HOW GOD BUILDS YOUR FAITH (first in series "The Six Phases of Faith"

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HOW GOD BUILDS YOUR FAITH

The Six Phases of Faith -- Part 1

04-27-14 Sermon

Matthew 9:29 (Jesus said) "According to your faith it will be done to you."

Mark 9:23 (GN) "Everything is possible for the person who has faith."

How Does God Build My Faith?

PHASE 1: D_______________________________________________________

"...God is able to do far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of -- infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, or hopes."  Eph. 3:20 (LB)

PHASE 2: D_______________________________________________________

"You must believe and not doubt...a double-minded man is unstable in all he does." 

James 1:6+8 (GN)

                                   -            You must I_________________:

                                   

                                                a. T__________________

                                   

                                                b. M__________________

                                               

c. R___________________

                                               

d. E___________________

                                   -            You must let go of S_______________________

PHASE 3: D_______________________________________________________

(God says) "But these things I plan won't happen right away.  Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled."  Hab 2:3a (LB)

PHASE 4: ­D_______________________________________________________

"At the present you may be temporarily harassed by all kinds of trials.  This is no accident - it happens to prove your faith, which is infinitely more valuable than gold."  I Peter 1:6-7 (Ph)

PHASE 5: D_______________________________________________________

"At that time we were completely overwhelmed, the burden was more than we could bear, in fact we told ourselves that this was the end.  Yet we now believe that we had this sense of impending disaster so that we might learn to trust, not in ourselves, but in God who can raise the dead!" 

II Cor. 1:8-9 (Ph)

PHASE 6:D _______________________________________________________

"He has delivered ... and he will deliver us again!"      2 Cor. 1:10

"I am expecting the Lord to rescue me again, so that once again I will see his goodness to me..."  Ps 27:13 (GN)

Examples:

Noah (Gen 6-9)		Joseph (Gen. 37-45)
Abraham (Gen. 12-22)		Moses (Ex. 2-15)
Jesus (John 14-20)		David (1 Sam. 16-32)

HHHOW GOD BUILDS YOUR FAITH

The Six Phases of Faith

Matthew 9:29 & Mark 9:23

04-27-14 Sermon

The Bible says in Matthew 9:29 "According to your faith, it will be done unto you."  That's the key to the great adventure.  According to your faith.  God says, "You get to choose how much I bless your life.  You believe and I'll do it.  You believe and I'll bless." 

Mark 9:23 says "Everything is possible for the person who has faith."  That makes life a great adventure.  How many of you would like to have a stronger faith?  I would to.  For the next six weeks we're going to do a faith building series.

Faith is like a muscle -- it can be developed.  It can be strengthened.  It can be weak or it can be strong.  It depends on how much you use it.  If you have a weak faith, don't miss the next six weeks.  How does God build my faith?  He uses a very predictable pattern, a very predictable process.  If you understand it, you can co-operate with it.  The Bible says, "Without faith, it's impossible to please God."

A question I'm frequently asked as a pastor, is "Why is this happening to me?   I don't understand it."   When you don't understand God's Six Phases of Faith on how He builds your character and how He builds your faith, you will get discouraged.  You may become resentful.  You will certainly worry.  You may become fearful about the future.  You may become depressed.  And most of all, you can't co-operate with what God is doing.  But when you understand the six phases that God takes every believer through, and He takes you through them over and over and over, then you can say "Oh, I'm in stage four right now" or stage six or stage two.  You understand what's going on and don't get discouraged when times are tough. 

I want to introduce the series this morning that we'll be looking at the next six weeks.  We will learn to "recognize the Six Phases of Faith in my life."

How does God build my faith?

1.  Dream

God always starts with a dream.  Nothing happens until somebody starts dreaming.  You've got to get an idea, a vision, a goal, an ambition.  You have to set your sights on some target.  When God wants to work in your life He always gives you a dream -- about yourself, about what He wants you to do, about the impact He's going to use your life in the world. 

There are many examples in the Bible of this.

          God gave Noah the dream of building an ark. 

          God gave Abraham the dream of being the father of a great nation.

          God gave Joseph the dream of being a leader that would save his people.

          God gave Nehemiah the dream of building the wall around Jerusalem.

          God gave David the dream of building the temple.

Nothing happens until you start dreaming.  A dream is a vision or an idea about something that is not yet a part of your reality.  You start to focus on something that does not yet exist in your life and in faith you start moving toward that. 

How do you know when a dream is from God or when it's from yourself?  Maybe you're just kind of thinking it up.  How do you know if it's God speaking or the lasagna you had last night?  What is really causing this thought in my life?

Ephesians 3:20 "God is able to do far more than we would dare to ask or even dream of, infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts or hopes."

A dream from God will require faith.  If a dream comes from God, it will be so big in your life that you can't do it on your own.  A dream from God will be God-sized.  It will be more than you could possibly accomplish on your own.   If you could do it on your own, you don't need faith .  If you can do it on your own, if you can work hard and eventually accomplish it by your own efforts, it is a goal, maybe a difficult goal, but not a dream.  It will be “far more than we would dare to ask or even dream of, infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts or hopes."

God starts with giving you a dream.  He's been speaking to many of you, you just didn't recognize it.  That dream, that idea, that concept, that thing that would really be of benefit to other people -- where do you think that idea is coming from?  It's coming from God.

God's Will will never contradict God's Word.  He is not giving you a dream of leaving your family and kids and moving to Hollywood to be a star.  That is not a dream from God.  God's Will will never contradict God's Word.  You have to keep it in context. 

He starts with a dream.  But that is only one stage in the process.. 

