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Experiencing God Introduction
By Pastor Nicholson
Sep 2, 2007, 11:31

The verse to keep in mind this entire week is John 15:5:  I am the vine; you are the branches.  If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

If you follow Jesus one day at a time, He will keep you right in the center of God’s Will for your life.  I am assuming that most of you have already trusted in Jesus as Savior and that you acknowledge Him to be Lord of your life.  If you have not made this important decision in your life, what I have to share will not have much meaning for you.

If you sense a need to accept Jesus Christ has your savior and Lord, now is the time to settle this matter with God.  Romans 10:13 says if you ask God to save you He will.  As we place our faith in Jesus Christ, and receive His gift of eternal life you must

-recognize you are a sinner and that you need a saving relationship with Jesus Christ, Confess your sins, repent of your sins, ask Jesus to save you by His grace and literally turn over your life to Jesus Christ.  If you need help in this area, speak to me or an elder anytime.

Jesus literally must become the most important thing in your life.  If you know Jesus Christ already you may be a bit frustrated looking for answers, direction for your life, may have experienced some type of tragedy in your life; maybe you are a bit confused because you are in the middle of a broken life and you don’t know what to do.  No matter what you may be experiencing in your life, I hope and pray that in the midst of all this you will –

            -hear when God is speaking to your heart

            -clearly identify the activity of God in your life

            -believe Him to be and do everything He promises

            -adjust your beliefs, character, and behavior to Him and His Ways and

            -see what He wants to do through your life

 

In the Sundays ahead, I hope to share with you some biblical principles that Blackaby and King have shared to serve as a guiding light for your life.

The Holy Spirit is your personal teacher.  John 14:26 says – The Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things.  He is the one who will guide you to apply biblical principles according to God’s Will. 

The Bible is God’s Word to you.  The Holy Spirit honors and uses God’s Word in speaking to you.  The scriptures always will be our source of authority for faith and practice.

The main teaching today is that Jesus Christ is Your Way!

Possibly the problem is we want a very detailed understanding, but really what God is asking for is going forward in faith; its taking a walk out on the limb of faith; we don’t need a detailed understanding as to how God wants us to move forward; all God is asking for is to follow Jesus One Day At a Time.

Abram (later God changed his name to Abraham) is a good example of this principle at work in the Bible.  He walked by faith not by sight.

Let's read Genesis 12:1-5 together:

    Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: [2] And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: [3] And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. [4] So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. [5] And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.

What did God say here?  How specific was He? He literally says, “Leave and Go”, Go Where?, We must remember here, God says “to a land I will show you”.

Are you ready to follow God’s Will that way?

We should remember that many times, as with Abram, God called people just to follow Him. He is more likely to call you to follow one day at a time than He is to spell out all the details before you begin to obey Him. 

In the New Testament reading of Matthew 6:33-34 it says, “But seek first His Kingdom and His righteous, and all these things will be given to you as well.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own”

Together may we all agree that God is completely, absolutely trustworthy.  Agree with God that you will follow Him one day at a time.  Also agree that you will follow Him even though He does not spell out all the details.  And finally agree that you will let Him be your Way.

If you cannot agree with these right now, I would challenge you to openly confess your struggles to Him.  Ask Him to help you to want to do His Will in His way.  Claim the promise:  “It is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose” (Phil. 2:13)

Let us pray:  Dear God, thank you for this study today.  Truly we can all throw our lives into your Care.  You are great, you are loving, and we want you to take our lives and make it a blessing.  Jesus we affirm that you are the Way, the Truth and the Life.  Jesus you are my Way.  Help us to follow you even though we don’t know our paths ahead of us.  We don’t know which way to go, but Jesus all you ask is to put our lives in your care.  We will take that memory verse with us for the entire week:  “I am the vine; you are the branches.  If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”

Lord Jesus, we give you our lives once again.  Lead and guide us!  We don’t want to worry about tomorrow.  Instead we agree to trust in you Jesus to guide us and to guide our Church, one-day-at-a-time!

In your name we pray.  Amen.

 

 

 

 



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