God Works with Man
Notes
Transcript
9:00 AM
Welcome and Opening
Pray for the Service - Thanksgiving
Let’s praise the Lord together
9:05 AM
I Speak Jesus
9:10:11 AM
So Good to Me
9:16:17 AM Message Title
The title of this message is
God Works with Man
God Works with Man
Theme Verse:
30 “I looked for someone who might rebuild the wall of righteousness that guards the land. I searched for someone to stand in the gap in the wall so I wouldn’t have to destroy the land, but I found no one.
Introductory Remarks
God created man in His image.
26 Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.”
as He said here, “to be like us”
7 Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.
and here God made us “a living person” so we each have a personality, a soul.
Man was created for fellowship with God but sin marred this fellowship
8 When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees.
Rather than communing with God, they were now afraid.
Have you ever been caught doing something you shouldn’t have? That is what sin does, it creates in you that guilty conscience, that feeling of shame or remorse.
Hostility between man and the devil was declared
15 And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”
This battle between man and the devil began.
God would send Jesus into the world to die for the sins of man to redeem man from his sin
5 But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed.
Jesus broke the power of sin and death by paying the penalty for our sin.
Through the work of Jesus Christ, man could be born again
3 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
We are “born again” when we confess Jesus Christ as our Lord and believe that God raised Him from the dead. When we confess and believe, we are given a new heart, we are connected to God, and sealed by the Holy Spirit.
After being born again man is called to do God’s work
16 You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name.
This is the key point of this message.
God is not working alone. He has chosen us to work together with Him.
15 And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone.
Jesus commissioned His disciples to go into all the world and preach but it wasn’t a commission only for them, it was also for all that would believe.
This commission is for all Christians.
God calls all people to be soul-winners but not all respond.
God’s Search For Men
God’s Search For Men
God’s search for men began in the garden.
Even in the garden, God was looking for Adam but sin caused Adam and Eve to hide themselves as we quoted in
8 When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees.
Once sin entered the world, it spread and brought corruption as in Ezek. 22:1–29
This is a long section and the summary is this:
“The bloody city”—corrupt!
“Her princes, her priests, her prophets, her people”—all are desperately corrupt.
God was seeking a man to speak on their behalf but could not find one in
30 And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.
During this time, Israel had fallen away from following God.
Because of this, they had been between the Assyrians on one side and the Egyptians on the other.
Then, Babylon defeats the Assyrians and rises to power, and also pushes back the Egyptians.
Jerusalem was caught in the middle and they were brought into captivity for seventy years.
God has Found Men
God has Found Men
Throughout history, God has found men that would serve Him.
A. Faithful Men in the Old Testament
A. Faithful Men in the Old Testament
God found these men (and many others)
Enoch
5 It was by faith that Enoch was taken up to heaven without dying—“he disappeared, because God took him.” For before he was taken up, he was known as a person who pleased God.
Noah
9 This is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, the only blameless person living on earth at the time, and he walked in close fellowship with God.
Abraham
9 Then God said to Abraham, “Your responsibility is to obey the terms of the covenant. You and all your descendants have this continual responsibility.
Moses
16 Moses proceeded to do everything just as the Lord had commanded him.
Joshua
15 The commander of the Lord’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did as he was told.
This list goes on in the New Testament to include other heroes of faith in
32 How much more do I need to say? It would take too long to recount the stories of the faith of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and all the prophets. 33 By faith these people overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice, and received what God had promised them. They shut the mouths of lions,
B. Faithful Men in the New Testament
B. Faithful Men in the New Testament
This list is long with Jesus Christ as the most notable
Christ Jesus
5 For, There is one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus. 6 He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone. This is the message God gave to the world at just the right time.
Jesus was born without sin, conceived by the Holy Spirit so He could give His life “to purchase freedom”.
This still required His willingness to give himself in submission to God’s plan in
42 “Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”
The Twelve Disciples - each one a man enabled by the Lord.
48 You are witnesses of all these things. 49 “And now I will send the Holy Spirit, just as my Father promised. But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven.”
This list includes Paul, Barnabas, Stephen, Timothy, and all that believe.
17 These miraculous signs will accompany those who believe: They will cast out demons in my name, and they will speak in new languages.
There are many examples where God confirms His word with signs following as He did with Jesus.
3 But the apostles stayed there a long time, preaching boldly about the grace of the Lord. And the Lord proved their message was true by giving them power to do miraculous signs and wonders.
