June 21, 2007

Because God is Great, you should be as well

Theme– To know our God and the exploits will follow.

Daniel 11:32 – The people who know their God shall be strong and do great exploits.

Knowing God is the ultimate.  God called us thru Jesus Christ to have relationship with Him.

1) We are not just anybody; we are Children of the Almighty because of our Faith in Jesus Christ. 

The Bible says in Romans 8:12, for you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the spirit of Adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”  You are a Child of God and that makes you royalty therefore live worthy of that calling. 

2) Talking with the Father does the soul good!  Make praying like eating and do it as regular as eating.  Rick Warren says in the Purpose Driven life, “you’re only as close to God as you choose to be.”  Make it a goal to be so close to Jesus that people don’t see you they see Jesus in you!

The Bible says to pray without ceasing therefore walk thru your daily lives with a prayer on your lips because God loves it when his children talk to him.  Christianity is about a relationship with God and it all starts with a conscience effort on our part to pray.  Not only will you know your God, you will so the Exploits follow as well.  Simply put, doing Great Things for God in the name of Jesus Christ.

3) Reading His Word will stir up the Passion for greatness on this journey of Knowing God. 

The Bible teaches us how to please God.  How would we know obedience is better than sacrifice unless His Word told us so?

A big step in seeking the Kingdom first is to read the Bible.

One of the most profound statements of Jesus is in Matthew 6:33.  Jesus said “But seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”

- The first truth I see is pretty straightforward.  Seek God first and His righteous.  I think of these words as Jesus saying to everyone that if you put God in the driver’s seat of your life it will make life so much better. 

A. Here are a few benefits of putting the Kingdom of God First.

1) You will have Peace
2) You will have Freedom from sin and the world.
3) You will have purpose – The best life and purpose you can have is with Jesus being first in everything.
4) You will make God smile – Rick Warren stated, “To put a smile on God’s face should be our main goal in life.” 

I can think of no greater joy in this life than to know that I am pleasing God so much that it makes Him smile.  Obey God and put a Huge Smile on His Face.

- The second Truth I see in this verse is God’s promise to provide for us.  The verse specifically says, “All theses things say be added unto you.

A.  When reading this verse, we can be secure that our God will hook us up.
God is our Father and He is saying to all of us that He will provide our needs and we don’t have to let stress and worries suck our faith from us.

B.  I like to say the phrase, “No worries.”  I wish I believed that phrase like I say it.  I get all caught up in the things happening around me and forget to focus on God.  Worry comes in and causes heartache in my life and Jesus whispers in my ear, put my Father first Joey and everything will be all right.  That is all I need to hear because I am a child of the Almighty and He will take care of me.  God wants to take care of you all you have to do is let him.

C. The Bible is our instruction manual for doing God’s will.  Read it, Believe it, Apply it, Live it, Share it, and most of all Follow it and you will live life to the Full.  Once we have the heart to seek His Kingdom First at any cost then we are ready to do Great Exploits. 

What are exploits?  The American Heritage Dictionary defines an exploit as an act or deed, especially a brilliant or heroic one.

We have crossed over from keeping God to ourselves.  God is calling us to a higher level.  Its time to Do Exploits for God.  It started with knowing our God but now that we do, we will do Great Exploits.  As the definition stated, “Especially a brilliant of Heroic one.  God is going to use you to do some awesome stuff.  The exploits we do are going to be in the form of bearing fruit.

No need to fear because God will do it thru you by his spirit.  All we have to do is be willing and available and God will show us his Glory

1) The first type is bearing the Fruit of the Spirit.  Gal. 5:22-23 lists all the fruit of the spirit.

The Holy Spirit will produce the fruit of the spirit in us as we surrender to God’s will.

They are a testimony to God’s greatness in you by the power of the Holy Spirit.

The people who know their God will bear the fruit of the spirit in the good times and the bad times.

These exploits will help you and me to bear the second type of Fruit on a constant basis.

2) The second type is bearing the fruit of the Harvest.

What is the Harvest?  Jesus says it’s the souls of people.  In Luke 10:2 Jesus said, “The harvest is plentiful but the worker’s are few therefore pray to the Lord of the harvest to send forth workers into His harvest.”

From this verse, we know the harvest is plentiful.  Souls are everywhere that need to be saved.  God is calling you and I to bear fruit by leading souls/people to Jesus

From this verse, we also know that the worker’s are few.  Our part is to pray to the Lord of the harvest for workers and to work the harvest.  God is calling for us to be witnesses who share our Faith with lost people.  God will do the saving as we do the sharing of the Gospel.

If God doesn’t use us to lead someone to Christ, He will use us to plant seeds and that is the next best thing.  Our Goal should be to lead people to Jesus or to lead them one step closer to Jesus.

Whatever God chooses to do through us will be great; we just have to be ready and willing to let Him use us.  I know God is saying to all of us its harvest time and I’m going to use you to bring in some of the harvest.

The Bibles says in Proverbs 11:30, the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise.

The Challenge:  think Big and imagine yourself being used by God and fill in the blank_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ as to what you want God to d in you and through you then tear it up and throw it away because God is going to use you to do even bigger things than you could ever dream because nothing is impossible for you.  God will do immeasurably more than you could ever think, imagine, or dream.

Follow Him and He will blow your Mind!!!!!!

Choose to know your God and the Exploits will follow!

Be Blessed,


Joey



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If you haven't received Jesus Christ yet and you want to, pray this prayer.  Dear God I admit I am a sinner in need of a Savior and I believe that Savior is Jesus Christ.  I confess Jesus today as my Lord and Savior and commit my life to Him.  I pray this in the name of Jesus amen.  Let us know if you received Christ so we can rejoice with you because it’s the greatest thing you will ever do in your life.