111515AM Sermon Notes

See God Working

John 9:1-23

Question for Consideration

If God is at work how can I see him?

I.    CLEAN YOUR GLASSES
Spiritual Reality:  Narrow thinking blocks your view

II.     ROLL UP YOUR SLEEVES

Spiritual Reality:  Involvement opens your eyes

III.  CLOSE YOUR MOUTH

Spiritual Reality: Meaningless talk blurs your vision

5  Ways Our Words Work Against God’s work:

                   1.    Skeptical words: Cause us to doubt the possibility

                   2.   Critical words:  Cause us to doubt the people

                   3.   Cynical words: Cause us to doubt the people’s hearts

                   4. Complaining Words:  Cause us to doubt the sustainability

                   5.    Consuming words: Cause a fire to burn anything left

IV. Open Your Mind

Spiritual Reality: An open mind, opens your heart and an 
        open heart opens your eyes.

Statement of Truth: 

Nothing is harder to change than self-deception. 

111115 WED Sermon notes

  God is Always With Me

2 Peter 1:3-4

THEME:  God’s Promises are ALWAYS True!

Statement of Truth:
The promises of God are like diamonds hidden within a mountain of Gold. 

Point to Ponder:

God’s promises are not treasured truths

Definition of Faith:

A promise involves an assurance that God gives His people so that they can walk by faith while they wait for Him to work.

I.                              God’s Promises are Great

Question?  What is so great about the promises of God?

1.      They come from a Great God.  See Psalm 145:3

2.     The promises are great because they cover the great issues.
   See 2 Corinthians 1:3-11

3.     The Promises are great because they lead to a great life.

Statement of Truth:

The promises of God will get you through the darkest  night, and they will get you through the longest day, and they will get you through the deepest valley. 

110815AM Sermon Notes

My Salvation is Secure    Part B   

Ephesians 1:13-14

THEME:   That the follower of Christ may know our Salvation is Secure!

Three Questions of Importance:

1.      How is a Person Saved?

a.     In Christ

b.     Through hearing

c.     By belief

2.     How do you know if you have been saved?

a.     God has marked you

b.     God has sealed you

6 Evidences of the Holy Spirit

1.      The fruit of the Spirit is giving off evidence in your life.  {Galatians 5:22-23}

2.     The gifts of the Spirit will be evidenced. 
{1 Corinthians 12}

3.     The Holy Spirit brings the Conviction of Sin. 
{John 16:8}

4.     The Holy Spirit will guide us into God’s truth and His word matter to you. 
{John 16:13}

5.     The Holy Spirit will lead us in life’s decisions.
{Romans 8:14}

6.     The Holy Spirit will comfort us in times of Trouble.

 {John 14:16}

3.     Can a person loose his or her salvation?   

^ESV Ephesians 1:13-14  In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.   {emphasis by pastor}

The Seminary of Suffering

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 

(2 Corinthians 12:9)

This is God’s universal purpose for all Christian suffering: more contentment in God and less satisfaction in self and the world. I have never heard anyone say, “The really deep lessons of life have come through times of ease and comfort.” But I have heard strong believers say, “Every significant advance I have ever made in grasping the depths of God’s love and growing deep with Him has come through suffering.”

The pearl of greatest price is the glory of Christ.

That is why  Paul  could say with all certainty that in our sufferings the glory of Christ’s all-sufficient grace is magnified. If we rely on Jesus in our calamity and He sustains our “rejoicing in hope,” then He is shown to be the all-satisfying God of grace and strength that He really is.

Many of us are not holding on to Christ during times of trials.  We will gasp at almost anything else before we turn toward God.    But, if we will learn to hold fast to Him “when all around our soul gives way,” then we show that He is more to be desired than all we have lost.

Christ said to the distressed disciple, named Paul the Apostle, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 

The very thing we wish to remove might be the qualifier God placed in our lives to prepare and enable us to do his will and work.   Paul responded to this: “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities.  For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9–10).

So suffering clearly is designed by God not only as a way to wean Christians off of self and onto grace, but also as a way to spotlight that grace and make it shine. That is precisely what faith does; it magnifies Christ’s future grace.

Here lies the Life lesson:  Like it or not, the deep things of life in God are discovered in suffering.