2.  Decision -- you begin to do something about your dream.

Nothing is going to happen to that dream until you wake up and put it into action.  You've got to make it work.  You've got to make the decision:  "I'm going to go for it!"  For every ten dreamers in the world there is only one decision maker.  A lot of people have dreams but they never get to Phase Two -- To make the decision to go for it. They just sit around and hope it will happen.

James says "You must believe and not doubt because a double minded man is unstable in all that he does."  Faith is a verb -- it's active and not passive.  It's something you do.  Decision making is a faith building activity.  You use your muscles of faith.

During this phase -- the moment of truth in decision making -- you must do two things:

         

          1)  You must invest.  It's a decision to invest.  What will you have to invest?

                            a)        Time.  If you won’t give time toward God’s dream for you it is not going to happen.  You give time toward the priorities of your life. 

                            b)        Money.  It will probably cost money.  If it is God’s dream for you he will finance it, but when God’s money comes in you need to put it toward God’s dream for you.

                            c)        Reputation.  You may have to deal with the cold water committee—you know, those who will throw cold water on any hot new idea.  And people may think you are a nut case.  Just remember that a huge oak tree was once a nut that stood its ground!

          Think of Noah.  It took him 120 years to build the ark.  What do you think his neighbors thought about him working day in and day out on this huge boat.  He was telling people that it was going to rain 40 days and 40 nights and God was going to flood the earth.  Up until that time the bible says that the earth was watered by God sending up a mist each day like timed watering of the vegetables at the Kroger store.  So, the neighbors would have wondered, what do you mean when you are talking about rain and floods.  What is rain?  What’s a flood?  Noah’s reputation would have suffered over the 120 years of building the ark.

                            d)        Energy.  You will need to invest energy in accomplishing God’s dream for you.  Noah didn’t just order materials from Lowes and have them delivered.  The ark didn’t come in a kit.  No one else had ever built an ark so no one knew what one looked like.  But for 120 years Noah had to invest energy in building God’s dream for him.

          There is an investment stage in this Stage Two of decision making.  You lay it on the line, take the plunge.  "God, You've told me to do this and I'm going to go for it! I will do what I have to do, and look for you to do what only you can do." 

          2)  You have to let go of security.

          You cannot move in faith and hold onto the past at the same time.  You have to move forward.  You have to let go.  Abraham:  God said "I'm going to make you the father of a great nation."  He had to leave his home for an unknown destination.     

          Moses had to let go of the probability of him moving into the Pharaoh's position when he died.  He let go of that in order to do God's will.  Nehemiah gave up a secure job in order to go build a wall around Jerusalem.

          Like John Ortburg said in the adult Sunday school study we did awhile back, If you want to walk on water, you've got to get out of the boat.

                  

          The best illustration of this is a trapeze artist.  They swing out on bars and then let go, grab the other bars and swing to the other side.  The bars are far enough away that you can't hang on to the first and grab the other at the same time.  At some point you have to let go of the first bar and grab on to the next one.  At a split second at some point the trapeze artists are up there holding on to neither. 

          They are suspended in air for a split second.  Have you ever been there in a career?  Where you're leaving one job for another and nothing's in between?  You're up there 180 feet above, no net below, and holding onto nothing. 

          But if you don't let go and grab onto the vision God wants you to have, you swing back toward where you came from.  But notice that you don't swing all the way back.  You just swing back lower and lower until finally the bar stops.  And you're hanging there and there's only one way out.  Down. 

God gives you a dream and you make the decision.

3.  Delay

We don’t like this one.  Not in our You can have it all! I want it now!, society.  There is usually a delay.  God will not fulfill your dream immediately.  God has not promised to give you the dream today and fulfill it tomorrow.  You can count on a time lapse.  There is always a delay, a waiting period.

The prophet Habakkuk: God says, "These things I plan won't happen right away.  Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled."

In Phase 3 you start asking the "When?" question.  "When, Lord?  When are You going to answer my prayer?"  Americans hate to wait.  We don't like to wait in doctor's offices, traffic jams, or restaurants or for Christmas presents or for anything else.  But what we hate worst of all is waiting on God.  Have you ever been in a hurry when God wasn't?  Irritating.  You're ready but God isn't.  It’s because God wants to work on you before He works on the dream.  Every believer in history has had to go through, eventually, the University of Learning to Wait.  ULTW.  Some of you have not gotten your degree there yet. 

Noah waited 120 years from the time he started building the arc until it began to rain.  Abraham was told he would be the father of a great nation and didn't have a child until he was 99.  God told Moses he would be the leader to lead his people out of 400 years of slavery and then makes him wait in the desert 40 years before it happens.  Joseph spent years in prison before God raised him up and he became the ruler God wanted him to be.  God had David anointed as king and then he waited for 17 years until he actually got to be king.  We go through these waiting periods.

Even Jesus who came to be the Messiah of the world and waits for 30 years in the carpenter's shop. 

Why do we wait?  It teaches us to trust in God.  We learn that His timing is perfect.  One of the facts we have to learn is God says delays never destroy His purpose.  A delay is not a denial.  Kids must learn the difference between "No" and "Not yet".  Big difference.  Many times God says to you "Not yet" and you think He's saying "No".  A delay is not a denial.  A delay never destroys God's purpose in your life.

The common reaction in this phase is doubt.  We start doubting.  "Maybe I missed God's vision.  Maybe I didn’t hear God right.  Maybe I need to work on this myself.”  That is how Abraham ended up with Ishmael while waiting for Isaac, the child that God had promised.  He couldn’t take the delay any longer.  After years of waiting for this promised child of God, Abraham’s wife was still not pregnant so Abraham and his wife decided that maybe God wanted Abraham to have a child through his maidservant, Hagar.  Bad idea.  The roots of the whole Arab—Israeli conflict go all the way back to that bad move. 

