Sermons

Courage pt 4 by Ps Larry Elliott

March 29, 2023

COURAGE

You have JESUS, you have everything

TODAY We are concluding our March challenge to have COURAGE in fighting for our FAITH!

Jude 1:3 NKJV “Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.”

When we have revelation of JESUS and understand what He accomplished at the Cross, it opens the way for to boldly have an intimate relationship with Him and thats what puts you in the VICTORY ZONE!
Let’s take a look at the verses that surround this verse, this gives us context and perspective!

Jude 1:1 NKJV “Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, To those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ:”

Jude’s authority to write this powerful and challenging book never came from the fact He was Jesus’ brother but rather that He was a “bondservant” of JESUS (called & sanctified)
JESUS had at least 4 brothers and at least two sisters and there was a time that they did not Believe in Him as the Messiah!

Jude 1:2 AMPC “May mercy, [soul] peace, and love be multiplied to you.

Before instructing us to have COURAGE and Contend for our Faith he reminds us to be FILLED!

Multiplied: to Increase, a Fulness and figuratively to influence, furnish or accomplish

Jude 1:4 AMPC “For certain men have crept in stealthily [gaining entrance secretly by a side door]. Their doom was predicted long ago, ungodly (impious, profane) persons who pervert the grace (the spiritual blessing and favor) of our God into lawlessness and wantonness and immorality, and disown and deny our sole Master and Lord, Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).”

Without GRACE you cannot live or become like Jesus because without Grace you cannot be saved (by Grace through Faith we are saved, not off yourselves – Ephesians 2)

You have JESUS, you have everything

Colossians 1:27-29 NKJV “To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily.”

The more you grow in your revelation and valuation of how Jesus’ finished work has placed you in Him—in the secret place where you are safe, protected, and secure—the more you’ll find your heart at rest instead of filled with worry and fears.
Something powerful happens in your heart and then in your outward circumstances when you begin to value being in Christ.
JESUS is God’s secret place of Psalm 91 and if you are Born Again you already live there!

THATS WHY, WHAT YOU BELIEVE, governs what you think, what you allow and what you become!

John 20:26-31 NKJV “And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.” And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.”

Blessed:

Believe:

Life in His name:

God doesn’t just want us to know what Jesus did, the miracles and the signs and wonders, He wants us to know Him intimately and to experience His Love and Presence DAILY!

John 17:3 NKJV “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”

John 17:22-23 NKJV And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.”

2 Timothy 1:12 NKJV “For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.”

So how do we get to KNOW HIM?

Through the Word and by His Spirit, through fellowship with other believers who have the same faith (Pick up on Ps Mandy & Emmaus and Mary & the gardener)

2 Timothy 1:12-14 AMP “This is why I suffer as I do. Still, I am not ashamed; for I know Him [and I am personally acquainted with Him] whom I have believed [with absolute trust and confidence in Him and in the truth of His deity], and I am persuaded [beyond any doubt] that He is able to guard that which I have entrusted to Him until that day [when I stand before Him]. Keep and follow the pattern of sound teaching (doctrine) which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. Guard [with greatest care] and keep unchanged, the treasure [that precious truth] which has been entrusted to you [that is, the good news about salvation through personal faith in Christ Jesus], through [the help of] the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.”

You have JESUS, you have everything

The Side Door

John 10:1-6 NKJV “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them.”

So He circles back to help them understand:

John 10:7-12 NKJV “Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. (Daily nourishment, growth & increase) The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them.”

TODAY – God has made it so easy for us in the new covenant to be directed by His wisdom and love. We no longer have to run to prophets to find out His will for us. He Himself leads us!

We simply need to follow the promptings of our hearts and not the sight of our eyes. So when you feel a desire to do something good for someone, do it, knowing that you have a brand-new heart that hears God, and that it is God who works in you both the willingness and the ability to do it!

Philippians 2:12-15 NKJV “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,”

Just like complaining, gratefulness is a choice and becomes a habit or lifestyle, the one honours God and the other is rooted in unbelief or disappointment, be deliberate and choose to always give thanks.

I Corinthians 2:9-10 NKJV “But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.”

No matter how many dark days you have experienced, God has prepared many wonderful open doors of opportunity, favor, and good success for you to walk through in the days ahead. Your brightest and most glorious days are still ahead of you.
When you BASE your LIFE in Salvation and the Grace that Jesus brings, your Faith becomes SOLID and you are able to REST while you work through things and face the challenges of this world we live in!
This is how true transformation takes place from the inside out and back again, not behaviour modification bit genuine, sincere growth and progress because of Christ in you…..

You have JESUS, you have everything

Matthew 11:28-30 NKJV “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.””