INVINCIBLE CHURCH 2-4-24

Church Sermon Notes
2/4/2024
God’s Promises
1 Timothy 4:4-11
God has a plan and the components of His plan include His creation, truth, power, presence, revelation, words, will, ways and promises! His plan also includes us! He allows us to know, experience and encounter Him at a very high level, if we choose to do so!
He created us in His image and He’s given us the freedom to choose to love Him or not… because it’s the only way to prove true love is authentic and unconditional. If we really love Him, then we’ll want to do what He says. Not to “have to” but “get to” a.k.a. want to.
1 Timothy 4:4-11 NIV - 4 For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5 because it is consecrated by The Word of God and Prayer. 6 If you point these things out to The brothers and sisters, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished on The Truths of The Faith and of The Good Teaching that you have followed. 7 Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be Godly. 8 For physical training is of some value, but Godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and The Life to come. 9 This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance. 10 That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in The Living God, Who is The Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe. 11 Command and teach these things! …
(vs 11) Tells us we’ve all got a responsibility to command and teach the truth!
God created us with a very powerful brain so that we’d have the ability to do anything and everything He’s called, commanded and designed us to do for Him! So, we should want to serve our King Jesus in the role of ambassador, warrior, servant, saint or all the above!
And as a follower of Jesus, God’s plan includes everything we need physically, spiritually and emotionally to be successful in life for His purposes and for victory in spiritual battles for His glory! The tools and weapons He provides for us include His: word, will and ways!
Another reason God gave us a powerful brain is so we can experience and encounter Him. And, if all that isn’t enough for us to want to love and serve Him with 100% loyalty, confidence, courage and obedience, “God’s promises” for us are also included in His plan.
Neuroscientists (experts who study the brain and nervous system) have somehow determined that the average person has between 6,000 and 80,000 thoughts per day! That’s a wide range of thoughts! And even though it’s hard to trust what experts say these days…
We’d all agree that our minds do a lot of work! We’ve got a lot of thoughts! Now, as a follower of Jesus, we’re supposed to stay focused on Him. So, the question is, how many of our daily, hourly, by the minute thoughts are grounded and based on God’s promises!?!
We’ve already determined God’s plan included us… (vs 4) He created us to have a physical life here on earth. Then, Jesus spiritually equips us with the power of the Holy Spirit… and God also gives us a means of emotional support through our relationships with other brothers and sisters in Christ.
Inside God’s plan and design for our life are a lot of different relationships and purposes He has for us. One of the most important purposes we have in life is to fight spiritual battles waged against us by the supernatural enemies of God. We want to be as successful and productive as possible in winning a lot of victories for Jesus and advancing God’s Kingdom.
So, we have to stay true to the process of following Jesus and always be discerning our spiritual condition with God as an individual, family, church, community and nation! All of this seems like a lot of stuff to be getting done and a lot of responsibility …and it is!
But if we’re following Jesus, He’s with us every step of the way. And the power of the Holy Spirit is inside us, waiting for us to call on Him whenever we need Him! So, we don’t have to be overwhelmed or worried about the scope of God’s plan. The secret to success is the better we get to know God, the easier it gets for us to follow and fulfill His plan.
Some people don’t care about God’s plan, which means they’re rejecting Jesus! Some are just oblivious to it! Others are aware of it… and may even try to follow it. But it still overwhelms them. So, they only get involved at a bare minimum… they never submit to Jesus!
It’s a shame because they’ll never fully experience the true peace, joy and fulfillment that God desires and designs for us in His plan when we submit to Jesus as our Lord and Savior! God doesn’t want us to be overwhelmed and uncertain… He wants us to be encouraged and confident!
So, He’s made us a bunch of promises that we can trust with 100% certainty He’ll be faithful to keep! That’s why it’s super important for us to know, believe and trust in all of God’s promises! The Bible gives us more than 3,000 of God’s promises! And, like I said, we can bank on all of them with 100% confidence! God’s promises include…
1. God has a Good Plan for us … to Bless us … and Make us a Blessing to Others!
2. God will Give us Rest!
3. God will Give us Strength Equal to The Task He Assigns us!
4. God will Provide our “Daily Bread”!
5. Nothing will Separate us from God’s Love!
6. He Bears our Burdens … and He Fights for us.
7. He Delights to Give us Access to The Kingdom!
8. The Holy Spirit Prays Things that we Don’t Know to Pray for ourselves!
9. He will Never Leave us or Forsake us!
10. He will Supply All our Needs According to His Riches in Christ Jesus!
That’s only 10. So, there’s 2,990 more to go and we’re going to cover all of them today! (Not really!) But we’re going to look at a few more! And for a homework assignment that will benefit us if we’ll do it… find the Bible address of the 10 promises we just covered!
