[Blogger's note: after being crazy busy one month, and then crazy sick for much of another month, by God's grace I am finally back and able to catch up on posting my notes from sermons at my church for the months of June and July. Thank you all for your prayers; I am believing and claiming that I will be completely healed, and even healed beyond whatever Satan or the world calls a "preexisting condition." I completely reject that term in Jesus' name, and choose to receive by faith the complete healing that GOD says He has for me: a new [undisclosed part of the body] in Jesus' name!
In the meantime, I pray that you are blessed by these sermon notes as much as I was blessed by these sermons. I will post sermons twice weekly until we are caught up again, in the same manner that I did from January through May, 2021.]
Offertory scripture:
All you have to do is trust God.
If I can trust God with my salvation and my life and eternity, shouldn’t it follow that I can also trust God with my finances? Or healing in my body? Or other earthly circumstances?
After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, saying: “Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them—the children of Israel. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
Joshua 1:1-2,8 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=Joshua%201:1-2,8&version=NKJV
You don’t need to be perfect, just commit to following God’s word, and do the best you can.
Announcement:
Wednesday August 4, 2021 we will resume services. This will be a miracle healing service.
Sermon message:
God is good and His mercy endures forever.
God never changes. He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
Thesis for tonight: Motivation, determination, and instruction.
Point #1: Motivation. Really important. Companies hire motivational speakers to rally their employees. Parents try to motivate their children. Coaches try to motivate their players. Roadblocks: fear, self doubt, and insecurity. We all have struggles with these things. Hence the need to be motivated by [companies, parents, coaches, etc]
God is a motivator. God wants you to succeed. He loves you. He is a parent. He knows you have fears, doubts, and insecurity. But He still loves you and wants you to succeed.
Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”
Mark 9:23 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=Mark%209:23&version=NKJV
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Philippians 4:13 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=Philippians%204:13&version=NKJV
Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
Romans 8:37 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=Romans%208:37&version=NKJV
You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
1 John 4:4 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=1%20John%204:4&version=NKJV
Whenever you have doubts or worries, you can crawl into God’s lap as a child and you can talk with Him whatever is going on. He will encourage you and motivate you.
But He said, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.”
Luke 18:27 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=Luke%2018:27&version=NKJV
If these “common folk” in the Bible did it, you can do it!
Point #2: determination
They made it by their faith and determination and by trusting God. Not by their height, strength, smarts, or any other physical attributes. They had God. They did it.
And so can you. Because it’s through God you can do it.
Hebrews 11 is a hallmark of the Bible to show examples of people of great faith. The point is not to make you feel bad. The point is to illustrate that through faith they did it, and because of it, so can you.
Consider Abraham and Sarah. God did not brag on them being a baby factory. He bragged on their faith, that in spite of their age and being “past childbirth age,” they believed Him and God rewarded them with a child. That child eventually led to the nation of Israel a few generations later.
God doesn’t brag on David’s height, strength, smarts, etc. God bragged on David for his faith in Him.
God didn’t brag on Noah having great building skills. Or great tools. But He brags on Noah’s faith and determination.
And so with every character that walked with God.
Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months.
James 5:17 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=James%205:17&version=NKJV
Satan will try to discourage your faith and determination by pointing out your lack of experience or skill. But that’s not what God is looking for. He is simply looking for faith and determination. (My addition: And obedience.)
Hebrews 11 is a big motivational chapter. But in Hebrews 12 God motivates us again.
Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:1-2 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=Hebrews%2012:1-2&version=NKJV
In heaven, you have saints in heaven cheering you on. Abraham, David, Paul, Timothy, etc ran their race and then passed the baton to the next generation. Now it’s our turn to run the race.
Point #3: God’s instruction
Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
Hebrews 12:1 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=Hebrews%2012:1&version=NKJV
Let us lay aside everything that gets in the way of us running the race.
Get rid of weight. Get rid of bad teaching that says you have to be perfect. Yes let’s get rid of sin. But also get rid of beating yourself up. Be patient with running the race. Run with patience. Don’t look back. Keep looking forward towards Jesus.
We need patience.
looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:2 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=Hebrews%2012:2&version=NKJV
Look to Jesus. Not the circumstances around you. Peter walked on water because he looked at Jesus. Peter began sinking because he stopped looking at Jesus.
Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith. Keep your eyes on Him. He made it. How? He endured the cross and the shame with joy. Jesus looked ahead to you and me. He kept His eyes on the joy set before Him, kept His eyes on the Father, and on you and me. He looked ahead too. So can we.
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