One Job

Fresh Faith Review

God wants us to serve him, love him and trust him

Satan wants to destroy those abilities in our lives. He wants to destroy our walk with the Lord.

He does that by stealing from us

He does that by killing things within us

So that we come to a place where we cannot walk with God, because we cannot trust him.

But God doesn’t give up on us.

He is a God of restoration. And because of his love for each and everyone of us, he will perform that restoration in each of our lives.

Not just a partial renewal, but a full restoration of everything that the enemy has tried to rob from us, kill in us and destroy us with.

He sees such worth and potential in our lives.

And he wants to destroy’s the enemy’s attack on our lives, but he needs us to trust him, or have faith in him to do so.

The enemy will lie to us and use the old double whammy to keep us down and out.

God redeems from the double whammy. Not just from the original work of the enemy in our lives, but every repercussion from it.

He wants to give us hope

He wants our lives to know the full potential which the enemy has tried to limit us from

He wants to fix us from our brokenness

Is this the God whom you believe in?

We said he is the God of Ephraim and Manasseh

The God who can make us forget all of our trouble - Do you have faith in that God today?

HE is the God who can make us fruitful in the land or the middle of our sufferings and failures. - Can you see a God who is doing that in your life today?

Now if these things aren’t happening, it’s because our faith hasn’t become strong enough yet to stand upon.

Last week we looked at faith being like shoes or feet - big enough to support the things that we are facing and believing God for.

Big enough for us to be able to trust God with every area of our lives.

Every decision - trusting God in them, asking God what he wants.

Having and experiencing the presence and power of God in every bit of the blessings or the land of milk and honey that he has given to us.

For that to happen, we said that we need to

Ask God to teach us.

Ask God to tear us

and ask God to make us part of the team or the body of Christ - giving us a kingdom mentallity

As believers, we should be able to come to a place where we do trust God with everything, trivial and paramount.

But as we said last week, that takes us coming to a place in our walk with the Lord that we have total faith in who He is and what He can do.

And as we read in chapter 6 this week in Fresh Faith, it’s going to go against many things in our lives.

And that’s why there is such a battle in trusting God to this extent.

The Key is to Seek God First

This was one of the main points of Jesus’ teaching about our spiritual lives.

Putting God first

Making God central to all that we do

Living for God and for the Kingdom of heaven above living on this earth

Or allowing our spiritual life to affect and dictate to our physical life.

Matthew 6:33 NKJV

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

This strategy of living goes against everything in human thinking. Why?

Just look at the situation of the heart being discussed here where Jesus is speaking. Worry!

Jesus says, don’t worry about a thing - trust God with it all

As we looked at last week, that is faith.

The problem is that to put God First is to put ourselves second. That’s not human nature

To seek God’s will for our lives is to put our dreams and ambitions of life on the back burner

Seek God First goes against Self Preservation

We all have a built in instinct to preserve our own lives.

It shows up in the fight or flight instinct - to run from or battle that which is coming to hurt us or kill us.

It is the preservation of oneself from destruction or harm.

I don’t believe that this is a God given instinct, but a result of sin.

Adam and Eve had no fear

Now here is the thing, God put that in

They had total dominion over the earth and the wild life in it

They were at perfect peace with God

They had everything that they needed provided by his hand

There was no sickness and disease

There was no death.

But when they sinned, we see fight or fight happen right away.

What’s the first thing they do when they hear God’s voice? - Run and hide

Why? Because they new they had done wrong and now they have fear of the consequences.

So self preservation is a direct result of sin.

and it goes against the way that Adam and Eve originally lived - Totally provisioned by God.

So now we have this battle that rages every time we try to exercise faith.

When I want to put God first, I have to put myself second

The natural sinful instinct in me is to safe guard and secure my life

So the two are at odds.

And so rather than having faith in God, the natural inclination of life with God is to find out how God fits into our plan to survive.

But Jesus says to gain your life you need to give your life away.

Can you see the problem with that?

When God leads us to do something that we sense could bring harm to us, many times we will seek self preservation.

We see this throughout the Bible:

Abraham lying about Sarah being his wife

The children of Israel not wanting to enter the promised land because of the giants that were there.

The soldiers of Israel shaking in their armor every time that Goliath challenges them in the valley

Peter’s denial of Christ.

