Valparaiso First Assembly of God

What does it take to be a successful believer?  Scripture memorization?  Going to church regularly?  Live the better than average life?  Much of the evidence people seem to point to can help them look the part, but more importantly, we must BE the part.  There must be within us the capacity to generate spiritual success.  If you’ve ever wondered why you never seem to succeed consistently in living for Christ, maybe it is time to understand what the real need in you is, and how to satisfy it!

Why does it seem like everything in life is a hassle?  A quick trip to the store turns into an hour long event as you get stuck behind slow drivers, people who want to catch up when they see you, and unmotivated cashiers - what a dilemma!  Sometimes it seems the little tasks of life present such big challenges which make them more difficult than they should be.  Everyday seems like a dilemma, and we wish we could just have an easier life like everyone else has, or so we think.   Maybe our perception of events, or even our expectations in life are unrealistic.  We need to realize, just because a challenge is present doesn’t mean it is dilemma. 

The story of Mary reminds each of us of God’s desire to involve us in His plans.  Each person who chooses to accept His call can be used in a remarkable way for God’s use.  We admire Mary because we see her as the insignificant girl she is but she was full of faith and trust in God.  What about me?  Why am I so cautious about being used by God; even fearful?  Listen in as we discover how we can be our own worst enemy at certain times, but there is hope for those who want to overcome.

We’ve all struggled with doubt, but we tend to think we come to a point where we completely grow out of it.  Should we not doubt the LORD? YES!  The reality is this: we sometimes do.  It is a continual battle for us to beat back doubt, so we can have faith in His character, ability, and will.  Since this is true, doubt is not something only young believers must overcome, but also seasoned believers too!  Listen in as we see in Luke 1 how people of great faith and character are prone to doubt, but there is a way out of doubt.  If you want to defeat your doubts, you must understand more about who’s you are, where you are, and who He is!

 Disappointment comes in many forms, and it is difficult to bear.  If you’ve tried to control the people around you, the lesson you’ve learned is, you can’t.  And people often are a source of our disappointment.  We may think, “If only everyone else was more like me!” but the issue is more with us than it is with them.  We each need to learn how to live above the affects of disappointment, and how to move on from difficulty, so it does not continue to influence us far into our future.

Your sight is an incredible blessing, but sometimes it can lead to more problems than it solves.  Sight takes little effort and it reveals little depth.  If you live by sight alone, you are missing so much in life because your eyes can only discover the surface of something, and not much else.  Our walk with the LORD will be very shallow unless I understand who I am serving.  This message is all about the unseen abundance we have in Jesus, and its going to take more than what you can see to comprehend His love for you.

Sometimes we forget life is a journey and not a sprint.  You know what else it isn’t?  A series of sprints.  We sometimes have the habit of defining victories and trials as moments of themselves and once we clear them they no longer have any meaning.  If this is true, then there is no lessons to learn, and no wisdom to be gained to be used another time.  We are on a journey and every moment of it is useful for the road ahead.  Each of us must make the decision to go the distance, and we are able when we remain thankful in the journey.

Every parent would agree that when they speak, their children should listen.  As a parent, they consider themselves an important voice in their child’s life.  Yet, there are times when a child doesn’t hear a thing:  playing a video game, texting a friend, or even listening to music with their earbuds in.  They are already preoccupied with something else of importance to them.  Maybe none of those examples are more important than their parent, but that’s not the issue.  The issue is they are maintaining their attention somewhere else.  Maybe this is why we don’t hear God, at times.  When He speaks, do you stop what you are doing and give Him your attention?  Like a child, maybe you don’t even hear Him.  If so, maybe you are just too preoccupied to hear what He has to say.

Even though we all use cellphones to text more than anything, you may remember a time when you actually called someone.  If you ever took the time to call, you’ve probably had to leave a voicemail.  You leave the message, and then you wait for a response.  Sometimes that response never came simply because the message was never received.  Like everything else, God is wanting to speak to us, but we may not be getting the message.  It’s time to give opportunity for God to speak to your life, and part I of our series deals with solving hearing impairments.  Many times we are more willing to compensate for an issue rather than fix it.  If you want to hear God clearly, you’re going to have to fix the issue rather than try to compensate for not hearing Him.

Have you ever worried or been anxious?  Of course, you have.  Everyone faces hurdles of some kind in their lives, and we generally focus on how they slow us down, impeding our progress, and the cause of our failures.  Some of that may be true, but most of it isn’t.  If you watch track and field events, you should notice that hurdlers focus on the finish and not the obstacle.  They train to overcome the obstacles, so in a matter of steps they know how to jump and continue towards the finish.  Sure, it is a little slower than running without the hurdles, but that isn’t stopping them from finishing.  If you are focused more on the hurdles in your life, this message will refocus your attention on the finish and why that’s worth your attention!

