(#069) 1 Corinthians 14 - At the Cross, the Lord Jesus Christ Obliterated Your InadequaciesIs the Creator really smaller than your problems?
Welcome To BARAH MINISTRIES a Christian Church
Rory Clark Pastor-Teacher
Good Morning!
Welcome to Barah Ministries…an intimate, local Christian Church with worldwide impact. My name is Pastor Rory Clark. Welcome to this Bible lesson!
Who is Jesus Christ? At Barah Ministries we know this truth…that Jesus Christ is God. Not only is Jesus Christ God, but also He claimed that He is God in John, Chapter 10, Verse 30…
JOHN 10:30 “I (the Lord Jesus Christ) and God the Father are one (the exact same in essence and nature).”
He’s either telling the truth or lying. You have to judge His veracity for yourself.
At Barah Ministries we know these truths…the Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Son of Man…He is the God-Man…He is the Sovereign God of the Universe…He is the Jewish Messiah…He is the Savior of the whole world. In the world, it's not what you know…it's who you know. It's the same in Christianity…and who believers know is the CHRIST!
Why does Barah Ministries exist? At Barah Ministries, we make a difference by teaching the Word of God, verse-by-verse, from God’s perspective and not from man’s perspective. We are Christians and we have a deep, intimate, and personal relationship with the Lord. In Second Timothy, Chapter 2, Verse 15, the apostle Paul encourages us believers to…
SECOND TIMOTHY 2:15 Keep on being diligent to show yourselves approved by God the Father as workmen who do not need to be ashamed…accurately handling the Word of Truth.
We ask you to always compare what is taught here at Barah Ministries to what the Bible says. That’s not just an invitation, it’s a responsibility!
Who is God’s enemy? It’s Satan, whom God made ‘the ruler of this world.’ In John, Chapter 12, Verse 31, the Lord says…
JOHN 12:31 “Now judgment is upon this world…now the ruler of this world (Satan) will be cast out (he will be dethroned at a future time).”
Satan is a creature. He is not a “symbol of evil.” He is not a concept. He isn’t a cartoon character with a red epidermis and a pitchfork as some people claim. He is a brilliant, perfect, gorgeous, well-dressed, former officer angel genius. Satan deceives the whole world, including you and me. Satan’s purpose is to ruin your life. He clouds the minds of unbelievers so they don’t get to know God and so they don’t see the power of His gospel message. Second Corinthians, Chapter 4, Verses 3 and 4…
SECOND CORINTHIANS 4:3 And even if our gospel is veiled, and of course it is, it is veiled to those who are perishing (unbelievers)…
SECOND CORINTHIANS 4:4 …in whose case the god of this world (Satan) has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they will not see the light of the gospel of the glory of the Christ…who is the image of God the Father.
Satan interferes with the believer’s chance to become intimate with God by distracting us during the study of the Word of God. If not for God’s protective power, all mankind would be defenseless against him.
THE LORD’S SUPPER CELEBRATION At the Cross, the Lord Jesus Christ Obliterated Your Inadequacies
LESSON INTRODUCTION
What does it mean to obliterate?
OBLITERATE To destroy so thoroughly that there is no trace of anything left
I have former friends and estranged relatives who have obliterated the trust between us. They have so destroyed the trust that there is not one spec of trust left, where it seems there is no way to resurrect it. Even as I offer them God-gifted unconditional love, forgiveness, and grace, I can’t see a path back to a relationship…EVER. I see no possibility.
What is inadequacy?
INADEQUACY Complete ineptness…an inability to generate success…an insufficient effort…work not good enough to produce the desired result
If you’re honest, you have a feeling of inadequacy every day. No matter how hard you try, on some things you can’t ever seem to get them to go your way.
In today’s lesson, you’re going to learn about the biggest problem in your life. What do you imagine that it is? Is it inadequacy? Hardly. It’s that GOD ISN’T BIG ENOUGH FOR YOU. Every day, at some point in the day, we insult God by making Him too small to handle our problems. As we look to the Cross, and see Him hanging there, not only do we forget what He did there…we forget for whom He did it…YOU. Today you’ll get a reminder which I hope rattles you to your very core, the same as it did for me as I reflected on God’s message to us this week.