The Men God is Looking for Today
The Men God is Looking for Today
Were these men in some way special cases? Why were they different from other men? Certainly, Jesus was born without sin.
But what made these men that were faithful to God different?
These men born “born-again” through faith in Jesus Christ.
These men who are “filled with the Holy Spirit.”
These were men who prayed and sought God’s wisdom.
These were men with the “mind of Christ” that were transformed through study of God’s Word, the Bible
E. F. Hallock, Bible-Centered Sermon Starters, Dollar Sermon Library Series, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1974), 41–42.
These were all men that believed God:
9:30
All Things Are Possible
All Things Are Possible
All things are possible for God. God can do anything as it says in
37 For nothing will be impossible with God.”
Most people agree with this statement even if they aren’t quite sure that God is actively engaged in the affairs of our lives.
Have Faith in God
Have Faith in God
The only limitations for God are the words He has already spoken.
23 But Jesus said to him, “If you are able! All things are possible for the one who believes!”
The recorded sayings of Jesus (those recorded in the Bible) are for all people of all time.
We can take the words Jesus spoke to his disciples and the crowds that followed him as words spoken to us.
Not everything Jesus said is recorded. There may be things that we want or need that are not specifically covered in what is recorded in the Bible.
Some of the statement Jesus made were open ended and can be applied very broadly. Look at what Jesus said in
22 And whatever you ask in prayer, if you believe, you will receive.”
Jesus said to me - “Whatever I ask” (for in prayer), “If I believe”, “ I will receive it”.
Jesus said to me - “All things are possible to me if I believe”.
Think about this. Jesus is said that whatever I thought couldn’t be changed, can be.
It is changed by the prayer of faith. The prayer of faith is the prayer that changes things.
Jesus had just spoken to a tree here in Matthew 21:18–22 and the tree withered and the disciples were amazed. Then Jesus said, “even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,” it will happen!”.
The Responsibility to Act Is On Us
The Responsibility to Act Is On Us
We have put all of the responsibility on God to act but here in Matthew 21:22 we see that we must “ask”, we must “believe”, and then we will “receive”.
We can say anything in prayer. We can ask anything in prayer. But can we believe everything we ask? This is where we have trouble.
How do we come to “believe” so that when we “ask” we “receive”?
Jesus said this in
7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you.
Jesus doesn’t say anything about God here. He does though, explain our responsibility which is for us to know His word, which is God’s word.
If His words are abiding in us, we won’t be asking for anything that is outside of God’s will.
Prayer is Speaking God’s Word
Prayer is Speaking God’s Word
When we speak God’s Word, we are speaking God’s will.
We bring forth fruit for God’s kingdom when we “ask” according to God’s will and change things.
9 He who turns his ear from listening to instruction, even his prayer is an abomination.
If you want your prayers answered, they must be based on God’s Word.
Before you pray, what has God said about your request? What Chapter and Verse are you using?
Are you confident, can you believe that God will answer you? It says in
14 And this is the confidence that we have before him: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked from him.
Jesus dealt with an unclean spirit to set a man free as is recorded in
37 Now it happened that on the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a large crowd met him.
and in
14 And when they came to the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and scribes arguing with them.
Jesus rebuked his disciples for their unbelief, expecting that they would have the power to expel this spirit. When Jesus spoke, the spirit left ant the boy was free.
23 But Jesus said to him, “If you are able! All things are possible for the one who believes!”
The father of this child didn’t have perfect faith, he did though, give Jesus permission to proceed and asked for Jesus to help him.
There was no question about what Jesus could do. The only limit was on what the father could believe.
Can you believe that God can do a miracle for you?
Can you believe that God wants to do a miracle for you?
Can you believe that God will do a miracle for you?
You can receive from God even without any supernatural manifestation because “all things are possible for the one who believes”.
Faith (believing God) Pleases God
Faith (believing God) Pleases God
When we have “faith” in God, when we “believe” God, we are honoring Him. Believing God is taking Him at His word. It is recognizing His character and nature, that God is good, that God is love, that God desires the very best for us. This is what it says in
6 Now without faith it is impossible to please him, for the one who approaches God must believe that he exists and is a rewarder of those who seek him.
9:40
The Ability to Believe is Inherent in Man
The Ability to Believe is Inherent in Man
We have the capacity to believe. In fact, we are believing something. We are either believing our senses and our emotions or we are believing God.
