Inward Prayer

1. What stood out to you in this message?

2. What does God’s faithfulness look like?

3. How do you show your faith?

4. What do you do when you are lacking in faith?

5. How can you show your trust in God this week?

Outward Prayer

You Won’t Have Bad Days 

March 10, 2021 

What’s the Point? 

 Being faithful is far easier said than done and challenging situations can reveal a person’s true character. We have to realize that this is the exact reason why God wants us to remain faithful, because we are such inadequate creatures and only He can qualify us and make us adequate to do His work.  

  Word Up 

  Deuteronomy 7:9 

Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; He is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments. 

  Wake up 

Send to youtube link at this time. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mawG-s-idTQ&list=PLJ1buEe43SYe6Rif-Ryl4Qgxu5oGK-OMz&index=24 

 During this Covid season there is so much uncertainty day to day. Each day we wake up not knowing what lays ahead, who we can see, where we can go and what we can do. As we look into our daily lives, many of you are looking toward high school, in high school or finishing high school entirely. Going through this stage of life can often leave you feeling uncertain of what is in your future. You may feel stressed about a test coming up, or stressed about what high school is going to be like, or you may be in the stage of what college or career you are going to next. All these things can lead to uncertainty. But as it says in 2 Corinthians 5:7 “For we live by faith, not by sight.” Within your own strength it is easy to want to become frustrated, angry and confused on how life has looked in your past or how it may look in the future. I invite you to not lose hope, but instead to use God’s track record of faithfulness as your strength. God has specific attributes that He will continually show you that represent His faithfulness. God is a consistent provider, encourager, comforter, source of strength, and supporter.  

Why do I care
 You know being a Christian is no walk in the park. In fact, following Jesus is probably one of the hardest decisions we’ll ever have to make in our lives and Jesus never hid this from anyone. He was very blunt about it and wanted to make sure that anyone who wants to follow Him knew what they were getting themselves into. He made this very clear in Luke 9:57-62. Jesus was interacting with several individuals who wanted to follow Him, but they had other things they wanted to do first. Jesus responded to each of them the same way. He says no, whatever you have to do is not more important than me. One of them wanted to bury their dead father first and Jesus replied with “let the dead bury their own dead.” The other one says let me say goodbye to those at my home. In which Jesus replied “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” It seems like Jesus was discouraging them from following Him, but he was just making sure that they are actually ready and willing. Jesus made it known from the beginning that following Him is the ONLY priority and that’s it. He expects us to fully submit to Him. Jesus knows that we, as people, are far from perfect and we tend to stumble more often than we like. He knows that we are, by nature, unfaithful. 

We have to realize that God’s faithfulness is not the same as our faithfulness. Everything starts with God, which means that He is the original faithful one (1 Thessalonians 5:24). God’s faithfulness is rooted in His own character. In the fact that He is God. Being faithful is a natural part of His character. 2 Timothy 2:12-13 explains this perfectly. It says “if we deny Him, He will also deny us; if we are faithless, He remains faithful – for He cannot deny Himself.” This is why God wants our faith to be rooted in Him, because He is perfect. 

God is the final authority  

 The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments. But those who hate him he will repay to their face by destruction he will not be slow to repay to their face those who hate him. Therefore, take care to follow the commands, decrees and laws I give you today. If you pay attention to these laws and are careful to follow them, then the Lord your God will keep his covenant of love with you, as he swore to your ancestors. (Deuteronomy 7:7-12) 

God’s word is final. There is no wiggle room, like well maybe I can just sneak past that one or maybe I can talk my way to heaven. Nope that is not how it works. “Know therefore that the Lord your God is God.” If you need something to depend on, if you need something to lean on God’s word is the only thing that is final and always there and indisputable. Today we live in a world filled with opinions. Go to any social media platform and It is filled with people expressing their opinions. It can be a very positive and fun space but also negative, full of hate and bitterness. But if you’re looking for solid ground facts. The word of God is just that, as you are reading pray to God saying Lord open my eyes to what you are teaching me, Holy Spirit speak to me through Scripture. 

He keeps His promises throughout generations and he is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow 

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever (Hebrews 13:8)  

 

“Now I am about to go the way of all the earth. You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the Lord your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed (Joshua 23:14) Through the bible it is clear that God never changes, he is a consistent Father who blesses those who follow him. After the Israelites escaped from Egypt but before they entered the Promised Land, God gave Moses commands for His people to follow. God loved them so much that He gave them these commands because He knew it was the best for them. In Deuteronomy 6:1-7, He said the most important command is that they love Him with all their heart, soul and strength. Hundreds of years later, Jesus was questioned by a teacher of the law and asked what the greatest command was. Mark 12:28-34 shows us that Jesus, who was God, had not changed what He called truth and reminded the people that the most important thing was to love God with all that they are and do because He loved us first. Hebrews 13:8 declares that God is the same always and never ever changes. He is always good, always loving, always all-powerful. No matter how this world changes around us, we can trust God is consistent.

God isn’t just faithful to those who know him, but those who know and love him are saved.  

But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you. (Luke 27-31)  

God loves us so much, that he even loves his enemies, HIS enemies. That is insane. Do you think that Captain America or Thor loved Thanos? I can’t imagine they did. Sad face for Iron man. But God does love his enemies and he calls on us to also love those who don’t love us back. But if you love God and are faithful to him then I have Good news. You are saved!! Romans 10:9-10 “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.”  

 What do I do?

We need to root our faith in God and not in ourselves (Hebrews 10:23) 

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.  

 Our ability to become and remain faithful rests on God and not in ourselves. Going back to the very beginning of this message, this is exactly why God wants us to fully depend on Him.

 We need to ground ourselves in the word of God (1 Timothy 1:15) 

The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. 

There are going to be countless times in our lives when we will find ourselves in situations that will test our faith. This is why it’s so important to be grounded in God’s word and to really know by heart His promises to His people. God’s word is faithful and that is why He wants us to know it by heart and believe it. This is why the passage says “The SAYING is trustworthy (or faithful) and deserving of full acceptance.”

Expect and embrace situations that challenge your faith (Revelation 2:10-13) 

Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.’ 

Do not be intimidated when your faith is being tested. As mentioned earlier, we have to expect difficulties and persecution when we decide to follow Jesus. He warned us about this and it is guaranteed that we will face hard times. We have to keep our eyes on the prize which is the crown of life. Our reward is eternal life, not an Xbox or a new car.