Pentecost Sunday 2011 - Vickie Kegerise

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June 5, 2011 Sermon - Dr. Frank Billman

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THE AMAZING GRACE OF GOD

Getting to Know God - Part 5 of 8

Psalm 86:15 06-05-11 Sermon

Think about these statements you have probably heard many times:

         There's no such thing as a free lunch.

         If it sounds too good to be true it probably is.

         We make our money the old fashioned way; we earn it.

         God helps those who help themselves.

Americans are pros at performance and we know little about grace.  The American work ethic says, "You get what you pay for. You get what you deserve."  That makes it very hard to relate to the fact that God is a gracious God.  Psalm 86:15 "You, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God." 

What does grace mean?  It means God gives me what I need, not what I deserve.  Someone has created the definition that goes along with the letters of the word Grace—God’s Redemption at Christ’s Expense.  The Bible says that it is God's nature to bless undeserving people.  He loves to do it.  Isaiah 30:16 "The Lord longs to be gracious to you."  It's His pleasure.  He loves to be gracious.  His grace is unconditional, unlimited and unending, the Bible says. 

This morning I want us to look at three ways that God's grace makes a difference in your life. There are many amazing blessings we could look at but for the benefit of time we'll look at just three ways God's amazing grace makes a difference.

1.  GOD'S SAVING GRACE REMOVES MY GUILT.

That is so basic.  God's saving grace removes my guilt.  Since nobody is perfect we all have guilt.  Everybody makes mistakes. Everybody does some wrong things.  The Bible says, "all have sinned".  We all have guilt feelings.

Ephesians 1:7-8 (Good News) "By the death of Christ we are set free, that is, our sins are forgiven.  How great is the grace of God which He gave to us in such large measure!"  This is the most basic truth of Christianity.   In almost all the other religions of the world you have to work, you have to strive to do good things to overcome your sin.  But in Christianity Jesus Christ has already paid for your sins.  All you have to do is accept it.  There is no reason to go around with a bunch of guilt.  Notice, he says, we are free.  Free from what?  Free from condemnation, free from guilt, free from worry, free from death.  Even if there were no heaven, it would be worth it to become a Christian just to have a clear conscience.  He wipes out guilt.  There is no reason to live in regret.  There's no reason to live in guilt.  That is such good news.  God's saving grace removes my guilt.

If you've experienced that you know what real freedom is.  Jesus said, I came to set you free.  The saving grace removes the guilt in our lives and He forgives us.

Ephesians 2:8-9 "For it is by God's grace that you have been saved through faith.  It is not your own doing [circle this] but God's gift.  There is nothing to boast of, since it is not the result of your own efforts."  The point is that salvation is based on God's mercy not my merit.  Salvation is based on God's promise not my performance.  He says, you can't earn it.  It's almost comical the way some people try to earn their salvation, to prove themselves worthy to God, to try to earn His forgiveness.  There are Four fruitless attempts at salvation.

They have Salvation by Sincerity.  They say:   "It doesn't matter what you believe as long as you're sincere."  The only problem with that is you can be sincerely wrong.  I read about a pilot who sincerely flew into a mountain.  I could pick up a glass of arsenic and drink it sincerely thinking it's milk.  It will still kill me! I knew of someone who sincerely believed that she was going to be healed of breast cancer without any doctors or any medicine.  She died sincerely believing that.  You can be sincerely wrong. 

Then there is Salvation by Subtraction.  You don't do this, don't do that, stop doing this and that... and maybe God will forgive your sins.  Don't smoke, cuss, or chew or run with girls that do. Just don't do anything!  If the Christian life is just a bunch of "don't's" even my dog qualifies as a Christian.  She hasn’t robbed a bank or killed anyone.  She doesn’t curse or smoke or drink.  She doesn’t cheat on her taxes.  She doesn’t do any of these things. 

Then there is Salvation by Service.  Do good.  Be nice.  Take communion.  Get baptized.  Help little old ladies across the street.  Serve on a church committee.  Take a turn cleaning the church.  Come to a church work day.  Teach Sunday school. 

Then there is Salvation by Comparison.  "I don't need to become a Christian because I'm better than ..."  The fact is you may be better than Osama Bin Ladin, and better than me.  But God doesn't judge you according to me.  I'm not the standard and neither is Osama.  The Bible says God Himself is the standard.  We all fall short of that standard.  That's the most basic thing in the Christian life.  But God's saving grace removes my guilt.  If you could save yourself the cross is a waste.  There's no reason for Jesus Christ to die.  If you could save yourself why did He put forth all the effort? 

The most important decision you'll ever make is to receive God's saving grace.  If you haven't done it, do it today.  But it doesn't stop at that point.  God's saving grace removes my guilt. Then comes...

II.  GOD'S STRENGTHENING GRACE RESHAPES MY LIFE

God’s strengthening grace helps me to become the person I really want to be, and the person God wants me to be.  It molds me and reshapes me.  This is sanctification.  God remakes my life.  God loves you just the way you are but He loves you too much to let you stay that way.  The Bible says, in Jeremiah, that God is the potter, we are the clay. He's got us on the potter's wheel.  He's making us and molding us and shaping our lives.  We say, "Thank you, Lord.  I'm just going to jump off the potter's wheel.  I'll take care of myself.  I can shape myself into the right thing."  We blow it!

Hebrews 13:9 "Your spiritual strength comes as a gift from God, not from ceremonial rules."  The biggest problem in Christianity is people start with relationship and revert to rules.  They start with just being in love with God and then fall back into a religious syndrome of rituals and regulations.  A brand new Christian is excited and happy and rejoicing how great it is to be in love with the Lord.  Then all of a sudden he makes the fatal mistake of beginning to watch other Christians, how they dress, how they act, the spiritual sounding phrases.  He no longer says "It was fun!" he now says, "It was a blessing."  We never say "We're going to eat food" but "We fellowship together."  We don't get angry anymore but say, "I was grieved in my spirit."  You stop using English and revert back to a religious thing trying to earn God's pleasure by trying to keep certain rules and regulations.  Paul says In Galatians 5 that that was the problem with the Galatians.  They started one way and ended up going back to a religion. 

If that's not the way to live a Christian life, how are you supposed to live a Christian life? Colossians 2:6 "Just as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live in him."  The way you became a Christian is the way you continue as a Christian. 

