Sister Teri Sunday School 5/31/15

Sister Teri Sunday School 5/31/15

Coram Deo – Living before God, in His presence, under His authority, and for His glory.  God has a purpose in everything and has control over everything.  He has a purpose in anything that He allows. 

George McDonald wrote in allegories.  One book he wrote is called, “At the Back of the North Wind.”  The north wind is the damaging, cold, and forceful wind.  The whole point is that God uses it for good.

We benefit more going through adversity than going through the calm perfect days.  In adversity we realize our need for God and draw close to Him.  God used adversity in most of us when we were in sin to draw us to Him.  He uses it to show His grace in us.  We cannot go through adversity without Him. 

How are we going to get through those times of adversity?  Trust fully in God.  That is the purpose.  He wants us to look to Him and get the benefit: His grace and purpose.  Refuse to be discouraged when you go through adversity, remember God is with you, and rely on His grace and guidance.

When Jesus was going through adversity, He relied on the grace of God.  He took Peter, James, and John with Him knowing that they also would face adversity.  His purpose was to teach them to rely on God.

Mat 26:41  Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

If we don’t rely on God in the little things, we will never do it in the big.  Just like any training, it needs to be done repetitiously in order to be automatic.  

Jer 10:23  O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.

We need God’s help to even know how to handle things.  In our own strength we will go astray.  We can to nothing without God’s direction and strength.  We must abide in Him and have Him abiding in us.

Joh 15:5  I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

Abide means we dwell there continually.  A steady fixed state, a constancy, abiding in God’s word.

It is not enough to be justified, saved from our sin, we must have the Spirit of God abiding within.  He said He would change our heart from stone to flesh with His Word written on our heart.  It is His work.

When I got saved, my heart was to do the will of God.  My desire was to go all the way.  When I heard the message of sanctification, there was a fearful thing with the thought of writing that blank check, to commit to do anything that God would require of me. 

Before I got saved, God had already been working on my heart.  I had thought of the martyrs.  I knew, “If God is real and that is what I have to do, then how could I do less?  My children would need to know that God is real, if I do less then how would they know that God is real?”

I was already counting the cost, but when it came to the time of putting in for sanctification there was a fear and a withdrawing.  But when I faced questions from my family and coworkers, I realized that I needed the Spirit of God dwelling within in order to be affective. 

The Spirit brings to our remembrance what the scripture says.  I needed the Spirit of God abiding within me.  It is not a onetime thing.  There will be things come through our life where we realize, “I need to give this to God.  I need to present this to Him.  I need to write the blank check.” 

All our own wisdom and strength falls short of what we need.  Our sufficiency is of God.

2Co 3:5  Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;

All that Paul went through, he knew that his sufficiency was of God.  God did not remove the thorn in the flesh because He wanted Paul to realize how much he needed God.

Psa 127:1  A Song of degrees for Solomon. Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.

This is God’s house and He knows how to take care of it.  Don’t worry and stress; trust and obey.  Abide in Him, let His Spirit work and He will take care of it.  We can rest in that.  When we are consumed with worries, remember that God is the watchman and will take care of it.

Don’t give into fears.  Worry and fear are things that the enemy brings.  Fears will identify where we are not trusting God.  When fear tries to work, get it to God and trust Him.  Listening to our fears will bring doubts and hinder our ability to trust God.  They will take away our faith and hinder trusting God.

2Co 1:8  For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life:

2Co 1:9  But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:

2Co 1:10  Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us;

He is building on past experience.  “Who delivered us in the past from so great a debt, He does deliver us, and we trust He will yet.”  Our faith is built on victories.  Refer back to the past victories.  It will help deliver us in the current trial and cause us to trust that He will take care of us.

The grace for the future will come when we are there and not before.

2Ch 20:12  O our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee.

This is the right way to handle the adversity.  “We don’t have the strength or know what to do, our eyes are on you, God, to know what to do.”

2Ch 20:15  And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the LORD unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God's.

Any battle we have to face is His.  He has allowed us to be there and will fight the battle for us.  He then gave them a command.

2Ch 20:16  To morrow go ye down against them: behold, they come up by the cliff of Ziz; and ye shall find them at the end of the brook, before the wilderness of Jeruel.

2Ch 20:17  Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the LORD will be with you.

2Ch 20:18  And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground: and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the LORD, worshipping the LORD.

2Ch 20:19  And the Levites, of the children of the Kohathites, and of the children of the Korhites, stood up to praise the LORD God of Israel with a loud voice on high.

2Ch 20:20  And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.

2Ch 20:21  And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the LORD, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the LORD; for his mercy endureth for ever.

2Ch 20:22  And when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten.

What a beautiful thing to see, they fell before God, their faith was encouraged, and they worshipped and praised.  They went forth not in fear and doubt, but in confidence praising and worshipping as they went. 

There were many nations against the children of Judah.  All of them were smitten. They started coming in unity against the children of Israel and then they started fighting against each other.  The children of Israel didn’t even have to fight. 

We have all kinds of enemies coming against the truth.  They seem to be uniting against the truth.  God will do the same thing, we just need to trust God to help us to know when to speak, when to be silent, when to go forward, and when to wait.

2Ch 20:23  For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them: and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another.

2Ch 20:24  And when Judah came toward the watch tower in the wilderness, they looked unto the multitude, and, behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none escaped.

We must stop listening to fear.  Trust God, there is nothing that comes against us that God cannot get good out of.  When you see a fear working, look for the root.  It is a lack of trust.  God can give us light in His Word or otherwise that will encourage us.

Walk in the light.  As we go through difficult times we need to walk in the light.  The difference for those that believe in Jesus is not the absence of shadow but the presence of light. 

If our lives are built on the rock solid bedrock of the words of the Bible we will make it through.  This is why it is so important to study His word.

Never doubt in the dark what God told you in the light.  The enemy brings doubts and worries to get us to forget what God shows us in the light.  Hold onto those and don’t forget.

Don’t make fast moves when you are in the dark.  In the dark, we will forget what we knew in the light and be inclined to move in a wrong way. 

When you are feeling pressed to make a sudden move and there is fear, then that is the time to stand still, get a hold of God, remember the things that He showed you in the light, and let Him direct.  Remember that God is good, He is in control, and He has a good purpose in everything.