Bro Gary Wednesday Evening 3/21/12

Bro Gary Wednesday Evening 3/21/12

Fight the good fight of faith.  It is very necessary and very needful.  It is important that we realize that in order to maintain a real, living, and active faith in God we must fight the good fight of faith.

1Ti 6:12  Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.

2Pe 1:1  Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:

2Pe 1:2  Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,

Knowledge will puff up a carnal individual.  As a Saint of God we need to have knowledge to know what God will do for us and what He requires of us. 

Many have a wrong perception of God.  They see Him as an uncaring and unfeeling individual that is ready to knock a person out of the race.  That is not the God that I know.  He is a God that succors us and is ready to help with each need. 

He does draw lines.  He is a God of judgment.  As parents we draw lines for our children.  We know that those lines are good for us.  The more that I learn of God and His Son the more that I want to know.  The song says: “More about Jesus would I know.”

2Pe 1:3  According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:

2Pe 1:4  Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

“All power is given unto me” Jesus said.  The tomb is empty thank God.

I was reading the Hymn story behind the song, “He lives.”  It comes from a minister preaching a revival meeting.  A literal Jew came to this meeting and came back with keen interest every night.  The evangelist worked with him and talked with him.  He told him that he needed Jesus Christ as his personal savior. 

The Jew said, “Sir it is hard for me to ask a dead Jew to forgive me of my sins.”  The evangelist came back with, “Oh, He is alive.  He lives, He lives.”  The Jew didn’t have Christ resurrected. 

He arose.  He is more alive than He has ever been.  We serve a living savior.

The exceeding great and precious promises: The tomb is empty and this word of God is true.  These promises of God are all “yea and amen”.  That is the reason when we have a problem that we seek God and His Word.  The Word of God has the answer. 

There will be things in our life; they may be personal or family things.  They may be financial.  God has even numbered the hairs of our head.  He is not only concerned about us spiritually but also materially and literally.  We can look into the Word of God and He has the answer for us.

We have the promise that if we present our self we can have the old nature purged, cleansed, and taken away.  I am thrilled tonight that we can have the Divine Nature of Christ that will cause faith to grow and give us all diligence and give us a hunger to know God and to know truth.

2Pe 1:5  And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;

The Gospel came into being early in Jesus’ ministry with the thought,

Mat 11:12  And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.

The entire thought of this scripture is: if you have gotten saved and are pursuing a life of following Christ:  getting sanctified and living for Him.  You are going to be warred upon by individuals in the world.  They may be individuals from your own family.

Taking it by force means we are going to be diligent.  This means we’re firm and faithful.  There will be times when things are not easy in our life.  Sometimes it is not easy to talk to that soul that you are burdened for.  Sometimes it isn’t easy to study or to pray.  We must go right on studying and praying anyway. 

2Pe 1:5  And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;

If we are going to win this battle we must fight it right.  Virtue means moral excellence, courage, strength, and moral fortitude.  In my study on courage, I found that early in Joshua’s leadership God dealt with him on the thought of being courageous.  At the end of his life, Joshua dealt with the children of Israel on being courageous. 

My thought tonight is upon the scripture and the song that Bro and Sister Sheppard used to sing: 

Lord give me courage, give me strength, make me bold
That I might lead some lost sheep into the fold. 
That I might stand for the truth that is revealed to me. 
For I want my Lord to be satisfied with me.

The apostle Paul was greeted by individuals after he was shipwrecked and headed to Rome.  They encouraged him in such a way that he wrote, “I took courage.”  God will encourage us, but God wants us to encourage others to take courage.

Jos 1:1  Now after the death of Moses the servant of the LORD it came to pass, that the LORD spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' minister, saying,

Jos 1:2  Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel.

Jos 1:3  Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses.

Jos 1:4  From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast.

God was telling Joshua, “All that land that lies out there toward the going down of the sun, I will give it to you.”

Jos 1:5  There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

Jos 1:6  Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them.

God had promised Moses and was going over it with Joshua: “Every place that your foot shall tread upon, that I have given unto you.”  God had promised them but they needed to be strong and courageous.

Your and my faith is under attack.  I would to God that we could be endued with grace and anointing and strength as they were that met with Paul after he was shipwrecked.  They so edified him that he took courage.

If you are in this audience tonight and feel that you need your courage renewed.  There is no need for shame.  You may be tired.  You have held on until you feel that you need something.  This is the reason that God ordained that we gather together and be edified. 

At a crucial time God spoke to Joshua.  Moses had died and they were three days away from heading to Jordan.  It was a definite time that God was going to do wonderful marvelous things.  Three or four days earlier God met with Joshua, “My servant is dead but I want you to arise and prepare to go over Jordan.” 

I don’t know what God wants to do in three or four days; what I do know is that we want to arise and let God move into our souls with the courage that we need.  This is one reason why we need knowledge of God, His Word, and truth.  Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. 

I am not a speaker that works to build you all up emotionally.  That is not what I’m called to do.  God in his mercy will use an earthen vessel to challenge us by the Word of God to add virtue and take courage. 

God spoke to Joshua, “Be strong and of good courage.”  He had the promise.  When God gives you a promise you can rest assured that He has given direction.  Then let us be strong and of good courage.

God designed that the land be divided unto the people.

Jos 1:7  Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest.

The meaning of this in the Gospel Day is to obey all the word of God that you know.  There is no borderline that is worth living on.  Anything that God has convicted you of, get well inside of the line. 

When we love God with all our heart, mind, and strength we love the word of God and want to do what God has shown us to do enthusiastically.  You wouldn’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that what the world rewards men and women with is only a detriment not a blessing.  What we get serving God so far exceeds that Paul said, “I count it all dung.”

Don’t go on any wild goose chases.  Don’t go to the left or to the right.  Stay right on the highway that leads to heaven.  Stay “that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest”.

This a beautiful reason to be strong and courageous.  It is wonderful to go to bed thinking of the scriptures and wake up in the morning with a scripture on your mind.  It is wonderful to have a thought brought to us in the night.  Meditating on the good Word of God is a blessing in our lives.

Jos 1:8  This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

Don’t bring trouble to your house.  Stay with the Word of God.

Jos 1:9  Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.

When it seems like the worst thing that could have happened has happened, don’t be dismayed.  The Lord is with you “whithersoever thou goest”.

Give all diligence to add to faith virtue and to virtue knowledge.  It is the Word of God that will give us true wisdom and knowledge.  The knowledge of God will direct our courage and preserve us from rashness.

When you are making a decision have this Word of God speak and it will direct your courage and preserve you from rashness.

May God help us to fight the good fight of faith.