Then, in the rest of the message I’m going to give some addresses, but not always the complete verse. So, look up these verses as well! Now, think about it, even if those were the only 10 promises from God, we ought to feel pretty good about his plan for us! No wonder King David said in…
Psalm 139:17-18 NIV - 17How precious to me are Your Thoughts, God! How vast is The Sum of Them! 18 Were I to count Them, They would outnumber the grains of sand … When I awake, I am still with You!
So, if we truly believe God, have faith in Jesus, and trust in the Holy Spirit… why is it that when we’re faced with a problem or an ongoing bad situation, we dedicate the bulk of our thoughts to the problem and give very little (if any) thought to the promises of God?
The answer is that we give in to our selfish, human, sin nature instead of pursuing Jesus with everything we’ve got to find out what God wants us to learn from the situation. God has promised to deliver us, but it only benefits us if we’ve learned the lesson.
So, God will leave us in the equipping classroom until we’re either fully broken, submitted and humbled to His plan or truly content in our heart with our situation no matter what it happens to be! And He knows the difference!
We don’t get a free pass on the lessons of life. Jesus said it would be hard. We “get to” suffer with Him. But God promises a peace that goes beyond our understanding when we pursue Jesus with all our heart! And He’s always faithful! And it’s real! Somebody testify!
Our confidence, security and joy in life will be in direct proportion to our awareness of the promises of God! It’s why we need to read, learn, understand, meditate on, memorize, believe and trust in God’s promises! Moses said it best in…
Deuteronomy 32:47 NIV - 47 They are not just Idle Words for you … They are your life! … By Them you will live long in the land you are crossing The Jordan to possess.”
God’s promises are kind of like pre-answers to our prayers. So, we need to trust in them… because standing on the promises of God not only gives us peace in our soul. It also connects us to the power that God’s ready to give.
Again, it’s why we need to hide the promises of God’s Word in our heart by reading, studying, meditating on and basically saturating ourselves in them. And whatever we do, we don’t lose heart and give up! Jesus never does and He’s right here now… listening!
There’s a whole lot of God promises in scripture and when God pledges that He’s going to do something… or not do something… or something will come to pass … or not come to pass. These aren’t just casual promises like we make sometimes.
God’s promises are rock solid, unequivocal, faithful commitments that are made by Him to be fulfilled by or through Him. So, as the recipients of His divine promises we can have full assurance that what God has pledged will indeed be fully realized in His perfect timing. Good or bad. The Bible says in…
Numbers 23:19 NIV - 19 God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that He should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?
Now, let’s look at just a few more of the promises that God has made…
Promises of God in the Old Testament!
Genesis 12:2-3 … God promised to bless the whole world through Abraham and his descendants. It’s called the Abrahamic covenant… and pointed to the coming of the Messiah (Jesus)! It correlates with John 8:56 in the New Testament.
Leviticus 26:12-13 … God promised Israel He’d be their God and makes them His people. Old Testament history is full of examples of God fulfilling this promise.
Deuteronomy 4:29 … God promised that if we seek Him, we’ll find Him! God’s not playing hard to get. Deuteronomy 4:7 says, “Our God is near us whenever we pray to Him!”
Psalm 121 … God promised protection for His children! He’s the vigilant watchman over all Israel!
1 Chronicles 16:34 … God promised that His love will never fail. He’s faithful in every way!
2 Chronicles 7:14 … God promised Israel that their sin could be forgiven, their prosperity restored and their nation healed! Repentance opened the door to fellowship and blessing!
Deuteronomy 30:15-18 … God promised prosperity to Israel under the terms of Mosaic covenant for obedience… and destruction for disobedience! Unfortunately, Israel eventually chose to disobey and the nation was taken captive and destroyed by Assyria and Babylon!
Psalm 1:1-3 … God promised blessing for all who will delight themselves in His Word. Simple faith has its rewards!
Promises of God in the New Testament!
Romans 1:16-17 … God promised salvation to all who believe in His Son! There’s no greater blessing than the free gift of God’s salvation!