All of the disciples hiding out in their homes after Jesus was arrested.

So don’t feel bad - because we are all in good company. But what kind of life is it if we are worried and fearful about everything?

We also have some great accounts of Faith in God over the preservation of self

Daniel facing the lions

Shadrach, meshach and abednego facing the fire

We have each of the disciples becoming martyrs for their faith - dying horrible deaths because they proclaim Jesus as Lord

We have our own Lord and Savior - Nevertheless, not my will (self preservation) but your will be done - I trust you father over what I want in this life.

Paul - what a great example

Just listen to this excerpt from Paul’s life

2 Corinthians 11:22–33 NKJV

Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I. Are they ministers of Christ?—I speak as a fool—I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness—besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation? If I must boast, I will boast in the things which concern my infirmity. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying. In Damascus the governor, under Aretas the king, was guarding the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desiring to arrest me; but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and escaped from his hands.

2 Corinthians 11:22-

The Apostle Paul went through everything that he experienced for the gospel of Jesus Christ and the churches whom he loved.

So what do we see?

That it is very possible to overcome this self preservation and have faith in Jesus Christ.

It requires changing ownership of our lives

It requires sacrifice

It requires great faith in the one whom says He can protect us and keep us.

Is that who your faith is in this morning? In the God who says that he can keep you in his hands?

Or is it in what you can do to protect yourself today?

Seek God First goes against Self Promotion

There is another instinct that is in us because of sin. That is the instinct of self promotion.

It is all over in our society today - that you need to be better than everyone else.

That you will never get ahead if you don’t do all that you can to get yourself ahead - and don’t worry about the people you are stepping on along the way

The main strategy behind this notion is get to the top as fast as you can.

Which kind of reminds us of a situation that took place in heaven.

Isaiah 14:12–15 NKJV

“How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’ Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, To the lowest depths of the Pit.

satan had a plan to become great. In fact, the greatest in heaven.

There was only one problem though, and that was that there was already the greatest sitting on the throne in heaven. There could be no other.

And so he devises a takeover.

And he is defeated.

Because of his influence on this earth, the human race has the same problem.

There is already one who is the greatest sitting on the throne in heaven, but we fight against him

We want to be the one on the thrones of our lives. The ones in control. The ones calling the shots

And so many times our life’s ambitions are at odds against God’s plans for us.

There is no way that we will be able to trust God with the plans of our lives when our plan doesn’t match up with his.

If we do not have faith in a God who not only put us here, but also knows who he has created us to be

who knows what he has created us for

whose plans for us are so much higher and so much better than our own

Then what we looked at last week - allowing God to make all the important decisions in our lives and for our lives will never and can never happen

And then we wonder why we are so messed up. - Because we are out there just living the life that we want to live and not living according to the plan for our lives.

We are messed up because we are believing the lie of the enemy that we hold our own destinies in our hands

We are messed up because we are taking the lie of the enemy and putting it into our living that we can be higher than or be our own god.

And I don’t know about you, but I know what happened to satan

Luke 10:18 NKJV

And He said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.

Trust me brother or sister, it may not be right now. In fact, right now, things may seem pretty good. But you will fall.

Your plans will cave in all around you

And there will be destruction. Remember the enemies ultimate goal is to rob, kill and destroy.

Don’t let that happen in your life.

So what do we do? Put God first.

1 Kings 11:38 NKJV

Then it shall be, if you heed all that I command you, walk in My ways, and do what is right in My sight, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as My servant David did, then I will be with you and build for you an enduring house, as I built for David, and will give Israel to you.

How many want God to be with you in this life that you are living

How many want to leave behind a house that endures?

Put God first.

Listen, your self preservation is really in Jesus

John 10:27–30 NKJV

My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and My Father are one.”

Your promotion is from God

Psalm 75:7 NKJV

But God is the Judge: He puts down one, And exalts another.

Instead of making God fit into our mold for life, let’s fit our life into the mold that we came out of.

Instead of strategizing and trying to make things work let’s just trust in the one who put all things together.

Seek God first

Place him at the center and the top of your life

Let’s stop talking about life amongst ourselves and ask God about it.

God’s got this!

So my question to you today is, do you have faith in the God who’s got this?

PRAY