SONG INTRODUCTION
How does the Lord see you? Many ways…among them, the description in Colossians, Chapter 1, Verses 21 and 22…
COLOSSIANS 1:21 And although you believers in Christ were formerly alienated and hostile in mind (when you were unbelievers)…engaged in evil deeds…
COLOSSIANS 1:22 …yet the Lord Jesus Christ has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death (on a Cross), in order to present you before God the Father holy and blameless and beyond reproach—
It doesn’t matter how you believers in Christ see yourselves. What matters is how the Lord sees you! At the Cross, as MercyMe sings, the Lord made you how He sees you…FLAWLESS!
MUSIC AND REFLECTION Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ Enjoy the Singing of His Praises
FLAWLESS MercyMe
MUSIC AND REFLECTION Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ Enjoy the Singing of His Praises
FLAWLESS MercyMe
OPENING PRAYER Let us pray...
We’re grateful, Heavenly Father, for the privilege of studying Your absolute truth...the Word of God…
Father, thank you for this ministry You have trusted us with…thank you for bringing us into Your presence on a regular basis so we can hear Your thinking…thank you for giving us Your perspective…than you for loaning us Your power whenever we need it…thank you for providing God the Holy Spirit as a guide who leads us into the truth and who helps us hear Your Word…this Holy Spirit whom You have given to us as a pledge of our inheritance in union with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ…
Father, it’s obvious that our thinking is too small…it’s obvious that we constrict ourselves…we live in little boxes and we dumb down our possibilities into what we think is manageable form…help us to think as big as You do…help us to take advantage of how big You are …remind us that there is nothing You can’t accomplish…overwhelm us with Your divine power…show us how to use Your power, both for ourselves and others…
…we ask this through the power of God the Holy Spirit…in Christ's name...Amen.
THE LORD’S SUPPER CELEBRATION At the Cross, the Lord Jesus Christ Obliterated Your Inadequacies
Welcome to The Lord’s Supper Celebration, the most intimate expression of our deep, intimate, and loving personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. In this celebration, the Lord reminds us of the unity all believers in Christ possess by sharing His body and His blood with us. In First Corinthians, Chapter 11, Verse 26, the apostle Paul says, on behalf of the Lord…
FIRST CORINTHIANS 11:26 …as often as you eat this bread (representing His body)…and as often as you drink this cup (representing His blood)…as part of the Lord's Supper Celebration…you proclaim as a reality and you announce the significance of the Lord Jesus Christ's death on the Cross…and His resurrection from the dead…until He comes again at the second coming.
Every month, we celebrate The Lord's Supper to REMEMBER. We REMEMBER that we are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, dependent on Him for our so great salvation; we REMEMBER that we believers in Christ are in union with Christ and we can't get out of our union with Him; we REMEMBER that the Lord loves us unconditionally; we REMEMBER that we are forgiven for every sin we commit…past, present, and future; and we REMEMBER that we have the Lord's grace to help in times of need, especially when we make mistakes.
The Lord's Supper Celebration is often called communion. It's our chance to commune with the Lord. It's a sacred celebration, so it's not something we take for granted and it's not something we do "on the fly." It's a time to have bread and wine in front of us, and as we enjoy the elements, we remember how much we count on the Lord Jesus Christ, both for physical and spiritual sustenance.
During the Lord's Supper Celebration, when we look back to the Cross for a moment, WE REMEMBER even more. We REMEMBER how the Lord rescued us from the kingdom of darkness…we REMEMBER the sacrifice of His shedding blood to cover our sins…we REMEMBER the deliverance to the resurrection life He orchestrated, bringing us into His kingdom of light. During the Lord's Supper Celebration, Jesus wants His believers to look forward as well, in ANTICIPATION that He IS coming again.
As we celebrate The Lord's Supper, we ask ourselves in reflection, "What did the Lord Jesus Christ do for us at the Cross?" This month we acknowledge that at the Cross, the Lord Jesus Christ obliterated your inadequacies.
Recently, I asked a friend, “How big is God?” I don’t know if I was unclear or if she misunderstood the question. She asked, “What do you mean?” I encouraged her to answer. She said, “He’s very big in my life.” She misunderstood the question because I was unclear.
