippines, Greece, France, Chile, Canada, and right here with us. This powerful God of ours, he's with each of us, at the same time, at the same moment. Don't let yourself be fooled, that your problems are too big and powerful.
Think of it the other way around: My God is too powerful for my problems.
Isaiah 41:10-13 NLT says, "Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.
Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you.
I will hold you up with my victorious right hand."
That's right. God said, through Isaiah, "Do not be afraid." He strengthens us, and guides us. And this last line, he holds us up with his victorious right hand. Jesus Christ already defeated the devil. He smashed the head of the serpent. The battle is over, and our savior won. The battle was won over 2,000 years ago. Your part in it: Accept the sacrifice. Truly accept it.
I want to ask you something, and I want you to be completely honest with yourself as you reflect on it. Do you truly believe, through and through, all in all, that there is a God named Jehovah? That there is a man named Jesus, who is the son of God, and died for your sins? Do you believe this truth? Or does it seem more like an old story, something foreign and far away?
If you have questions, that's completely understandable. It's normal to have questions about these things. It's normal to have doubts. What's not normal is standing still though. We've got to move forward. So if you're one of those people struggling with that, let me encourage you to delve deeper into the search for God.
I totally understand it, because we're taught from elementary school that science and investigation is the way to do things. We're brought up with the saying "You only live once." Grab all you can, step over people, climb the social ladder. A naturalistic worldview is pushed on us consistently in junior and senior high. "Hypothesis" and "prove, and disprove." Those things are useful, no doubt. But the last thing I was suppose to do was take anything on faith, aside from faith that evolution is fact.
My friends, this isn't just some old story book. Time after time historians have matched up the history of the planet with the events in the Bible. There was and is a nation of Israel. Babylon is where we now see Iraq. Persia is modern day Iran. These are real places, real events, these aren't Greek gods and goddesses. These are numerous evidences for God's existence, the biblical timeline, the historical Jesus, and manuscript evidence for the Bible. Read an article here to learn more about all the evidence. But how many facts do we really need?
How long and how far do we have to research before we can say, you know what, I can see it between the lines. Those moments when God is showing through. And you know what, I'm going to make that leap of faith. I'm going to trust that God is true, God is real, that Jesus did live on Earth, and that he did die for the sins of man kind.
Nowhere in the Bible does it say "Figure it out" But it does say over and over, Trust God. Have Faith in him.
With God, I can.
If you're struggling with it, let me encourage you to pray on it, every night before bed. Ask God to make it real for you. He will, but in his perfect timing. So wait patiently. The God of your fathers, and grandfathers, and great grandfathers, and great great grandfathers is with you. And his name is Jehovah.
Jehovah - Jireh: The Lord Who Provides
Genesis 22
Jehovah - Rapha: The Lord Who Heals
Exodus 15:22-26
Jehovah - Nissi: The Lord Our Banner
Exodus 17:8-15
Adonai (Lord, Master) Yahweh (Lord, Jehovah)
Jehovah-Raah (The Lord My Shepherd)
Jehovah Shammah (The Lord Is There)
Jehovah Tsidkenu (The Lord Our Righteousness)
Jehovah Mekoddishkem (The Lord Who Sanctifies You)
El Olam (The Everlasting God)
Elohim (God)
Jehovah Shalom (The Lord Is Peace)
You see how there is one individual, one personal entity that can be all things, to all people. That's your heavenly Father.
We've talked about journaling, and just watching our minds, how we think, and our actions, and searching out for flaws or repeating sins. There are basic things we can do to just improve our conscious connection to God.
I'd like to suggest ten things we can consider doing. Let me encourage you to choose a few you think you could include in your daily life:
1. Regularly attend Sunday services at a biblically based church.
2. Regularly attend a small group Bible study where the word is examined.
3. Regularly attend Support groups like Celebrate Recovery or Grief Support, if you have past hurts or mental health struggles or addictions.
4. Listen to Audio sermons or podcasts while driving or jogging or while at home. Plenty are available free on YouTube iTunes. (But be cautious who you listen to, there are many false teachings out there)
5. Listen to Audio Bibles. There are excellent aps like YouVersion out there to listen to.
6. Sit down and read the Bible, alone or with family. Find a translation you connect with. Personally I love the New Living Translation (NLT) and New International Version (NIV). Both speak in highly contemporary language .
7. We can purchase a biblical daily readings book, it's a great way to start the day off.
8. Get together once a week with a close friend and discuss Bible truth.
9. Attend extra events at your local church. Many have interest groups, evangelism teams, church picnics, fellowship events, singles groups, and so on.
10. Talk to God. Talk to him wherever you go, in your head, on your knees, all throughout the day. When we grow closer to God, God grows closer to us.
So those are great things to do. These are basic things we can do to improve our daily walk. And with these things comes a constant contact with God and an inner peace most only dream of. But right at the center, is the fact that we owe this kind of devotion to God. And if we truly believe the Bible is the word of God, and that it's instructions are sound, then we know for certain that this walk is the most important thing in our lives. Honor that fact, and honor him who created you.
With God, I can. You aren't alone in this. You aren't tackling your problems alone. God's grace is with you.
But say we have hang ups, or troubles keeping us especially disconnected. Maybe we're depressed, or addicted, or suffering troubling thoughts.
There are plenty of great tools out there that can target our needs more directly. So three things that can be good for targeting more serious addictions and troubles.
1. We can seek pastoral counseling. This is a great way to get a second view on what we might need to work on, and to help see the Christian perspective and worldview more clearly. Ask to speak to your pastor one on one, or seek a local Christian counselor.
