Gtcotr/ss041920
You can watch Pastor Ron preaching this message by searching for GTCOTR on YouTube or Facebook.
Late
yesterday evening, between watching TV with Brenda and playing with our puppy
and his new bunny rabbit friend, I started looking back over notes I’ve made in
the past on my phone. I spend a lot of time studying and I don’t always have the
opportunity to preach everything.
This
morning I would like to share from the notes I wrote in my phone at 5:01pm on
November 29, 2014. I believe it is a word for today.
I
started with a thought. I wrote:
One of the worst things I’ve ever gone through ended up being one of
the best things that’s ever happened to me.
Our
main text will come from the book of First Kings
The
story of the widow of Zarephath …
1 Kings 17
12 So she said, “As the LORD
your God lives, I do not have bread, only a handful of flour in a bin, and a
little oil in a jar; and see, I am gathering a couple of sticks that I
may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.”
She
had no hope of a better day … But God did … and Elijah did … and Elijah went
ahead and gave her the Word of the Lord. God’s Word opened a door of
opportunity for her to believe in a better day. How do we know she believed in
a better day? Because of what she did …
1 Kings 17
15 So she went away and did
according to the word of Elijah; and she and he and her household ate for many
days.
16 The bin of flour was not
used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry, according to the word of the LORD
which He spoke by Elijah.
When
a person no longer believes in a better day they will think things and say
things and do things they wouldn’t if they believed in a better day. And, the
things they think, say and do will unfortunately lead them to a worse day.
Life
is filled with what I should have and could have said, been or done. Instead of
filling our lives with what we should have done, let’s be more like God and
fill it what I am going to do. Not what I have been but what I am going to be.
Not what I did say but what I’m going to say. That’s the clear message of the
Bible … It’s the message of faith in God and faith for the future.
·
Faith doesn’t make God bigger … faith makes us bigger.
·
Faith doesn’t make God stronger … faith makes us stronger.
·
Faith doesn’t make God right … faith makes us right.
·
Our faith does not make us God … Our faith recognized He
is God!
Dreams are a door to the future. When God inspires us with a dream, a vision,
hope of a better day, faith for the future, it opens a door of opportunity. Our
opportunity is to believe God above what we think, feel or see.
The
very nature of faith demands that faith rely on the truth. Not our truth – Not
our want – Not our plan … But God’s truth; What God wants; God’s plan. But,
thanks be to God, we always know His Word and His Word is Truth. Just like it
did in the life of that widow, it will speak of a better day.
God believes in a better day!
Our
response to God is simple … It’s like the Prophet Micah said:
Micah 6: 8 He has shown you, O man,
what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To
love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?
·
Do Justly
·
Love Mercy
·
Walk Humbly
You
can’t re-write history, but you can take the opportunity the Lord is
giving you to get the future right.
Start
believing in better day and Begin writing the best
chapter of your life today!