I wasn’t really asking a question. I was making a statement. DO YOU REALLY KNOW HOW BIG GOD IS? We don’t! If we did, we would NEVER feel inadequate. I have a friend who always feels inadequate. He reflects obsessively on the mistakes he has made in life. He is obsessed with the past. This is a man for whom God would do anything he asks, yet while he is busy telling His inadequacy story to himself over and over again, he uses up the time he could be dedicating to asking God in prayer for anything he wants. God is BIG ENOUGH to do anything for him…and the funny thing is, God wants to do it all for him…for you…for me…but in our minds, God isn’t big enough for us. I’m sure my friend is the only one of us that experiences this, right? NOT!
Let’s think about how big God is…Genesis, Chapter 1, Verse 1…
GENESIS 1:1 In the beginning, God (the Son…Jehovah Elohim) created the heavens and the earth.
God is big enough to create the entire universe and to sit on its throne. How big is God? He created everything in the universe including YOU! He started it all with angelic creatures. As the Lord created a perfect heaven and a perfect earth, because everything He does is perfect, His perfect creatures looked on in amazement as He snapped His finger to create the universe…Job, Chapter 38, Verse 7…
JOB 38:7 …when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God (the angels…the beneha Elohim) shouted for joy?
How big is God? There is no one who is adequate but He. This is the God loves YOU. The funny thing is, “God loves you” doesn’t resonate to the core of your very being. Why? SIN.
Because we SIN, we adopt a sense of inadequacy. We imagine that God feels the same way about us that we feel about ourselves. He doesn’t. But in imagining that God looks at us as inadequate, we make God small…too small to handle our inadequacies. Imagine the first sin committed in the universe…Satan’s SIN…Ezekiel, Chapter 28, Verse 15…
EZEKIEL 28:15 “You (Satan) were blameless in your ways from the day you were created until unrighteousness was found in you.”
It was the sin that was heard around the entire universe. When it occurred, God was pissed…so pissed, he shut down the universe. Genesis, Chapter 1, Verse 2…
GENESIS 1:2 …but the earth became formless and void…
God’s WRATH. Can you imagine having God mad at you? It looks like this…Jeremiah, Chapter 4, Verses 23 to 27…
JEREMIAH 4:23 I (Jeremiah) looked on the earth, and behold, the earth had become formless and void…and I looked to the heavens, and they had no light.
JEREMIAH 4:24 And I looked on the mountains, and behold, they were quaking…and all the hills moved to and fro.
JEREMIAH 4:25 I looked, and behold, there was no man…and all the birds of the heavens had fled.
JEREMIAH 4:26 I looked, and behold, the once fruitful land was a wilderness…and all its cities were pulled down before the Lord…before His fierce anger.
JEREMIAH 4:27 For thus says the Lord, “The whole land shall be a desolation…yet I will not execute a complete destruction.”
How big is God? He’s big enough for second chances! He is so big that nothing and no one can stop Him. So, what did God do with His fierce anger…His WRATH…when He realized that Satan, and every creature following him, including YOU…would duplicate Satan’s error…SIN? Ephesians, Chapter 2, Verse 1…
EPHESIANS 2:1 At physical birth, all mankind was born spiritually dead in your trespasses and sins…
First Corinthians, Chapter 15, Verse 22 says…
FIRST CORINTHIANS 15:22a For all in union with Adam at physical birth (and that is every human who comes to earth) are set to die the second death in the Lake of Fire…
What did God do when He realized your inadequacy? This God who is SO BIG had a design for the universe…this God who is SO BIG had a plan for all creatures, angelic and human…this God who is SO BIG has a personal plan with YOU right in the middle of it. He designed a way to obliterate your inadequacies. And every day, you insult Him, by forgetting how Big He is. When we return from the break, we’ll enjoy the elements, and then we’ll see what God’s bigness has done for you.
FIVE MINUTE BREAK NOBODY Casting Crowns
THE LORD’S SUPPER CELEBRATION At the Cross, the Lord Jesus Christ Obliterated Your Inadequacies
In a drought-stricken community in the Midwest, a group of farmers attended an auction for a chance to bid on a set of what were called “magic” seeds. The seeds were rumored to have been tested in other drought-stricken communities, and allegedly they yielded a crop one hundred times the normal crop. The farmers were chomping at the bit to get their hands on these seeds if they were to have any chance for a great harvest this year. The farmer who won the bid was ecstatic. He and his wife rushed home with the seeds. The farmer promptly put the seeds in a safe and he didn’t plant them.