How did you become a Christian?  By promising to do good?  By promising to be perfect?  No.  How do you live the Christian life?  By promising to do good?  No.  Simply by receiving God's grace and letting it come into your life.  The Bible says "Grow in grace."  The Bible says "God is working in your life".  The more you trust in God -- the more you let Him work through you -- the faster you're going to grow.  God's saving grace removes my guilt and God's strengthening grace reshapes my life. And then, …

III.  GOD'S SUSTAINING GRACE REMOVES MY HURT

It relieves my hurt and helps me keep going when I'm in pain, when I want to give up.  Paul, in Corinthians, had a problem that caused constant pain.  We don’t know if it was physical pain or emotional pain or what it was, but he called it a thorn in the flesh.  Three times he said, "Lord, take this pain out of my life" and God didn't do it.  Instead God said, in 2 Cor. 12:9, "My grace is all you need [circle that] for my power is strongest when you are weak."  God says, I'm going to give you grace.  Grace is what you need to keep on keeping on. 

If Paul prayed and didn't get an answer should I pray about my problem?  Of course.  The Bible tells us to pray about our problems. Hebrews 14:6 tells us  "Let us approach the throne of grace with confidence so we may receive grace to help us in our time of need." 

When you have a problem, a crisis, when you are going through stress and tension and you pray for God's strength in your life, one of two things is going to happen.  One, God may remove the pain.  That's His Supplying Grace.  But if He doesn't, Number Two, He may leave the pain in your life, in the situation, and He gives you Sustaining Grace to handle it, to take you through the problem so you can learn something through the problem.  We'd never learn anything if all of our problems were instantly removed.  We learn much more through pain than we do through pleasure.  Sometimes God has to leave the pain there.  But whenever He leaves the problem in our lives He gives us the grace to see it through.  He removes my guilt by Saving grace, He reshapes my life by Strengthening grace, but He relieves the hurt and helps me through the problem with His Sustaining grace.  He's going to help you out.  When you get that down, nothing can devastate your life.  No problem, no crisis, no hurt, no harm, no stress, because you realize that God's grace is sufficient.  I can handle it -- not on my own -- but I can handle it with God's grace. 

What happens if I don't depend on God's grace?  What happens if I just rely on myself and try to work out the problem.  "I can handle it on my own."  What happens when I face a hurt or a problem, crisis or stress I don't depend on God's grace?

Hebrews 12:15 (Phillips)  "Be careful that none of you fails to respond to the grace of God for if you do there can spring up in you a bitter spirit which can poison the lives of many others." When you try to handle a hurt on your own, you're going to get bitter.  Resentment is the result of trying to handle all of your problems in your own power.  You become cynical, critical and you allow bitterness to grow in your life.  You raise your hand to God in an angry fist and say, "Why me?"  You put on a black tie and have a pity party for yourself.  "Poor me!  Look at this problem in my life!" You're not relying on the grace of God. 

As a pastor, I meet hurting people all the time.  You can take two people, put them in the same exact situation and one of them is devastated by it and they become resentful and poisoned by their attitude.  The other has a sweet, sweet spirit.  How is it that you see some people that you know have problems that are overwhelming, are under increased pressure, unusual pain in their lives that is not even their own fault and they maintain a sweet, sweet spirit?  How is that possible?  It's possible because those people are relying on the sustaining grace of God. 

Some of you may have been hurt very deeply in the past.  You still remember it and it hurts.  Just the very thought of that memory makes you tense.  Some of you ladies may have been hurt by your fathers or by a brother or a husband.  Some of you men have may have been hurt at work or in your home.  When you think about that hurt it still kind of brings a tear to your eye.  How do you get rid of a hurtful memory like that?  There is only one way.  The only antidote to a painful memory is the grace of God.  You receive God's grace into your life and then you offer it to that offending person and let them go.  You don't hold on to hurt. The person in your past that hurt you can no longer hurt you unless you let them.  Let them go!  Receive God's grace into your life and then be gracious and offer forgiveness to that person and let them go, for your own sake.  It's the only antidote. Grace can pull you through tough times. 

Some of you say "That's sounds like a good deal.  I'd love to have God's grace, to walk out of here with a clear conscience, to start over."  Others need God's strengthening grace -- things in your life you'd like to change, weaknesses, habits and you don't have the strength or power to make those changes.  You need God's strengthening grace.  Some of you are saying "I've been holding on to a hurt.  I've got pain in my life -- physical, emotional, relational.  How in the world do I get God's grace in my life?"

There is only one single thing you need to do to get God's grace in your life.  The key to receiving God's grace is in James 4:7 "God resists the proud [circle that] but He gives grace to the humble."  The key to receiving God's grace in my life is I admit that I need it.  That's it!  I admit that I need God in my life. Pride prevents God's grace.  As long as I'm self dependent -- "I can handle it.  I don't need anybody to tell me what it's all about."  "I don't need anybody else.  I've got it under control." -- As long as you've got that kind of attitude you don't have it under control and that's why you've still got the problem.  You need God's grace to see it through, to make the changes, to get the forgiveness.  All you've got to do is admit it.  "I'm not making it on my own!"

This is the value of confession.  Some of you have a bad habit you'd like to break.  The first step to breaking a bad habit is tell God and somebody else.  When you tell God, He's not shocked; He already knows.  It's no big surprise to God.  He just wants you to admit it.  Then tell it to somebody else.  James 5:16 says Confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed.  If you've never confessed it to anybody, that's why you still have the problem. "But if I admit this bad habit or hidden sin in my life that's pretty humbling."  You've got it!  Bingo!  The very key to getting God's power in your life to change that bad habit begins by admitting it to somebody and getting humility into your life admitting  that you need God. 

I've discovered that the more I live in a totally dependent mode upon God and the more honest and open I am about my own faults, weaknesses and failures and fears the more God pours His grace into my life, which gives me the power to make the changes I need to make. 

Once you've received grace, what do you do?  The Bible says you do two things after you've humbled yourself and God pours His grace into your life. 