How do you handle the Waiting Rooms of life?  This reveals your faith.  Once you start moving through the Delay period you come to Phase 4.

4.    Difficulty

Not only do you get to wait, you get to have problems while you wait.  Aren’t I just a whole big bundle of encouragement this morning?  Two primary  kinds of problems:  Circumstances and Critics.  You can count on this.  When God gives you a dream there will be circumstances and critics.

Moses had difficulty.  He led the children of Israel out of Egypt into the desert to the Promised Land.  He had one problem after another.  First there was no water.  Then there was no food.  Then there were a bunch of complainers.  Then there were poisonous snakes that bit many people.  Then the earth opened up and swallowed some people.  They had one problem after another.  They were doing what God wanted but they still had problems.  

David was anointed king and then for the next several years he is hunted down by Saul and forced to hide in caves. 

Joseph has a dream of becoming a ruler.  He's sold into slavery.  He's falsely accused of rape. He languishes there and nobody knows he's there.  Difficulties on top of delay.

Imagine the difficulties Noah had.  How would you like to build a floating zoo.  Who was responsible for cleaning up the bottom of the ark after 4 days and 40 nights?

You have all kinds of problems that come along.  The Bible says that when Moses died, Joshua was then appointed the leader.  Moses led the people across the desert.  Joshua leads them into the promised land.  The easy part?  He leads them into the promised land and the next verses it says "Now there were giants in the land."  Even in the promised land there are problems, because God is working on your faith and character.

Why does God allow this?  I Peter, "At present you may be temporarily harassed by all kinds of trials.  This is no accident.  It happens to prove your faith which is infinitely more valuable than gold."  You might circle—this is no accident.

Difficult circumstances and critics are not an accident, they are part of God’s plan to prove your faith and build  your character.

Finally the difficulties become so bad, you've come to your limit, tried everything, exhausted all your options.  You come to phase 5…

5.  Dead End

The situation deteriorates from difficult to impossible.  Hopeless, no way out, no alternatives left.

If you are at this stage, congratulations.  You are in good company.  Even Paul went through dead ends.  2 Corinthians 1 "At that time we were completely overwhelmed.  The burden was more than we could bear.  In fact, we told ourselves that this was the end.  Yet now we believe that we had this sense of impending disaster so that we might learn to trust not in ourselves but in God who can raise the dead."  If God can raise people who are dead physically He can raise people dead emotionally.  He can raise a dead marriage.  He can resurrect a dead career.  He can resurrect a health problem and make it better.  If God can raise the dead He can do anything.  That’s one of the great messages of Easter that we just celebrated last week. 

In Abraham's situation, God said, "I want you to become the father of a nation" and then he waits until he's 99 years old to have a baby.  The Bible says it had gone from difficult to impossible.  He looks at his body and says, No way!  Then he looks at his wife and says, Double no way!  They were at a dead end. 

But Sarah got pregnant and they laughed about it.  When the baby was born they name him Isaac which means "laughter".  This is a joke.  We know that Sarah didn't believe God when He told her she'd have a baby, because she laughed.  If she had believed Him no woman at that age would have laughed; she would have cried. 

God often lets problems become impossibilities.  The disciples planned to follow Jesus.  They thought He'd be the Messiah.  And then the next thing they know He's hanging on the cross and dies.  Dead end for the disciples.  For three days they went through a real dead end.

At this stage you start asking, "What's going on, God?  Did I miss your will?  Your plan?  Have I missed God's vision?  Is it really something I thought up on my own?" 

The best example of this is when Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt.  They'd been slaves for 400 years.  Finally Pharaoh, after 10 plagues, says "Get out of here!  Good riddance!"  They take off.  But one day later Pharaoh changes his mind and starts coming after them.  They are at the Red Sea, they have mountains on each side, the Red Sea in front of them and the enemy army in hot pursuit behind them, ready to kill them.  God's cul de sac.  There is no way they're going to get out.  I'm sure many of the people at that time complained that they should have stayed in

Egypt rather than die at the Red Sea.

Some people prefer bondage rather than risk.  They'll put up with a bad situation that is not God's will rather than take a risk and trust God in some new situation.  The risk to be open, the risk to free, the risk to confront a problem. 

It's interesting that the place where they were hemmed in was called Baal-zephon.  That means "God's hidden treasure".  They were exactly where God wanted them to be.  If you are in a dead end, you are exactly where God wants you to be.  God knows where you are.  He's got your number.  He knows every hair on your head.  He put you in that dead end for a purpose. 

Dead ends are a part of God's plan for you.  You will have many of them in life.  You're just in Phase 5.

What's the best response to a dead end?  Expect.  Positively expectat that God will lead you to Phase 6.

6.  Deliverance

At the end, God comes in and delivers.  God does a miracle.  God provides a solution.  This is what happens. Paul says in 1 Corinthians "He has delivered us and will deliver us again."  Psalm 27 says, "I'm expecting the Lord to rescue me again so that once again I will see His goodness to me." 

In Moses' case, God splits the Red Sea.  In Abraham case, he and Sarah miraculously conceive a child.  In Joseph's case, all of a sudden his dream comes true and he finds himself moving from being imprisoned in the dungeon to being the second in command in Egypt.  Jesus died but was then resurrected from the dead. 

God loves to turn crucifixions into resurrections.  Dead ends into deliverance.  Because He gets the credit.  He gets the glory.