Isn’t that often the way we handle our finances? Rather than being good stewards of the Lord’s financial blessings, distributing them generously, often we hoard our financial blessings, gripped with the fear that the Lord somehow isn’t big enough to replenish them. Where is the faith? Here’s the Lord’s promise in Matthew, Chapter 19, Verse 29…
MATTHEW 19:29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or farms for My name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold as much…and will inherit the resurrection life (eternal life).
That’s what the apostles thought. They were wealthy men who “gave up” their fortunes to follow the Lord. The underestimated the BIGNESS of the Lord.
Please give generously at the offering and watch an already generous God’s BIG response back to you! Let’s welcome up Deacon Denny Goodall with one of his always inspiring offering messages.
THE OFFERING Deacon Denny Goodall
OFFERING VERSE
ECCLESIASTES 7:12 Wisdom is protection just as money is protection…but the advantage of wisdom is that it preserves the lives of its possessors.
OFFERING SONG THERE IS NONE LIKE YOU Don Moen
THE LORD'S SUPPER CELEBRATION Enjoying the Lord's Supper Elements
Bread and wine. The Lord gave us these things to remember Him. We will enjoy the elements together in a few moments as we listen to The Lord’s Supper Song.
Obeying our Lord's command, we keep on celebrating Christ regularly…we eat bread to remember who He is as a PERSON... the One and ONLY Sovereign God of the Universe…we drink wine to remember His WORK on the Cross…the voluntary sacrifice He made to deliver us from sovereignty to sin. We remember with gratitude what God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ have done to save us. Luke, Chapter 22, Verses 14 to 16…
LUKE 22:14 When the hour came (and His crucifixion was set for the next day)…Jesus reclined at the table…and the apostles reclined with Him.
RECLINING AT THE TABLE SLIDE
LUKE 22:15-16 And Jesus said to them, "I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer…for I say to you, I shall not eat it again until all that it means is fulfilled in the kingdom of God."
Luke, Chapter 22, Verses 19 to 23…
LUKE 22:19 And when Jesus had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body, which is being broken for you…keep on doing this in remembrance of Me."
LUKE 22:20 And in the same way, Jesus took the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup, which is poured out for you, is the new covenant in My blood."
Jesus continued the celebration, pointing out that He has an enemy…
LUKE 22:21 "But behold, the hand of the one betraying Me is with Mine on the table."
LUKE 22:22 "For indeed, the Son of Man is going (back to the Father) as it has been Determined…but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed!"
LUKE 22:23 And the apostles began to debate among themselves which one of them it was who was going to do this.
As believers in Christ, we have chosen not to betray our Lord. Instead, we choose to obey our Lord with this celebration. Let's keep on eating this bread…let's keep on drinking this cup…and let's do both to REMEMBER the Lord. Let this celebration encourage our hearts and our minds, filling us with awe and reverence and gratitude. Let's keep on being transformed by the Lord's life…His death…His burial…His resurrection from the dead… His ascension to God the Father…His seating at the Majesty's right hand…and by the nourishment we get from His Word, which feeds our souls. Let’s never forget how BIG the Lord is.
SONG INTRODUCTION
Everything concerning you is personal to God…that’s what it means when we hear JESUS LOVES ME. Here’s Chris Tomlin…
LORD’S SUPPER SONG JESUS LOVES ME Chris Tomlin
THE LORD’S SUPPER CELEBRATION At the Cross, the Lord Jesus Christ Obliterated Your Inadequacies
How big is God? Your problems are not too big for God. When you were dead in your trespasses and sins…when He was so pissed that all He could see was wrath…He simultaneously developed a plan to get you out of your predicament. The Cross. That’s what we celebrate today.
When you think about your life, what is the biggest problem facing you today? We have a tendency to make our problems global or societal… poverty…hunger…politics…global warming…the national debt…COVID-19…race. Our problems really are personal …finances…health… time… marriage…family…relationships…career. When you think about your life, what is the biggest problem facing you today? Are you adequate to fix it? Of course not, especially if your problem is big enough.
The bigness of God is directed at YOU! God is big enough to handle your sins for you at the Cross. God is big enough to conquer your own physical death for you. God is big enough to provide everything you have. God is big enough to protect you from unseen forces that are conspiring against you. What is it EXACTLY is going on in your life that is too big for this God who hung on a Cross for you? Romans, Chapter 8, Verse 28…
ROMANS 8:28 And we know that God the Father causes all things to work together for good to those who love God the Father, to those who are called according to the Father’s purpose.
