GOD WILL

Text of Focus: Isaiah 41:10

‘Do not ear, for I am with you;

Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you, surely I will help you,

Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’

Our text of focus finds the children of Israel in captivity in Babylon, ( which was not such a hard thing to them, since they had totally acclimated themselves to the Babylonian lifestyle even insofar as they turned away from Jehovah GOD to serve the pagan gods of Babylon).The occurrence that cause them to be overwhelmed with fear, which merited God’s words of comfort was the Proclamation that God made in the opening verses of chapter 41. The proclamation was that he was getting ready to raise up a righteous man, that would He would give all the nations to and would cause him to rule over all the kings. It is best to take him as Cyrus the Persian, who overthrew the Babylonian Empire and issued the decree that permitted the Jews to return to their homeland. He is called God’s servant because he fulfilled God’s will in punishing Babylon and in enabling the Jews to return to the Holy Land. (Ezra 1)

God Instruction to His people

Fear not ~ disconnect you imagination from your senses.

2 Corinthians 10:55 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; {Don’t let what you see, hear or feel decrease your faith in GOD}

Be not dismayed ~ Don’t be anxious about anything.

Philippians 4:6 Be careful (anxious) for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. {Calm down, God is in control.}

Gods Promise to His people

I will strengthen you ~ He’s going to set you up!

1 Thess. 3:13 To the end he may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.

I surly will help you ~ God will be your support system.

2 Chronicles 16:9 (nasb)For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him.

I will uphold you ~ He will keep you from falling!

Jude 24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,

God is About to Loose You! John 11:1-44

Has anyone ever asked yourself

“what is taking God so long?”

In today’s text we are faced with the seeming procrastination of Christ.

And the introspective question for today is “What do you do when God is taking to long?”

As we explore today’s text we will discover the movements of God in the mist of our perplexity.

John 11:1-16

1 Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.

2 (It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.)

3 Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.

4 When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. 5 Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.

6 When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was.

7 Then after that saith he to his disciples, Let us go into Judaea again.

8 His disciples say unto him, Master, the Jews of late sought to stone thee; and goest thou thither again? 9 Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world.

10 But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him.

11 These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.

12 Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well.

13 Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep. 14 Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.

15 And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him.

16 Then said Thomas, which is called Didymus, unto his fellowdisciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him.

He had to deal with the uninformed ministers

John 11:17-26

17 Then when Jesus came, he found that he had lain in the grave four days already.

18 Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off:

19 And many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.

20 Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him: but Mary sat still in the house.

21 Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.

22 But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee.

23 Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again.

24 Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.

25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:

26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

He had to deal with those with invalidated faith

John 11:32-40

32 Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.

33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, He groaned in the spirit, and was troubled,

34 And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see.

35 Jesus wept.

36 Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him!

37 And some of them said, Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died?

38 Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. 39 Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.

40 Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?

He had to deal with how man limits the power of God 11:32-40

John 11:41-42

41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.

42 And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.

He Had to get the validation of the Father 11:41-42

God the Son’s main characteristics - Grace & Mercy

God the Father’s main characteristics - Order & Justice

John 11:43-44

43 And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.

44 And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.

He gave to Lazarus life & Liberty

I Want 2 B Free

The Gospel According to John 8:31-32

31-Then Jesus said to those Jews which believed on Him, “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;

32 - And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.”

In this text Jesus made a distinction between those who are disciples and those who are disciples indeed. /A disciple is anyone who professes to be a learner or follower,/ but a disciple indeed is one who has completely committed himself to the Lord Jesus Christ. /Those who are true believers have this characteristic—they abide in His Word./This means that they carry out the teachings of Christ in their daily lives./ They are not saved by abiding in His Word, but they abide in His Word because they are saved.

Here Christ makes a promise to every true disciple that they shall know the truth, and the Truth shall make them free. The key to being free is facing the truth and embracing the truth.

Face the truth of who you are right now, not who you want to be. When you do this you break Satan’s hold on your life. He is the author of lies, and if he can get you to live a lie, then he can control your life.

Embrace the truth of who God has created you to be. When you do this God’s power is released in you life. thorough His spirit and His word God will give you the ability to conquer and situation and be transformed into the perfect you.

There is a difference between Proclaiming and Denial

Proclaiming says- I’m declaring God’s word on my life, and putting it into application that it may be manifested in my life.

Denial says- I don’t like my reality, but I’m not willing to do anything about it. So, I’ll ignore it and hopes it goes away.

“Its Worth The Wait”Psalm 27: 13~14

Psalm 27: 13~14

13 I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.

14 Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.

Have you ever Questioned whether the promises of God that have been pored onto you were worth all of the hell you have to go through wile you are waiting on the promises to manifest?

Have you ever been waiting on something only to find out that you were waiting in the wrong place, and you come to realize that all of your previous waiting was in vain?

Have you ever believed that you have waited a sufficient amount of time and you have accumulated a proper amount of experience, discipline, wisdom and grace accurately handle the promises of God, only to hear the Holy Spirit say wait a little while longer?

Looking at this particular text we find David in a “a sticky situation”.

He’s killed Goliath, entered into the service of King Saul and has gain fame and notoriety. And because of that his master Saul hated on him and in fact wanted to destroy him, but God intervened. In verse 13 of this Psalm David tells us he was at the point where he was about to give up, until he recants the goodness of the Lord in the Land of the living.

Upon a closer investigation of the text an intriguing idea of a bilateral blessing arises

The first side of that blessing is horizontal ~ David has to look back on what the Lord had done in the past and envision what He would do for him in the future.

The second side of this blessing is vertical ~ David realized that even if his days on this earth was about to end, he knew that there is another Land where the living is eternal.

David ends this psalm by giving clarity to our enigma. he says

"Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD."