Winners Never Change Whats Working

Trusting God When You're- In Between.

Christopher Columbus is credited with discovering the new world, America.  He set out on from Spain on August 3, 1492 with three ships the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria on a journey that took nearly three months to complete.  And on October 12, 1492, he arrived to his destination.  But did you know that somewhere -in between -Christopher Columbus' journey, his compass failed?  So he was stuck with the prospect of telling the crew and having them to turn back, or hiding it from the crew and later having them to stage a mutiny.   Christopher Columbus decided to sailed on, because he believed that, eventually,  od would get him to his destination.  Eventually the crew found out Columbus secret, and were on the verge of revolt.  But Columbus convinced the crews to forge on just a little bit farther.  And on October 12, 1492, Columbus finally spotted land and brought their ships to rest on that day.

For nearly 3 full months, Columbus was on the longest journey of his life.  When he first set sail, he was sure where he was going.  But somewhere in between his departure and his arrival, doubt set in.  It wasn't at the beginning of the Journey,  it wasn't at the end of the Journey.  It was -IN BETWEEN. 

Have you ever been in between?   In between jobs?  In between destinations?  In between answers to prayer?  You're waiting to see if things will turn out in your favor, but you don't know yet, because you're -in between.

Abraham was about 75 years old when God first told him that he was going to bless him with a land, and give him a son. 

I'm sure Abraham thought that it was going to happen right away.  He did not know that -in between- the promise and the blessing, there would be 25 years!

Abraham is called the father of the faithful, because he was the first to be -in between.

Abraham was  -in between -the promises of God and His blessings.

Although it seemed that his Isaac would never be born, Abraham never stopped trusting God.  

He knew that God is faithful even when we are -in between the almost, and not yet.

You might be -in between.  You have prayed to God for an answer to your prayers, but you're in between his promise and his blessing.

God wants us to know that he is faithful.  The word of God reminds us in Isaiah 40:31,

that they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

Three things we learn being - in between:

1. When you're- in between- time does not matter to God, he still is in control.

Abraham was 75! He already was an old man.  Some people might have thought, if God were going to give him a son, he would have done it earlier.

My wife Sandra and I were married late in life.  She was already over the age of 30 when we got married.  So we tried to start a family right away, but we couldn't.  Because God wasn't ready for us to have a child yet.  However, 10 years passed and God finally gave us a son!  he still is in control.

Ps 31:15 My times are in your hands; deliver me from the hands of my enemies, from those who pursue me.

You see, we have to learn that God takes his time.  My mother used to say, He may not come when you want him, but He's always right on time.

Abraham was made about three promises.  Genesis 12:1-3

1. The Land Promise: "A land that I will show you."
2. The National Promise: "A great nation."
3.  The Spiritual Promise: "All the families of the earth shall be blessed."

2. When you're -in between- God still wants us to trust him.   There was a point when Abraham did not know where God was taking him.  He was following God, but it was out of trust

God wants us to trust him! 

Look at Hebrews 11:8 - By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.

You see, faith is trusting God even though you don't know where God is going.

When I started this ministry, I did not know where I was going.  All I knew was that God had called me to start True Vine ministries, but I did not know from one week to the next, where we were going to have service.

Like Abraham, I was in between.  Faithfully, God provided a place for us to meet every week without fail.

Have you ever felt like God has called you to a blessing, but you did not know how, or where it was taking you?

The Bible says that Abraham left Harron  by Faith.  Faith is trusting God to do what he said he was going to do.

Declare right now that you trust God to fulfill his promise.

3. When you're -in between- God wants us to receive his promises by faith.

This means acting just like you have them now.  Rejoicing just like God has already given you the promise.  Look at Hebrews 11:8 - By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.

God wants us to receive our blessings by faith.  Faith is receiving the promises of God before you see the physical manifestation.  

It took 25 years for Abraham to receive his Isaac!  But Abraham did not waver in his belief that he would be the father of many nations just as God had told him.

Today, make the decision to receive the promises of God and trust Him to bring it to past.  Rejoice today like you have it right now.

What's Love Got To Do With It?

What's Love Got To Do With It?

1 John 3:11 For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.

Those of you who are at least 40 years old, remember the song what's Love Got to Do with it?  In this song Tina Turner made the case for love being a second hand emotion.

Yet, in this book of 1 John, John makes a strong case for love being the most important thing that a Christian should do.  Listen to what he says: We should love one another.

John reminds us that Being a Christian is not only a name that the world calls us, but it is a requirement to be something as well.  The requirement is to be Loving Towards one another.

And no wonder, John was merely repeating the command of Jesus when he said:  “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

So What's love got to do with it?

1. Love is a requirement  for Christian Faith.

You cannot call yourself a Christian without love.

John 13:35

By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another

2. Love keeps us from murdering one another.

1 John 3:15 Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.

Notice that John said, when we don't love, we have become murderers

  We back bite.  We hold grudges. We practice treachery.