To God, your life is like a cake. All the pieces of the cake, if tasted separately, are pretty distasteful. The flour, the eggs, the vanilla extract, the butter are like the inadequacies in your life. Eaten separately, they are gross! God mixes them all together and the resulting cake is pretty tasty.
At the Cross, the Lord OBLITERATED all of your inadequacies. We insult the Lord when we choose not to be our best selves. Second Corinthians, Chapter 5, Verse 17…
SECOND CORINTHIANS 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in union with Christ, and all believers are, he is a new creation…the old things passed away…behold, new things have come.
Your inadequacies were nailed to the Cross of Christ. How big is Christ? Are you willing to let Him be big enough to solve your little problems? If not, misery! Romans, Chapter 7, Verse 15…
ROMANS 7:15 For what I am doing (in my outer game), I do not understand…for I am not practicing (in my outer game) what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate (to do…I am not living the REAL inner game…the spiritual inner game…which is what I want to do).
Paul is obsessing with his inadequacies. You, too? Maybe it’s time to really reflect on these thoughts. Romans, Chapter 8, Verse 1…
ROMANS 8:1 Therefore (all these things at the end of ROMANS 7 being the case, we need to remember that...) there is now NO CONDEMNATION for those who are IN UNION WITH CHRIST JESUS.
Romans, Chapter 8, Verses 31 and 32…
ROMANS 8:31 What then shall we believers in Christ say face-to-face with all these things? If God the Father is FOR us believers in Christ, and He is, who is ever going to be successful in opposition against us?
ROMANS 8:32 God the Father, who did not spare His own Son (the Lord Jesus Christ), but delivered Him over for us all, how will the Father not also, with our union with Christ, freely give us all things?
How big is God? God the Father satisfied His own wrath when He was pissed at you by sending His Son to die for you….for YOU…by name… PERSONALLY. The Lord’s work at the Cross on your behalf OBLITERATED your inadequacies. Isn’t it time for you to agree with Him, by discontinuing your obsession with your inadequacies…things God does not count against you…instead thinking constantly about how God really sees you? In God’s eyes you are FLAWLESS! Colossians, Chapter 1, Verses 21 and 22…
COLOSSIANS 1:21 And although you believers in Christ were formerly alienated and hostile in mind (when you were unbelievers)…engaged in evil deeds…
COLOSSIANS 1:22 …yet the Lord Jesus Christ has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death (on a Cross), in order to present you before God the Father holy and blameless and beyond reproach—
I think it’s time to realize that your inadequacies are no longer an issue. I think it’s time to live the life of royalty.
GOD WANTS YOU! Make the Most Important Decision of Your Life
Where you spend eternity matters to God because YOU matter to God. He wants you to be saved! In John, Chapter 4, Verses 13 and 14, the Lord Jesus Christ is talking to a woman at a well…a Samaritan woman whom the Jews wanted nothing to do with. After a brief introduction, the Lord says to the woman…
JOHN 4:13 “Everyone who drinks of the water in this well will thirst again…”
JOHN 4:14 “…but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him (the water of the Word…the gospel message) shall never thirst…but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to the resurrection life.”
It is the Lord’s will for you to live with Him in heaven forever when you close your eyes in this life. First Timothy, Chapter 2, Verses 3 and 4 say…
FIRST TIMOTHY 2:3 This is what is good and acceptable in the sight of the God who is our Savior…the Lord Jesus Christ…
FIRST TIMOTHY 2:4 …who desires all men to be saved and who desires for all men to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Is religion the way to be saved? Is religion the truth? Billions of people in this world are part of religions. Many of them believe that religion and its rituals are their ticket into heaven. They embrace religious beliefs that tell them how to live a spiritual life. The religion claims either that there is a god…or there are many gods…but the religion does not discuss how to have a personal relationship with god.
In fact, religions propose that if you don’t do everything their god expects that he will be quite disappointed….and regardless of your best efforts to follow the religious rituals…which you CAN’T and you DON’T…the religion does not GUARANTEE that following its rituals will get you into heaven. Ther eis doubt. But God is not a God of confusion.
Christianity is NOT a religion…it is a relationship with The Lord Jesus Christ…a relationship that saves you. The truth the Lord wants you to know is how to be saved…how to get to heaven when you close your eyes in this life, and He sent me to tell you about it.