1.  God says He wants you to be gracious to other people.  I Peter 4 says God's given everybody a spiritual gift and ability by grace and He wants you to use that to serve other people.  In the Phillips translation it says, God wants you to be a dispenser of grace.  Graciousness is in short supply in our society.  Most people are just flat out rude.  Graciousness is in short supply. The reason why so few people are gracious is because they don't feel graced, forgiven.  When you really understand how much God has done for you, and how much you've been forgiven and the fact you wouldn't even be alive today if it weren't for God, you wouldn't have your brain that gives you the ability to think... Are you a gracious person?  Are you a gracious parent?  Do you parent by grace?  Do your kids get unconditional praise at home? Or is everything based on performance?  If they do a certain thing they get the strokes.  If they don't do a certain thing then they don't the strokes.  Some of you have had kids and they're growing up and you just need to accept their uniqueness. Some parents don't approve of their kids unless they have the same characteristics the parent does.  Then they'll like them. Maybe God gave you some kids who, fortunately, aren't like you. Be a gracious parent.

2.  The other thing God wants you to do is to share His grace with other people.  Tell them.  It's the best news in the world. You don't have to live under a cloud of resentment and regret. You can be forgiven.  If I had the cure for cancer I'd take every dime I had to let people know what it was.  I have something better than a cure for cancer.  The people that live right next door to you need to hear God's grace.  Share it with them this week.  What a gracious God we have! 

The bible says:  "God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work."  Grace is the answer to all your needs.  God says I will take care of all your needs by grace.  The verse right before this one says God wants you to be gracious, generous, a giver.  What you sow you reap.  The more generous you are with others, the more you feel God's grace in your life. 

The most important question I can ask you today is Which of these three kinds of grace do you need most in your life right now?

Some of you need God's saving grace.  You need to have your guilt removed.  Would you like everything you've ever done wrong be completely forgiven and forgotten in eternal heaven?  Would you like to have a clear conscience?  Totally forgiven!  It is available.  You don't have to go any further.  You've got God's gracious forgiveness on the basis of Jesus Christ.  If someone were to ask you, "If you were to die tonight and go to heaven and God asks you `Why should I let you into heaven?' what would you say?"  "I've been a nice guy... I even went to Forest Grove United Methodist church one Sunday morning..."  Maybe you've been operating under the wrong assumption for months or years... that you could earn your forgiveness, earn God's love, earn your way to Heaven.  You can't.  You need to throw yourself on the grace of God and say, "God, I admit it.  I could never earn my way to heaven.  I've done too many things wrong to earn Your forgiveness.  But I want to accept Your graciousness." 

Some of you need God's strengthening grace which reshapes your life.  You're a Christian but you've gotten off track.  You're just not as close to God as you used to be.  You have fallen away a little bit.  You know that everything isn't all right.  As a result you're frustrated, defeated, under stress, there are tensions in your life.  You know you're not living the way that is right.  You think it's so hard to get back up to the place you used to be with God.  It is not hard at all.  Just say, "Here I am, God."  Just turn around and say Yes.  Your spiritual strength comes as a gift from God.  He'll bestow on you the power you need to make those changes.  For some of you, you need to get off the performance treadmill.  You have subtlety, unconsciously, replaced your relationship with God with religious duties.  Go to church, read your Bible, listen to Christian radio, tithe your income to the church,  I do my thing and I'm bored and there is no joy.  You need to get back to falling in love with the Lord again.  Focus on the relationship, not the rituals and rules. 

Some of you need God’s sustaining grace to relieve your hurt. You're in over your head and you're about to go under.  You're ready to throw in the towel.  And you have physical pain, emotional pain, or a pain in a relationship.  God wants to say to you His grace will sustain you and help you do the things that are right.  Let Him have your pain.  Some of you are thinking back to that person who has hurt you many years ago and saying, "I can't do it.  I don't know how to forgive that person.  They hurt me too bad.  I don't have the power to forgive that person.  I can't just let him go." You're exactly right!  That's why you need God's grace to help you do what you cannot do on your own.  Some of you parents have been hurt by your children, some of you children have been hurt by your parents, some of you have been hurt by someone else.  You can't forgive them by yourself but God's grace will give you that power.  Receive it and offer it to that person. 

God's grace is available to you right here and right now.  That's why He brought you here today. 

Prayer:

      Would you pray a simple prayer in your heart as we close today?  Would you say "Dear God, I know I need You.  Who am I kidding?  I need first of all Your saving grace to remove all my guilt.  I know I've done a lot of things.  I haven't kept my own standards, much less Yours.  I ask You to forgive me, not because I deserve it but because You are a gracious God.  Would You wipe the slate clean in my life?  Would You give me a clear conscience?  Would You set me free from the regret and the burden of guilt I've been carrying?  I receive it right now."  Then would you pray, "God, I need Your strengthening grace.  There are things in my life I want to change, I want to be different, but I can't do it all on my own.  I need Your power to make the changes.  I want to be different and I need Your grace to reshape my life." 

      Some of you need to say, "God, I've been focusing on rules and religion and I've forgotten it's a relationship with You that’s really important.  I want to renew that relationship this morning."  Then would you pray, "Lord I need Your sustaining grace.  I need the power to keep on keeping on.  I'm tired, frustrated.  I know what's the right thing to do but I feel like giving up. I need Your sustaining grace.  With Your grace remove the hurt in my life, and relieve it.  Father, if You see fit to leave it there a time longer, however long, give me the sustaining grace to see it through, to handle it.  I ask this not because I deserve it but because of Your grace and who You are."

      Father, I want to thank You for the good news of Your grace -- the gospel.  I pray that today many people here would experience it in their heart and in their lives.  I pray that today many are opening their heart to Jesus Christ and inviting Him in as they say Yes to You.  Thank you.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

May 29, 2011 Sermon - Frank Billman

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OUR UNCHANGING GOD

Getting to Know God - Part 4 of 8

James 1:17  05-29-11 Sermon

Have you notice how rapidly things change in our world today?   I was thinking of the number of things people use today that they didn't even have five or ten years ago. Technology has brought us DVR's, DVD’s, ipads, home computers, microwaves, CD’s MP3s, cellular phones -- things that ten years were just speculation for most of us.  We're rapidly changing in our world.  It increases the pace of our world.  In 1920 to drive through Los Angeles with a horse, it took about an hour to go10 miles.  Today, with high speed cars and freeways, at rush hour you can go five miles in an hour!  That’s progress!

Too much change creates stress in our lives.  Dr. Thomas Holmes has said there are 43 different things in life that create stress when the changes come, and when that stress builds up in your life you're going to be in trouble and unhealthy.  Alvin Toffler in his book talks about people who are looking for points of constancy and stability where they can find some security; when everything else is changing.  So the question then becomes:  Is there anything in the world that is permanent?  Is there anything that is reliable, that never changes?

