August 25, 2013

Sunday School

Short Study on 

Faith and Belief

• So Jesus said to them, "Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move for here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.  Matthew 17:20 (NKJV)
•  Belief - an opinion or judgment in which a person is fully persuaded.
• We see that our beliefs are things that we are thoroughly convinced of . Usually, but not always, they are ideas and/or concepts that we gather through acquiring information and experience. Because of that, our beliefs can change over time as we gain more knowledge and experience more things throughout our lives. 
• Faith = Belief + Action + Confidence
• Faith includes our beliefs, but it is bigger than that. Faith requires action. If it doesn't move us to do something or say something, actually take some kind of action, it is not really faith at all.  In James 2:17 it says, "So you see, faith by itself is not enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.
• Hebrews 11:6 - And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him just believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.
• Until we take action our "faith" is just a bunch of words. James says that unless faith produces action it is in fact dead or not faith at all.
• Some get confused and turned around on this point and try to do good things to generate faith. However James did not say that the good things we do produce faith. He said our faith, if it is real and alive, will naturally move us to do good things.
• Confidence - trust that is based on knowledge or past experience.
• Basically confidence is a measure of how firmly we hold to a particular belief.
• Now we can see how belief and faith are interrelated. The difference between the two is subtle. Understanding that subtly makes things that Jesus said have more sense to us.
• When we believe the truth with enough confidence to take action we exercise faith. And it doesn't take much of that faith to see huge things happen, even miraculous things.
• You can see where unbelief, that is believing things that are not true, believing lies, completely clogs up the working of our faith. Unbelief prevents us from ever seeing the miraculous in our lives.

Note: Some information made available from Google, Bing, religious references.

 

 

 

Sermon

Matthew 27:1-2 - v1- When the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put Him to death: v2 - And when they had bound Him, they led Him away, and delivered Him to Pontius Pilate the governor.

Subject: Caught up, Tied up & Tangled up!

 

How do we bind Jesus?

• When Jesus isn't the main focus in our lives; when we do not put Him first; when He isn't the top priority in our lives.
• God desires our praise, our allegiance, our attention.
• God is a jealous God.
• We need to loose Him in our lives, allow Him total control
• By fear and unbelief
• A double minded man is unstable in all his ways - James 1:8
• If we remember that we can do "all things" through Christ who strengthens us.....
• In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us - Romans 8:37 
• Failure to grow spiritually
• Read Luke 19:13-27
• Are we still the same as we were last week, last month, last year?
• Jesus came so that we may have life and have it abundantly - John 10:10
• If the Son make you free, you are free indeed! John 8:36

 

 



July 28, 2013

Sunday School

2 Thessalonians 1:1-12 & 2:1-17

• Thanksgiving and Prayer is what Paul writes in his letter to the church of Thessalonia.
• Paul praises the church for its growing of faith and their love for one another.
• The love of God has brought us to where we are.
• Through trials we are stronger.
• If we keep our minds on Jesus, we will be in perfect peace.
• Pray always for one another.
• v11 - With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of His calling, and that by His power He may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith.
• Jesus was the first fruit. He is the way, the truth and the life.
• The first converts are first fruit.
• Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.... do not become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us...whether by a prophecy or by word or mouth or by letter...asserting that the day of the Lord has already come.
• Don't let anyone deceive you in any way because that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed.
• It is important to study for ourselves so that we may know the truth for ourselves.
• We are to stand firm and thank God.
• God chose you as first fruits to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth.

Sermon

John 15:12-15

v12 - My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.
v13 - Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's brothers.
v14 - You are my brothers if you do what I command.
v15 -  I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you brothers, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.

Subject:

Can't We Just All Get Along? 

 It's All About Relationship Or It's Ain't About Nothing!

• In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  The same was in the beginning with God. (John 1:1-2)
• In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth... ( Genesis 1:1)
• God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion....... (Genesis 1:28)
• I am the true vine, and my Father is the Husbandman. Every branch in me that bears not fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.  (John 15:1-2)
• v 9 - As the Father has loved Me, so have I love you. Now remain in my love.
• And now these  three remain: Faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:13)
• vs 18-19 - If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.  If you were of the world, the world would love his own; but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
• In other words, if you are standing with Jesus, Satan will bring all his forces to bare.
• You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. (1 John 4:4)
• Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord. (1Corinthians 15:58)
• Peace be still, God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be the glory. (Ephesians 3:20-21)
• And we shall know the truth, and the truth shall make us free. (John 8:32)
• Pray for a discerning spirit.
• God created us to have fellowship with Him.
• God is looking for "productivity" in us.
• Trust God during your pruning times.
• Be bold in your faith.
• And be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable and perfect will of God.  (Romans 12:2)
• Have you been tried in the fire and come out as pure gold?
• For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. (Ephesians 6:12) 

 