One of the most frustrating aspects of life is being misunderstood.  You could easily say something wrong, be quoted in a way which changes the original meaning of what you said, or your actions misinterpreted.  The church can often be misunderstood.  Sure, people listen to what the church, as an organization, has to say; but people are listening and observing the individual lives of the church.  We must have a message based on God’s Word, but even then, we must have lives based on God’s Word.  There’s a way for a church to be stable, and we all must be following the same man!

If there’s one attribute every family needs in order to be healthy, it is stability.  Everything you buy is stabilized to endure the forces which will act against its intended purpose.  A house must be able to stand up against the elements, your car is constructed to handle the imperfections of the road surface, and your dishes are microwave and dishwasher safe.  What about your marriage and your family?  There needs to be stability established to endure the circumstances, pressures, and disappointments which beat against it.  If our homes lack stability, now is the time to establish what is necessary to withstand any storm.

We are people surrounded by people.  Every day we come in contact with other people whom we do not know, and we do not venture to know them.  We are a species of avoidance, as we veer away from others we believe we share nothing in common with.  Yet how do we know?  We think we know based on how someone else dresses, styles their hair, or carry themselves; simply stated, we make very superficial judgments about others as to whether we share any kind of common ground.  While we are differentiating ourselves from others over our own personal reasons, God sees people very differently.  While we look at differences, He sees what we each have in common.  When we realize how common each of us is to the other, maybe we would reach out to others who need Him, and reach out to the LORD as well because we need Him so much.

If it is so easy to touch Jesus and be heard by Him, why does it seem I’m not being heard?  Maybe you pray and it seems like your prayers are being rejected and even ignored.  You’ve probably noticed how open or closed you are to people depending on how they approach you.  It may not be much different with Jesus.  There are two attitudes we can have when we approach Him.  One approach will get us denied, but the other gives Jesus the opportunity to do a miracle with our life.

Genuine faith knows how to pray, and how to receive the power of Jesus.  Yet, we allow our faith to be stifled and render ourselves powerless.  Why would we do this?  We know Jesus has power to change our lives, minister to our deepest hurts, and give us great wisdom for the challenging situations we face, so why would we stop ourselves from receiving that power?  We probably do it without realizing, but in part 2 of our series, we find out how to keep His power flowing into our lives.  

What does it take to get a response from Jesus?  Unfortunately, there are those believers who think they must beg and plead with Him.  It may be necessary to give someone a reason to help you, but Jesus is not someone.  He knows you - loves you - and will answer your cry.  Before you over-complicate your relationship with Him, this message is all about reminding us who simple it is to be heard and touched by Jesus.

Most believers know that they are supposed to love others.  The Apostle John tells us how people will know us by our love for one another.  We get it - love people, and many do it well.  What we don’t do well is receive it.  If you’ve been hurt one too many times you know all about not letting others get too close, and if you keep them at a distance, you never really know how they feel about you.  There are many people, even in the church, who are content to come and go and never develop any genuine relationships with others.  They love others, but they do not receive love at all as they maintain very superficial relationships.  We all want to be loved, so how do we progress to the point of allowing others to love who we are and in spite of where we’ve come from?  It’s a scary topic, but the reward of being love far outweights any anxiety.

There’s all sorts of experiences in life which make us happy.  If you’re like most people, you probably would rather be happy than sad.  There’s nothing wrong with that, but we have to realize happiness is based in experiences and that is the problem with happiness.  Happiness can be short-lived because experiences are unpredictable.  What each of us needs is joy, but joy is found in a location rather than a situation.  Listen in to part 2 of our series as we learn how to live in joy no matter what we may be experiencing.

It’s amazing how much power we allow feelings to have over us.  They can chart the course of our day, change in a moment, and cause us to live in our own reality formed only by feelings.  Many complain they cannot ‘feel’ God at certain points in their life.  So, how do we ‘feel’ Him?  Is there even a way to maintain feeling with God?  While many will say we have to serve God beyond feelings, it is possible to feel Him; we should and we can!

When the Israelites find themselves stuck between a rock and a hard place, or rather the Red Sea and the Egyptian army, we hear them establish a pattern we will witness through their time in the wilderness as they cry out to God.  God’s reaction to Moses in simple terms could be defined as, “Enough talk, more action.”  Between messages, teachings, and seminars believer’s today are full of God’s Word, but we may lack the experience of His Word because we aren’t practicing it.  We can find some encouragement in God’s Word because it is His Word.  Greater encouragement can be found when we follow His Word.  This is where faith is developed in our lives.