The answer is in James 1:17 "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows."   Phillips: "...with God there is never the slightest variation or shadow of inconsistency."  We're in a series on God, what is He like, the attributes of God.  Today I want us to look at what theologians call God's immutability.  That simply means God never changes. In Malachi 3:6 "I the Lord do not change!"  He is always the same.  He always has been; He always will be.  Because He is perfect, He can't get any better and He can't get worse, therefore, He'll never change.  Because we're imperfect we do change. Everything else in creation changes.  But God doesn’t change.  Have you noticed the fact that you are constantly changing?  Look in the mirror. "The Times, They Are A-Changin'" I'd say the "Lines, they are a Changin'" -- the hairline, the waistline, the credit line.  We always change in the way we act, think, look, talk.  But God never changes. 

Change creates stress in our lives.  This morning I want us to talk about how to stabilize your life in the midst of continual change.  We'll focus in on three things about God that never change.  They will add stability.  They are things you can always count on. 

I.  GOD'S LOVE FOR ME NEVER CHANGES

I need to remind myself of that.  Jeremiah 31:3, God says, "I have loved you with an everlasting love."  Circle "everlasting love".  You were created to be loved by God.  You are an object of God's love.  God's love is consistent and it is continual. One of the reasons we get frustrated with relationships is because people change.  They're fickle.  They change from one day to the next.  One day they are your most loyal supporter and the next they are against you.  "You're not the man I married!" or "My sweet child has become this rebellious teenager.  I don't even recognize him anymore."  Unpredictablility, inconsistency.  These cause stress in our lives.

The Bible says God always acts like Himself.  He never changes. He never acts out of character.  Psalm 119:15 "Your love never changes, so save me!"  Nobody ever says, "What's got into God today? What’s HIS problem?  Where did he get that attitude today?"  God never changes.  God is always Himself. 

The point is: You never need to doubt God's love for you.  No matter what happens, no matter what I do, no matter what I feel, God's love for me never changes.  Romans 8:38 "Nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God."  You can go to bed tonight, get up tomorrow morning and God has not changed His mind about you while you were sleeping. 

Do you ever have those bad days when you don't think you love anybody?-- your wife, you kids, yourself.  You’re grumpy, cranky, frustrated about things that haven't gone as planned.  You just don't love anybody.  But God never has bad days.  He's never moody, or fickle.  He is always constant love.  We always get into trouble when we doubt God's love. So when tragedy strikes, or when we pray and don't get an immediate answer, or when things don't go your way, just remember God's love for you hasn't changed one bit.  That is a stabilizer in life.

II.  GOD'S WORD NEVER CHANGES

The laws, the principles, the commands are timeless.  Isaiah 40:8 (Living Bible) "The grass withers and flowers fade, but the Word of our God shall stand forever."  The Bible is always fresh.  It is always relevant, up to date, never obsolete.  Anything that man writes eventually becomes obsolete, dated.  At the rate of scientific discovery today, by the time a science textbook is printed it's already obsolete.  Look at the computer manuals that are now irrelevant -- just a couple of years and they are outdated. Whatever man writes eventually changes. 

Man's ideas don't last.  You need to build your life on something more stable and permanent and unchangeable than the current fad or current therapy or the current thing that is in vogue. 

Matthew 24:35 Jesus said, "Heaven and earth will pass away but My words will never pass away."  There has never been any book that has been more attacked, criticized, ridiculed, burned and outlawed than the Bible.  Yet today all of those Caesars, dictators and fanatics that opposed the Bible in the past are all dead.  The Bible is still around. It has stood the test of time because His word never changes. Psalm 119:152 "Long ago I learned from your statutes that you established them to last forever."  The principles, the laws that He lays down, are made to last forever. 

Alan Shepherd, the very first American astronaut in space, was asked by a reporter just before he got into the capsule:  "What is the one thing you're depending on most in this space venture?" His answer was classic, "I'm depending on the fact that God's laws never change."  What if the rotation of the earth was inconsistent?  What if gravity reversed every other day?  When He made the whole universe, He established some universal laws. They never change.  They never have and they never will.  The reason we can study science is because it is predictable.  We can study some verifiable facts of life and of physics that do not change. 

Just as God has established the universe to operate on physical laws, there are moral laws and spiritual laws that God has set up that we cannot ignore.  Because they do not change.  If we ignore them we have chaos.  Do you remember when you were a kid and playing a game with a kid who keeps changing the rules?  How can you win?  How can you even play?  The only way you can win in life is to play by the rules.  God has established some laws, principles, commands in His word that do not change!  There are some absolutes.  There are some things that will always be right and some things that will always be wrong.  It's not a matter of opinion.  Contrary to popular opinion God does not invent new rules for every generation.  He has established them to last forever. 

Satan's temptation is always to get you to question God's word.  The first temptation:  Satan asks Eve, "Did God really say you couldn't eat of that?"  He's getting Eve to question did God really say you shouldn't do such and such...  Today we don't say that much. Satan doesn't tempt us that way because it's black and white, we have God’s written word -- we don't question our hearing, we can just go look it up in the Bible. 

Nowadays, Satan has put a little twist on the temptation.  The phrase I sometimes hear today is: "That's your interpretation."  When you go up to a stop sign, how do you interpret that?  How many ways can you interpret S-T-O-P?  On Mount Sinai God gave Moses the 10 commandments but the world wants them to be the 10 suggestions! There's no interpretation needed there.  It's real black and white.  The fact is God's word has not changed. 

Matt. 5:24 "Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock."  Jesus said there are two ways to build a house.  You can build it on sand or you can build it on a rock.  If you don't build it on a solid foundation the whole building will eventually tilt and fall over.  You've got to have a solid foundation for your life.  God is saying that if you build your life on the current fad, the current therapy, the current growth group, whatever is being read in the magazines -- you name it -- then you're building on shifting sands and you're going to have an unstable life when the changes of life come.  Those changes are inevitable.  If you want to have stability when the stresses of life come on your life you've got to build it on something that never changes. 

God's love for me never changes and God's word never changes.  It will always be the right thing to do.  It may seem hard, unreasonable, unpopular.  But it is always the right thing to do. Doesn't that simplify life?  Instead of asking, "Who should I believe?"  How many of you believe everything you read in the paper?  see on TV?  read in the Bible?  Why do we spend more time watching the TV or reading the newspaper -- something we don't believe -- than reading the Bible -- something we do believe.  It just doesn't make sense. 

