Trust (Faith) pt 4 – Ps Larry Elliott
God wants His best for your LIFE!
Jude 1:24 NKJV “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, And to present you faultless Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,”
present: his’-tay-mee
to stand, to abide or appoint, to set up and establish, hold up!
Colossians 1:22-23 (NLTSE) “Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News. The Good News has been preached all over the world, and I, Paul, have been appointed as God’s servant to proclaim it.
Colossians 1:23 AMPC “[And this He will do] provided that you continue to stay with and in the faith [in Christ], well-grounded and settled and steadfast, not shifting or moving away from the hope [which rests on and is inspired by] the glad tidings (the Gospel), which you heard and which has been preached [as being designed for and offered without restrictions] to every person under heaven, and of which [Gospel] I, Paul, became a minister.”
How does God’s ability show up in our lives then?
Jude 1:20-21 NKJV “But you, beloved, 1.) building yourselves up on your most holy faith, 2.) praying in the Holy Spirit, 3.) keep yourselves in the love of God, 4.) looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.”
- Build yourself up on your most holy faith.
God wants us to remain spiritually strong and vibrant, this happens not just by studying the Word but being OBEDIENT to the Word!
II Corinthians 10:5 NKJV “casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,”
Biblical Obedience: To hear, listen attentively and conform
Hebrews 5:8-11 NKJV “though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him, called by God as High Priest “according to the order of Melchizedek,” of whom we have much to say, and hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.”
Being a true Disciple, means having a commitment & determination to stick with it, not by our own works or ability but rather in response to HIS, learning to yield to His strength & purpose!
Matthew 16:24-26 NKJV “Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”
THIS MEANS LIVING TO PLEASE HIM: (Understand His priorities and then focusing on them)
Aim to please God: God First / MySelf / My Family / My Ministry / My Work
- God First God wants to make a difference in your life and He wants HIS BEST for your LIFE, this means we need to live by Faith.
Hebrews 11:1 NKJV “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. – Faith believes that God’s Word is absolute truth and Trusts that God is who He says He is!
– When you make it your lifestyle, you release it to work in your life and circumstances, knowing it will achieve what it says it will!
– Faith is actively walking in the things of God and not how we feel from day to day!
Hebrews 11:6-7 NKJV But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
– Faith refuses doubt and isn’t run down by the devils ploy to drag you down into temptation and deception.
Hebrews 11:7 NKJV “By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.”
Making the decision to put Him first in your life is so huge for today, it means we become willing to let go of other things to pursue HIM and HIS AGENDA!
Noah put God first and as a result it impacted not just his family but all the generations that followed.
Genesis 6:8 AMPC “But Noah found grace (favor) in the eyes of the Lord.”
You to have found Favor with God and it’s time for you to leverage it to serve Him and His purposes!
Ephesians 2:7-8 NKJV “that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,”
- Myself
Ephesians 3:8 NKJV “To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,”
Ephesians 3:12 NKJV “in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him.” – When you receive God’s love and apply it to your identity you are taking care of yourself. – You are empowering your life with His Love and will be in the position to be able to help others when God asks you to.
Ephesians 3:16-17 NKJV “that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love,”
– When you are convinced of His LOVE, you will take the next step towards God, allowing Him to make you better and empowering you for HIS BEST!
Take a STEP of FAITH
II Kings 7:1-6 NKJV ““Then Elisha said, “Hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord: ‘Tomorrow about this time a seah of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria.’ ” So an officer on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God and said, “Look, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, could this thing be?” And he said, “In fact, you shall see it with your eyes, but you shall not eat of it.” Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate; and they said to one another, “Why are we sitting here until we die? If we say, ‘We will enter the city,’ the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we sit here, we die also. Now therefore, come, let us surrender to the army of the Syrians. If they keep us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall only die.”” V5 “And they rose at twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians; and when they had come to the outskirts of the Syrian camp, to their surprise no one was there. For the Lord had caused the army of the Syrians to hear the noise of chariots and the noise of horses—the noise of a great army; so they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to attack us!””
The Syrian army had surrounded the city of Samaria, and the Israelites were starving. Four lepers started walking to the enemy’s camp in hopes of getting food, and as they did, God caused the Syrians to hear the clatter of chariots and a vast army approaching. The Syrians fled in fear, leaving behind everything—their food, supplies, gold, and silver. The lepers had no idea that they were in the middle of a miracle. They didn’t hear any chariots. They were simply doing what they knew to do, and the Israelites were saved.
You may have opposition and things coming against you. But if you keep moving forward in faith, doing the right thing and making decisions that honor God, you’re going to see things fall into place that you could never make happen. Don’t let the fact that it’s stressful and you’re tempted to be panicked and worried convince you that it’s not going to work out. You are in the middle of a miracle. Take steps of faith, and things will supernaturally turn around.
A Prayer for Today
“Father, thank You that when I put You first and am doing the right thing, You make the right things fall into place. Thank You that I can take steps of faith and keep moving forward, expecting to see turnarounds. I believe that I am in the middle of a miracle. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”
- My Family God wants our families to be saved and set apart for His Glory, how else can we be whole and a testimony!
Joshua 24:15 NKJV “And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.””
That doesn’t mean things won’t go wrong, or we won’t slip up, but we set out and purpose in our hearts to serve the Lord and do our best to live in PEACE with those in our family!
We all know this verse, but did you know that as a result of Joshua’s decision, three times in the next few seasons the children of Israel were able to make the same decision. (V18, 21, 24)
Never underestimate the power of INFLUENCE!
- My Ministry We have all been called, but embracing it and then understanding your calling and then walking it out is the next level.
Ephesians 4:1-2 NKJV “I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love,”
– This means been planted in my Local Church, bringing your time, treasure and talent to make a difference in the community I live in!
– Building Faithfulness in regards to what you put your hands to as you develop in your gifting and calling (most people quit, just before they actually arrive at there promotion or increase)
– Statistics about full time ministers
Colossians 3:23-24 NKJV “And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.”
- My Work
Your work is not just a means to an end, it is the way God gets resources to you, gives you opportunity to prove yourself faithful and to engage with society and make a bigger impact than what you could by yourself!
Luke 16:10-13 NKJV “He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in what is another man’s, who will give you what is your own? “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.””
