Live By What You Know
Lakewood Church of God| Speaker: Pastor Jonathan | 11-6-2016
Introduction:
¥ If we base our walk with Christ on our feelings then our Christian walk will be as volatile as our emotions. (Up one day… Down the next)
¥ God’s Word is a constant. God is consistent. His promises are “Yea and Amen” - 2 Corinthians 1:20
I. I Know… God loves me and He’s never gonna stop loving me
Several years ago, a student in seminary class stood to his feet and announced to the professor, "I don't believe in God!" The professor, unraveled, replied, "Describe this God you don't believe in?" After the student had described an unlovely and vengeful God, the professor confessed, "I don't believe in that God either. My God is a God of love.”
A. God’s love impacts the whole world
1. John 3:16
B. God’s love is unconditional
1. I found at least 93 verses in the Bible about God’s unconditional love. They can all pretty much be summed up in…
Romans 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
2. Discuss the meaning of “commendation”. (Soldiers receive “commendations)
¥ God wants to “pin His love on you”. (He wants to “mark” you with His love.
C. God’s love is more powerful than my battle
1. Romans 8:35-39
II. I Know… Jesus is Alive (I Know that my Redeemer lives!)
A. No matter what I’m facing or what I’m going through I still know that “JESUS IS ALIVE!”
1. Job 19:25-27.
B. As the time of Christ’s return draws closer we will be defending the message of the Cross and the reality of His Resurrection more and more. We need to be prepared…
1. Philippians 1:12-16 AMP (Read & Expound)
2. I Know… God’s Word is True.
C. Galatians 2:1-10 (Paul explaining that the same God that called Peter to the Jews was the same God that had called him to the Gentiles)
1. The message was the death, burial, resurrection and return of the Lord Jesus Christ!
III. I Know that when all is said and done… WE WIN!
Romans 8:37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
A. Albert Barnes Commentary on Romans 8:37
1. Nay - But. Notwithstanding our severe pressures and trials.
2. In all these things - In the very midst of them; while we are enduring them we are able to triumph.
¥ Compare 1 Corinthians 15:57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
3. We are more than conquerors - We gain the victory. That is, they have not power to subdue us; to alienate our love and confidence; to produce apostasy.
¥ We are the victors, not they. Our faith is not destroyed; our love is not diminished; our hope is not blasted. But it is not simple victory; it is not mere life, and continuance of what we had before; it is more than simple triumph;
¥ it augments our faith, increases our strength, expands our love to Christ.
¥ The word used here is a strong, emphatic expression which is used with great force and appropriateness here.
Closing: Live by what you know not by what you feel.
¥ Holy Living still matters
¥ If you do the right thing long enough you will start feeling it