The point is, if I want to have stability in my life, stability comes from building my life on God's unchangeable word.  I don't just listen to the advice of my friends.  They may be just as wrong as I am.  But I build my life on something that will never, never change.  It is consistent.  It will be consistent five years from now and it will be consistent fifty years from now.

Here’s a secret stress stabilizer:  If you want to have more stability in your life when you're under stress memorize scripture – memorize verses from the Bible.  Start filling your mind with things that never change and then when you need them God can bring them to mind. If you're wondering what you should do in a situation, God will pop that verse into your mind.  You won't always have a Bible with you.  When Jesus was out in the desert being tempted by the devil, "Jesus, why don't you turn these stones to bread," Jesus didn't pull out His pocket Old Testament or call it up on the Bible AP on his cell phone for a verse that said, "Don't tempt the Lord your God."  He didn't have to pull out a Bible.  He just simply said, "Satan, the Bible says `You shall not tempt the Lord your God.'"  He had it memorized and it helped Him.  The fact is if you want stability in your life you've got to base it on these things that don't change.

III.  GOD'S PURPOSE FOR MY LIFE  NEVER CHANGES

No matter what happens to you, in you, through you God’s purpose for your life will never, never change.  Isaiah 14:24 "The Lord Almighty has sworn, `Surely as I have planned it, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will stand.'"  God is at work in human history.  History is really His-story.  God's story.  What is the world coming to? It's coming to the very climax that God has planned from the very beginning.  I'm not sure what all that involves.  I don't know all what the future holds but I do know who holds the future.  It is coming to the planned climax.  The Bible says nobody knows when that climax of history will come.  Even Jesus didn’t know when he was here on earth.  Only the Father which is in heaven knows.  Even Howard Camping doesn’t know.  Another one of his dates for Christ’s return has passed.   The Bible says, "No man knows the day or hour."  Fortunately, I'm on the winning side.  That's good news.  It is inevitable that we're going to end up on the winning side. 

Psalm 33:11 "His plans endure forever; His purposes last eternally."  Do your plans ever change?  How often do they change?  Why do your plans change so much?  Two reasons:  1. You are not all-knowing.  You are not omniscient like God is.  Because you don't have the perspective or foresight to know everything that's going to happen your plans will change.  Maybe now you know what you didn't used to know.  Now that you know something different your plans have changed.  That's one reason. 

The other reason your plans change is 2. you are not all powerful.  Maybe you don't have the power to implement the changes you had intended to do.  You ran out of time, money, energy, effort -- whatever.  So your plans change.  Since God is omniscient -- God knows everything -- and since He's omnipotent -- God has all power -- His plans never have to change.  He is never confronted with a new situation that demands a change in plans because nothing is new to him.  He has seen it all before!

I Samuel 15:29 "God is not a man.  He does not change His mind." Are there some times in the Bible that say God changed His mind? Yes.  Because it wasn't God who changed, it was the people who changed.  God told Ninevah, "If you don't repent, I'm going to destroy the city."  He didn't destroy the city.  God changed His mind.  God never changes His will, but He does will a change. 

The point:  God's purpose for my life is bigger than my problems. God does not have a Plan B for my life.  Habakkuk 3:6 says, "His ways are eternal."  Think of the biggest mistake you've ever made.  Then think of the biggest sin you've ever committed, that thing you regret the most.  Then think of the biggest disappointment you've ever had.  Do you think God knew about those in advance before you ever did them?  Yes, He did. He wasn’t surprised.  He wasn’t shocked.  Since He knew those were going to come up anyway He has woven that into His plan for your life.  He included them.  Romans 8:28 "God works All things together for good."  ALL things together for good!  Good or bad God can somehow turn them around and bring good out of them.  They all fit into a plan.  That means no matter what has happened in your life you're still on Plan A.  God has not changed His mind and God's purpose for your life has not changed. 

Sometimes I hear people say, "I made this big mistake...  So for now on I've just got to settle for second best."  There's only one problem with that.  The words Second Best are not found in the Bible.  You are still on Plan A.  God knows everything that's going to happen in your life and He's fit it all in to work for good in your life.  Even the mistakes and sins you commit that are wrong and bad, God can teach you from those things.  You can learn many, many good lessons. 

What is God's plan for my life?  John 10:10 says that God's plan for your life is that you might have life.  "I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly" Jesus said.  He wants you to enjoy an abundant life.  Live it and not just exist. 

And God’s plan for your life is a good plan.  He says in Jeremiah 29:11 for I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 

Then in Romans 8:29 it says “for those ….he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son”.  God's plan for your life is for you to become like Jesus Christ.  You learn to think like He thinks and feel like He felt and act like He acts. To Become like Jesus Christ. That’s his plan for you.

It all begins with a relationship.  Romans 10:9 "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."  Something else that has never changed is God's plan of salvation.  God’s plan of salvation has not changed!  For two thousand years there is only one way to get to know God and that's through Jesus Christ, His son.  Jesus said "I am the Way" -- "I'm not a good way, the best way, one way among many, -- but the way".  And His plan has never changed.  God's invitation to you has never changed.  He wants you to come to Him and establish a relationship with His Son Jesus Christ. 

In your life, between now and when you die, however long that is, you will experience many stressful changes in your life.  My question becomes:  How are you going to respond to those changes? You can't prepare for them because they aren't predictable.  You don't know what they're going to be.  You don’t know when they are going to happen.  How are you going to handle them?  What's going to be the source of stability in your life?

Three things to remember when you're under stress and they're based on the three things we've just looked at.  They are absolute facts.  They become spiritual anchors for your soul in a changing world.

1)  God will never stop loving me.  Never.  No matter what I do he won’t love me any more or any less because he already loves me completely and he always will.  I won't understand all that is going on but no matter what He's doing, He's acting toward me in love.  That's a stabilizer. No matter what happens, He loves me.

2)  God's word is always right.  The advice here in the Bible is the right thing to do, even if it's unpopular or unpleasant it is always the right thing to do.  I used to have a saying on the wall of  my office that said What is popular is not always right; what is right is not always popular.  God’s word is always right.  Even if it is not popular.  That's a stabilizer.