The best response to a dead end is to expect God to act.  If this is God’s dream for you, God is ultimately responsible for the fulfillment of the dream.  It if it is a God seized dream it will take God sized power to accomplish it.  But you have to have faith that he will fulfill his dream for you as you are working through the phases of that fulfillment.

What are you expecting God to do in your life?  He's doing what you expect Him to do.  The Bible says "According to your faith it will be done unto you."  When you wait for deliverance then God gets the credit.

Let’s review before I close:

Phase 1 -- What is the dream God has given me?  If you don't have a dream, start praying, "God give me Your dream."  If you don't have a dream you're not living, you're just existing.  God didn't plan that.  You're here on this earth for a purpose.  When you discover that purpose, that's your dream God wants you to go for. 

Phase 2 -- Some of you have got a dream from God but you've not made a decision to go for it.  You're still sitting on the fence.  God's word for you at Phase 2 is "Go for it!"  Some of you need to make the decision to give your life to Christ.  Some of you need to make the decision to be filled with the Spirit of God.  Some of you need to make the decision put away lesser things and distractions and get on with God’s dream for you. 

Phase 3 -- What has caused my dream to be delayed?  If your prayer hasn't been answered, it's OK. You're in God's waiting room.  Do not detour.  When things don't happen on our time table, we tend to run ahead of God and create detours to make it happen.  You may end up making the wrong decision.  Wait, wait, wait for God to work His hand. 

Phase 4 -- What difficulties have I faced waiting for the dream to be fulfilled?  What negative circumstances and critics do I see?  You are being tested, but it's not going to be the last time.  You'll go through many, many tests in life.  God says, "I know exactly what you're going through.  I see it.  I'm watching.  Don't think I've forgotten you; I haven't." I am building your character. 

Phase 5 -- Have I come to the dead end yet?  Some of you are there ready to give up.  You're right where God wants you.  You're getting prepared for deliverance.  God's word for you is "Hang on!  Keep on believing!  Don't give up!" 

Phase 6 -- Do I expect and trust God to deliver me?  He will.  "According to your faith it will be done unto you."  God is faithful.  What He tells us He will do, He will do.  But it doesn't happen overnight. 

You go through Dream, Decision, Delay, Difficulty, Dead End.  And then comes Deliverance.

Easter 2014 Sermon

To listen click here. I'm sorry but I still haven't gotten the recording to go through the system so it sounds tin can-like (and you can hear my "agreeing"!)

HOW TO BE CERTAIN

YOU’RE GOING TO HEAVEN

04-20-14 Sermon  Easter Sunday

“I write these thing to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.” 1 John 5:13

      “For God so loved the world that He gave His Only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not Perish but have Everlasting Life.”  John 3:16 (KJV)

G.O.S.P.E.L.

1.              You Must_________                        __________________: “God SO loved the world…”

      “God showed how much He loved us by sending His only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through Him.  This is real love…He sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away

            our sins.”  1 John 4:9-10 (NLT)           

            “May you be able to feel and understand...  how long, how wide, how deep, and how high God's love really is and experience this love for yourselves...”  Ephesians 3:18-19 (LB)

     

2.            You Must _______              ______________: “He GAVE His only begotten Son…”

             

      “Out of sheer generosity God put us in right standing with Himself.  A pure gift.  He got us out of the mess we're in and restored us to where He always wanted us to be.  And He did it by means of Jesus Christ.  He sacrificed Jesus on the altar of the world to clear that world of sin.”  Romans 3:24-25 (Mes)

      “When we were unable to help ourselves, at the moment of our need, Christ died for us, although we were living against God.”  Romans 5:6 (NCV)

      “God took the sinless Christ and poured into Him our sins.  Then, in exchange, He poured God's goodness into us.”  2 Corinthians 5:21 (LB)

       

                                               

3.  You Must_________                   _______________: “WHOEVER BELIEVES in him…”

           

            

      “One's nationality or race or education or social position is unimportant; such things mean nothing.  Whether a person has Christ is what matters, and He is equally available to all.”  Colossians 3:11 (LB)

      “God says He will accept and acquit us – declare us ‘not guilty’ – if we trust Jesus Christ to take away our sins.  And we all can be saved in this same way, by coming to Christ, no matter who we are or what we have been like.”  Romans 3:22 (LB)

           

4.  You Must______________                  ________________: “should not perish but have EVERLASTING LIFE!”

      “We are now members of God's own family… and God has reserved for His children the priceless gift of eternal life; it is kept in heaven for you…and God will make sure that you get there safely to receive because you are trusting Him.”  1 Peter 1:3-5 (LB)

       

      “We wait for that day when God will give us our full rights as His children, including the new bodies He has promised us – bodies that will never be sick again and will never die.”  Romans 8:23 (LB)

HOW TO BE CERTAIN

YOU’RE GOING TO HEAVEN

04-20-14 Sermon  Easter Sunday

Happy Easter everybody!  Today we’re going to go back to the basics.  If I were to go over to Opry Mills mall this afternoon and ask people, “If you were to die tonight and were to stand before God and God said, ‘Why should I let you into heaven?” what would you say?  Are you sure you’re going to heaven when you die?  Are you absolutely certain you’re going to heaven when you die? 

Most people would say, “I think so… I hope so… I guess I am… I want to go… I hope and wish that I am…” Friends, only a fool would go all through life totally unprepared for something they know is inevitable.  The mortality rate in the world is now one hundred percent.  We’re all going to die at some point.  The question is what’s going to happen after I die? 

The fact of the matter is, you can KNOW that you are going to go to heaven.  That’s what the Bible says in 1 Jn 5:13 “I write these thing to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.”