Getting to heaven when you close your eyes in this life is as simple as a nine-word conversation with God the Father…Luke, Chapter 23, Verses 42 and 43…
LUKE 23:42 And a thief being crucified next to Jesus was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom!”
LUKE 23:43 And Jesus said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”
Just a nine-word conversation with God can get you to heaven…Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom. Or if you prefer…it’s a five-word conversation with God the Father … “Father…I believe in Christ.” Simply believe…which means taking God’s word for what it takes to be saved…and that is the moment of eternal life for you.
Who is this God who saves you? The apostle Paul describes the Lord Jesus Christ in First Corinthians, Chapter 15, Verses 3 and 4…
FIRST CORINTHIANS 15:3 For I (Paul) delivered to you as of first importance the gospel message I also received … that it was Jesus Christ who died for our sins according to the Scriptures…
FIRST CORINTHIANS 15:4 …and that He was buried…and that He was raised from the dead on the third day…according to the Scriptures…
If you reject the relationship offer the Lord Jesus Christ makes to you, He will honor your rejection…Matthew, Chapter 13, Verses 49 and 50…
MATTHEW 13:49 So it will be at the end of the age…the elect angels will come forth and take out the wicked (a description of unbelievers) from among the righteous (believers in Christ) ...
MATTHEW 13:50 …and will throw the wicked into the furnace of fire…and in that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
On the other hand, once the Lord saves you, no matter how hard you try, you cannot lose your salvation…John, Chapter 10, Verse 28 says…
JOHN 10:28 “…I (the Lord Jesus Christ) give eternal life to believers in Christ, and they will never perish…and no one will snatch them out of My hand.”
Anyone who tells you that you can lose your salvation is lying to you. So, follow the advice of Acts, Chapter 16, Verse 31…
ACTS 16:31 “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and everyone in your household who also believes.”
It’s not religion that gets you to heaven…it’s relationship…relationship with the one and only Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Have that conversation with Him right now and you will be saved!
SONG INTRODUCTION
When you purchase something, you own it. The Lord Jesus Christ purchased us with His blood! You were bought with a price! Peter says it well in First Peter, Chapter 1, Verses 18 and 19…
FIRST PETER 1:18 …you believers in Christ were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from the futile way of life inherited from your forefathers…
FIRST PETER 1:19 …you were redeemed with precious blood…as of a lamb unblemished and spotless…the blood of Christ.
That’s how important YOU are to God. Here’s June Murphy to sing about our REDEEMER.
CLOSING SONG REDEEMER June Murphy
CLOSING VERSES
A Doxology of Praise to Our God
PHILIPPIANS 4:6 Stop worrying about anything…instead, in everything by prayer and petition with an attitude of thanksgiving…let your requests be made known to God the Father.
PHILIPPIANS 4:7 And the peace of God the Father, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds (flooding your souls with peace)…you who are in union with Christ Jesus.
JUDE 1:24 Now to Jesus Christ…the One who is able to keep you from stumbling…and the One who is able to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy…
JUDE 1:25 …to the only God…our Savior…through our union with Jesus Christ our Lord…be glory…majesty…dominion…and authority…before all time…and now…and forever. Amen.
CLOSING PRAYER Let us pray...
Thanks for coming! Thanks for watching! Thanks for listening!
PRAYER
LUKE 11:9-13 “So I (the Lord Jesus Christ) say to you, keep on asking, and it will be given to you…keep on seeking, and you will find…keep on knocking, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives…and everyone who seeks, finds…and for everyone who knocks, it will be opened. Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish…you wouldn’t give him a snake instead of a fish, would you? Or if your son asked for an egg, you will not give him a scorpion, will you? If you then, being evil, and we know you are, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the greatest gift…the spiritual gift of God the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”
The Word of God contains a series of promises.
In the promises, God reveals what He is willing to do for us.
When God makes promises, He puts His reputation on the line.
God expects us to be bold and ridiculous with our prayer requests…to take advantage of His bigness…for the sake of ourselves and others.
God certainly answers prayers because of His concern for us and for our friends…yet He also answers prayers because His integrity and His good name are on the line.
Since God considers our problems to be His responsibility, prayer is the perfect forum in which to turn over our problems to a God who can handle them.
Prayer is the difference between what we can do and what God can do.
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