Jesus spoke to his disciples in
15 And he said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. 16 The one who believes and is baptized will be saved, but the one who refuses to believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will expel demons, they will speak in new tongues, 18 they will pick up snakes. And if they drink any deadly poison it will never hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick and they will get well.”
What we believe will determine our future eternal position with God and we will either be saved or condemned. He also says though, that “signs will accompany those who believe” as God confirms His word to us.
Jesus demonstrated the power of believing as He spoke to the father of the demon possessed child and the father responded in
24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe! Help my unbelief!”
The child's father trusted in his heart but doubted in his head.
Faith will work if your heart says “yes Lord” even though your head says it can’t be possible and Jesus showed that in
25 Now when Jesus saw that a crowd was running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “Mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him, and enter into him no more!”
The demon was expelled, but the disciples didn’t understand how so they asked Jesus in
19 Then the disciples approached Jesus privately and said, Why were we not able to expel it?” 20 And he said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly I say to you, if you have faith like a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”
Jesus taught them that if they would say (ask in prayer), and believe, they would receive and nothing would be impossible to them.
The Authority to Act Has Been Given to Us
The Authority to Act Has Been Given to Us
The disciples had been given the authority to cast out demons. The had Jesus word that they could cast out spirits in
1 And summoning his twelve disciples, he gave them authority over unclean spirits, so that they could expel them and could heal every disease and every sickness.
and also in
14 And he appointed twelve, so that they would be with him and so that he could send them out to preach 15 and to have authority to expel demons.
and again in
7 And he summoned the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits.
The disciples had been exercising this authority in
10 And when they returned, the apostles described to him all that they had done. And he took them along and withdrew privately to a town called Bethsaida.
If the disciples had not been casting out demons this man would not have come to them about his son.
If the disciples had not been casting out demons they would not have come to Jesus to ask why they cold not cast out this one.
Even though we have God’s word on something, we must mix it with faith, we must believe or it won’t work.
Jesus didn’t stop with the twelve. He also commissioned seventy-two others in
1 And after these things, the Lord also appointed seventy-two others and sent them out two by two before him into every town and place where he was about to go.
These seventy-two also had great success in
17 And the seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!”
The same words Jesus spoke to his disciples have been recorded for us. These same words are for us.
Mark 16:15-17 go into all the world and preach the gospel.
Matthew 10:1 he gave them authority over unclean spirits
Mark 3:14-15 he sent them forth to teach and with the power to heal
Mark 6:7 and gave them power over unclean spirits
Luke 9:10 they went and were healing everywhere
Luke 10:1 he prayed for laborers in the harvest
In all of these scriptures Jesus gave authority over demons and disease.
The same words Jesus spoke to them are for us today and as they found in Luke 10:17, the demons are subject to us in Jesus name.
He said that in his name we would in
18 they will pick up snakes. And if they drink any deadly poison it will never hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick and they will get well.”
Have Faith for Action
Have Faith for Action
Paul uses an example from the Old Testament where the children of Israel did not believe God. They were stalled on their way to their promised land after God delivered them out of slavery in Egypt as described in
2 For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as those also did, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united with those who heard it in faith.
They looked at the problems they had and murmured against God.
We must look at God, see Him only, and overcome.
6 Now without faith it is impossible to please him, for the one who approaches God must believe that he exists and is a rewarder of those who seek him.
9:49 AM
Invitation and Closing Prayer
Invitation and Closing Prayer
Are you available for God to use?
Isaiah heard the Lord speaking to him in this way in
8 Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?” I said, “Here I am. Send me.”
Are you willing to go?
Do you know that your name written in the Lamb’s book of life? Revelation 21:10 says no one can enter whose name is not there
27 And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
You can be sure your name is there because God has shown His love for each of us in John 3:16
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
God asks this one thing of us: “what will you do about Jesus?” in Romans 10:9-10
9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Is your name written in the Lamb’s book of life?
Do you believe God raised Jesus from the dead?
Have you confessed it with your mouth?
You have the free will to choose and once you have chosen Jesus Christ as Lord of your life, nothing can separate you from Him as in Romans 8:38-39
38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Now, you are free to fulfill God’s plan for your life. Ask Him, Seek Him, Follow Him
9:53 AM
My Testimony (4:52)
9:58 AM
The Blessing
The Blessing
24 ‘May the Lord bless you and protect you. 25 May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. 26 May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace.’
You are dismissed.