January 27, 2013

Sunday School

Who We Are In Christ - Conclusion

• Matthew 5:13 - "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? If is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men."
• 2 Corinthians 1:21-22 - Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ.  He anointed us, set His seal of ownership on us, and put His Spirit in our hearts as deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
• 1 John 3:1 - How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is  that it did not know Him.
• Matthew 5:14 - "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.
• 1 Corinthians 3:16 -  Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you!
• Romans 6:18 - You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
• 1 John 5:18 - We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; te one who was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him.
• 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 - Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them.  And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation.  We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us.  We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God.  God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
• 1 Peter 2:5 - you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a hold priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
• Ephesians 2:6 - And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,

Notes: Who the Son sets free, we are free indeed (John 8:36); Therefore I am well content with weakness, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for then I am weak, then I am Strong (2 Corinthians 12:10)

Sermon

Psalm 1:1-6

Subject: This Is Your Season

1. How blessed is the one who does not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand in the pathway with sinners, or sit in the assembly of scoffers!
2. Instead he finds pleasure in obeying the Lord's commands; he meditates on his commands day and night.
3. He is like a tree planted by flowing streams; it yields its fruit at the proper time, and its leaves never fall off.  He succeeds in everything he attempts.
4. Not so with the wicked!  Instead they are like wind-driven chaff.
5. For this reason the wicked cannot withstand judgment, not can sinners join the assembly of the godly.
6. Certainly the Lord guards the way of the godly, but the way of the wicked ends in destruction.

God created the seasons Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter and metaphorically speaking, the seasons of your lives.
To every thing there is a season and a time for every thing under heaven (Ecclesiastes 3:1)
Take delight in the Lord, and Hi will give you the desires of your heart (Psalm 37:4)
Therefore, my brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

We cannot pray the seasons away
We cannot run from the seasons
We cannot force the season to change before its time

Good seasons come and go
The length of the season may be tied to the lesson that needs to be learned (a trial)
Our choices lead to the length of a season (think before you act)

But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk and not be faint.   Isaiah 40:31
 

September 23, 2012

Sunday School

Who We Are In Christ (continued)

• We Are God's masterpiece
• Colossians 2:13-14 - You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away.  Then God made you alive with Christ.  He forgave all our sins.  He canceled the record that contained the charges against us.  He took it and destroyed it by nailing it to  Christ's cross.
• We are under God's grace
• We Re righteous - right standing
• We have the Holy Spirit within us
• God is our Abba father
• It's so sweet to trust in Jesus

Sermon 

Exodus 16:1-4

Subject: I Won't Complain!

• The people had gone without food for days but god would provide manna.
• Sin Desert was a forbidding place and a perfect place to test the Israelites
• When times get tough, grumbling begins = an issue with gratitude
• We need to remember that God has brought us from a mighty long way.  Are we praising God? Praying and praising Him? Counting our blessings, as well?
• Do you/we have a perception problem? As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.
• Obedience is the key.  stop complaining and grumbling.
• Stop and count your blessings
• Complaining and grumbling are issues that are within the heart so have a change of heart.  We have that option - to change.
• 2 Corinthians 4:7-10 -But this precious treasure - this light and power that now shine within us - is held in perishable containers, that is, in our weak bodies.  So everyone can see that our glorious power is from God and is not our own.  We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed and broken.  We are perplexed, but we don't give up and quit.  We are hunted down, but God never abandons us.  We get knocked down, but we get up again and keep going.  through suffering, these bodies of ours constantly share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.
• Rejoice in the Lord always! Again, I say rejoice!

June 24, 2012

Sermon
Joshua 1:1-7
After the death of Moses the Lord's servant, the Lord spoke to Joshua, son of Nun, Moses' assistant.  He said, "Now that my servant Moses is dead, you must lead my people across the Jordan River into the land I am giving them.  I promise you what I promised Moses: 'Everywhere you go, you will be on land I have given you -- from the Negev Desert in the south to the Lebanon mountains in the north, from the Euphrates River on the east to the Mediterranean Sea on the west, and all the land of the Hittites.'  No one will be able to stand their ground against you as long as you live.  For I will be with you as I was with Moses.  I will not fail you or abandon you."
"Be strong and courageous, for you will lead my people to possess all the land I swore to give their ancestors.  Be strong and very courageous.  Obey all the laws Moses gave you. Do not turn away from them, and you will be successful in everything you do."

Subject: A Plan For Success - What's Holding You Back?

• God has promised us many things to this point in the Bible.
• Love, power and sound mind are a few of them.
• Do not become overwhelmed over what we see and hear in the world
• God will never leave us or forsake us.
• God is more than the whole world against us.
• It's all about our relationship with God or it's about nothing.
• Be aware of what God is saying to you.
• Satan wants us to lose sight of what God wants for us.
• Satan wants us fearful and second guessing ourselves.
• Keep our minds stayed on Jesus.
• "Don't be anxious for anything," says the Lord.
• Our hope is built on nothing less than God's righteousness.
• God has blessings just waiting for us. He will give us the desires of our hearts.

