God’s Unexpected Ways – 1 Samuel 17

29 10 2008

God is magnified when unexpected people get the unexpected victory.

  • God is often overlooked when the expected people accomplish the expected task.

  • David was only unexpected to man, but he was expected by God.

God will do the unexpected when somebody has the faith to do it.

God saw that David was faithful in the past.

  • David was faithful in obeying his father. 17

  • If we do not learn to be obedient to our parents then, we will be obedient later. One reason that God could trust David to be obedient to Him was because he knew David had been obedient to his father.

  • David was faithful in the small things.

  • Luke 16:10 “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.

  • God does not just move you to your Goliath conquering moment without first testing you in the small things that no one sees.

  • If you want to be great for God then you have no other choice than to be faithful when you will get no credit for it.

  • David had been faithful consistently.

  • He was faithful in consistently caring for the sheep.

  • David’s faith was present now…

  • Despite his age and size age. 33,

  • Despite everyone else’s lack of faith.

  • Despite the expected people not stepping up. Jonathan (14:14), Abner (14:50).

  • because he was not trying to make a name for himself

  • because he was concerned about God. 26, 36, 45, 46-47.

  • because faith leads you do what may seem to others to be impossible.

  • William Cary “Expect great things from God. Attempt great things for God.”

God is in control in unexpected ways.

  • God chose to make David kings so these events happened. These things happened in order for David to become king. From man’s perspective David became king because he became a popular leader with the people so they ended up making him king. From God’s perspective David became king because he chose him and there for orchestrated the events that lead to him being popular so that the people would chose him to be king.

  • Their were 8 sons. 3 were fighting. 5 were at home. Jesse chose the youngest to send to his brothers and this was though a small thing was God’s will and Jesse’s choice. You never know when your smallest decision will bring about God’s will. 12, 17

  • David knew he was going to be king, but he did not know when or how it was going to happen. He did not try to force the issue. He is much like Joseph who knew he was going to reign over his family, but did not know how it was going to happen.


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How do people respond when the blind can see? – John 9:8-34

30 04 2008

Some respond with Skepticism.

  • These are generally the people who know you best. – neighbors
  • They deny it no matter how much proof they have.
  • These are generally good moral citizens.

There are good and bad skeptics.

I am a natural born skeptic.

  1. A bad skeptic

  • denies no matter how much proof they have.

  • The man who was blind probably did change in appearance some, because he could see what he looked like now.

  • They ask questions wanting to prove it is not true.

  • They try to explain it away. 9

  • The explain the gospel away.

  • The explain the results of the gospel away.

  • Even if they talk to the man himself they do not believe it.

  • They always want more proof.

  1. A good skeptic is

  • one who care about God being glorified.

  • They ask question in order to make sure everything is on the up and up.

  • They may want further proof, but not because they don’t think God can not do it.

  • They have seen too many fabricated conversions – which makes them want to make certain.

  • A change that is genuine is a change that lasts.

Some respond with religious arrogance.

These are the kind of people who think they know God, but don’t.

  • They profess to know God, but deny him with their actions.

  • They don’t understand God’s character. 16

  • They don’t understand Jesus. 24

  • Jesus is not a sinner.

They misunderstand themselves.

  • When you don’t see God right you will not see yourself right.

  • They think they are not sinners. 34

They don’t care about people. 14-15

  • There is no compassion.

  • The way people talk about emigration illustrates this.

  • They only care about the law. –

  • They want to argue about something that does not matter and ignore the things that do matter.

  • When they cannot win they criticize. 34

Some respond with ignorance – Disciples

They may misunderstand at first but they learn.

They may learn to trust more deeply in the mysterious power of God.

How does a believer handle this situation?

  1. Answer them honestly. – Never get tired of telling how God gave you sight.

  2. Keep giving the credit to God.

  3. Never think that God can’t use you to reach others.

  • God used a blind person to teach his disciples.

  1. Remember they are be questioned because of Jesus.

  2. Continue to Believe.

Some respond by Believing.


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Sermon Summary 1-20-08

21 01 2008

What do We Need to Believe? – John 5:30-47

We need Jesus’ testimony of Himself. 30-31

  • His testimony of the judgment.

    • Jesus Judgment is from the Father – not his own

    • Jesus Judgment is just.

    • It is just because it is not selfish.

    • It is based on the Father’s desire.

      • Being scarred of punishment will stop some people from doing bad things, but it cannot change their heart. A child may not do the wrong thing for fear of getting their tale end lite up by their father, but it cannot change his attitude or heart.

      • Being scarred of the judgment cannot save anyone, but it can make them look to the Savior. Some people are scarred and try harder not to get caught. Some people are scarred and look for a loop whole. Some people are scarred and look for a Savior.

  • His testimony of our condition. 37-47
    • He knows if you refuse to come to him. 40

    • He knows if you have the love of God in you. 42

    • He knows if you more concerned with the praise of men. 44

We need the testimony of others about Jesus. 32-35

  • What if John would not have testified about Jesus? Or What if his light would have only flickered?

  • This would have had a huge impact on who was saved and who was not.

  • Is the way we are living hindering or helping people come to Christ?

  • Are we a burning and shining light for Jesus?

We need to hear about his mighty works. 36

  • John 3:2 “We know that you are from God.”

  • The work of God in the world.

  • The work of God in the heart.

We need the Scriptures. 38-39

  • We need Scripture to produce faith.

    • Rom. 10:17 So faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word…

    • Acts 6:7 And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.

  • We need Scripture for teaching, for correcting, for training in righteousness

    • 2 Tim. 3:16-17 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

  • We need Scripture for sustaining our hope.

    • Rom. 15:4 For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.


