Achieving Through Believing
Finishing Well, part 3 of 5
Nothing great happens until you start believing it will. When we believe that God is and that He is a rewarder of those who earnestly seek Him, when we believe that nothing is impossible with God, when we believe that all things are possible to him who believes, we start achieving what God wants us to achieve. God does not necessarily answer everything we ask for, but He answers everything our heart truly longs for, even if our words and requests fall short of expressing our heart. When our heart is aligned with God’s heart, God brings tremendous answers but too often Christians fail to believe God for the great things that He wants to bring into their lives. In this message we will look at how achieving through believing accomplishes great things and then we will examine how LCC has had a history of tremendous faith and trust in God and how we will need that faith and trust in the days ahead during Finishing The Work campaign.
Download the notes.“According to your faith will it be done for you.”
(Matthew 9:29b, NIV)
* God typically does what we _believe He will_.
I) WHY WE DON’T BELIEVE AND RECEIVE IN FAITH
1) We dabble in ___doubt___.
“But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord.”
(James 1:6-7, NIV)
2) We demand ___details___.
“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”
(Hebrews 11:1, NIV)
3) We practice ___presumption___.
“Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why you don’t even what will happen tomorrow… Instead you ought to say, If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’”
(James 4:13-15, NIV)
4) We fight with ___forgiveness___.
“And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive your sins.”
(Mark 11:25, NIV)
5) We “pass” on ___prayer___.
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”
(Hebrews 11:6, NIV)
II) Achieving and recieving through believing
Four Great Lessons In Lakeshore History
1) Believe that God blesses those who _love God and people_.
“‘Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?’ Jesus replied, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commands.’”
(Matthew 22:36-40, NIV)
“I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.”
(1 Corinthians 9:22b-23, NIV)
2) Trust that God supports those who ___take faith risks___.
“[God] remembers his covenant forever, the word he commanded, for a thousand generations, the covenant he made with Abraham…’To you I will give the land of Canaan as the portion you will inherit.’ When they were few in number, few indeed, and strangers in it, they wandered from nation to nation…He allowed no one to oppress them…The Lord made his people very fruitful; he made them too numerous for their foes.”
(Psalm 105: 8-9,11-13, 24, NIV)
“The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.”
(Isaiah 40:8, NIV)
3) Never, ever, ever put ___limits on what God will do___.
“Now glory be to God who by his mighty power at work within us 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.”
(Ephesians 3:20, LB)
4) Have confidence that wherever God _guides, He’ll provide_.
“Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles… I am amply supplied, now that I have received… the gifts you sent… And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”
(Philippians 4:19, NIV)
* Nothing great happens until we _step out in faith_.
* “FTW” is all about continuing our history of achieving through believing God.
“Lord, what do You want to do through me to accomplish Your will for Lakeshore?”