God's Best For You

pt. 2

Introduction

• Do you believe that God wants what is best for you? I DO!

• Sometimes, I don’t like how He goes about it, but hindsight is 20/20.

• Sometimes, EVEN WHEN I FEEL CHALLENGED, I sing, “I CAN SEE CLEARLY NOW, THE RAIN IS GONE. I CAN ALL OF THE OBSTICLES IN MY WAY…BLAH, BLAH, BLAH BLAD, DA DA, DA BA BA DA…IT’S GONNA BE A BRIGHT, BRIGHT, SUN SHINY DAY…IT’S GONNA BE A BRIGHT, BRIGHT

• God knows precisely what it will take to get your attention

• The dark and difficult moments in our life will only last so long as it’s necessary for God to accomplish his purpose in us.

• Adversity is a bridge to a deeper relationship with God.

• God uses adversity to conform us to the image of Christ and provides a bridge to a deeper relationship with him through it.

• AT THE END OF THE SERVICE, WE’RE GONNA PRAY FOR FINANCIAL BLESSINGS

9 Ways the Father Helps You See His Best for You

(Here are 5 Today)

#5 – Disappointment

• When the nation of Israel refused gods instructions to take possession of the promised land, God judge the people for their unbelief.

• Here’s what the people did. Numbers 14:1–4 (NKJV) 1So all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night. 2And all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or if only we had died in this wilderness! 3Why has the Lord brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?” 4So they said to one another, “Let us select a leader and return to Egypt.”

• I’ve been disappointed on many occasions when good people didn’t want to proceed with action. Often because of fear. I’ve had pastor friends that longed to move forward and do something great for God, while thousands of dollars sat in the bank. The elders were afraid.

• What giants do you face? What are your GREATEST fears.

• Let go and let God.

• Back to Israel – Some change their minds and said they now desire to enter the land, but the Lord said no—it was too late numbers chapter 14. God got their attention through a tremendous sense of disappointment in a similar way the Lord may allow setbacks to keep us from charting our own course.

• God’s response – Numbers 14:11 (NKJV) Then the Lord said to Moses: “How long will these people reject Me? And how long will they not believe Me, with all the signs which I have performed among them?

• Unbelief—Grumbling—Murmuring—Complaining—Rebellion, Against God – there was the fatal response of the people. They grumbled, doubted, and feared. They failed to believe God and rebelled against Him.

• One person said, “Don’t worry about tomorrow, God is already there” - unknown


• “Truth is not afraid of lies. Light is not afraid of darkness. One conquers the other”

• Yet, God uses our disappointing times for his purposes.

#6 – Extra Ordinary Circumstances

• Sometimes God will use unusual circumstances to get us to stop and listen.

• Moses saw a flaming bush that didn’t burn up as he approached to investigate the Lord spoke to him from the fire (exodus chapter 3). You must. You and I must learn to look for the presence of God in every circumstance of life he leaves his foot prints and handiwork all around us.

• Keep your head up, keep on crying out to the Lord. Listen to his words to Moses from the bush, “And the Lord said: “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. 8 So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey…”

#7 – Defeat

• God may use defeat to show us the truth.

• God is always after the truth in us. He is the light and light exposes the darkness.

• Following their stunning victory over Jericho the Israelites approached a small town with overconfidence in neglect to do with the Lord commanded (Joshua 7).

• Joshua 7:1 (NKJV) 1But the children of Israel committed a trespass regarding the accursed things, for Achan the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed things; so the anger of the Lord burned against the children of Israel.

• Achan’s actions brought a decisive defeat to the nation of Israel.

• God got Joshua‘s attention by allowing the nation to suffer an embarrassing defeat but even this can prove to be a great steppingstone to success when we pray, “Lord what are you saying? Help me to see where I have taken a wrong turn.”

• When you have been defeated, Do these five things:

1. Cry out to God

2. Continue the work God has given you to do.

3. Concentrate on the Big Picture

4. Claim the Encouragement of God’s Promises

5. Carry someone else’s burden

#8 – Tragedy, sickness, and affliction

• We should regard our tragedies and afflictions as reasons to inquire of the Lord, “what are you trying to say?“

• When king Hezekiah became frightful God used illness to alert him to the problem.

• What do used sickness, illness! YES, he did.

• “The Lord gave him a sign.” 2 Chronicles 32:24 (NKJV) In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death, and he prayed to the Lord; and He spoke to him and gave him a sign.

• Someone here today, need a sign. Maybe God is using your condition to get your attention.

• Similarly, when Saul of Tarsus persecuted Christians, God struck him with blindness, a tactic that certainly got his attention (Acts 9:1-19!).

• God also knows exactly where YOU ARE in your journey of faith and precisely what it takes to get your attention so stay alert notice if any of these divine messages are occurring or reoccurring in your life.

• If they are ask him what he wants to tell you and then listen, not simply to hear but to obey.

#9 – Financial Troubles

• In the time of the judges, when “everyone did what was right in his own eyes“ (Judges 17:6).

• The nation fell into idolatry and disobedience.

• What does God do when we are disobedient?

• “He disciplines those he hates?” NO! Hebrews 12:6 & Proverbs 3:12 states, “For the Lord disciplines the one He loves.”

• God brought judgment through the Midianites who devastated the land. The Lord allowed financial troubles because the Midianites would come in seasonally and plunder them.

• Only when he (God) took away every material belonging did they cry out to him (Judges 6:3-6).

• Judges 6:1–3 (NKJV) Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years, 2and the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of the Midianites, the children of Israel made for themselves the dens, the caves, and the strongholds which are in the mountains. 3So it was, whenever Israel had sown, Midianites would come up; also Amalekites and the people of the East would come up against them.

• God knew exactly what it would take to get their attention. When they did return to him, he delivered them from their oppressors and bless them.

• I don’t recommend getting yourself into financial troubles to receive the blessing of the Lord. DO IT THE RIGHT WAY FROM THE START.

Conclusion

• SONG – Bless me indeed by MercyMe

• 1 CHRONICLES 4:10

• I want you to come and pray the prayer of FINANCIAL BLESSING over you, your family, and this church.

Altar Call

Fruitland – 10/9/22