Church 3/1/2026
Offertory scripture:
“Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.”Psalms 37:4 NKJV
Sermon message:
Expect to receive something from God today.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.”Matthew 5:6 NKJV
The preacher’s hope for framing the sermon message is that he desires for everyone to get something out of this. The truths to be shared in this message are not earth shattering but they can still help.
God’s Word is true.
“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,”II Timothy 3:16 NKJV
““God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?”Numbers 23:19 NKJV
God cannot lie. He is truth.
“So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”Isaiah 55:11 NKJV
Jesus is the Word:
“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”John 14:6 NKJV
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.”John 1:1-3 NKJV
Jesus was in the beginning with God.
“For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one.”I John 5:7 NKJV
The word of God is alive.
“For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”Hebrews 4:12 NKJV
(The above is also one of former Evanston Vineyard Senior Pastor Bill Hanawalt’s favorite verses)
The Holy Spirit can lead you, if you let Him.
“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.””Matthew 4:1-3 NKJV
The enemy tempts us at our weakest. But we can come boldly to the throne of grace to ask God for help.
“Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”Hebrews 4:16 NKJV
The enemy also tried to make Jesus question if He were the Son of God.
Life lesson: I-294 (Chicago’s Tri-State Tollway) can teach us a lot of things. Especially around the airport, they have billboards, which are there on purpose to distract you from keeping your eyes on the road.
Another lesson is the issue of people squeezing in line ahead of you from the on-ramp or even any lane that’s about to disappear. Moral of the story: Let them in. There’s nothing righteous about the “indignation” of denying people the ability to cut in front of you in line. The argument “they don’t deserve it” prompts God’s response: “you don’t deserve My grace either.”
Use the Word for everything, including dealing with issues or challenges in your life. Use the Word in response.
The devil likes to talk. But we shut him up by speaking the word of God. Just as Jesus did when He was in the wilderness, fasting for 40 days and 40 nights:
“But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ””Matthew 4:4 NKJV
“For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds,”II Corinthians 10:4 NKJV
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.”Proverbs 3:5-6 NKJV
The enemy stands in the boxing arena of the flesh, and you will lose if you try to fight him there.
But the enemy cannot stand in the boxing arena of faith, and God is with you and you will win against the enemy.
The weapons of our warfare are mighty but they are not worldly.
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”Ephesians 6:12 NKJV
If someone provokes you, ignore it and let God fight your battles. Use the spiritual weapons, not the fleshly weapons.
Stay in the faith arena.
Meditate on the word of God.
Let God defend you.
“For with God nothing will be impossible.””Luke 1:37 NKJV
“Then one of the crowd answered and said, “Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit. And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not.” He answered him and said, “O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me.” Then they brought him to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth. So He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it: “Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!” Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him. And he became as one dead, so that many said, “He is dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.”Mark 9:17-27 NKJV
Focus verse:
“Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.””Mark 9:23 NKJV
“Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.”Mark 11:24 NKJV
“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. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.””Joshua 1:8-9 NKJV
Note after sharing the sermon: as a confession, my taking of notes during Sunday morning sermons at my church has dropped precipitously in the last year. For those of you who have been following my blog for several years, you’ll note that I used to regularly post these sermons on this page. However, sometimes I will get a prompting to take notes on a particular Sunday, and this was one of those times. I appreciate it very much this preacher’s humility, especially as he was beginning to preach this message. The lessons he shared, while challenging to me, were presented with both Word as well as appropriate personal experiences and life lessons that backed this up. I will admit that I can get prickly concerning how I respect certain people, but at the same time, one of the biggest ways to boost my respect is for a person to share about how they went through those same lessons. I want, nay, need to know that a person I might potentially look up to is aware that they’re human and also had those same struggles at one point. Far too often, I have experienced either some form of abuse or hypocrisy from folks where they were way too eager to lord themselves over me and expect that their words alone would be enough, while not having the life experiences let alone the humility to back it up.
Challenging as it was, this message was apropos, and very timely. Lately I’ve been wrestling with a lot of distrust and anger as a result of it. Unfortunately, between both my age and general overall changes in my health over the last few years (really, the last decade now), I am starting to feel real physical effects from this type of thing.
In short, the contrasting arenas that the preacher referenced, the arena of faith and the arena of the flesh, suits perfectly not just the battles I’ve had recently but also battles that I’ve struggled with my entire life. It gives me, on an intellectual level, a starting point for figuring out How to be able to change this part of my life. Now my prayer is for the strength and the presence of mind to be able to find a way.
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”Philippians 4:13 NKJV
“Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea And a path through the mighty waters, Who brings forth the chariot and horse, The army and the power (They shall lie down together, they shall not rise; They are extinguished, they are quenched like a wick): “Do not remember the former things, Nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness And rivers in the desert.”Isaiah 43:16-19 NKJV
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