The Difference Was Made When...

The Difference Was Made When…

When you look at major events many times you can see a time and place a difference was made. You see it, in the Word of God, you see it in history, and you see it in the stories of your own life.

In prayer this week the phrase “the difference was made when…”echoed in my mind. I want to be a difference maker. I want Discover Life Church to be a difference maker. Further more I believe God wants us to be difference maker.

There is something that makes the difference between…

Victory and Defeat

Life and Death

Prosperity and Poverty

Success and Failure

Health and Sickness

The question is “What makes a difference? How can we make a difference? Today we will see that the ‘difference is made when...’

1. The Difference was made when we realize we aren’t the difference maker!

a. You have heard it before…”If you believe it, you can achieve it.”, “You can be and do whatever you want as long as you put your mind to it”.

i. While I believe that attitude, positive thinking and determination are very valuable it is important that those things are a reflection of our faith in Christ not in ourselves.

ii. There is nothing…absolutely nothing that we can do in and of ourselves that has eternal value. Only that which we do through Christ makes a difference eternally.

iii. Many people say I want to make a difference in the world. That is noble and good. However I believe that because we live our lives for God we as Christians should be making a difference in our world that will build the Kingdom of God.

b. There are many examples in the word of God where it is obvious that the difference was made by a divine power not of this world.

i. In Joshua 10 during a battle against the Amorites God caused the Sun and moon to stand still for about a full day.

ii. In Exodus 14 Children of Israel at the Red Sea with enemy behind them… Moses stretches out his hand and the red sea parted. Did the power to part the waters come from Moses raising his hand?

iii. In Joshua 6 God the army of Israel marched around the Jericho once a day for 6 days on the final day they marched 7 times the trumpets sounded then Joshua said, “Shout for God has you the city.” People obeyed, it took effort, but was it their marching that caused the walls to fall? Was it the trumpets or the shouting that caused the walls to fall?

1. They can shout and blow trumpets all day long but if God wasn’t in it the walls aren’t falling.

2. Even though it is God who does brings down the walls notice there were still requirements upon the people.

c. God is calling us to make a difference that is beyond our own capabilities. The sooner we realize this, the better of we are.

i. In 1 Samuel 17:37 David says before his battle with Goliath “All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands."”

ii. He recognized it was God’s battle. Philippians 4:13

2. The difference is made when the people of God have Faith!

a. We already established the fact that God is the difference maker that should increase our faith.

i. I don’t have a whole lot of confidence in what I can do on my own.

ii. When I began to think in the natural about what God has called me to do I have doubts, I am afraid, I feel inadequate but when I realize that God is for me that nothing can stop me from doing what God has called me to do.

iii. We quoted Davis before 1 Samuel 17: 42 He looked David over and saw that he was only a boy, ruddy and handsome, and he despised him. 43 He said to David, Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?" And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44 "Come here," he said, "and I’ll give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!" 45 David said to the Philistine, "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day the Lord will hand you over to me, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. 47 All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands."