DAD'S DAILY BREAD

19 He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. 20 No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21 fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. Rom 4

It is tough to put into words just how convicting these few verses are. Abraham looked at his real world circumstances and really had some reason to question what the Lord was saying… But unlike my past that is full of disappointing decisions, actions, and choices those facts drove him even closer to God. Abraham truly believed God and trusted that when He said something, that it was going to happen. No matter what! Oh how I wish I could go back and relive so many times in my life where I saw the circumstances I was in and instead of running to Jesus I thought I could do it my way… I couldn’t have been more wrong! Thank God for His grace and mercy!! Without it I just couldn’t and wouldn’t ever have a chance of gaining access to Jesus!!! Thank God for Romans chapter four where God’s word makes it very clear that my works have nothing to do with my salvation! 

23 But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, 24 but for ours also. It will be counted to us who BELIEVE in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25 who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. Rom 4

God did everything for me! Jesus was delivered up for our trespasses and raised from the dead for our justification! You just have to believe it! But it can’t just be some words you say on Sunday at church when you’re trying to fit into those perfect little groups. It is the kind of belief you can hang your entire life on. CONFESS, REPENT, and CHANGE! God is waiting for you! He is waiting for me as well to truly stop trying to do things when surrendering and allowing God to be in control would be so much better in every way! We are justified by Christ and God says all we have to do is believe it! Then that belief will change our lives into actions that glorify our Savior! Oh how He deserves our obedience! If your faith isn’t changing you then it definitely won’t be saving you! That saying is said a lot but I hope you are saying that to yourself daily, minute by minute, as we fight with our flesh to keep God on the throne of our lives! Thank God for grace that is fresh every morning! Lord forgive me for all the things I put in my heart over you! Clean my mind and give me a brand new heart! You are my Lord and Savior! Please help me to believe all of it and never forget what you have saved me from! You are so awesome! And I am so unworthy!

APPLICATION:

This verse has so much real world application! If I’m honest I look at my circumstances every single day and I quickly forget who is the Lord and Savior of my life. I honestly envy those godly people that just make it look so easy. I live in a spiritual warzone and the only time there is any sort of cease fire it is because I have forgotten that the battle is on and I have become complacent… I can never let my guard down and I can never stop fighting. The moment I do the river of sin is there to scoop me up and before I know it I’m drowning in things that are only there to steal, kill and destroy everything that God has done for me! I need to stay in God’s Word and stay connected to the power source! Let the truths about God be what moves my thinking and my choices. Keep an eternal life view, not getting distracted by things that are not important! Listen to the Spirit as it guides me and leads me into paths of righteousness and remember the war is always raging! Continually test myself! Are my actions following what I say I believe about God? Is my life bringing honor and glory to Christ or am I just trying to please myself? Lord please forgive me and I pray you give me the strength and courage to be better. Our goal on earth is to spread your gospel and do your will! Please help me to keep You on the throne of my heart! You are so good to us. THANK YOU LORD!

IN HIS NAME!

7 “Blessed and happy and favored are those whose lawless acts have been forgiven,And whose sins have been covered up and completely buried. 8 “Blessed and happy and favored is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account nor charge against him.” Rom 4 amp

What a glorious promise!! Overwhelming every single time I read it! I spent most of my life building things that were never going to last and never going to satisfy me. Things that only did damage to my testimony and made followers of Jesus look bad. But right in the middle of all my sin God was there. Influencing and protecting and guiding me in a direction that would always lead back to Him! Paul uses Abraham in chapter 4 as an example of a righteous man. He talks about how God could see into his heart and see the motives behind his actions! Abraham truly believed God was in control and that whatever God did was because of God’s righteousness and not his own. Making it possible for Abraham to do the things he did! Abraham had faith and he knew that when God said something that it was a guarantee! So his faith created action. And his actions showed what he truly believed about God! Do your actions match what you say and believe about God??

