Can We Begin with Reading Ephesians 2:8-9
“God saved you by His Grace when you believed.
And you can’t take credit for this; it is a Gift from God.
Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done,
So, none of us can boast about it.”
How are
you Today?
And - Allow me to ask,
Have you ever been at
a place in Your Life
When You Thought
that God Is
Just NOT Enough?
We have all heard that phrase
“God is enough!”
And of Hearing this Truth,
· We Know that - SOMEWHERE
Within God’s Word,
o God Has Said These Very
Exact Words
HOWEVER – Have You
Ever Been
· Within That Place of Your Life
When Hearing These Words Is One Thing
BUT – Also - BELIEVING In
Them,
Is Totally
Another!!!
We May Want too
ALWAYS
BELIEVE In These TRUTHs,
That God is Really
and Always Is Enough!
But Does Believing in This -
Does That Ever Get Difficult?
We Hear Scripture Telling Us Things like this:
2 Timothy 3:16-17 NLT
“All Scripture is inspired by God
and is useful to teach us what is true
and to make us realize what is wrong in
our lives.
It corrects us when we are wrong
and teaches us to do what is right.
God uses it to prepare
and equip His people to do every good
work.”
Philippians 1:20-22 NLT
“For I fully Expect
and Hope that I will never be Ashamed,
but that I will continue to be Bold for
Christ,
as I have been in the past.
And I trust that my life will bring Honor
to Christ,
whether I live or die.
For to me, living means living for Christ,
and dying is even better.
But if I live,
I can do more fruitful work for Christ.
So, I really don’t know which is better.”
But - So Many of Us
· KNOW WHAT God Has Said About Himself,
But – Do We ALWAYS Believe It?
Is It Not ALSO –
Sometimes, True,
That We Have Trouble –
In Believing In - Him?
We Wait – And We Wait –
· To Feel Like - GOD IS
ENOUGH
o BEFORE - We Even START
§ In Believing
That He Actually Is!
And THEN –
· When
Those Feelings DON’T COME,
o
We Assume,
§ God Hasn’t
Either!
Have you been
In This Place?
I Know - That I Have!
And – It Is True -
· There Have been Times
o
When I Have Resented that Phrase
That “God Is Enough!”
And I Have to Say That –
I Have Also Wondered
About the Truth of it!
I Have GREAT Compassion For The Journey Of Faith Because That Is Exactly What It IS!
A Journey –
· Or A FAITH-WALK
With JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF!
I Do Not Believe
That There Has Been Anyone,
You Can’t Even Pull a Character
·
Out Of the BIBLE To Show
o - That They Did Not
Have This - Same
Kind of Walk
That We Have Today!
No One Is Exempt
from This!!!
We ALL HAVE
· Moments in
our Lives of Desperation
o When LIFE - Totally – Overwhelms
Us!
And It Is - In These Times
·
Simply Stating
That
We Are Put to the Test
And
Yes – Sometimes,
It
Seems,
“That God
Seems Too Not Be
Enough!”
And sometimes, In Such Moments as these,
We Even Try to Convince Ourselves,
As If It Was Like a Harry Potter Spell,
By Telling Ourselves that ‘God Is Enough’,
BUT - It Just Doesn’t Change
How We THINK,
How We FEEL,
Or How We ACT!
So, Where Are We to Go from Here?
What Can Help Us in These Times?
We hear Jesus’ Words as recorded in John 16:33,
“I have told you all this so that you may have peace in Me.
Here on earth, you will have many trials and sorrows.
But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”
And Again In (Romans 8:31-39) we hear:
[talking about God’s Love]
“What shall we say about such wonderful
things as these?
If God is for us, who can ever be against
us?
Since He did not spare even His Own Son
but gave Him up for us all,
won’t He also give us everything else?
Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen
for His Own?
No one—for God Himself has given us right
standing with Himself.
Who then will condemn us?
No one—
for Christ Jesus died for us and was
raised to life for us,
and He is sitting in the place of Honor at
God’s Right Hand,
pleading for us.
Can anything ever separate us from
Christ’s love?
Does it mean - He no longer loves us
IF we have trouble or calamity, or are
persecuted,
or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or
threatened with death?
(As the Scriptures say,
“For your sake we are killed every day;
we are being slaughtered like sheep.”)
No, despite all these things,
overwhelming victory is ours through
Christ, Who loved us.
And I am convinced that nothing can ever
separate us
from God’s Love.
Neither death nor life,
neither angels nor demons,
neither our fears for today nor our
worries about tomorrow—
not even the powers of hell
can separate us from God’s Love.
No power in the sky above
or in the earth below—
indeed, nothing in all creation will ever
be able to
separate us from the Love of God
that is revealed in Christ Jesus our
Lord.”
So, IF We Are MORE THAN Conquerors,
· And IF The GOD WE SERVE
o Is the TRUE Jehovah God
Then How Do We
TAP into This ‘Enough-Ness’
WHEN
We Are Going Through
Our LIVING HELL?
As
we go through our daily lives,
Each one of us,
We All Experience
Difficult Situations.
And – tell me IF
this is not YOU
When We Go Through
OUR PAIN and SUFFERING,
Are We Not-Always-Surprised by Our Situations?
