COMMITTED to train men and women
to have minds for the Lord Jesus,
hearts for the truth, and
hands that are skilled to the task.
HomeSermonsPromises

"Promises" Tagged Sermons

PREPARED FOR HIS PROMISES

The book of Joshua follows the first 5 books of Moses. In those 5 books we find a great amount of God’s promises that are the foundation of Joshua’s faith in God Almighty. Without those promises, there would have never been a Joshua. Yet, God prepared, protected and also provided for this man everything necessary to become a mighty witness of God’s faithfulness to not just the Hebrews, but also the entire world.
Joshua must first know what the law which Moses wrote down is all about. You cannot observe what you do not know. And if you don’t know what God commanded, you cannot be a witness of God’s faithfulness.
God also commanded Joshua to MEDITATE IN IT DAY AND NIGHT. This was not a weekend course. It was not “when I have time left I will look into it”. Joshua exemplified what Paul wrote later in the book of Romans.
This preparation starts at birth. It is God’s doing. Joshua’s lineage had everything to do with God’s choice. His parents were slaves, experiencing the bitterness of bondage. However, Joshua’s parents never lost faith in God’s promises. They somehow believed that God is faithful even if the circumstances for 400 years pointed into the opposite direction.
At birth, his parents named this newborn boy HOSHEA, meaning SALVATION. In other words, this young boy was nurtured in an atmosphere of HOPE. Still in bondage to the Egyptians, his parents from the tribe of Ephraim, a tribe that comes from Joseph, the very son of Jacob that was sold into slavery by his own brothers.
God prepared Joshua for future battles. How did God prepare him? By example of others who are not fighting with him in the physical, but in the spiritual realm. THE BATTLE IS THE LORDS.
Joshua was alongside Moses for 40 years. He witnessed most of what God did during Moses wilderness wandering. He was taught to KNOW GOD and by observing Israel he was taught to KNOW MAN. Also, Moses’ tent was Joshua’s college.
What can we learn from that? This truth contains the very essence of the Gospel. God’s plan of redemption is very clear throughout the Bible, Old and New Testament.
The law brings no one into God’s heritage. Was Moses could not do Joshua was prepared to accomplish. If you and I want to enter into God’s inheritance, we must turn from Moses (from the law) and look to Joshua.
Just as Joshua was prepared by God to live under the law, under the authority of Moses, so have we been prepared by God to live under the law for a season. It is this preparation that brought us eventually into the promises of God. And people who have not gone through that process cannot be witnesses of God’s faithfulness. God has prepared a way for us to experience His promises. And once we experience them, we become true witnesses of God’s faithfulness.

MOVED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT

I believe that the church in America as a whole is misunderstanding the importance of being witnesses of God’s faithfulness. We may be involved in evangelism, involved in church activities, involved in Bible studies, or involved in preaching and teaching. While all such activities are good in general, they are no prove that we are witnesses of God’s faithfulness.
We live in spiritual and physical dangerous times. This world is changing with lightning speed not to the better, but to the worse. Once again, the Lord “sees that wickedness of man is great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart is only evil all the day.” (Genesis 6:5)
So, how should we live as followers of Jesus Christ? Is there any hope? Can the church in America be turned around? Can the society in America be changed?
The answer to all these questions depends on THE WITNESSES OF GOD’S FAITHFULNESS AND THE RESPONSE OF THE PEOPLE.
God spoke to those who are witnesses of His faithfulness through His Word, that was written down by men MOVED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT. Everything you and I need to know that pertains to life and godliness is revealed in His word. Notice that we are hearing what God speaks to us because WE KNOW HIM. And because we know Him, we take His word for what it says. We can hear God speak to us through His word.
Warning: A witness hears God speak and as accepted a FUNDAMENTAL TRUTH:
God’s way is better than my way;
God’s truth is better than my truth;
God’s promises are better than my promises;
God’s word is better than my ideas.
We have plenty of examples in the Bible alone of witnesses whose confidence in God and His promises was unshakable.
These witnesses:
• Refused to be deceived by their 5 senses. Their confidence was not in what they could see, taste, touch, hear or smell.
• Refused to put any confidence in the latest news reports.
• Refused to give up when the promises of God did not come to pass immediately for they knew God is faithful.
Moved by the Holy Spirit, they believed that God is 100% trustworthy. His timing is always perfect. In other words; seeing is not believing. This is a lie from the enemy of our soul.
During Noah’s time nearly all people were drugged one the fumes of their egos. Wickedness has become the number one, all-consuming human addiction. So, Noah was listening to God. Noah also had an unshakable confidence in what he heard from God. Noah’s faith in God was uncontaminated. But such faith needs to be tested. And surely, Noah’s faith, Noah’s confidence in God’s Promises would soon be challenged. By whom? By God!
Noah’s acceptance of this mission proved one thing beyond a shadow of doubt. This man had an unshakable confidence in God.
This was not a weekend project, or something he worked on in his spare time or in the evenings. No one to hire, no power tools, no chainsaws, no sawmills, no cranes, no Menard’s or Lowe’s. It took 120 YEARS to build. He did not give up. What a witness of God’s faithfulness.
Are you fully convinced of the faithfulness of the promises of God for your life? Remember, the promises of God are just as faithful, just as powerful, just as reliable and just as true as they were in the days of Noah or the days of Peter. If you have heard him speak to you today and have an unshakable confidence in God you are a witness of God’s faithfulness, moved by the Holy Spirit to bring glory and honor to God alone.