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Sermon Summary 12-2-07

3 12 2007

Jesus Initiates and Sustains Healing. John 5:1-17
The Depth of the Sin problem.

  • The depth of the problem is seen in the lack of knowledge of Jesus.

    • We do not know him. v.7, 13

    • If we do not know him we do not have salvation. John. 17:3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
    • 1 John 2b but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. Therefore the more we see him the more we will be like him.
  • The depth of the problem is seen in the multitude who are sick. v. 3
    • There are the blind, lame, and paralyzed.
  • The depth of the problem is seen in the inability of the sick to help themselves. v. 7
    • God helps those who cannot help themselves.
  • The depth of the problem is seen in those that love man made laws more than Jesus. v. 16.*
    • Ill. – Even law enforcement knows that there is a time to break a man made law in order help people. Emergency vehicles will break the speed limit in order to get to the house of a person who is in trouble. But we should never break God’s moral law.
  • Jesus knows the depth of the problem.
    • He knows about our problems. v. 5
    • He knows how long we have had those problems. v. 5

What does Jesus do about it?
Jesus initiates healing.

  • Jesus initiates the meeting. v. 1
    • He does this to address the lack of knowledge of himself.
  • Jesus initiates the conversation. v.8
    • He does this to address the lack of knowledge of his power over sickness and sin.
  • Jesus looks for us. v. 14
    • He does this so that the problem was understood to be sin.
  • Jesus initiates salvation because he knows we are incapable. v. 7
    • Jesus had to leave heaven because we were unable to make ourselves right with God.
    • Jesus had to die on a cross and rise again because we were unable.
    • Jesus through the Holy Spirit initiates convicting you of sin, and giving you the gift of faith, so that you will repent and and believe the gospel. He not only initiates our salvation, but He sustains it out to completion, that it why we can never lose our salvation once we truly have it.
    • 1 Thess. 5:23-24 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

The results of Jesus’ work.

  • Faith is created where there was no faith.
  • Life gets better. v. 14 “nothing worse may happen.”
    • We don’t get what we do deserve.
    • If this man obeyed Jesus then nothing worse happened to him. What could be worse that being crippled and sitting at a pool with but a smidgen of hope of being cured. Knowing all the while that the hope would be in vain. What is worse than that? Hell! Eternal torment!
    • We get what we don’t deserve. We are blessed. If we would follow Jesus, life would be improved. Just imagine the blessings that would come just from obeying God in one area of life. If everyone obeyed God’s standard for sexual purity. The problem of aids would be radically reduced in one generation and all other sexual diseases. Babies would not be born out of wedlock, and children wouldn’t be raised in single family homes. And that would reduce juveniles significantly, since the majority come from fatherless homes. The police department would have less to do, so we could hire less. And we would not have to pay more tax dollars to fund those counselors and government funded defense attorneys. Life would be better for everyone.
  • Grace, grace, grace
    • Your problem was your own, It was not Jesus’. He took it upon himself because of his grace to fix the problem that you deserved. He initiated your conversion. He came looking for you, even when you did not know who he was. Your sickness that you brought upon yourself kept you from saving yourself, but he graciously gave you life when you were dead in your sins.

Is Jesus initiating a conversation with you this morning? Turn from sin and unbelief and and trust Jesus. You are here aren’t you. God brought you here today to here this message. 


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Sermon Summary 10-7-07

8 10 2007

Believe in Jesus – John 4:46-54

3 Steps to Belief

1. He heard about Jesus. v. 47a

  • Everyone who believes in Jesus must hear about Jesus, but not everyone who hears believes. 

  • Rom. 10:17 So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

2. He also had a desperate circumstance. v. 47b

  • Everyone has a desperate situation when they come to Jesus. Some have a physical desperation, but all come to a spiritual desperation. Much of the time they are combined.

  • The combination of what he had heard from others and the desperate circumstance lead him to come to Jesus. Had he not heard, he would not have known to go to Jesus. Had he not been in this situation, even though he had heard he would not have walked 20 miles to go see Jesus.  The combination of the two things lead him to Jesus.

  • Not everyone who has heard and has desperate circumstances believes in Jesus though, so there must be one more step.

3. He had a personal encounter. v. 48-54

  • This personal encounter lead to a fuller knowledge of Jesus.  This personal encounter lead to a deeper understanding of Jesus power.  Jesus could heal from a distance.  He did not have to go to the boy to heal him.

Faith’s weakness.

  1. Faith is weak when we only goes to Jesus for personal advantage. v. 47

  2. Faith is weak when we don’t understand Jesus’ power. v. 49

  3. When faith is weak, Jesus can make it strong.  It was the personal encounter with Jesus that brought him to faith in Jesus.

Jesus’ work in these steps

1. Jesus is the one faith must be in.

  • Faith that is not in Jesus is no faith at all.

2. Jesus knows what it takes for us to believe. v. 48

  • Matt. 11:21-24 Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.”

3. When someone comes to believe, it is always the work of God.

  • It was a gracious act for Jesus to heal this man son. He could have said, “your faith is too weak.” He could have said, “You only come to me for selfish reasons.”

  • John 6:33 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”

  • We know this, but we fail to state it clearly. When we pray for someone to be saved, we are praying for them to believe in Jesus. We are praying for God to save them, because we know that it is ultimately a work of God. That is why we must pray.

Will you believe?

  • You may be at the “point of death” spiritually, but the good news is Jesus can raise up a faith in you. Your situation is desperate. It is even more desperate than you, know but Jesus come change you.


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Sermon Summary

15 07 2007

Growing in Faith  Luke 17:1-6

Faith always obeys

Faith never comes without God.

Faith is generally increased through trials.

We need God to increase our faith more than we realize.


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