Our problems with the sovereignty of God start when sovereignty becomes personal. We will never understand this doctrine until we remember that we live in a fallen, that evil is personal, that we must start with God, and that God has bought us with the blood of his Son.
Text: Psalm 103:19-22Hebrews 11:30 says that “by faith” the walls of Jericho fell. But what kind of faith brings down the walls of impossibility? This message points out five characteristics of the faith God honors when we face long odds and the only way forward doesn’t seem to make any sense.
Text: Hebrews 11:30The amazing faith of Moses’ parents shows us the high value that God puts on children, including those children that are born in less than ideal circumstances. Christians love children because God loves children. Ours is true pro-family religion.
Text: Hebrews 11:23Because Christians are aliens and strangers on earth, we are destined to live and die feeling slightly (and maybe more than slightly) out of place. But we will not quit, give up or go back because our home is in heaven. We have expectations of something much better than anything the world has to offer.
Text: Hebrews 11:13-16Procrastination destroys many good intentions. Some things must be done “before winter” or they will not be done at all. There are doors of opportunity that open before us today, but if we do not take advantage of them, tomorrow they will be forever shut.
Text: 2 Timothy 4:21God uses the hard experiences of life to bring us to the place where our trust will be in him alone. Through those hard times, we learn to seek him and to rejoice even when life doesn’t make sense.
Text: Jeremiah 29:12-14We serve a trans-generational God whose purposes span the centuries. He does not confine himself to our timetable or limit himself to our puny understanding of what he intends to do. If you have eyes to see beyond your own problems, look up and you will see the hand of God at work.
Text: Jeremiah 29:10Our enemies are a gift from God. If we didn’t need them He wouldn’t send them. God has a beneficial purpose in sending
enemies our way – to make us more like Christ. Therefore, the person we might consider an enemy is, in reality, our best friend.
Our sovereign God allows enemies to enter our lives for our ultimate good. They are often people we are close to; family, people at work, or even in our church. God’s message to us is to love, bless, and pray for them. In doing this, He will bless us. We cannot be set free until we set them free to be blessed by the Lord.
Text: Jeremiah 29:7Contentment is not about geography. It’s about your heart. You can serve God in Babylon just as well as you can in Jerusalem. It’s a hard lesson, but it is also good news if we will receive it from the Lord. Let God define your life, not your circumstances.
Text: Jeremiah 29:4-6