And It Just Seems that We Are Always-FLOORED
·
When We Find
o These Type of Experiences
§ Of True Hardships
·
Within Our Lives!
Do
We Not Believe
· In what Jesus Told His
disciples?
o Or – Do We Just Believe
That this would be True For them
And NOT Us?
“In This World You Will Have
Trouble,”
“But Take Heart!
I Have Overcome the
World.”
(John 16:33)
We are given the GREAT Gift of FAITH
From Christ
And We Are Taught to Use
This Valuable Fruit
of the SPIRIT,
But A Lot of the Time,
We Do Not!
Jesus Promised Us:
‘A Life’
Which Is to Be Familiar
With Difficulty!
And It Is IN These Difficult Times
Or
Even Confusing Times,
We
Become So Quick to WORRY About Them
Instead of ‘Us Having FAITH!’
1)
Jesus Promised Us Persecution!
2)
And HE Told Us About Our Suffering!
3)
And HE Also Shared
That We Are To Have
A Life Consisting Of Hard Times.
But –
What is the First Thing
Which We Give Up On?
Yes – IT IS OUR HOPE!!!
It Is In These Hardships,
In Those Tough Times
JESUS CHRIST Also
Promised Us - of HIMSELF!!!
The Key to Eternity Is:
· JESUS CHRIST Has
o
Promised His
Presence
§ To Overwhelm
§ Our Overwhelming Days!!!
Do you Remember John 16:33?
“In This World You Will Have Trouble,”
“But Take Heart!
I Have Overcome the World.”
Jesus Did Not Say:
“I Have Overcome
Your World…
You Had A BAD Day!”
“I Have Overcome
Your World…
Unless You Have Little
Kids!”
“I Have Overcome
Your World…
Unless You Have a Tough
Marriage!”
“I Have Overcome
Your World…
Unless You’re Still
Single!”
There ARE NO ‘Unless-es’
to Jesus’ Promise!
The GRACE of GOD has given us
the Gift Of Faith!
Not
Because we deserve it!
But rather, as a
result
of the Everlasting Goodness of His Works!
And It Is Also Important
· for Us All to Know
o That This Gift
§ Which We Have
Been Given
§ Is Not in Exchange
· For Us Accomplishing Such Good Works.
Naturally – A Great Deal of Appreciation
· For This Gift Should
Fill Our Hearts
o With Humility –
o Knowing We Have Been
Given Something
§ Which We Could Never
Achieve on Our Own.
So – How Do YOU Talk
About Your LIFE?
Do You talk like there
is a Limitation to Jesus’ Promise?
“Jesus Has Overcome the World (But Not for Me).”
Do We Believe
HE Is - Who HE Says HE Is?
I Have Doubted in God’s Enough-Ness,
His Capability, His Abundance
At
Several Milestones Within My Life!
I Do Not Share This
·
As IF They are Proud Moments
in My Life
o But Rather as Me –
§
Just Being HONEST With
Myself,
·
HONEST With You
· And HONEST With God
And – In Each of These
·
Let’s Call them Seasons,
o
They Have Brought Me
§ Face-To-Face with My
Own Unbelief:
An
Unbelief of My Lord’s Own “Overcoming!”
This Brought Up the TRUTH of My Own Faith!
I was Forced to Notice
My Dis-Belief,
· In ‘God’s Goodness’
o
And of ‘His Ability’
§ And therefore - My Lack of FAITH
·
Forced It to Be – Challenged!
I Was
Forced to Acknowledge
·
That I Did NOT Believe God
o Was TRUE to HIS Word.
YOU SEE –
I Had “Faith” - In Theory,
· But Not Faith - In Actuality!
MY FAITH – Was Not Faith in God’s
Actual Self.
MY FAITH – Was faith of
Conversation.
MY FAITH – Was faith of a Fair-Weather
Day!
Good For Sunny Days,
But It Blew Away Each
Time a Storm Blew In!
Do You Have This Type of FAITH?
Have You Ever Done a Self Test on Your FAITH?
And if you have – What have you
found out?
You know – It Does Absolutely NO Good
· IF you to Lie to
Yourself About this!
It Only Brings You Harm!!!
Do You Follow Jesus!
· Read About Him!
o Sing To Him!
o But You Do Not LIVE
§ Within BELIEVING IN HIM?
Being a Fair-Weather
Believer
Is So Easy to BE!
But My Friends,
That Does Not Describe
What a Believer is at All!!!
The Biggest Hang Up
·
For Most Want-To-Be Christians
o Comes Down to ‘Dealing with
Our FEELINGS!’
Since - We Do Not Really Know Him
· We Don’t Really Feel
Him
o So, We Conclude
o That Since We Don’t
“Feel” God,
§ THEN - He Must Not
Truly Be There!
But Then - What Is Faith?!
“Faith Is the Assurance of Things Hoped For;
And Having the Conviction
of Things Not Seen.”
(Hebrew 11:1)
Often People say:
· That Finding God Starts
o As a Result of an
Emotional Situation.
But Finding True Faith,
· It Starts with a
Conviction.
Just HOW
Convicted Are You