2. We can regularly attend support groups. There are plenty of support groups out there, check the newspapers or the internet for ones in your area. Some examples are as follows: Alcoholic Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, Nicotine Anonymous, Sex Addicts Anonymous, Celebrate Recovery, Al-Anon, and many others. 12 step groups are not necessarily Christian, in fact you will encounter many non-Christians there, but these groups function on Christian principles like faith, surrender, confession, and repentance. So if one of those hang ups is keeping you from growing in your Creator, give it a try. Like it says, it's anonymous, so no worries about reputation. The only reputation we really need to worry about is the one with our Creator anyway.
3. Read Biblical books on the trouble in your life. One I highly recommend is The Bondage Breaker by Neil Anderson. In fact Neil has many books targeting various hang ups, like fear, addiction, voices, and so forth.
All of these things are footwork. Footwork that we can do, to stay in the right mindset in our faith. As long as we do the footwork, God will grant us the grace required, and the intuition, and the prompting.
1. Regularly attend Sunday services at a biblically based church.
2. Regularly attend a small group Bible study where the word is examined.
3. Regularly attend Support groups like Celebrate Recovery or Grief Support, if you have past hurts or mental health struggles or addictions.
4. Listen to Audio sermons or podcasts while driving or jogging or while at home. Plenty are available free on YouTube iTunes. (But be cautious who you listen to, there are many false teachings out there)
5. Listen to Audio Bibles. There are excellent aps like YouVersion out there to listen to.
6. Sit down and read the Bible, alone or with family. Find a translation you connect with. Personally I love the New Living Translation (NLT) and New International Version (NIV). Both speak in highly contemporary language .
7. We can purchase a biblical daily readings book, it's a great way to start the day off.
8. Get together once a week with a close friend and discuss Bible truth.
9. Attend extra events at your local church. Many have interest groups, evangelism teams, church picnics, fellowship events, singles groups, and so on.
10. Talk to God. Talk to him wherever you go, in your head, on your knees, all throughout the day. When we grow closer to God, God grows closer to us.
So those are great things to do. These are basic things we can do to improve our daily walk. And with these things comes a constant contact with God and an inner peace most only dream of. But right at the center, is the fact that we owe this kind of devotion to God. And if we truly believe the Bible is the word of God, and that it's instructions are sound, then we know for certain that this walk is the most important thing in our lives. Honor that fact, and honor him who created you.
With God, I can. You aren't alone in this. You aren't tackling your problems alone. God's grace is with you.
But say we have hang ups, or troubles keeping us especially disconnected. Maybe we're depressed, or addicted, or suffering troubling thoughts.
There are plenty of great tools out there that can target our needs more directly. So three things that can be good for targeting more serious addictions and troubles.
1. We can seek pastoral counseling. This is a great way to get a second view on what we might need to work on, and to help see the Christian perspective and worldview more clearly. Ask to speak to your pastor one on one, or seek a local Christian counselor.
2. We can regularly attend support groups. There are plenty of support groups out there, check the newspapers or the internet for ones in your area. Some examples are as follows: Alcoholic Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, Nicotine Anonymous, Sex Addicts Anonymous, Celebrate Recovery, Al-Anon, and many others. 12 step groups are not necessarily Christian, in fact you will encounter many non-Christians there, but these groups function on Christian principles like faith, surrender, confession, and repentance. So if one of those hang ups is keeping you from growing in your Creator, give it a try. Like it says, it's anonymous, so no worries about reputation. The only reputation we really need to worry about is the one with our Creator anyway.
3. Read Biblical books on the trouble in your life. One I highly recommend is The Bondage Breaker by Neil Anderson. In fact Neil has many books targeting various hang ups, like fear, addiction, voices, and so forth.
All of these things are footwork. Footwork that we can do, to stay in the right mindset in our faith. As long as we do the footwork, God will grant us the grace required, and the intuition, and the prompting.
Philippians 1:30 (NLT) says "We are in this struggle together. You have seen my struggle in the past, and you know that I am still in the midst of it."
Paul was in prison when he wrote this letter to the Philippians. The Philippians were being persecuted as well. So remember, we will have troubles and trials in the future, but we aren't in this alone. We can lean on each other for support, and lift each other up. And most importantly we can look to God for support.
Truly, with God, I can.
Truly, with God, I can.
Humble yourselves my friends, and seek out the God of your fathers. Be with him in this powerful journey of faith. Be that honorable man or woman you were always meant to be. Be the hero, the brave one, the warrior for Christ.
Let's close in prayer. This is a prayer to take Jesus Christ as our personal savior and commit ourselves to living a life as he did. Let me encourage you to take this step of faith, and if you've already taken this step, feel free to join in and reaffirm that promise in your heart.
Prayer: Heavenly Father,
I'm a sinner, and I acknowledge that I need you,
I believe Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sins personally,
And paid the price for all my wrongs, and rose from the grave.
I commit my life to serving you Father, I declare Jesus is my Savior.
Let's close in prayer. This is a prayer to take Jesus Christ as our personal savior and commit ourselves to living a life as he did. Let me encourage you to take this step of faith, and if you've already taken this step, feel free to join in and reaffirm that promise in your heart.
Prayer: Heavenly Father,
I'm a sinner, and I acknowledge that I need you,
I believe Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sins personally,
And paid the price for all my wrongs, and rose from the grave.
I commit my life to serving you Father, I declare Jesus is my Savior.
Grant me the Holy Spirit to lead me in my heart.
In Jesus Name we pray, Amen!
In Jesus Name we pray, Amen!
