Romans 15:4 teaches us that what we find written in the Old Testament were written for us to learn important truth, namely that through endurance and comfort of the Scriptures, we might have hope. In part 1 of our look at the life of Joseph, we find an excellent illustration of endurance with a courageous hope focused on Christ. Today's message highlights what is the encouragement for endurance--God's Providence.
Part of the series:
Behold Your God!
Creation testifies to God's majesty and we are privileged to behold the same!
Synopsis: Whether through words that are spoken or written, facing disrespect, c… read moreontempt and hostile attacks just because we are a devoted follower of Christ, is always a very difficult thing to handle. So how do you do so?
Psalm 123 is a great help to us because the Psalmist was experiencing the very same thing! Its teaching will give you the tools you need to handle these times. One of the truths taught is the matter of what we are to behold with our eyes.
There are two key concepts that come from a picturesque image that was common in OT days that will equip to know what it means to put our eyes on the Lord and behold our God.read less
Synopsis: Our response to circumstances we face reveal what we really believe to… read more be true about our God and the way He operates. Is He worth beholding? If so, what does that look like in life? Today's message looks at three truths in 2 Chronicles 20 that helps us understand what it means to "put your eyes on the LORD."read less
Synopsis: Where did all these heroes of the Faith in Hebrews 11, named and unnam… read moreed, get the ability to endure the hardships of life and how did they do so? Hebrews 11:27 tells us how Moses lived by faith and it presents the key for us as well. Moses saw "Him Who is invisible." How do you see Him Who is invisible? There are three ways to do so. This message presents the first of these three ways.read less
Synopsis: In the previous message we looked at the first way we can see the invi… read moresible God. Today's message looks at the second way--with the eye of faith. What is faith? How is it expressed? Hebrews 11 reveals the answer.read less
Synopsis: In recent days there has been a lot on the news and on social media ab… read moreout the Coronavirus and the national and international impact it has been having. As fear grips the heart of so many, how should born-again believers handle this time of uncertainty? This message from Psalm 56:3-4 answers that question. Here's encouragement and hope for you!read less
Synopsis: Times of uncertainty are always difficult to handle. With the Corona v… read moreirus spreading and with other uncertainties we face, we certainly don't live in days that lend themselves to peaceful living! So how do we handle these times of uncertainty? How do we experience peace rather than panic? This passage offers great hope and encouragement to us!read less
Synopsis: Today's message is part of the online video broadcast that took place… read more from our church which has suspended public worship services until the Corona Pandemic is no longer a serious risk to the welfare of all those who attend our services.
The question raised twice in 2 Kings 6 is the same question many are asking as they face unprecedented circumstances and an uncertain future--"What Do We Do Now?" God's Word turns our focus where it needs to be -- upwards in reliance upon Him as we prudently and responsibly move forward. Two answers are given to that question that are instructive for us today.read less
Synopsis: As the Corona virus continues to sweep across our nation, it has turne… read mored our lives upside down producing much uncertainty. In the midst of all this, the personal difficulties many have been facing continue! How do we handle these times of uncertainty? Psalm 46 teaches us that our security is rooted in what God is and what God does---His person and work. Here are three truths about our God that encourage us to find our security in Him.read less
Synopsis: Hope is so crucial when it comes to handling hardships! As the Corona… read more virus pandemic continues to disrupt all our lives bringing hardships to so many, people need hope and need to know how and where to find it. God's Word provides us with the needed direction. There is always hope because there is always God!read less
Synopsis: This message looks at the third way in which we can see an invisible G… read moreod. It helps us understand what it means to "Behold Your God!" What Moses did is what we are to do. It's the key to how Moses lived by faith amid the hardships of life. It's the key to ours as well.read less
Synopsis: To help us understand the significance of what the author is communic… read moreating when he admonishes the reader to "run the race with patience," it would be helpful for us to spotlight three key aspects of faith that come from Heb. 11 that explain the reason why 12:1 begins as it does and why we should obey the exhortation given in that race.read less
Synopsis: If we would live God-focused lives that praise God for His providence,… read more which becomes the foundation for peace and confidence in the midst of uncertain days and an uncertain future, then these two inseparably linked characteristics of God's greatness are to shape our thinking, our choices, and our conduct.read less
Synopsis: To run the race of life successfully, genuine faith endures hardships… read more by maintaining the right focus and meditating upon Christ's person and work. Where do we get the ability to endure? Verse 2 answers the question. Why should we consider Christ as we run the race? Verse three answers that! Both verse supply the resources we need to run the race of life successfully.read less
Synopsis: When you keep in mind the flow of thought from Hebrews 11 to 12, you f… read moreind that Jesus is not the final example of enduring faith that concludes the listing given in chapter 11. Instead He is the supreme example of enduring faith in the race. The reason for that is His relationship to faith is much different than any of those mentioned in chapter 11: it is qualitatively different! Today's text reveals three qualities about Jesus that set Him far above all the others mentioned in chapter 11 and qualifies Him to be the Object of our deliberate focus today, just as He was theirs, many years ago.read less
Synopsis: Today we look at an exhortation in Hebrews 12:1 that makes a vision of… read more Christ so vital. Using the analogy of running, there is much truth to glean from our running the race of faith with endurance.read less
Synopsis: In part 4 of our look at Hebrews 12:1-3, we noted two components of th… read moreis exhortation to run the race with patience that require Faith's Vision of Christ to successfully fulfill. We looked the motivation for running and the preparations for running.