Thank You Lord for the grace and mercy that you give me every morning! Thank You for your promises and Your Word that gives us direct access to You and Your Spirit! Thank you for giving us a way to look at our lives and examine ourselves! If your faith is not creating action and constantly changing you then it definitely is not going to save you! Be honest with yourself! Are you living dependent on Him allowing Him to be your power and strength? Or are you on the throne of your life doing things that only serve yourself? CONFESS, REPENT, and CHANGE! 

APPLICATION:

First I want to be thankful at all times! Remember how filthy I am and how much I need Jesus and His saving grace! Confess repent and change the things in my life that don’t bring God glory! God pulled me out of the depths of darkness! Broke chains of bondage and sin and gave me hope when all else seemed to be so hopeless! I need to test myself moment by moment as I go through my day. What are my actions saying about what I believe about God? For me it shows itself very clearly! Am I tapped into the source and being empowered by my faith and belief in Christ or am I trying to do it all on my own? Am I allowing sin into my life, no matter how small, or am I amputating the things in my life that were never meant to be used to bring me comfort and joy? God please help me to be better! Please remove me from the throne of my life! Clean my mind and create in me a clean heart! Please give me the grace and strength to be better!! Thank you for all the things you give that I don’t deserve and for not giving me the punishment I do deserve!! I have no clue why you save a wretched sinner like me but I want to glorify you forever because of it! You deserve it! Thank You Lord!!

IN HIS NAME

Sermon notes Pastor Graydon Cress

11 being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Col 1

Where do you go to find joy? Do you pursue happiness from the world or does it come from the Lord? Finding joy from the world is good to a certain point. If your not careful that thing that brings you joy and comfort will quickly become an idol. Just ask yourself one question: Do you have to sin to get it or does it cause sin in your life if you don’t get it?? If the answer is true to either one of these then you have created an idol in your heart and you will be serving that idol until decide to confess, repent and change. The heart is an idol factory so you have to battle your flesh daily, to remove those idols, and put Christ back on the throne of your life!

Check yourself daily when it comes to what you do for joy and pleasure. As soon as you find yourself loving the gifts and the feelings over the Awesome One who gave it to you then you definitely need to change your perspective! There is only one place to find true lasting joy and peace and that’s from the Gospel!!! ECCL 2:10-11

The Gospel is our joy that NEVER fades! First God gives us strength for endurance and patience with joy. True joy comes when you see God’s work happening in the world! Watching so many people worshiping the Lord in the midst of so much pain was joyful! Despite the fact that what happened to Charlie was so sad! God will use it for His glory and that also brings me joy. PHIL 4:4 / HABAKKUK 3

We cannot always change our circumstances but we can control our attitude and the way we react to things. JAMES 1 / ROMANS 5

If you’re facing a trial or you have an idol in your heart don’t minimize it! Deal with it. Take it to God. Take it to the people God has put in your life. Don’t let the enemy keep you dwelling in darkness! We cannot be Christ’s light in the world when we are harboring darkness in our own lives! Confess, repent, and change! Jesus is our light in the darkness! PSALM 23

God gives us strength for joy in Christ through: HIS WORD, HIS HOLY SPIRIT, AND HIS PEOPLE. We were never meant to do this on our own! NUMBERS 11

If we are not reading God’s Word everyday then we are not tapping into His strength. Like an athlete that only shows up on game day and wonders why everyone is so much faster and stronger than he is. Or like a weight lifter that wants to gain weight but refuses to eat food… You can work out all you want but if you’re not feeding your body its not going to turn into lasting strength! Check yourself daily to see what sources you’re tapping into as you go through your day! You don’t have to muster up joy on your own. God freely gives to those who ask in His name!

Lasting joy comes straight from Jesus- who He is and what He has done! We have an inheritance! Are you going to inherit all the things of this world that are rotten and decaying or will you accept the free gift of salvation from the Lord and inherit eternal life? We have been delivered from darkness. Jesus is the source of our light and our strength. He gives us access to the Kingdom. We are redeemed and forgiven!! We were in darkness but now we are children of the light. EHP 5 / ROM 3 / JOHN 4:13-14

Jesus Christ is the only one that will satisfy that space in your heart! Stop trying to fill it with meaningless possessions and feelings that will only last for the moment! Surrender to Jesus now! Confess, Repent, and Change!!!!

