The Bible speaks of two kingdoms, the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light. Every person is in one of those kingdoms or the other. No one can straddle the fence. Those two kingdoms are in conflict. There is a battle raging between these two kingdoms that has gone on since man was created.
What does that have to do with you? Whether we like it or not, you and I are trapped in the war zone between these two kingdoms. In fact, we are either on one side or the other. …
Medical science has made many advances in recent years. Largely because of those advances, the average life span has steadily increased and now stands at 78. People working in the medical field have found cures for many diseases and influenced the world for good. It would be unthinkable for a medical researcher to find a cure for a fatal disease and then not tell anyone about it. When you find a cure that will help others, you do everything you can to let others know about that cure. …
The New Year is a great time to look back on 2009 and look forward to 2010. If you look at the news headlines, they tend to look back on the economic difficulties of 2009 and say that the outlook for 2010 will be brighter. Maybe, maybe not. Although finances are important, they are not the most important thing in life.
The most important thing in life is your relationship with God. If your relationship is on track and growing, then everything else in life will fall into place, including your finances. However, if your relationship with God is stagnating or deteriorating, then you’ll have problems with the rest of life as well.
Psalm 90:12 (NIV) Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
To number your days aright is to analyze your days in light of your relationship with God. To look back at 2009 and ahead to 2010 in light of God is to have a heart of wisdom.
Today, we begin a new message series called “Five Foundations for Life.” To start off the New Year, we’re going to look at the five foundation stones of that God’s Word lays out for our lives. As we study these foundational principles, remember to look back at how you applied them in 2009. You see, it’s not enough just to say, I’ve heard that before.
The principles of God’s Word must be applied to your life in order for you to be blessed. How did you do in 2009? No matter how well you did, there’s always room to improve and grow in 2010. In January, we’re going to discuss a different foundational principle every week.
Today, we’re going to look at “Powerful Prayer.” Prayer is a foundational principle of the Christian life. You cannot grow in the Christian life without prayer. You can’t accomplish what God wants you to accomplish without prayer. However, although prayer is good, not all prayer is equally effective.
James 5:16b (NIV) The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
Some prayer is weak and ineffective. Ineffective prayer doesn’t receive answers from God. Powerful and effective prayer receives answers from God. Powerful prayer comes through righteous people, people who are living 100% for God. The reason is that prayer is two-way communication with God. Prayer is really simply talking with God, getting to know God better, building your relationship with God.
Listen to my January 3, 2010 message “Powerful Prayer” (message-notes).
There are two basic ways to look at tomorrow. The first way to look at tomorrow is with worry and fear. We let our minds race over what possibly could go wrong in the future. When we look at tomorrow with worry and fear, we are expecting tomorrow to be worse than today. God does not want us to look at tomorrow with worry and fear.
The second way to look at tomorrow is hope and faith. Our minds think about the dreams we have for a good tomorrow, both for ourselves and our church family. Hope dreams of a tomorrow that is better than our todays. Faith looks for a tomorrow in which dreams are fulfilled. God wants you to look at tomorrow with hope. Which way are you looking at tomorrow, with worry or with hope?
We’re going to see that paradoxically, the key to looking to the future with hope is looking to the past with thanksgiving. The difficulty in facing tomorrow is that tomorrow is full of challenges and the unknown. Unknown challenges can be scary. Will you be up to the challenge or will it be too big for you?
How can you deal with the challenges of the future? We might call the challenges of the future the giants that we must face. When you are called on to face a giant, it’s easy to be terrified. However, God wants you to face giants and challenges with hope and faith. The message today can be applied to challenges that you may be facing in your own life and family. Likewise, the principles we’re going to talk about today can also be applied to the challenges that our church will face in the future.
Let’s look at a story from the Old Testament found in 1 Samuel 17. I’d encourage you to read the chapter this week. In this chapter, the army of Israel was facing the Philistine army when out of their ranks emerged a giant of a man named Goliath. He challenged anyone in the Israel army to fight him alone. Goliath was over 9 feet tall and a strong warrior. How would you like to face Goliath in hand to hand combat?
1 Samuel 17:11 (NIV) On hearing the Philistine’s words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.
However, there was one Israelite who was not dismayed or terrified at the thought of fighting Goliath. His name was David. Here’s what he said.
1 Samuel 17:32 (NIV) David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.”
King Saul replied to David.
1 Samuel 17:33 (NIV) Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a boy, and he has been a fighting man from his youth.”
How could a boy have the courage to face a monumental challenge like Goliath without fear? How could David have the faith to face a fearful tomorrow? We’re going to look at how David thought about his challenge to learn how we can meet our own challenges.
Listen to my October 4, 2009 message “Looking Back With Thanksgiving” (message notes).
The Bible tells us that God has marked out a path or track that each person should follow in life. Following God’s path for your life is the best possible way that you can life your life. Unfortunately, a lot of people have never found God’s path for their life or they have left God’s path. The writer of Hebrews, likens our journey through life as a race.
Hebrews 12:1 (NIV) Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
According to this verse, there are things that can hinder you in the race of life. There is sin than can entangle you and get your life totally off track. God has given each person a sense of whether their life is on track with Him or not. However, if you are off God’s track long enough, your sense of right and wrong may be permanently warped. God’s Word provides the standard to determine whether you are on track with God or not.
How can you get your life back on track? The answer is through confession and commitment. When God convicts you of sin in your life, it is a good thing. The proper response is to confess that sin to God and make a commitment with God’s help to stay on track. Biblical repentance involves a turning away from sin through confession and a turning toward God through commitment. God is in the life change business, but you’ve got to cooperate with Him in order to see your life get back on track.
All too often, people pray and ask for God to change their dire circumstances, when those very circumstances are the direct result of sin in their lives. God won’t answer those prayers until there is confession and commitment. That’s what it takes to get your life back on track.
Listen to my July 26, 2009 message “Confession and Commitment” based on Nehemiah 9-10 (message notes).
Whenever anyone makes a decision to follow Jesus and God’s plan for their life, there will be opposition. A lot of people are surprised and dismayed when following God turns out not to be the easy road they thought it was going to be. In fact, the Bible promises that when you follow Jesus, there is going to be opposition.
2 Timothy 3:12 (NIV) In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,
Notice that persecution or opposition happens to those who strive to live a godly life in Christ Jesus. Opposition is not the consequences of wrong things that you have done. If you run a red light and get a ticket, that is not persecution, it is simply reaping what you have sown. Most of the negative circumstances in believers lives in America are caused simply by failing to follow biblical principles. However, even if you are living a godly life, there will be opposition.
Who is behind the opposition? The being behind the opposition to believers carrying out God’s plan for their lives is Satan. Now, I realize that many people do not believe that Satan is a real being, but simply a symbol of evil. Nevertheless, the Bible clearly teaches that Satan is alive and well and out to destroy you and your family. Those who ignore or don’t believe in Satan’s reality or power are the ones who are most easily overtaken by him.
1 Peter 5:8 (NIV) Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
So, if you’re a believer, you’ve got a prowling enemy looking to destroy you and your family. In fact, Satan is looking to destroy everyone, not just believers. However, believers are his special target, since not only are you not going to join him in hell, but as a believer you are committed to rescuing others from his clutches.
So, how to overcome Satan’s opposition in your life? Be self-controlled. To be self-controlled is to basically keep your life under God’s control. One essential part of self-control is seeking God’s protection in prayer. Secondly, you need to be alert to what Satan is trying to do to destroy you and your family. Don’t compromise in any area of your life. Stay away from bad influences, whether people or various media. Pour yourself in living 100% for Jesus Christ, not just on Sunday, but everyday of your life.
Listen to my June 28, 2009 message “Overcoming Opposition” based on Nehemiah 4, to learn principles on overcoming Satan’s attacks in your own life (message notes).