WRESTLING with God

The life of Jacob covers HALF OF THE BOOK OF GENESIS. His birth is recorded in chapter 25 and his death is recorded in chapter 49. What we find between those two chapters are quite amazing stories about this man and the struggles he faced, because they are all pointing towards the struggles our forefathers faced and reveal the struggles or strongholds which we face today. Certainly, studying this man’s life will give us plenty of insight how NOT TO DO CERTAIN THINGS, and HOW TO DO CERTAIN THINGS IN LIFE.
God reveals Himself to Jacob and reaffirms the covenant He made with Abraham, Jacobs grandfather, promising Jacob that his offspring will be many and that the Promised Land will one day belong to his descendants. In this dream, Jacob sees something like a ladder or a stairway leading up to heaven. The Hebrew word translated “ladder” is SULLAM which simply means a connection between God and man.
What an encouragement to all of us who have been justified through faith in the work of God Himself through His only begotten son, Jesus Christ, who has become our ladder to heaven. Even after we became children of God, running from trouble, trying to ignore our strongholds, God comes along with a great encouragement, reminding us of the promises made long ago to our forefathers, reminding us that His promises and His covenant with us cannot be negated.
Jacob found out how the universal law of sowing and reaping is working its way through his life. He did not know that he had a stronghold of lying and deceiving, until he had to be on the receiving end of it. You see, our very own strongholds are not admitted as such until we are on the receiving end of it. Until someone else does the same thing to us and all of a sudden we can feel the pain, the hurt, the disappointment.
Jacob was still dealing and wheeling. Anxious for his life, he came up with the idea to bribe his brother with gifts of a caravan of goodies. He hoped he can pacify his brother. Once everything he could do was done, finally Jacob was physically exhausted and alone in the wilderness. He feared for his life. He was convinced that he would face death after the messengers he sent out came back to Jacob saying: We came to your brother Esau, and he also is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him. At this moment Jacob realized that he is powerless to control his fate. With his father-in-law behind him and Esau before him, he was now too spent to struggle any longer. In the process, Jacob the deceiver received a new name, ISRAEL. But that is not all. The most important part of this struggle comes at the end. It was when God wrestled with Jacob that Jacob’s stronghold was taken down and demolished. And it was after his stronghold was demolished that GOD BLESSED HIM.
“… Jacob’s divine encounter at the Jabbok River was a magnificent defeat of the human soul at the hands of God.” Frederick Buechner

Before You Is An Open Door

Revelation 3:7-13 1. This church receives A UNIQUE DESCRIPTION OF JESUS’ CHARACTER Revelation 3:7 He who is HOLY Revelation 3:7a; Revelation 4:8; Mark 1:21-28 He who is TRUE Revelation 3:7b; John 14:6 He who HAS THE KEY OF DAVID Revelation 3:7c; Luke 11:52; Matthew 16:13-19; John 18:36 Ephesians 2:19-22; Galatians 2:9 Isaiah 28:16; 1 Peter 2:4-6 2. This church receives A UNIQUE…

Wake Up!

