Faithfulness (2)

Faithfulness We are a reflection of what we know about God . No more no less .

We cannot be anymore than what we know..... and what we have experienced.

Psalm 146: 1 Praise the LORD.Praise the LORD, my soul.2 I will praise the LORD all my life;

I will sing praise to my God as long as I live. 3 Do not put your trust in princes,in human beings, who cannot save.4  When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;on that very day their plans come to nothing.

5 Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD their God .6 He is the Maker of heaven and earth,the sea, and everything in them—he remains faithful forever.

7 He upholds the cause of the oppressed...... and gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets prisoners free,

8 the LORD gives sight to the blind, the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down, the LORD loves the righteous

.9 The LORD watches over the foreigner and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.

10 The LORD reigns forever,your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the LORD.

Point: Story - Good example of our friendships when we're young about meeting her best friends and making friends and how much influence they had on our lives. I look like them I dressed like them I talked like them I acted like them we became a group in the schools that people could recognize and say that we were all the same from the same mold.

We thought those friendships would last forever . We made plans together . Plans about her future. Dreamed about the future. We thought nothing could change how close we are as friends . Then life happens.

Over many years you grow up with your friends they get married and go different directions take different views on life different faiths even times different types of jobs and commitments . But you're no longer the same .

My best friend Jeff how close we were in one day there was a misunderstanding I knew nothing about 20 years later I found out he did not trust me and so he separated himself from me . After 64 years on this earth- Jesus is my friend forever.

Jesus - he remains faithful forever.

Point the things we have to understand about are friends before we know Jesus is that they had a great influence on our lives . They affected us deeply in showing us what is right and wrong and justifying what is right and wrong . Forming our thoughts and how we see the world in life . Even if they're long gone they still have that deep effect on us.

The point is the more we're around people the more we become like those people.

If you're around faithful people people that are faithful to God his word you will soon become similar to those people .

G0d is faithful! Jesus is Faithful!

Hebrews 3:6 “But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.”

POINT - When we come to the cross.... EPH 2:8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Explain - What happens at salvation - A seed of faith is planted in you --- By the Holy Spirit - - And you are able to believe that God is faithful to save you! You believe that the cross was actually Gods faithful promise to save His people!! GOD ID FAITHFUL!

POINT - So the turning POINT!!!! There is a place where we all start learning through our relationship with Jesus to trust him.

Questions without answers - Without a strong personal relationship with Jesus - You are going to struggle with questions;

Why is there evil. Wickedness? Murder - Violence? wars that make no sense?

What's very important to understand is that the moment you give your life and heart to Jesus he becomes your best friend .

He becomes the one you like to be with...

He becomes the one you hang out with you spend time with... .

He becomes the one that gives you the ideas and the direction for your life and how to live and be successful ...

He's the only one that can answer the difficult questions in life’.... .

He is absolutely faithful as a friend as your God as your king as your creator .

He holds the keys and answers to all of your questions

Heb 11: 6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Life is a faith walk that - becomes a walk of discovering how faithful God is!

POINT — Good stories - My wife - Widow - marriage

I new God had called me to jail - prisons - Africa

The greatest story of my recent years - Showing the faithfulness of God - The truck accident.

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The New International Version (Chapter 3)

23 They are new every morning;great is your faithfulness.24 I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion;therefore I will wait for him.”25 The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him,to the one who seeks him;26 it is good to wait quietlyfor the salvation of the LORD.

24 Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.

The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Ge 5:24.

The New International Version (Chapter 7)

Deuteronomy 7:99 Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments. - There is a But to those who keep His commandments. Then he provides a solution

The New International Version (Chapter 3)

23 They are new every morning;great is your faithfulness.24 I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion;therefore I will wait for him.”25 The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him,to the one who seeks him;26 it is good to wait quietlyfor the salvation of the LORD.

The New International Version Chapter 1

3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.