See the promise of God's provision - stay focused and keep the faith.

We must be confident in the Word of God - have a relationship with God through prayer and reading and studying the Word.

God will provide the insight for us to reach our goals if we trust in Him.

Maintain a consuming desire to see your dreams come true - Every good and perfect thing comes from God.

Where there is no vision, the people will perish.

God is able to see us through to receive bountiful blessings.

Psalm 27

1. The Lord is my light and my salvation - so why should I be afraid?  The Lord protects me from danger - so why should I tremble?
2. When evil people come to destroy me, when my enemies and foes attack me, they will stumble and fall.
3. Through a might army surrounds me, my heart will know no fear.  Even if they attack me, I remain confident.
4. The one thing I ask of the Lord - the thing I seek most - is to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, delighting in the Lord's perfections and meditating in His Temple.
5. For He will conceal me there when troubles come; He will hide me in His sanctuary.  He will place me out of reach on a high rock.
6. Then I will hold my head high, above my enemies who surround me.  At His Tabernacle I will offer sacrifices with shouts of joy, singing and praising the Lord with music.
7. Listen to my pleading, O Lord.  Be merciful and answer me!
8. My heart has heard you say, "Come and talk with me." And my heart responds, "Lord, I am coming."
9. Do not hide yourself from me.  Do not reject your servant in anger.  You have always been my helper.  Don't leave me now; don't abandon me, O God of my salvation!
10. Even if my father and mother abandon me, the Lord will hold me close.
11. Teach me how to live, O Lord. Lead me along the path of honesty, for my enemies are waiting for me to fall.
12. Don not let me fall into their hands, for they accuse me of things I've never done and breathe out violence against me.
13. Yet I am confident that I will see the Lord's goodness while I am here in the land of the living.
14. Wait patiently for the Lord.  Be brave and courageous.  Yes, wait patiently for the Lord.

God Can...

God can turn a mess into a message,
a test into a testimony,
a trial into a triumph,
a victim into a victory.
God is great and worthy to be praised!

Bible Expository from the Annual Conference

In the Great Commission, "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:  Teaching them to observe all things shatsoever I have commanded you:  and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of hte world." (Matthew 28:20)

First, We Have Authority.  Jesus had authority and as Christians we have it s well.  When Jesus called and commissioned His disciples to go into the world, He sent them out with power and authority to heal the sick, cast out devils and to proclaim His truth.  He even went os fas as to tell them to "Go and make disciples and teach all nations."

Second, We Are Called to Teach.  When Jesus called the twelve to be His disciples, He called and challenged them to be teachers of His word.  Jesus taught His disciples so that they mgiht teach others.  As followers and disciples of Jesus Christ, once we cecome saved we are summoned, commissioned and obligated by God to go and win people to Christ and to help them grow in the study of the Word (to teach).  The scriptures tell us that every child of God ought to "Study to Show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth"  2 Timothy 2:15

Third, We Must Be Witnesses.  When we apply the directives and imperatives the Lord has for us as Christians, our lives ought to line up with Christ, the word of God so that we can become balanced, have greater spiritual stability and become greater witnesses for Christ.  In doing this we can fulfill the Great Commission to:
     Connect
     Grow
     Serve
     Go

Affirm - Connect with an open heart (Mark 12:29-31)

A Measure of Faith

As we travel through life, many things are thrown at us by Satan.  It is how we react that determines how well we manage our lives.  God gives us a measure of faith (Romans 12:2-4). What we do with that measure, grow and cultivate it or do nothing, will have an affect on the daily outcome in all of us.

Cancer, heart problems and other diseases are all around us, affecting not only others but our lives as well.  What do we do when, say cancer comes into our lives?  Do we allow it to overtake us? Or do we make a stand against it? 

Dan Richardson, an enthusiastic believer in Christ, lost his battle with cancer but before he died, he made arrangements to have the following distributed at his memorial service.  He realized that you cannot deny that you have the disease, but you can deny despair from taking control.

Cancer is limited........

• 
  
  It cannot cripple love
• 
  
  It cannot corrode faith
• 
  
  It cannot eat away peace
• 
  
  It cannot destroy confidence
• 
  
  It cannot kill friendship
• 
  
  It cannot shut out memories
• 
  
  It cannot silence courage
• 
  
  It cannot invade the soul
• 
  
  It cannot reduce eternal life
• 
  
  It cannot quench the Spirit
• 
  
  It cannot lessen the power of the resurrection

You may not have cancer or any disease but you feel depressed or stressed. Take the above and apply it to your life. It will lift your spirits and warm your heart.  Because nothing can reduce, invade, silence shut out, kill, destroy, eat away, quench, cripple or corrode the power of the resurrected Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior or stand against the Lord Almighty.