Seek the true and lasting joy that can only come from our savior! The Gospel is our joy and it will NEVER change!! MATT 5 / PSALM 34

IN HIS NAME

22 This righteousness of God comes through faith in Jesus Christ for all those [Jew or Gentile] who believe [and trust in Him and acknowledge Him as God’s Son]. There is no distinction, 23 since all have sinned and continually fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are being justified [declared free of the guilt of sin, made acceptable to God, and granted eternal life] as a gift by His [precious, undeserved] [c]grace, through the redemption [the payment for our sin] which is [provided] in Christ Jesus; Rom 3 amp

Someone once told me that when you see phrases like “BUT NOW or therefore” you really need to pay attention! God is telling us something life changing and it’s something so big that you need to apply it to your life! Just look at the scripture above. I have read it a thousand times and everytime it’s something I have to accept by faith because it doesn’t make sense why someone would do that for me… The God of the universe gave up HIS only son so that we could have a right and holy relationship with HIM. It is something we cannot attain on our own. Paul made that really clear in the earlier chapters!

So therefore we are to accept all that glorious stuff by faith! It seems so unnatural at first. But once you truly accept it and let that glorious information set into your life, that’s when you actually begin to walk on God’ righteous path. God will always give you a choice! For me I have to choose hourly, almost by the minute… Who am I going to serve? There are really only 2 options. You are going to serve yourself or the one who gave it all so that we could live the life God designed for us. 

I have spent so many years serving myself! And I can testify that God’s way is the only way to true happiness and lasting peace! Still daily I have to battle as my flesh will put myself right back on the throne. But thanks to God’s word I can look at my own life and see how I’m doing… If I’m not living and breathing all the attributes of God and Jesus then have I really been saved? Whether you feel you can lose your salvation or not, I can use scripture to test myself daily. Are my actions matching up with my words? If you’re honest with yourself and want to please God I think that would be a question you ask yourself often. Not because you doubt the faithfulness of God but because you truly know how filthy and wretched you are. 

God’s word will continue to show you things in your life you need to eliminate. The true question is, are you going to get rid of all that sin or are you going to just continue to live however you want?? That is the question I battle with everyday and without scripture there to encourage and guide and strengthen me I don’t know where I would be today. God saved me from a life of destruction and pain. And He deserves my allegiance!! God please grant me the strength to change. Get rid of the sinful things in my life so I can freely live a life that brings you glory!

APPLICATION:

Think about the attributes of Christ often! REMEMBER WHAT GOD SAVED ME FROM!! Test myself daily by looking at my fruit! Is my tree empty and wilted and slowly shrinking back into the dirt or am I producing juicy fruit! Fruit that is delicious and attractive. The kind of fruit people drive out of their way to find and enjoy. It’s really that simple. Your fruit will expose what your heart truly believes and who you’re serving! We are sinful humans so don’t be surprised when you find yourself serving something or someone other than God but don’t stay there!!! Repent and do a 180 degree turn and RUN in the opposite direction and right into your fathers arms. HE WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU OR FORSAKE YOU so dont waste anymore of your life serving yourself! It’s a daily choice and a daily battle but once you finally have the peace and happiness that only God can give you, you will never want to go back! Father, please have mercy on me. I am so unworthy! Give me the strength to be better! Thank you for saving me when I didn’t, and still don’t, deserve it!! YOU ARE AN AWESOME GOD!! THANK YOU!!

IN HIS NAME

Sermon Notes Pastor Koby Orr

9 And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; Col 1:9-10

The word of God is the only anchor we need to tether ourselves to Jesus. Ask myself this question, “AM I A FOLLOWER OF JESUS”? What does my fruit look like? A true Christian is a CHANGED Christian! The Gospel should change the way we live every second of our lives.