3)  God’s purpose for me will not change.  God's purpose for my life is bigger than my problems. Problems can't change God's purpose.  It has not changed God's purpose for your life and it will not change what He wants to do in your life.  He still has a great plan for your life!

Psalm 125:1 "Those who trust in the Lord are as steady as Mount Zion, unmoved by any circumstance."  That's what I call stability.  Unmoved by any circumstance.  Security, stability, confidence, peace, tranquility, all come from being anchored in an unchanging God.  When everything around us is changing in this throw away society where nothing remains the same, there is one thing that never changes and that's God and these aspects of His character.

Prayer:

      Question:  Are you stressed out because of all the changes you've been going through?  Has it been a little hectic lately?  Are you feeling a little uptight about the uncertainty of your future?  Would you like a rock solid foundation on which you can build a stable life?  Then I invite you to pray three things:  "God, I believe that You love me.  I accept Your love gift of Your son, Jesus Christ. Father, I commit myself to learning and obeying Your unchanging word.  I want to follow it's advice even when it seems hard or unpopular because I know it's the right thing to do.  And, God, I want to commit myself to cooperating with Your plan for my life.  Help me to learn from the mistakes that I've made.  Please forgive my sins.  I want to do what's right.  In Jesus' name.  Amen."

May 22, 2011 Sermon - Pastor Frank

You can listen to the sermon here. Please note the recording missed the first sentence or two and begins in the middle of a sentence at the * below).

GOD'S POWER IN YOUR LIFE

Getting to Know God - Part 3 of 8  05-22-11 Sermon

Jeremiah 32:17

We're in this series of messages called "Getting to Know God" and today I want to look at God's Power.  We've looked at His Knowledge and His presence.  Today, His power. 

The power of the sun produces more energy in one second than has been used in the history of the world. And the sun, at its current rate, will be able to burn for another thirty billion years.  That's * a lot of power.  But it's not as great as the power of the Creator who made the sun. 

Jeremiah 32:17 "Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm.  Nothing is too hard for you."  What we're talking about is what theologians call the omnipotence of God.  God is almighty.  He has unlimited power.  He never gets tired.  He is never frustrated.  Everything He does, He does easily.  Nothing is ever too hard or difficult. It's easy for him to answer a prayer.  It's just as easy for Him to create a universe.  He's all powerful.  In Luke it says, "All things are possible with God."  Today I want us to look at the Evidences of God's power, the Application of God's power in my life and the Appropriation of God's power, in other words, how do I get God's power in my life?

I.  THE EVIDENCE OF GOD'S POWER

The natural place to start is creation.  Creation is a silent witness of God's power.  Look at the mountains and oceans.  God's greatness created those mountains and oceans.  Psalm 19:1-2 "The heavens are telling the glory of God; they are a marvelous display of his craftsmanship.  Day and night they keep on telling about God." Every moment creation is a witness to the fact that God is powerful.  The Bible says that the universe was created at God's command.  He spoke the world into existence.  He said, "Let there be light and there was light."  God one day said "Water!" and there were oceans and rivers and lakes.  God said "Fish!" and the oceans were filled with fish.  Vegetation!  All kinds of vegetation.  Stars! and the universe was filled with stars. That's what I call power!  He spoke the world into existence. And we see the evidence every day of God's power.  Where there is design you have to have a designer.  It takes more faith to not believe in God’s existence than it does to believe in Him. 

Look at Jesus.  Jesus' life displayed the power of God.  He had power over nature.  He calmed the storm.  He told the waves, "Sit down and shut up!" and they became quiet!  He walked on water.  He fed thousands with one little lunch.  He spoke to a tree and it withered.  Another time He turned water into wine.  He had power over nature.

He had power over illness and death.  He healed the blind, the deaf, the sick, the lame, the diseased.  He raised people from the dead.  He had power over the devil.  One time He told a bunch of demons to come out of a man and go into a bunch of pigs -- the original "deviled ham".  God's power is awesome! 

II.   THE APPLICATION OF GOD’S POWER IN MY LIFE

The amazing thing is that God wants to share His power with you. Ephesians 1:20 (Living Bible) "I pray that you will begin to understand how incredibly great His power is to help those who believe Him the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead."  That's amazing!  Incredible!  He wants to share His power with you.  There are so many people who are powerless.  They feel like victims.  Victims of society, circumstance, other people, their health problems, their financial problems.  They feel always a dollar short and a day late, taking two steps forward and one step back.  They never seem to get it together.  They feel very powerless.  God says I want to give you power in your life.

There are two power shortages where God wants to give you power:

Power Shortage #1:  The Power of Getting Started. 

Most of us have a problem with this from time to time.  How many good things have you been postponing in the last six months? "I'm going to get around to that one day but..."  What would you like to change about yourself but you can't get the motivation to get started?  Do you ever find yourself paralyzed by procrastination?  "Someday, I'll..."  Romans 7:18 (Phillips) "I often find that I have the will to do good, but not the power!" Does this describe you?  You want to do what is right and good but just don't have the power!  How many of you have learned that good intentions are not enough?  Living Bible:  "No matter which way I turn I can't make myself do right.  I want to but I can't." Sometimes we get in a cycle of bad habits and it's hard to break out of them.  We don't know how to get started.  King James Version "How to perform that which is good I find not."  A common symptom of people.  Circle "perform".  Many times in life you will face tasks for which you are ill prepared.  You don't have the ability, the talent, the energy, the intelligence, the background, the money, the power.  What do you do about those kinds of things where your performance does not match up to what needs to be done?  That's where the good news comes in.  The good news is that God can give me the power to perform.  He can give me the power to get started.  When I'm helpless He's there to help me get started making the changes He wants me to make and I want to make.  Philippians 2:13 "For God is at work within you, giving you the will [circle "will"] and the power [circle "power"] to achieve His purpose."  God says I want to give you the power to get going.

Power Shortage #2:  Keeping Going

It's one thing to get started.  Many people are great starters. It's another thing to keep on keeping on doing what you know is right even when you don't feel like it.  God says I'm not only going to give you the power to get started, but I'm going to give you the power to keep on going.  Many of you can relate to this verse, Psalm 6:2-3 "I am worn out, O Lord.  Give me strength; I am completely exhausted, and my whole being is deeply troubled." For some of you I think that's a life verse.  "I'm sooo tired!" I read that the average homemaker walks 1,037 miles per year on the job.  And you're wondering what your wife does when you are away at work! Everything wears you out eventually.  What do you do when you're tired?  God says, I want to help you keep on going.

