Stand Strong: Building Your Life On God's Promises

2016-01-17 
Pastor Jonathan Falwell 

Memory Verse:
2 Thess. 3:3 NKJV
But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one.

Today, we begin a study for the next six weeks of the promises of God found in Scripture. Obviously we can’t discuss all of the promises, by some counts that are up to 7,500 promises found in Scripture. But, we will talk about the essence of God’s promises, some pretty important promises that we all need to be reminded of, and how we can be reassured that we can count on God to fulfill every promises.

Today, we’re going to talk about trusting God. We’re going to discuss the faithfulness of God. There’s no point discussing the promises of God if we can’t fully trust God to fulfill His promises. We’re in an election year, and unfortunately, often we hear promises made by politicians that we know will never be fulfilled. We almost expect them to renege on their promises. Not so with God. If God says it, you can count on it…both good and bad!

Psalm 89:1 NKJV
I will sing of the mercies of the LORD forever; With my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness to all generations. 2 For I have said, “Mercy shall be built up forever; Your faithfulness You shall establish in the very heavens.”

Psalm 89:1-2 NLT
I will sing of the LORD’s unfailing love forever! Young and old will hear of your faithfulness. 2 Your unfailing love will last forever. Your faithfulness is as enduring as the heavens.

1. The Faithfulness of God is Worth Celebrating

vs 1a I will sing of the LORD’s unfailing love forever…

1. The first step to standing on God’s promises is to remember what He’s already done.

Salvation
Family/Friends

b. If we fail to celebrate what God has done for us already, we are certain to fall into discouragement at the first sign of trouble

2. The Faithfulness of God is Worth Sharing

vs 1b …Young and old will hear of your faithfulness.

Why would we dare keep the promises of God to ourselves
We spoke a few weeks ago about how no one can thrive in isolation, sharing the faithfulness of God with others is a sure fire way to keep our hearts fixed on Him
Sharing with others helps to strengthen their faith as well, a duty of all believers

3. The Faithfulness of God is Guaranteed

vs 2 Your unfailing love will last forever. Your faithfulness is as enduring as the heavens.

a. This is a game changer. Few things in life are guaranteed. The old joke goes that only death and taxes are certain. Add one more thing to that list…the faithfulness of God.

Heb. 10: 23 NLT
Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise.

b. All through the Bible, we see examples of God keeping His Word, even when unexpected

c. And yet, all through the Bible, we examples of God’s people forgetting His faithfulness and they turn their backs on Him yet again.

2 Tim. 2:11 NKJV
This is a faithful saying: For if we died with Him, We shall also live with Him. 12 If we endure, We shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us. 13 If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.

d. And not only do we need to live with Him in the forefront…we need to recognize that His faithfulness is our only hope!

2 Thess. 3:3 NKJV
But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one.