1. The Good News of Jesus changes the way we think. (vs 9)
   • The spirit must first enable us! Rom 8:6-7, 2 Cor 5:17,
   • We must choose to engage. Col 3:2
     • APPLICATION: We need to be Christians, We need to be intentional! READ the Word, PRAY the Word, MEMORIZE the Word. Remember that our sinful flesh hates the things of God. You need His Spirit. He is our power to resist! Make Him your most important priority!! Is my heart always fixed on God?
2. The Good News of Jesus changes the way we act. ( vs 10)
   • God has to liberate us! We are meant to be a visible invitation to the Gospel. We are set free from sin! He is our master. He gives us power to resist!
   • We have to choose to do what is right! Rom 6:12-13 God gives us the power we need to resist the flesh and the enemy!
     • APPLICATION: Remember who God is and what He actually deserves. God is not made up in my mind. He is the God of the bible, He deserves our obedience! BE OBEDIENT! Remember what He has done! “WHO AM I THAT GOD WOULD BE MINDFUL OF ME?” How we act will show us what we truly know and believe about God!

Instead of just confessing Jesus, live out your confession. Make your life a mission for Jesus. Don’t seek the same things everyone else does for hope and comfort. Ask myself daily “Am I a follower of Jesus?” What is my fruit saying about my relationship with Jesus? ( Col 1:10, Matt 7:17-18, Gal 2:20, Phil 4, Matt 7:21. YOUR WORDS NEED TO BE ACCOMPANIED WITH ACTIONS!!! Do I truly know Jesus or do I just know about Him?? Does my fruit match the words coming off my lips?

CALL TO ACTION: Stay Humble, Stay Fruitful, Repent Daily!!

A TRUE CHRISTIAN IS A CHANGED CHRISTIAN!!!!

IN HIS NAME

23 You who boast in the Law, do you [repeatedly] dishonor God by [q]breaking the Law? 24 For, “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,” just as it is written [in Scripture]. ROMANS 2

This scripture is very convicting! All the years that I had been living, to only please myself,  just flood my thoughts. I think about all the different possibilities and different ways my actions made Christ look bad. How long I lived only to please myself not thinking about the carnage I was laying in my path… Reminds me of the passage from earlier…

Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? Ro 2:4

I don’t deserve anything I get from the Lord! Living a life of blasphemy and lies… The more I dive into scripture the more I see just how wretched I am! I AM WITHOUT EXCUSE!!! No longer will I take advantage of God’s grace!! God’s grace is truly unimaginable! Cannot comprehend Him! LORD PLEASE HAVE MERCY ON ME!!

APPLICATION:

What do my wife and kids see when they look at me? Do they see a godly man trying to guide his family in walking with Jesus? Or do they see a selfish person that only wants to please himself?? Lord please have mercy on me. Help me to actually believe by faith that I can actually be forgiven for the things I have done. Sometimes the weight of my past gets hard to let go… if that makes sense… Focus on doing only what I can control and let God handle the rest. Always remember those little eyes are watching me!

6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. Rom 8:6

IN HIS NAME

5 But because of your callous stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are [deliberately] storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. 6 He will pay back to each person according to his deeds [justly, as his deeds deserve]: ROMANS 2

With all this talk about storing up wrath for yourself, I thought I should do a deeper search into that. I want to know if I’m storing up wrath and if so how much. The idea of storing up wrath is an ironic twist on the usual metaphor of storing up blessings or treasures. 

From what I can gather in my short morning study is that it all comes back to repentance. They’re not talking about a physical hardness but a hardness of the heart. Spiritual hardness that comes after years of being your own lord and doing what you think is right… And refusing the gift from God. A refusal of His forgiveness. And as John Macarthur says they cling to their sin! Lord may that never be me again!!!

APPLICATION

God’s word DOES NOT CHANGE! So I am not surprised that everything always comes back to repentance. Am I a walking and talking lie? That serves God with my lips but then serves myself most of the week? OR  Am I actively battling the sin that only wants to kill, steal and destroy everything I have. I know how wretched I am! I know just how much I need Jesus!!! So therefore I should be walking in repentance every single second of my life!! Lord please forgive me for all my sin! All the ways I put myself over you! Please help me to walk out my repentance by leaving everything from my old life behind and focusing on You!

6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. ROMANS 8

IN HIS NAME