Eccl. 2:11 Solomon:  "I looked at everything I had tried, and it was all so useless, a chasing of the wind, and there was really nothing worthwhile anywhere."  And you thought mid-life crisis was a 21^st  century development!  Solomon had a great one right there!  You may feel this way.  Maybe about your career.  "I've tried all kinds of things but it's just not working."  Or about your marriage or about your kids or your health.  "I know I should keep on going but I feel like giving up!"  The Bible says that God can give me the power to keep on going. The good news is that  He can give me the power to not only perform but He gives me the power to persist.  That's good news!  The ability, that when I reach the end of my rope, there is a second wind.  There is ability that comes into my life, additional power, not just to get started, but power to keep going. 

Isaiah 40:28-31 (Good News) "The Lord is the everlasting God.  He never grows tired or weary.  He strengthens those who are weak and tired.  Those who trust the Lord for help will find their strength renewed."  That's a great verse!  God will give me the power to persist.  Because God's power is unlimited He never gets tired.  He never gets weary.  He never goes to bed.  He never gets tired of my prayer requests, of my talking to Him, of anything.  He has unlimited energy.  He can create a universe and say "What's next?"  He does not get tired.

That is a personal encouragement to me.  When I am drained and at the end of my rope I know I can tap into a power that is unlimited. 

Doesn't the Bible say God rested after creation?  Yes, but it's not the same word with the same meaning as our "rest".  We rest because we're tired.  But when it says after seven days God rested it doesn't mean He was tired – it means He was finished!  There wasn't anything else to do.  He was finished.  Rest for God didn't mean restoration.  It meant ceasing from creative activity.  God didn't rest because He was tired.  He's never tired. 

Isaiah 40:31 "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.  They shall mount up with wings as eagles.  They shall run and not be weary.  They shall walk and not faint."  God says, I want to give you the power to persist.  God says, I promise to energize those who trust in Me.

III. HOW TO APPROPRIATE GOD’S POWER IN YOUR LIFE

I know some of you are thinking, "That may work for you but that doesn't work for me.  I'm a believer but I never felt God's power in my life.  I don't know if this stuff really works."  You're probably exactly right!  The fact is, God's power is not automatic.  I would say that many Christians do not have God's power in their life to any degree.  There are some steps -- some things you must do to appropriate it.  Many Christians never get much of God's power in their life.  They never key into it.  They are just as defeated as unbelievers and just as tired and fatigued.  The question then becomes "How do you get power to the people?" Here are four secrets of how to appropriate God's power in your life on a consistent basis.

1.  You admit your lack of power.

I admit my lack of power.  I admit that I don't have it all together.  Our problem is that we think we're omnipotent.  We think we're God.  "I can handle anything.  I can do everything." If you don't believe it, look at your schedule.  Who are you kidding?  If you burn the candle at both ends you're not as bright as you think you are.  Admit your need for God's power in your life.  You can't do it all on your own.  You come out of high school or college believing you can take on everything. Then, later, you realize that you don't have all power.  Stress, tension and frustration come as a result.  Mid-life crisis is simply waking up to your own limitations, realizing you are not God. You cannot control everything.  You are not going to reach every goal you set in life.  You're not going to make as much money as you may have thought.  You are a human being.  You have weaknesses.  You're getting older!  Your hairline may be receding!  Or it may be gone with the wind!  [When God made man He wanted to be fair.  To some He gave brains, to some He gave hair.  If you're bald in the front you're a thinker.  If you're bald in the back you're a lover.  If you're bald all over you think you're a lover.] 

What do you do when you realize you are weak?  2 Cor 12:9-10 Paul says, "God said to me `Where there is weakness, My power is shown more completely.'  Therefore I have cheerfully made up my mind to be proud of my weaknesses, because they mean a deeper experience of Christ's power.  For my very weakness makes me strong in Him!"  When you pretend to be self sufficient, you short circuit God's power in your life.  A self-made man needs to admit his inadequacy and then he can start having power.  Until then you're just going to burn out. 

2.  You believe in faith.

The key to personal power in our life is faith.  Nothing else.  It's faith.  The key to personal power is faith.  Mark 9:23 "Everything is possible for him who believes" Matt. 9:29 "According to your faith it will be done to you."  If that is true, and it is, let me ask you two vital questions:

         What are you expecting God to do in your life? 

         And What are you expecting God to do through your life? 

He works according to faith.  Since God has unlimited power, we should not limit Him because of our expectations of Him.  We limit God by our own unbelief.  God has given us atomic bomb power and we live firecracker lives.  There's no problem too big for God and there's no request that He can't handle. 

3.  Speak in faith.

This is very important.  You must speak in faith.  2 Cor. 4:13 (Good News) "With that same spirit of faith, we also speak because we believe."  We must verbalize your faith.  We must announce what you're intending God to do.  You must not just think it in your mind, you must announce it.  Speak it. Verbalize it. 

That's what a goal is.  A goal is a statement of faith.  When I set a goal "I believe God can help me do _______________ by _______________ time."  Goals are simply statements of faith. The size of your goal is determined by the size of your God. Show me what your goals are in life and I'll tell you what you're believing God for. 

It's very important that you announce your goals up front.  Say it in faith.  The Bible says in the book of James that your tongue is the rudder of your life.  It's like the little rudder that moves the giant ship.  The way you talk to yourself and to others directs the course of your life.  The Bible says in Proverbs, "Death and life are in the power of the tongue."  So what are you saying... about your marriage, about your job, about your health, about your finances, about your kids?  Many of you are maybe waiting for God to do something and believing Him for a miracle but you're short circuiting it by the way you talk. You're believing it in one place but then you are denying and negating it by your complaints.  "Yeah, I believe God is going to save my marriage.  But my marriage is the pits!"  "Yeah, I'm praying that my kids will really take a stand for the Lord, but my kids are hopeless!  Incorrigible!"  "I'm really praying that God will heal me, but I'm never going to get well."  "I want God to change my life and help me break those bad habits but it's just the way I am!  I'm never going to change!"  You're short circuiting God's power in your life by your mouth. 

God's power is not automatic.  You must first admit you have a need for it, then you believe in faith, and then you speak in faith.  Nothing is too hard for God.  After you believe in faith and speak in faith then you...