In part 5, we look today at two characteristics of this race that we are exhorted to run that enable us to have a realistic and encouraging perspective about life.read less
Synopsis: If we are to run the race with patience or endurance, what is exactly… read more involved in that? How do we develop or strengthen this quality of endurance so we can run as Hebrews 12:1-3 admonishes us to do?read less
Synopsis: How is the quality of endurance added to our saving faith? How is it d… read moreeveloped? What separates this particular virtue that is to be a part of Christian character, from the common, secular understanding of the term? Our text today will indicate three ways we develop this trait of Christ-likeness.read less
Synopsis: Romans 15:4 teaches us that what we find written in the Old Testament… read more were written for us to learn important truth, namely that through endurance and comfort of the Scriptures, we might have hope. In part 1 of our look at the life of Joseph, we find an excellent illustration of endurance with a courageous hope focused on Christ. Today's message highlights what is the encouragement for endurance--God's Providence.read less
Synopsis: What is it that biblical endurance sees so that a person is encouraged… read more to develop it or continue to express it? Today's message from Psalm 105 answers that question.read less
Synopsis: What gives endurance its vital energy? What strengthens it and sustain… read mores it? The answer to that question lies in the third vital truth I want us to see in the life of Joseph.read less
Synopsis: The Greek philosopher Heraclitus once declared, “The only thing consta… read morent is change.” Although his statement may be a true observation about things in the created order, thankfully it's not true about God! Our text today is one of the clearest statements of one of our God’s unshared characteristics: His unchangeableness. What impact does the truth of God’s unchanging nature have on our thinking, living, and on our interpretation of the circumstances of life?read less
Synopsis: Whenever we are making a purchase of something that is substantial, we… read more want to know what kind of warranty that item carries. Whenever we contract with a vendor to provide a service, we want a guarantee of His quality of work in the form of a warranty. As we return to Malachi 3:6, tonight we want to answer this question: What guarantees that God does not change and cannot change?read less
Synopsis: As we continue our study in the nature of our God, we come today to a… read more text that declares a characteristic of God that holds monumental significance and is designed to not only fuel our faith but our faithfulness to Him as we obey Him and His truth.read less
Synopsis: No man ever rises higher than his view of God and no church is ever gr… read moreeater than its concept of God! One aspect of God's nature that He has revealed about Himself is His majesty. He is a majestic God! Psalm 139 is a beautiful and classic meditation upon one aspect of God's infinite, majestic nature--His amazing knowledge--especially as it relates to His people!
If we are to form the right idea of God's greatness so that with the eye of faith we see His majesty very clearly, we must reject the limitations we place on God in our minds that make Him appear so small to us! He has not lost control of our lives nor of the circumstances of our lives! Psalm 139 will help us with this. In the face of God's extensive and intensive knowledge of us, may we like the Psalmist open our hearts to Him and extend an open invitation to Him to search our hearts and expose wrong thinking, wrong beliefs, wrong attitudes and actions so they can be repented of and replaced with God's truth!read less
Synopsis: When consistently applied to either God or Jesus Christ in either the… read more Old Testament or New Testament, "majesty" is a declaration of two things: 1) God's superiority, regal dignity and greatness, 2) A necessary, consequent response from man--either to bless and worship Him in the acknowledgement of that majesty or to tremble in fear because of it!
Our text tonight helps reject the wrong thoughts we have that place limitations on God that make Him appear small in our eyes or that rob Him of His glory--i.e. the many splendid excellencies of His perfections. Isaiah will use one aspect of creation as a point of comparison and as an illustration of the bigness of our God. Then he will fire three thought provoking questions designed to stir us to think correctly of His majesty.read less
Synopsis: What makes God's wisdom so impressive so as to call forth our full tru… read morest, confidence, and devotion? What is it about God's wisdom that delivers peace of mind and stability of life in the midst of adversity?
This morning's message looks at the first of three truths that answer those questions.read less
Synopsis: Tonight we continue addressing the question, "What makes God's wisdom… read more so impressive so as to call forth our full trust, confidence and devotion? What is it about God's wisdom that delivers peace of mind and stability of life in the midst of adversity? This morning we looked at the first reason: Because God's Wisdom Cannot Be Frustrated. Tonight we look at two other truths.read less
Synopsis: God is a God of all power and as such is worthy of our worship, servic… read moree, and loving loyalty! So as we learn what it means to “Behold our God” as it relates to His power, there are two questions for us to ask and answer: 1) What does it mean that God has all power? 2) What does it mean to us personally that our God is a God of all power?read less
Synopsis: God’s power to us and for us is exceedingly great & is expressed i… read moren the same terms as the same power that was mighty and evident in the resurrection of Christ from the grave! This means three important things and establishes three reasons God's power is great.read less
Synopsis: There are those who see mercy as something in conflict with justice. S… read moreome equate mercy with giving an offender a second chance to do something. But is that really what mercy is all about? What is meant when the Bible declares that our God is "The God of Mercy?" Psalm 103 answers these questions for us.read less
Synopsis: Mercy is not a temporary mood that God gets into from time to time and… read more on certain occasions. It is an essential part of God's eternal being! If God can rescue us from our most miserable condition which is identified in today's text, then He can certainly intervene to work in any lesser miserable condition. Our text also magnifies a beautiful, amazing aspect of our God's nature - His mercy. Our text reveals three epochs of time in which the richness, the abundance of God's mercy is on full display. All of it is designed to extract from us the worship and praise God deserves.read less
Synopsis: God's love for us personally is never a case of mistaken identity. Beg… read moreinning today and for the next four Sundays, we look at four aspects of God's love and will ask and answer four questions. Today is the first: we look at the essence of God's love--What is it really? What does the Bible mean when it declares that "God is love."?read less
Synopsis: Whereas young children will readily accept the unconditional nature of… read more God's love, teens and adults tend to interpret God's love on the basis of their own feelings and experiences, comparing it with human expressions of love or the lack thereof. If they have had unfortunate, painful experiences in life, they are more prone to believe that while God may love people generally, He has not shown much love personally to them.
So how do you and I know that God loves us personally? What evidences are there? Our text answers those questions in this morning's message.read less
Synopsis: This message is part 3 in the study of God's love from 1 John 4. God's… read more love is an extensive love. Today we answer the question, "How much does God love me?"read less
Synopsis: God's love not only transforms a person's soul - bringing new life, a… read more new nature, and imparting eternal life -- but it also transforms a person's life on earth! God's design is that the manifestation of His incredible love (1Jn. 4:9) should compels us to offer two grateful responses, one of which is the expression of His love to others. Today's message answers the question "Why should we love one another?" with two reasons given in 1 John 4:7.read less
Synopsis: If God's love is designed to impact me by making a difference in my li… read morefe, then how do I express His love? What does that look like in life? God's love compels us to love others in the way He loves us: it is a love that follows a divine pattern. 1 John 4 provides us with a model for expressing God's love.
This message covers three of the five characteristics in this chapter.read less
Synopsis: Ever stop to think what the purpose of love is? So many misuse and abu… read morese that wonderful gift God has given us by using it for selfish purposes instead of using it for the purpose God had in mind. Our text this morning reveals that God's love has an intended purpose - just like the gifts we give are given with a particular purpose in mind to those who are special to us and who are the objects of our love! Today we look at two final characteristics that reveal the effect God's love is to have on us - particularly as it relates to people!read less
Synopsis: In the previous messages, we focused on the effect God's love has upon… read more us, in particular as it relates to people. In this message we now consider the effect God's love has upon us as it relates to our present circumstances and to our future.read less