Romans 8:28 … God promised that all things will work out to the good for His children who love Him. This is the bigger picture that keeps us from being discouraged by bad circumstances!
2 Corinthians 1:3-4 … God promised comfort in our trials. Remember, He has a plan and one day we’ll be able to share the comfort that Jesus is preparing in heaven for those who follow Him!
2 Corinthians 5:17 … God promised new life in salvation through Jesus! It’s the beginning of a brand new existence!
Ephesians 1:3 … God promised every spiritual blessing in Jesus! Whereas in the Old Testament, Israel had the promise of physical blessing! The church today has been promised spiritual blessing. 1 Peter 1:4 says our inheritance is reserved for us in the heavenly realms!
Philippians 1:6 … God promised to finish the work He started in us. God doesn’t do things half way. He started the work in us and He’ll be sure to complete it!
Philippians 4:6-7 … God promised peace when we pray! His peace is protection! It will guard our hearts and minds in Jesus!
Matthew 6:33 and Philippians 4:19 … God promised to supply our needs! Not that we get everything we want, but our needs will be taken care of! Matthew 6:26 says, “We are more valuable than the birds… and our heavenly Father feeds them!
Jesus’ promises in the Gospels!
Matthew 11:28-30 … Jesus promised us rest! Our burdens are lifted at Calvary!
John 10:10 … Jesus promised abundant life to those who follow Him. Following Jesus brings us more spiritual fulfillment than we could have ever anticipated. There’s nothing boring about it!
John 4:14 … Jesus promised eternal life to those who trust Him! As the Good Shepherd, He also promised to hold us securely! John 10:28 says, “No one will snatch them out of my hand!”
Acts 1:8 … Jesus promised His disciples power from on high! In His power, Acts 17:6 says, “They turned the world upside down!”
John 14:2-3 … Jesus promised that He’ll come back for us… then we’ll always be with Him!
There’s a whole lot more of God’s promises we could list! All of them have their ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Christ! Hebrews 1:3 says, “Jesus is the radiance of God’s glory,” and 2 Corinthians 1:20 says, “No matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ!
Trying to choose the greatest promises in the Bible is completely subjective. The greatest promise of God in the Bible for any particular person is going to depend on the needs and feelings of that individual at a given time.
But we’re going to look at the promises of God that would probably be high on the list for most people.
Sometimes the promises in the Bible are taken out of context… and people end up thinking the Bible says something it doesn’t really say.
For instance, does the Bible tech that we can have everything we want in prayer? No, John 14: 13-14 must be kept in context. Does God promise every individual alive a hope and a future? No, Jeremiah 29:11 must be kept in context.
Some of God’s promises in the Bible have great scope and impact. The first promise that God gave Adam and Eve was very great indeed. Genesis 2:16-17, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
This promise Satan flatly denied, and in unbelief Adam and Eve ate from the fruit, and sin and death entered the world. All of us, being descended from Adam and Eve ratify their decision to disobey God, and so that promise applies to us as well in Romans 5:12!
This is probably the most terrible promise in the Bible, and it is the greatest in scope—it applies to literally everyone! … But … God did not leave humanity under condemnation with no way out.
He entered the human race as a man (Jesus Christ), lived a perfect life, and died, taking the death we deserved. He then rose again. When a person is united with Christ in faith, another promise applies. This promise is repeated over and over in places such as …
Romans 8:1-4 NIV - Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus The Law of The Spirit Who gives Life has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His Own Son in The Likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that The Righteous Requirement of The Law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to The Spirit.
By any standard, the promise of salvation by grace through faith is the greatest promise in the Bible.
Once a person submits to Jesus and becomes a child of God by faith, the other promises come into proper context. A lot of the promises that people pull out of context really only apply to the child of God.
The person who is not in Jesus is still under the deadly promise of punishment and that’s the promise that a lost person needs to hear and understand. It is misleading for a follower of Jesus to apply the promises of God to somebody who’s not saved in Jesus!
The two most important promises to know and heed are summed up in…
Romans 6:23 NIV - For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Which leads us to what most followers of Jesus would consider God’s greatest promise.
John 3:16 NIV – For God so loved the world that He gave His One and Only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have Eternal Life.
The day is coming when we will experience answers to every prayer we’ve ever prayed in faith. Whatever we’re going through, I can assure you, God is listening.
So don’t give up.