Today I want to help you settle this basic issue.   God doesn’t want you being in doubt.  He doesn’t want you worrying.  He doesn’t want you fearful.  He doesn’t want you wondering all your life, “Am I going to make it or not?  Am I going to be in or not?”  He says you can settle it without a doubt in your mind.  You can absolutely, confidently for sure know that you’re going to heaven when you die.  This Easter we’re going back to the basics and settle this issue. 

We’re going to look at probably the most famous verse in the Bible.  It’s one that everybody’s probably heard of.  If you’ve only got one verse in the entire Bible memorized this is the one to know.  This is like Christianity 101.  John 3:16.  (If you don’t know that verse, it’s the verse that the weirdo guys with the colored hair and painted faces hold up in the end zone at football games.)  “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son [that’s Jesus] that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” 

There’s a couple things I want you to notice about this verse.  First there are six main words – God’s, Only, Son, Perish, Eternal, Life.  Circle those six words.  God’s – Only – Son – Perish – Eternal – Life.  When you take the first letter of each of those six words what does that spell?  Gospel.  You’ve heard the word “gospel.”  What does it mean?  We talk about gospel music.  Or he’s sharing the gospel.  Gospel means “Good News.”  This verse is often called the gospel in a single sentence.  It’s the best news you’ve ever heard or ever going to hear. 

The second thing I want you to notice about this is the middle word.  There’s 25 words in this verse in the KJV.  The middle word, the thirteenth word, is the word “Son” it’s talking about Jesus.  The first twelve words are all about God.  “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten.”  Son is in the middle.  The last twelve words are all about you and me.  “That whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”  That in itself is a picture.  The Bible says that God’s on one side and mankind is on the other and Jesus Christ came to earth to bring them together.  That’s what He came to earth to do.  He’s the bridge over troubled waters.  He’s the mediator between God and man.  Jesus came to bring God and us together. 

What we’re going to do today is take this verse apart phrase by phrase so that when we finish today you don’t have any doubt in your mind how you can know you’re going to heaven.  There are four keys, four phrases in this verse.

1.  You must recognize God’s love. 

If you want to go to heaven the first thing you’ve got to do is recognize God’s love.  How much He loves you.  The Bible says, “God so loved the world.”  God says I don't want you to recognize it intellectually.  I want you to recognize it emotionally.  I want you to feel it.  The Bible tells us that “God is love.”  It doesn’t say He has love it says He is love.  God is love.  It’s His nature.  It’s His character.  It’s what He’s made of.  God created you so He could love you.

But the Bible says God so loved the world.  That means His love is extravagant.  It’s lavish.  It’s beyond comprehension.  God loves you on your good days and on your bad days.  He loves you when it’s raining.  He loves you when it’s shining.  He loves you when you feel it.  He loves you when you don’t feel it.  He loves you when you do the right thing.  He loves you when you do the wrong thing.  Why? 

Because God’s love isn’t based on who you are.  It’s based on who He is.  God is love.  God’s love isn’t based on what you do, your performance.  It’s based on what Jesus has already done for you.  You can’t make God stop loving you.    It’s based on the fact that He chooses to love you unconditionally.  Even a thousand years before you were born God knew that on Easter 2014 you would be at Forest Grove church in Joelton, TN.  He knew you’d be here, just so He could get you to sit still long enough so He could say this to you.  “I love you.  I love you.  Will you slow down long enough so I can say this to you?  I love you!  I’ve loved you every moment of your life.  I made you to love you.  I saw you formed in your mother’s womb.  I loved you then.  I saw you take your first breath and I loved you then.  I saw you take your first step.  And I loved you then.  I saw all the good and the bad in your life, the highs and the lows, the right and the wrong and I have loved you no matter what.  Because I made you to love you.”  God so loved the world. 

Notice these verses in the Bible.

1 John 4 says this “God showed how much He loved us by sending His only Son into the world [that’s Jesus] so that we might have eternal life through Him.  This is real love… He sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.”  God didn’t just say He loved you.  He showed it.  A lot of people say it but they don’t do anything about it.  He showed it.  He showed it in the most expensive way.  He sacrificed His Son.  He proved it.  When Jesus Christ stretched out His arms on the cross to die for us He was saying to you, I love you this much.  I love you so much it hurts.  I love you so much I’d rather die than live without you.  That’s what God says about you.  He loves you that much.  Even if you were the only person who ever lived Jesus Christ still would have come to earth and died on the cross for you so that He could show His love for you. 

God says I created you to love you.  God wants you to know His love. Ephesians 3 says:  “May you be able to feel and understand… how long, how wide, how deep, and how high God’s love really is and to experience this love for yourselves…”  God says I want you to not just know it. I want you to feel it in your soul.  Most people have never felt the unconditional love of God because when you feel it, it transforms your life.  You’re never the same again.  The day you actually feel totally loved by God after that day you will never again have to deal with inferiority or insecurity or low self esteem or with the depression that comes with the feeling of worthlessness.  Because you realize the creator of the universe made me simply to love me.  God made me to love me.  That will change your life. 

God says I want you to feel all four dimensions.  It’s not three-dimensional.  It’s four-dimensional.  Long and wide and deep and high.  I want you to know first….

How long is God’s love?  Long enough to last forever.  God will never stop loving you. 

How wide is it?  Wide enough to be everywhere.  There is no place you can go where God’s love is not.  You may not feel His love but it’s there.  You’re just not tuned in.  There are times in you life when you feel lonely but you shouldn’t be lonely.  Because you are never without God. 

