25 Woods Lake Road, Building 8, Greenville, SC
Imagine being told that you only had a few days to live. That would be very difficult for anyone to hear! That’s exactly what happened to Moses, and we can learn some crucial lessons from the way he responded to that news. Do we know what it takes to trust God so much that, like Moses, we will trust Him right up to the very end?
During our lifetime we make thousands of choices. Some choices, like which shirt to wear, have little or no significance; while other choices, like who to marry, will affect the rest of our lives. But the Bible says there is one choice every person on earth has to make, and the result will either bring you life or death. The decision seems simple, but many people choose wrong every day. How will you answer this choice of a lifetime?
If you’ve ever been caught in a blinding rain storm while driving, the first thing you want to do is find shelter. Mountain climbers trapped by blizzards stand very little chance of surviving in sub-zero temperatures unless they can locate a place of safety and warmth. But where do you go when the storms of life overtake you? Do you have a place of refuge you can run to where you will always find strength and hope?
If you were given the choice of living a mediocre life versus living an excellent life, you would most likely choose excellence. None of us want to live a mediocre life, but do we feel the same about our spiritual life? The Bible gives us some simple things we can begin doing that will lead us toward spiritual maturity and excellence, and you can start building them into your life today!
Out of all the commands God gives in the Bible, there is one in particular that people have a hard time hearing. Sermons about love, grace and mercy are welcomed, but any talk about money in the church is often met with resistance. God’s instructions about giving are not designed to constrain us. They will actually bring us freedom and joy! Are we willing to hear what God wants to teach us?
When God sent His people into the Promised Land, the first thing they had to do was to locate and completely destroy every place of idol worship. God knows that any temptation we leave intact in our life will entice us away from pure worship to Him. Are there any “idols” that you have set up in your heart that are disrupting your true worship of God?
Imagine a married couple saying how committed they are to each other, but then asking if they can still date other people. How disturbing that would be! Yet we often do the same thing as followers of Christ. We declare our total allegiance to Him while our hearts pursue idols of every kind. He has made it clear that He will not accept anything less than our total commitment. Are there any areas of your life that you still have not surrendered completely to Him?
Did you ever try to assemble a complicated piece of furniture without using the instruction manual? When you’ve got five screws and a hinge left over, you realize you should have followed the directions. Messing up a home project may be bad, but it’s nothing compared to messing up your life! God has given us the Instruction Manual for life, and if we choose to ignore it, we don’t stand a chance. So, what are you using for your directions?
We have all probably experienced moments in life when we catch ourselves saying and doing certain things exactly the same way our parents did. It’s nice to know that we can pass down good traits, but none of us want to pass down sinful habits and destructive patterns. Today’s sermon challenges us to make sure we never repeat the sins and the failures of the past, but that we step out by faith and trust God into the future.
As a follower of Christ, there will be times in your life when evil forces will be plotting against you, but you will be completely unaware of it. Even now, Satan could be quietly planning attacks on you. But you do not need to be afraid, because the great news is that God is fully aware of Satan’s schemes, and He is already working behind the scenes to protect you and defeat the enemy. The plans of God cannot be destroyed by the evil one, and neither can you!
Every religion around the world has a list of different things a person has to do in order to get to heaven. Some have to pray a certain number of times every day, others have to chant mantras, while others have to perform a lifetime of good works. And yet, none of those things can make us right with God. There is only one way to know for sure that our sins are forgiven and that we will spend eternity in heaven. Are you sure you’ve received the right cure for sin?
Have you ever had to learn the same lesson more than once? Sometimes we fail to remember God’s blessings and provision from the past, and so new trials can cause us to doubt His faithfulness and provision. Our human tendency is to complain when we are in desperate need, but let’s learn instead that those very times are blessings in disguise. It’s in those moments that God has our full attention, because the struggles He has allowed to come our way cause us to run to Him!
