Month: November 2024

 Text: Genesis 28:10-22
 Intro:
o God often leads us through great trials in preparation for some greater service or blessings.
o Whenever bad things happen to a believer, God can bring good things out of them.
o Almost every person whom God used greatly, was first put through a wilderness experience in preparation and training for the best plan God had for them.
o God brings good out of evil for the person who loves God and seeks to do His will. – John 12:23-26
• In our sorrows, there are joys;
• In our crosses, there are crowns;
• In our miseries, there are mercies;
• In our losses, there are gains;
• In our disappointments, there are God’s appointments;
• In our contradictions, there are compensations.
o Question:
• What can we learn from Bible characters who went through wilderness trials and testings?
• Consider these Bible characters to see how good came out of trials so as to encourage us in difficulties:
 1. JACOB.
o After Jacob had fled from his home and his murderous brother Esau, he slept on a stony pillow (Genesis 28:11).
• In Jacob’s stony pillow he saw the Lord on top of a ladder leading to heaven. He received 5 promises from God.
• He called it the House o God, Bethel (v.17) and the Gate of Heaven.
• He made a four-fold vow and promised to give one-tenth of all that God gave him to God.
 2. JOSEPH.
o After spending about 10 years in jail, Joseph found that God was preparing him for the palace to do a mighty work of saving many people’s lives.
• Genesis 50:20; Psalm 105:17-22)
o He became second-in-charge of Egypt.
• Pharaoh changed his name to Zaphnath-Paaneah (Genesis 41:45) meaning ‘Revealer of secrets and Saviour of the world’.
o Joseph’s sufferings and exaltation became a wonderful prophetic picture of Jesus Christ’s future suffering and exaltation.
 3. MOSES in the wilderness in Exodus 3:1-4:13.
o Moses spent 40 years learning to be great in Pharaoh’s palace;
o Moses spent 40 years learning to be a nobody in the wilderness;
o Moses spent 40 years serving God doing a great work of delivering Israel from Egypt, receiving the 10 Commandments, writing Scripture, seeing God, and learning God’s Name ‘I AM’ (3:14,15).
 4. DAVID.
o David turned the taunts of Goliath into a great triumph.
• Goliath humiliated the Israelite army for 40 days.
• God used a little boy, David, to humiliate the Philistine army and win a great victory for God and Israel. (I Samuel 17:43-50).
• David experienced great suffering in being chased by Saul for many years through the wilderness.
• One day, God turned David’s suffering to great joy when he was crowned King of Israel.
o Question:
• What giants such as Goliath and Saul do we need to conquer by faith?
 5. ELIJAH.
o Elijah fled into the wilderness after being threatened with death by Jezebel.
o God encouraged Elijah by sending an angel to encourage him, giving him a new ministry and a new friend in Elisha to carry on his work, as well as a chariot ride to heaven without seeing death.
 6. PAUL.
o Paul’s two wilderness experiences led to great blessing:
• a) Paul spent three years in the Arabian desert, studying to get his doctrine clear (Galatians 1:17), which helped him in his preaching, his letters to the churches and his missionary journeys in the years to come.
o Lesson: Years spent in studying God’s Word and in learning to be a nobody are laying solid foundations for future service.
• b) Paul spent many years sacrificing, suffering and being persecuted on his missionary journeys and in jail (2 Corinthians 11:21-30), which led to:
 – many churches being started;
 – writing much of the New Testament which has blessed millions of Christians;
 – becoming a great example who inspired much soul winning, missionary activity,
 and was a model for future missionaries.
 7. JOHN.
o While banished to the isle of Patmos, John was given a glorious revelation of heaven, of the end of the age, and of eternity future. (Revelation 1:9).
• God sent him away from people, to give him the visions of Revelation.
• What seemed like a bad thing (his exile on Patmos), led to a very good thing of the book of Revelation being written.
o This book has given blessing and hope to millions of Christians’ lives.
• It has greatly informed believers on Christ’s return.
• It shows us the ultimate defeat of Satan and victory for believers at Christ’s coming.
 8. JESUS.
o Jesus had two main wilderness experiences:
• a) In Luke 4:1 the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil for 40 days.
 The result of His victory over Satan here was fame, power, glory and teaching God’s Word with power. (Luke 4:14,15,31,32).
• b) Jesus knew that the valley of suffering on the cross that He was to endure, would lead to the glory of His resurrection, ascension and final victory over sin and Satan.
 Conclusion:
o Question:
• What wilderness experiences or valleys are you going through?
o Answer:
• These can be the precursors to great blessings. (Romans 8:28).
• The way to cure despair is to give yourself to prayer, for prayer is the great cure of every ill.
• Sufferings and wilderness experiences for God’s best servants are part of our training for a bigger work for God.
o Question:
• Will you see wilderness experiences as being for your learning and future blessing?

“But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” (James 1:22)

Intro:
o Deception is one of Satan’s devices that he uses to trip up Christians in their walk with the Lord.
o We know from the Word of God that Satan is an imitator.
o He tries to trick the Christian and the rest of the world by imitating the things of God.
o The Apostle Paul warns us in 2 Corinthians 2:11 not be ignorant of Satan’s devices lest he should get advantage of us.
o Definition of deceive: 1 archaic : ENSNARE 2 a obsolete : to be false to b archaic : to fail to fulfill 3 obsolete :
CHEAT 4 : to cause to accept as true or valid what is false or invalid 5 archaic : to while away intransitive verb : to practice deceit; also : to give a false impression
o synonyms DECEIVE, MISLEAD, DELUDE, BEGUILE mean to lead astray or frustrate usually by underhandedness. DECEIVE implies imposing a false idea or belief that causes ignorance, bewilderment, or helplessness .
MISLEAD implies a leading astray that may or may not be intentional .
DELUDE implies deceiving so thoroughly as to obscure the truth .
BEGUILE stresses the use of charm and persuasion in deceiving .
o This morning from the Word of God we want to see how a man can be deceived.