This is the 5th letter to one of the churches in Asia Minor. Church historians believe that the Sardis church represents the church age of the Reformation. The most prominent figures of that time are Martin Luther and John Calvin. However, during this period of church history, smaller groups, mostly rejected and persecuted, were the real Biblical churches walking in fundamental Christianity.
When Jesus said to Sardis that they have a reputation that they are alive, BUT HE SAYS THEY ARE DEAD, He simply states that they have the right creed, the perfect statement of faith, BUT NO HOLY SPIRIT that gives life.
The Holy Spirit is not in charge of the political system of any state or government. He is in charge of the church of Jesus Christ, made up of born again Believers, blood washed sinners who opened the door to their hearts and invited Jesus Christ to be their savior.
Notice in Revelation 3:3b: AND I WILL NOT BLOT OUT HIS NAME FROM THE BOOK OF LIFE; but I will ….
This is not a threat coming from Jesus own lips, but to the contrary, a PROMISE that those who have life, whose names are written in the book of life, are safe and sound. Because they sit in the midst of non believers in the visible church, their names are not removed from the book of life.

What Do You Long For?

What about those who call themselves followers of Jesus, people who have been transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit and who want to follow the Lord wherever he goes, what is their deepest desire?
Of all the people who received an inheritance in the Promised Land, Caleb was the only one to completely drive out the enemy. And remember, it was Caleb who faced some of the most formidable enemies in the entire land. GIANTS WHERE LIVING THERE. Caleb had the longing to live where God promised him he would live one day. His longing was stronger than his physical limitations. Caleb longed to have fellowship and communion with God and God’s people. Caleb never longed for the approval of man, but he longed for the approval of God. He was not afraid of what the consequences would be if he longed for God’s approval and therefore would lose most friendships.

The Lord Will Provide

Faith provided by God does not demand explanations; instead, faith provided by God rests on God’s promises. When we do ask God for explanations, we reveal that we really don’t know ourselves as good as we should, and we certainly do not know God as well as we should. Like Abraham, we have to learn to live by promises, not by explanations. Abraham did not know HOW God would do it, or WHY God would do what He did, or WHEN God would do it, BUT HE BELIEVED GOD that whatever needed to be done, GOD WOULD PROVIDE. There are lessons to be learned, and one of them is that WHEN GOD WANTS TO PROVIDE OUR NEEDS, many times we must face the test alone. IT IS ONLY THEN THAT WE CAN SEE WHAT OUR HEAVENLY FATHER REALLY CAN DO FOR US.

God Keeps His Promises

Sarah’s faith was not placed in the promise, but in THE ONE WHO IS FAITHFUL; GOD HIMSELF. Abraham and Sarah made some mistakes, they had some occasional failures in trusting God all the way. However, both of them endured to the end BECAUSE THE BELIEVED GOD. When Isaac finally arrived as promised, ABRAHAM AND SARAH SAW GOD’S POWER AT WORK. Ishmael was an obedient son, UNTIL ISAAC entered the family. It was then when the “flesh” began to oppose “the Spirit”. God gave them the fleshly blessings, the black oil which lubricates the world’s economy.
Isaac, however, received the spiritual blessing, the Holy Spirit, which is symbolized in the Bible with OIL. According to Galatians 4:21-31 Sarah represents grace, (the heavenly Jerusalem) and Hagar represents Law (the earthly Jerusalem under bondage). In other words, law and grace cannot live peacefully together. God’s children, born of the Spirit are to live under the blessings of grace and not the bondage of the law. Hagar gave birth to a slave. Ishmael was a slave. If you decide to live under the law, then you become a child of Hagar, a slave; for the law produces bondage and not freedom.