Offertory scripture:
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
Isaiah 40:28-31 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=Isaiah%2040:28-31&version=NIV
Sermon message:
Preface, about mothers and Mother's Day.
President George Washington said this about moms:
"All I am I owe to my mother: success morals intellect and education I owe to my mother."
President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed Mother's Day as a national holiday.
John F Kennedy:
"Mothers all want their sons to grow up to be president but they don't want them to become a politician."
Franklin Delano Roosevelt:
"The mother is the one supreme asset to national life. They are more important than artists, scientists, politicians.." etc
President Ronald Reagan:
"From my mother I learned the value of prayer. To dream and to see those dreams into reality. "
Sermon message: Strong faith, part 4
Faith draws God's blessings
To review:
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Hebrews 11:6 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=Hebrews%2011:6&version=NIV
A working definition of faith:
Faith draws God's blessings, His power and His presence into your life, just like a magnet draws metal to it.
You see a challenge in you life. Then you read God's Word. Find the promise God has. Read it. Then you choose to believe God's Word over your fear or your challenge. And then you act on the word of God.
One act: confess the Word of God instead of how big the challenge is.
Jesus says:
23 “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.”
Mark 9:23 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=Mark%209:23&version=NIV
Context:
A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.” 19 “You unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.” So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?” “From childhood,” he answered. “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” 23 “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.” Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the impure spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” he said, “I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, “He’s dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up.
Mark 9:17-27 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=Mark%209:17-27&version=NIV
Presence of faith draws the blessings of God.
Conversely: Lack of faith repels the blessings of God.
15 He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
Mark 16:15-16 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=Mark%2016:15-16&version=NIV
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Romans 10:9 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=Romans%2010:9&version=NIV
For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.
Romans 10:10 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=Romans%2010:10&version=NIV
Faith will attract God, blessings, and His power.
Faith will also repel Satan, problems, and trials.
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
James 4:7 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=James%204:7&version=NIV
Point #1: How you respond when facing us very very very important.
And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:19 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=Philippians%204:19&version=NIV
A theoretical situation:
Question: "Don't you think things are terrible right now?"
Answer: "Yes, but my God..." (followed by Philippians 4:19)
Listen to those who lived through the Great Depression and chose to trust God.
Say the Word of God.
38 Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
Luke 6:38 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=Luke%206:38&version=NIV
In addition to speaking God's Word:
Another way to receive God's blessings is to Help someone else.
Point #2: Faith draws you and God closer
Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
James 4:8 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=James%204:8&version=NIV
When you draw close to God you draw close Him to his blessings to his presence and to his power.
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Hebrews 11:6 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=Hebrews%2011:6&version=NIV
Point 3: when you act in faith, you will look foolish to some but not to God.
Key question: Who do I want to please? God, or people?
The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.
1 Corinthians 2:14 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=1%20Corinthians%202:14&version=NIV
Others may reject you or leave you or think you're weird but God won't.
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Galatians 6:9 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=Galatians%206:9&version=NIV
Consider Elijah:
Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.”
1 Kings 17:1 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=1%20Kings%2017:1&version=NIV
Elijah did what God told him even though it seems crazy. Then God rewarded him. See below:
Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah: “Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. You will drink from the brook, and I have directed the ravens to supply you with food there.”
1 Kings 17:2-4 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=1%20Kings%2017:2-4&version=NIV
So then Elijah did what God said.
So he did what the Lord had told him. He went to the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan, and stayed there. The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.
1 Kings 17:5-6 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=1%20Kings%2017:5-6&version=NIV
Faith draws God's blessings. Even when others think you're foolish.
The second person of faith: this unnamed widow who is still known about and preached about.
Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. Then the word of the Lord came to him: “Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.” So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, “Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?” As she was going to get it, he called, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.” “As surely as the Lord your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.” Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land.’”
1 Kings 17:7-14 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=1%20Kings%2017:7-14&version=NIV
So she did what Elijah told her:
She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah.
1 Kings 17:15-16 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=1%20Kings%2017:15-16&version=NIV
Faith draws blessings from God. Especially when we give first.