3. Love causes us to give up our own selfish ambitions and share what we have.

1 John 3:17 But whoever has this world's good, and sees his brother have need, and shuts up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwells the love of God in him?

We will feed the hungry.  We will give sacrificially.  

The Turning Point

The Turning Point"As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result..." - Genesis 50:20
The Turning Point
I. One of the greatest moments in life is the turning point.
The turning point is the point at which things began to get better!
Just the other day, my wife Sandra and I experienced the turning point. Our son Titus accidentally fell backwards on the concrete floor, and bumped his little head so hard that it began to swell and bleed. We were worried about his condition, so we rushed him to the hospital.
While on our way, I was praying, and suddenly Titus started to feel better. His recovery was so fast and so sudden, that we could hardly believe it. His condition had turned from severe to mild so fast, we hardly had time to comprehend what happened.
We had experienced a turning point!
The turning point, is when your troubles come to a sudden and abrupt end!
A. The word of God assures us that we will all experience turning points.
Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning. Ps 30:5They that wait upon the Lord, shall renew their strength, they shall mount up on wings as an eagle. Isaiah 40:31 Job said all my appointed days, I’m going to wait until my change comes.. Job 14:14
God guarantees us a turning point is coming!

II. Joseph experienced the turning point.
The story is told in Genesis 50:20... That Joseph was loved by his father, but hated by his brothers. So his brothers betrayed him and sold him into slavery, and for 22 years, Joseph suffered in slavery and prison, yet after all of that, God had a plan… And at the turning point, God turned the life of Joseph around, and put him in charged of the same country in which he was oppressed…
Isn’t that like we are sometimes?We know that our heavenly father loves us, yet our problems sometimes seem as if they are never going to have a turning point.
Hall of Fame Baseball player and manager Yogi Berra, once stated that “Its Not Over Till Its Over.” What he should have said was that: ITS NOT OVER UNTIL GOD SAYS ITS OVER…
Meaning that I don’t care what Odds are against you… If God is in it, there‘s got to be a turning point…

• 
  Now the question on everybody's mind is WHY?
  1. Why does God allow us to go through set back after set back… When his plan is to turn things around anyway… The answer can be found in the word God…

1. Look at what Joseph said in Gen. 50:20: "You meant it for evil, but God meant it for my good."

a. God meant it for Good.

• In other words, this text is saying that God uses every evil situation in our life of a faithful believer for their good.
• For the believer, evil is like fuel in the tank of their car…
• Its like gasoline. Gas is combustible… Its explosive… If you drink it, it will kill you… But when it is put into the tank of a car, it sends the car forward.
• Often times God uses trouble to send us forward.

Joseph was sold by his brothers into slavery… And for 22 years of his life, he endured slavery, being lied on by his owners wife, put into prison, abandoned by people… For 22 years, yet God was taking Joseph some place that was for his good…

• 
  Look at: 2 Cor. 4:17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory…
  God is working something out that is better for us than what we are going through now.
• Illustration: A few of you were here during my mother’s appreciation program… She’s now 79 years old. But you needed to hear my father testimonial who is 83, about his life in the early years of his marriage to my mother. My mother and father often fought in their early years of marriage. As a child, I would lay in bed and just listen to them fight all night long… Yet today, God turned it around…

2. God uses our struggles to bless others.
Genesis 50:20... " to save much people alive. "

• God is using your challenges to save much people alive! God is using your heartache to to bring people into a Saving knowlegde of the Lord Jesus.
• Look at 1 Peter 2:19 For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God.
• God is using your trouble to save people through your godly example of Christ.

1 Peter 2:24 Jesus bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.
Isaiah 55 says that he was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquity.
But we used to sing a song when I was a child… Must Jesus bear the cross alone and all the world go free, no there’s a cross for everyone, and there a cross for me…

• Sometimes your cross is just stuff that irritates you…
• That husband who won’t get saved.
• Those children who bring you disappointment.
• Those people at your job, who make your life miserable.
• That situation in your life that just doesn’t seem to be getting any better…

God is saying, I’ve got a date and time to turn this situation around, but you’ve got to hold on… I’ve got some people that I want to bless through your life…
3. God is using our setbacks as a setup to get the glory.

• If you think about it… If you could get yourself out of your trouble, God would never get the glory. We’d go around praising ourselves…
• ISAIAH 42:8 - I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.

In other words, I’m God… I’m not going to give my glory to nobody else…
God will make it so that the only one who we can turn to is Him… God took Joseph to a foreign country by himself… Just so that he would be totally dependent upon Him.
Sometimes God has to remove stuff in our lives that we depend on, so that we would depend on Him.

Illustration: I remember when God started to doing this in my life. Early on in our ministry, we had so people who were big tithers, and I was afraid for them to leave the church… Because they gave so much…
But God taught me that He can build a ministry whether certain people stay our not…
We still have three buildings. We still have 4 buses. We still have run over 500,000 budget a year. Without big numbers…
And ... It’s the Lord that gets the glory, not the people!