How deep is God’s love?  Deep enough to handle any problem you’ve got.  You say, “I'm in the pits!  I’ve hit bottom. ”  God’s love is deeper still.  I don’t care what problem you’re going through, His love is deeper than that problem.

How high is God’s love?  It’s high enough to overlook your mistakes.  Aren’t you glad for that one?  I don't care what you’ve done or who you’ve done it with or how long you’ve done it or where you did it, God says I want you to come back to Me.  I love you.  I want to forgive you.  I want to give you a fresh start. 

A lot of people think, “Because of all the stuff I’ve done wrong.  I’ve blown it and gone my own way if I came to God He’s going to reject me.”  God isn’t mad at you! He’s mad about you.  Nobody will ever love you the way God does.  This has to become the foundation of your life.  If you want stability in your life you build it on the rock foundation of God’s love for you. 

Two thousand years ago when Jesus Christ died and rose again on Easter Sunday, the Romans were so worried that somebody might steal the body of Jesus and claim that He was resurrected they took a series of precautions.  They rolled a huge stone in front of the entrance to his tomb.  Then they permanently sealed it with the Roman seal so it could never be broken.  Then they posted guards outside His tomb.  The only time in history they posted living guards to keep a dead man in the tomb.  But they did. 

You know the story.  Easter Sunday morning the angels show up, the earthquake shakes the ground, lightning comes down, the guards fall back in a faint, the seal is broken, the stone is rolled back.  Why was that?  So Jesus could come out?  No.  He’d already left.  The stone was rolled away not so Jesus could come out but so the skeptics could go in and see that He wasn’t there.  That stone, the cornerstone of life, is the stone of God’s love.  If you build your life on it you’re going to have stability. 

So there’s the first step to heaven.  I’ve got to recognize God’s love.  Nobody’s ever going to love me as much as God does.  So recognize His love. 

2.  You Must receive God’s gift.

That’s the second part of the verse.  “God so loved the world [I recognize His love] that He gave [there’s the gift] His only begotten Son.”  Did you know God has a gift for you?  Notice: “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.”  Notice it doesn’t say He sent a good man.  It doesn’t say He sent an angel.  It doesn’t say He sent a prophet.  It doesn’t say He sent a moral leader, an ethical teacher.  It says He sent His Son.  He cared enough to send the very best.  God came to earth in human form.  His name was Jesus Christ. 

Why did He come to earth?  The Bible says in Romans 3 “Out of sheer generosity God put us in right standing with Himself:  A pure gift.”  In other words, I can’t earn this.  It’s just a gift.  It’s called grace.  You know what grace is?  Grace is when God gives you what you need, not what you deserve.  He says out of sheer generosity God put us in right standing with Himself a pure gift.  “He got us out of the mess we’re in and restored us to where He always wanted us to be and He did it by means of Jesus Christ.  He sacrificed Jesus on the altar of the world to clear that world of sin.”

So why did Jesus have to die? Romans 5 says: “When we were unable to help ourselves at that moment of our need Christ died for us although we were living against God.” 

The Bible says, “All have sinned,” and it says, “The wages of sin is death.”  That means I deserve to be punished for the things I’ve done wrong in my life.  That’s the bad news. 

Here’s the good news.  Everything you’ve ever done wrong in life has already been paid for!  That’s what Jesus Christ did on the cross.  He took my sin and your sin.  In fact all the sins you haven’t even committed yet.  Things you’re going to do wrong next week, next month, next year.  Stuff you haven’t even thought up yet.  All of the creative ways of sinning you didn’t know about yet.  They’ve already been paid for.  That is called the good news.  That’s what the gospel is.  It means it’s already been taken care of.  It’s already paid for. 

This is one of the most amazing verses of the entire Bible.  I call it the great exchange verse.  It says, “God took the sinless Christ [Jesus had never sinned.  He was perfect.  He was God.]  and poured into Him all our sins [all the stuff we’d done wrong] Then, in exchange, [here’s the great exchange] He poured God’s goodness into us.”  What a deal!  I like this deal!  God says I'm going to take everything Frank Billman’s done wrong.  All his evil thoughts, all his rudeness, all his selfishness, all the times he’s lied.  And I’m going to put that on Jesus Christ and He’s going to pay the penalty so Frank doesn’t have to pay for it.  Then I'm going to take Jesus’ goodness and put it on Frank so he can get into heaven. 

So this means you can’t earn your way to heaven.  You can’t work your way to heaven.  You can’t buy your way into heaven.  It’s just a gift.  It’s a free gift.  “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.”  He gave the gift to die for us so that I can go to heaven.  That’s pretty good news.  That’s called grace.  I just receive the gift of God’s grace.  It’s just free.  I don’t deserve it and never will.

You can summarize all religions in one word – do.  It’s just everybody has their own different to do list.  One religion says you do these five things.  Another one says no, you do these ten things. Another one says no, you do these fifteen things.  Another says, no, you do these twenty things.  It’s all about do.  You do things and then maybe God will like you. 

The difference between religion and salvation, salvation is all based on the word “done.”  It’s already done for you.  It is a gift.  It’s done for you.  When Jesus Christ died on the cross He stretched out His hands and one of the last things He said was, “It is finished.”  He didn’t say, “I'm finished,” because He wasn’t.  He was still alive with a lot more to do.  He’s still alive today.  He said, “It is finished.”  What does that mean? 

It means, “I paid for all the bad things you’ve ever done.  I paid for all of the evil in the world.”  This is what Jesus was agonizing over before He went to the cross.    It’s because He is going to take all of the guilt of the world on Himself.

Jesus said “I'm going to take the guilt of the whole world – every rape ever committed, I'm going to take the guilt for it.  Every murder ever committed I'm going to take the guilt for it.  Every molestation, every spouse abuse, every evil thought, every evil action, every evil betrayal, every adultery, every lie, every theft.  I'm going to take the guilt of the killing fields and the guilt of the holocaust and the guilt of the genocides.  I'm going to take the entire guilt of the world on Me.”  That’s pretty amazing.  He says, it’s just a gift.  It is finished.  You can’t add anything to it.  It’s only by grace.

The third step to knowing for sure you’re going to heaven is to…

3.  You Must Respond to God’s offer.

First you recognize God’s love – God so loved the world.  Then you receive God’s gift – that He gave His only begotten Son – that’s Jesus.  Then you respond to God’s offer.  God’s made an offer to you.  It’s an incredible proposal.  He says this “That whosoever believes in Him should not perish.”  That’s a pretty incredible offer.  The promise of heaven is “Whosoever believes on Him should not perish.”

Notice who this offer is to.  The Bible says the free gift of eternal salvation is offered to everyone.  That means you and me and everybody. Colossians 3 says: “One’s nationality or race or education or social position is unimportant.  Such things mean nothing.  Whether a person has Christ is what matters.  And He is equally available to all.”  Jesus Christ is an equal opportunity savior.  It’s amazing grace for every race.  God says I don’t really care what your ethnic background is.  It doesn’t really matter what your economic background is.  It doesn’t really matter.  Jesus Christ still died for you. 

Let me give you a real important pointer about life.  In life it doesn’t matter so much what you’ve been.  What you’ve been does not matter so much as what you’re becoming.  That’s what matters in life.  Not what you’ve been but what you’re becoming.  My past is past.  What matters is what I'm becoming right now. 

Notice: How do I accept God’s offer of eternal life in heaven? Romans 3 reads:  “God says He will accept us and acquit us [in other words] - declare us ‘not guilty’, [for all the things I’ve done wrong] if [and here’s the key] we trust Jesus Christ [circle “trust Jesus Christ”] to take away our sins.  And we can all be saved in this same way, by coming to Christ, no matter who we are or what we’ve been like.”  Aren’t you glad for that last part?  In other words, no matter who we are or what we’ve been like.

Friends, there’s only one way you’re going to get into heaven.  It says right there.  By trusting Jesus Christ.  Trusting. 

What does it mean to trust Jesus Christ?  It means more than just know about Him.  It means to trust Him.  The word there in Greek is “to trust in, to cling to, to rely on, to adhere to.”  It means to commit yourself to.  I begin to trust God in every area of my life.  I begin to trust Him with my finances.  I begin to trust Him with my relationships.  I begin to trust God with my future and my dreams and my ambitions.  I trust God with my talent.  I begin to trust God with my problems.  I learn to trust Him in every area.  That’s what it means to really believe.  Not just head knowledge. 

The Bible says “Whosoever believes in Him shall not perish.”  A lot of people know about God but they just don’t know God.  In other words I believe in Hitler.  I believe he existed.  But I'm not a Nazi.  I believe in Stalin and Khruschev and Marx but I'm not a Communist.  I believe in bin Laden but I'm not member of Al-Queda.  But I believe in Jesus and that’s different.  Because I trust Him.  Why?  Because I know Him.  You don’t trust somebody you don't know.  You’ve got to get to know Him.  It’s the difference between your head and your heart.  You don’t trust somebody you don’t know. 

That’s what it means to know God.  I know God just like I'm talking to you.  I talk to Him all the time just like this.  And you can to.  It’s not just for pastors.  Anybody can talk to God that way.  Knowing Him personally.  Having a relationship.  That’s what it means to trust God.  A lot of people are going to miss heaven by eighteen inches.  They’ve got God in their head but not in their heart.  You can go to church your entire life and still miss heaven.  Because you know about God.  You may have a religion but you don’t have a relationship.  God says, “No, I want you to learn to trust Me.  Whoever trusts in Me shall not perish.” 

Here’s the steps.  You want to go to heaven?  You recognize God’s love.  No one will ever love me more than God does.  Recognize God’s love and receive God’s gift.  That He gave His only begotten Son.  I respond to His offer that whosoever believes in Him,” and then here’s the fourth thing…

4.  You Must rely on God’s promise. 

What’s the promise?  “Shall not perish but have everlasting life.”  That’s quite a promise!  Do you know you were made to last forever?  One day your heart’s going to stop.  That’ll be the end of your body, but it’s not going to be the end of you.  God made you in His image and you were made to last forever.  God says I want you spending forever with Me, not apart from Me.  I want you forever with Me in eternity.  I want you in my forever family. 

But here’s the bottom line.  If you want to spend eternity with God in heaven, you’ve got to build a relationship with Him now on earth.  You don’t just thumb your nose to God and say, I'm going to ignore You my entire life and then at the end go, “By the way, I’d like to come and spend eternity with You.”  No, you develop a relationship with Him now.”  If you don’t like spending time with God now here on earth, why would he make you spend the rest of eternity with him in heaven? 

You say, “But Frank even if I put my trust in Jesus Christ, how do I know that I'm going to make it in?  What if something happens to me between now and when I did and I blow it and I don’t get in?”  You don’t understand grace.  It’s not up to you to be sure.  It’s God who makes sure you make it. 

1 Peter tells us:“We are now members of God’s own family… [in other words, when we put our trust in Him.]  And God has reserved for His children [it’s like me going out and making a reservation for us for dinner.  God has reserved a place in advance for His children] the priceless gift of eternal life; it is kept in heaven for you … and God will make sure [circle “God will make sure”.  You don’t have to make sure, God will make sure] that you get there safely to receive it because you are trusting Him.”

What does that mean?  God will make sure.  It’s like when my kids were little and we were in a crowd where they could get lost or in a place where they could get hurt about half way the walk my kids go, “I don’t think I need Dad’s help any more.  I can make this on my own.  I don't really need my father.”  And they want to pull their hand out of my hand.  They want to wiggle and squirm and let go.  But because I love them and I want to protect them, I'm not letting go.  They may want to let go of my hand but I'm not letting go of theirs. 

Today you say, “I'm going to put my trust in Jesus Christ.  I know there’s not a snowball’s chance in hell I'm going to make it to heaven by doing good because I'm not good enough.  I’ve already blown it.  I'm not perfect.  So Jesus, I'm going to put my hand in Your hand.  I'm going to put my life in Your hand.  I'm going to trust You.”  And you grab on to God’s hand today. 

I'm going to guarantee you this.  There will be times in your life you’re going to want to let go of God.  You go, Right now it’s kind of inconvenient to be a follower of Christ.  Right now it’s kind of cramping my style.  I don’t really want to do the right and ethical thing.  I want to do the easy thing.  There are going to be times when you want to let go of God’s hand but He’s never letting go of yours because He loves you.  He will make sure that you get into heaven.  It’s not dependent upon you.  It’s not by works.  It’s all by His grace.  And He says I will get you there.

So what do I do now between now and when I die?  You get to know God better.  You learn to love Him.  You learn to trust Him with every area of your life – your money, your relationships, your family, your future, your career.  You learn to trust Him.  And you learn God’s purpose for your life and begin to fulfill the purpose you were created for. 

Rick Warren, in his book, The Purpose Driven Life, wrote  “You are not an accident.  Your parents may not have planned you but God did.  He wanted you alive and He created you for His purpose.  Focussing on yourself, looking inside will never reveal your purpose in life.  You were made by God and you were made for God.  Until you understand that, life will never make sense.  It is only in God that we discover our origin, our identity, our meaning, our purpose, our significance and our destiny.” 

There are three benefits of giving your life to Christ.  Past, present and future.  1 Peter 1 in the Living Bible says “What a God we have!  Because Jesus was raised from the dead, [that’s Easter] we’ve all been given a brand new life [that means just as if I’ve never sinned] and we have everything to live for [that’s purpose] including a future in heaven, and the future starts now!”  Do you get this?  God says when you give your life to Me, your past is forgiven, you get a purpose for living, you get a home in heaven.  What a deal!  Nobody else can give you that.  Past forgiven, purpose for living, place in heaven. 

At Jesus’ trial before Pilate, Jesus has just been beaten to a pulp.  He’s got a crown of thorns on His head.  Pilate’s standing before an angry mob trying to decide whether to kill Him or not.  Pilate asks the most important question?  “What shall I do with Jesus?”  That is the most important question in life.  Because how you answer it will determine your eternal destiny. 

So I'm asking you right now, What are you going to do with Jesus?  You can either trust Him or you’re going to turn away from Him.  It has eternal implications. 

Here’s the cool part.  You don’t have to have all your doubts resolved and all your questions answered before you start a relationship with Jesus.  No.  Jesus says just come with your doubts.  Come with your questions.  That’s ok.  You don’t have to have it all figured out.  I’ve been a follower of Jesus for over forty years now.  When I read the Bible there’s still a lot of things in here I don’t understand.  I go, “Why would God do that?  I wouldn’t do that if I were God.”  You ought to be glad I'm not God!  But that hasn’t stopped me from having a forty year friendship with Jesus Christ.  I don't have to understand how everything works for me to enjoy it. 

I don’t know how a TV works and pulls color out of the air but I still watch TV.  I don't know how I can get on a cell phone and talk to my kids and grandkids in Brazil for no cost.  I don't have to understand the chemistry of digestion to eat a steak.  A lot of things I don’t understand but I still enjoy. 

And the other thing you don’t have to have is you don’t have to have great faith.  Just have a little faith.  It’s not the size of your faith that matters.  It’s the size of your God.  You put a little faith in a big God and you get saved.  You don’t have to have a lot of faith.  Just a little faith. 

Everybody’s got faith.  You’ve got faith.  You use it all the time.  You had faith when you sat down on that pew that it’d hold you up.  You have faith when you go out on the interstate that you’re not going to get killed.  You have faith all the time.  Just put some in God. 

You can do that right now.  Don't leave here without knowing for sure you’re going to heaven when you die.

Prayer:

      As we close, would you just pray this simple prayer in your heart, in your mind.  You don’t have to say it aloud.  God knows your thoughts.  He’s seen every thought you’ve ever had.  Just say this, “Dear Jesus, I don’t understand it all but I want to thank You for loving me.  I want to thank You for coming to earth for me.  I want to thank You for giving Your life for me so I can go to heaven.  I want to accept Your free gift of forgiveness, Your grace.  I know I can’t earn my way to heaven.  So I want to learn to trust You with every area of my life.  Would You make me just as if I’d never sinned?  Then help me to know Your purpose for my life so that the rest of my life will be the best of my life.  Amen.” 

There’s one last verse.  Romans 8:23 It’s talking about what it’s going to be like in heaven.  There will come a day when you’re going to die.  God says I will take you into heaven if you put your trust in My Son.  “We wait for that day when God will give us our full rights as His children, including new bodies He has promised us -  bodies that will never be sick again and will never die.”  There will come a day when there will be no more sorrow, no more suffering, no more tears, no more tragedy, no more death.  We’re going to be with God forever in eternity and celebrate if we put our trust in Jesus.