4.  Act in faith.

This is very vital and most people miss this point.  Act in faith.  You must step out in advance before the power is released.  God wants you to take action even before you feel anything.  "You mean I have to act as if I've got the power, even though I don't have the power, in order to get the power?"  You got it! that's what's called acting in faith.  You act as if God is going to provide.  And when you step out in advance, before you even feel it, then God sees your faith.  Don’t wait for a feeling! If the only time you pray is when you feel like it the devil is going to make sure you never feel like it!  You need to do those things you know are right even when you don't feel like it. Immaturity is living by your feelings.  Maturity is living by your commitments.  You act as if, in advance.  So many people miss God's blessing on their life.  "There is something I'd really like to do....  BUT I don't think that I can do it."  So you never even try!  And as a result you never have the power. If you had tried, God would have poured the power into your life to make you competent to do it once you had stepped out.  But if you don't even try you will never sense God's power in your life.

Joshua and the children of Israel came up to the Jordan river.  It was very similar to Moses at the Red Sea.  The whole nation had to pass over the river in order to get into the Promised Land.  It was springtime and the banks of the Jordan were overflowing.  It was impossible.  God said to Joshua and the leaders of Israel, "Take the leaders and put them out in front of the people and tell them to walk into the river.  After they begin to walk into the river I will dam it up a little way north and the waters will recede and you will be able to walk across on dry ground."  The leaders began to walk into the river.  The water was up to their ankles, then their knees, then their thighs.  They were probably thinking, "I'm not going to walk very much further!"  But look what happened.  The Bible says in Joshua 3, "When the priests put their feet in the water, the Jordan river will stop flowing." They acted as if the water would part and it did!  God released His power. 

Example of Craig Marsh’s healing.

People being raised from the dead throughout history.  Even today.  Reports from over 50 countries around the world.  Over 700 in Mexico and Mozambique alone. 

Example of Christian cardiologist raising a patient.

There is no limit to the power that God has available for the situation that you find yourself in. 

The amazing thing is that God wants to share His power with you but you've got to follow the steps.  First you admit you have the need, then you believe in faith, then speak in faith and then act in faith.  Step out in advance, acting as if.  Maybe some of you are waiting for God to do a miracle in your life and you think that you are waiting on God.  In reality God is waiting on you. He's waiting on you to take the first step.  The power will not be released until you take the first step.  It's withheld.  It's a deliberate choice:  "I don't feel it but I know that it's the right thing to do.  I'm going to do it."  You act as if you have the power to do what's right and the power will be supplied. 

         Men, tomorrow when you come home from work and you're exhausted and you're tired and want to be left alone.  You feel lousy and cruddy and you do not want to face your kids or maybe even your wife.  You want to walk in the door and say to everybody "Don't bug me!"  Instead of doing that, why don't you try this:  On the way home, while you're driving home, why don't you take a little pill called Isaiah 40:31 "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.  They shall mount up with wings as eagles.  They shall run and not be weary..."  ...  They shall play with the kids and not faint.  Before you get out of the car and go into the house say, "God, You've promised to re‑energize me if I wait on You.  So I'm going to wait here a minute, and take a deep breath.  I believe in faith that You can re‑energize me.  I'm going to say it, I'm going to speak it, I believe it.  I'm going to walk in and act as if I've got energy and I'm going to play with those kids.  I don't have many hours of the day with them in the first place."

         I want you to think of that person that you find hard to love.  Or that person you find it hard to be patient with.  Or that person you don't even like, you don't even want to be friendly to them!  Then say, how would a loving person act toward that person?  If I were patient how would I act toward that person?  Or if I were friendly how would I act?  Once you've got that down then you start acting as if you're loving, you're patient, you're friendly, whatever.  Watch what happens!  It will blow your mind.  That is living by faith.  Living in faith!

         Maybe for some of you, the romance died in your marriage a long time ago.  You say, "I just don't have any feelings for my mate any more.  I'm not even attracted to them anymore."  You need God's power to jump start the romance in your marriage.  You start acting romantic toward your mate.  Date your mate.  Treat them like a date.  Send them flowers.  Compliment them.  Build them up.  Start acting romantic and those feelings will come back, because feelings always follow actions.  You cannot feel your way into an action but you can act your way into a feeling.  By faith say, "God, I want to feel this way."  Then act that way and watch what happens. 

So what if God is omnipotent?  What good is God's power if you never take advantage of it?  You're going to need God's power this week.  It is available.  What are you expecting God to do in your life this week?  We limit God so much by our unbelief.  We live on just a fraction of the power that is available to us. 

Prayer:

      You can begin to live a different way today.  You can stop living on your own power and start living on God's power, which is the solution to burn out and the solution to mid life crisis and the solution to that frustration and depression that creeps in on your life.  Would you pray this prayer in your heart?  "God, I admit that I need Your power. I admit that there are things that are just too hard for me. I'm tired a lot of the time.  Yet, Father, I believe nothing is too hard for You."  Just admit that to Him.  God can move a mountain.  If He can move a mountain, He can move a cancer, He can move a bad marriage situation, or a bankruptcy or whatever. 

      Pray, "God, I believe nothing is too hard for You.  I want to start believing in faith that You will fill me with Your power this week and even in this moment.  Help me to start speaking in faith.  Help me to guard my mouth and quit being negative and stop saying things that are and start saying things the way You see them -- the way they could be.  By faith I'm going to start acting in faith this week.  Help me to love that person, and not to wait for the feelings first.  Help me to be patient, to act patiently, to act friendly, to act loving, even when I don't feel like it.  Lord, help me to act romantic and caring to my mate and I will trust that those feelings will be renewed in a greater proportion." 

      The Bible says that God's power is wrapped up in a person and that person's name is Jesus Christ.  You can't get the power without the person.  If you've never invited Jesus Christ into your life, would you do that this morning.  Just say, "Jesus Christ, put Your Spirit into my life.  I need You.  I want to be saved.  Help me to understand that.  I want You to be Number One in my life.  I want to give You the good, the bad, the ugly, the past, the present, the future, all of it.  Fill me with Your love and power, please."  If you did that, today is your day.

      Father, thank You for Your power.  Thank You that it is available and that we do not need to live lives of frustration and powerlessness when we put ourselves into Your hands.  Thank You.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.