1. A man is deceived if he says that he has no sin – 1 John 1:8
2. A man is deceived when he thinks himself to be something when he is nothing. – Galatians 6:3
3. A man is deceived when he thinks himself to be wise with worldly wisdom – 1 Corinthians 3:18.
4. A man is deceived when he seems to be religious and does not bridle his tongue – James 1 :26
5. A man is deceived when he thinks that he will not reap what he sows – Galatians 6:7.
6. A man is deceived when he thinks that evil company will not corrupt good morals – 1 Corinthians 15:33
7. A man is deceived when he thinks that the unrighteous will inherit the kingdom of God – 1 Corinthians 6:9
   Conclusion:
   o Now Satan will try to deceive you to not pay attention to the Word of God.
   o The question is – Will you let him?

Yes, ” … my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4: 19). A promise invaluable, that riches cannot buy, and free to all of God’s obedient children, regardless of race, color, or age.
Unfortunately, the majority of His children live far beneath their privileges as a child of the King of kings, and many fail to take advantage of this promise.
“Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?” (Matthew 7:9-11).
His children limit Him, when all His resources are at their disposal if the requirement is met. In Jeremiah 32:27, it is written, ” … I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?”
God always answers when His children pray; though the answer received is not always the way the children thought it would he. “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8).
Notice, He has promised to supply all your need. It is written, “Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass” (Psalm 37:4-5). There are three things for you to do: delight in the Lord, commit to the Lord, and trust in the Lord; then He will bring it to pass- that is His part after you have done yours .

The persons meeting these three requirements, however, live close to God. They live a surrendered and consecrated life, and will desire nothing that God wouldn’t approve of, for they know that as God works through them ” … to will and to do … ” (Philippians 2: 13), the thing desired must come from God. Their only will is to do the will of their heavenly Father.

Many think it irrelevant to pray for temporal needs, but all through the Old and New Testaments are numerous examples of all kinds of needs being supplied in answer to the prayers of God’s children. God never changes, and Jesus Christ is ” … the same yesterday, and today, and for ever” (Hebrews 13 :8).

A few Bible examples are:

DELIVERANCE FROM PHYSICAL DANGER

The three Hebrew children from the fiery furnace (Daniel 3:27); Daniel from the lion’s den (Danie16:22); David from the paw of the lion and the bear (1 Samuel17:37); Jonah from the belly of the whale (Jonah 2:1-1 0). Other examples are Elijah, for the raising to life of the widow’s son (1 Kings 17:20-23); Hezekiah, being sick unto death, is healed and fifteen years added to his life (2 Kings 20:1-11);Paul, for the healing of Pulius’ father (Acts 28:8); Peter, for the restoration of Dorcas (Acts 9:40); Peter’s deliverance from prison (Acts 12:5-6); Paul and Silas delivered from prison (Acts 16:26).

TEMPORAL NEEDS SUPPLIED

Rain provided when there was a sore famine in the land (1 Kings 18; James 5:17-18); Jesus tells Peter to go and get money from the mouth of the fish to pay their tribute or taxes (Matthew 17:27); clothes were provided that lasted forty years without waxing old for the children of Israel (Deuteronomy 29:5); the Lord commanded the ravens to feed Elijah the Tishbite beside the brook Cherith ( 1 Kings 17: 1-6); the children of lsrael were fed daily with manna from Heaven (Exodus 16:4 ).

PRAYER FOR MATERIAL PROSPERITY

Asa’s army prayed for victory (2 Chronicles 14:11); Abraham prayed for a son, and it came to pass (Genesis 15:1-6); Isaac also prayed for children, and his wife gave birth to twins (Genesis 25:21-23). Hannah prayed for a son (1 Samuel 1:10-11); Zacharias prayed for a son (Luke 1:13); Samson prayed for a drink of water, and God clave a hollow place out of a jawbone, and there water came out (Judges 15:16, 19); Jehoshaphat for protection (2 Chronicles 20:6); Elijah for triumph over Baal(l Kings 18:36-37).

SPIRITUAL NEEDS SUPPLIED

Countless are the prayers for spiritual needs. A few examples are: “… God be merciful to me a sinner” (Luke 18:13); prayer for spiritual steadfastness (Psalm 119: 133); the church at Jerusalem prayed for guidance and protection (Acts 1 :24,26); Gideon prayed for proof of his call (Judges 6:36-40); Habakkuk prayed for revival (Habakkuk 3); Joshua prayed for mercy and help (Joshua 7:6-9); Manoah prayed for special guidance concerning his child (Judges 13:8,15); Solomon prayed for wisdom (1 Kings 3:6-14); Cornelius prayed for enlightenment (Acts 10:2,30); and many, many others too numerous to mention.

There are several thousand promises in the Bible for God’s children, so why not take advantage of them? If you are not a child of God, then ask Him to save you. Make peace with your Maker, for life is uncertain, but death is sure. Those that trust in the Lord are not confounded (Psalm 22 :5).

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes …” (Proverbs 3:5-7). Remember that “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (James 1: 17). Do not forget: you do the trusting, and He will do the working to supply your needs and bring your desires to pass, for He says, “… for without me ye can do nothing” (John 15:5). God specializes in the impossibilities!

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