Claim Your Blessings

Theme: CLAIM YOUR BLESSING

Text: James 1: 5-7

Date: February 27, 2k5

Place: FBC Kodiak, Alaska

Introduction:

Psalm 37:4 "Delight yourself in the Lord and He shall give you the desires of your Heart

Focus: Courageous acts of Claiming

James 1:5-7

I. WITH CONFIDENCE. Stresses faith in oneself and

one’s power w/out any

suggestion of conceit and arrogance.

How to attain confidence:

A. Experience extreme condition of faith

“it is good to be Christian and you know

it, but it is better to be a Christian and

show it!” -copied

Illus” ..two more aisles -copied

A man observed a woman in the grocery

store with a three year old girl in her basket.

As they passed the cookie section, the little

girl asked for cookies and her mother told her

no. The little girl immediately began to whine

and fuss, and the mother said quietly, "Now

Monica, we just have half of the aisles left to

go through; don’t be upset. It won’t be long."

Soon they came to the candy aisle, and the

little girl began to shout for candy. And when

told she couldn’t have any, began to cry. The

mother said, "There, there, Monica, don’t cry--

only two more aisles to go, and then we’ll be

checking out."

When they got to the check-out stand, the

little girls immediately began to clamor for gum

and burst into a terrible tantrum upon

discovering there’d be no gum purchased. The

mother patiently said, "Monica, we’ll be through

this check out stand in 5 minutes and then you

can go home and have a nice nap."

The man followed them out to the parking lot

and stopped the woman to compliment her. "I

couldn’t help noticing how patient you were with

little Monica," he began. Whereupon the mother

said, "I’m Monica .....

my little girl’s name is Tammy."

B. Challenge every detailed circumstances.

C. Never gives up on goal.

whatever God calls us to do, He also makes

possible for us to accomplish! Do not dream

of great achievements, but achieve great

dreams!

II. WITH HOPE (I TIMOTHY 4: 8-10)… to cherish a

desire with anticipation

“When you say a situation or a person is

hopeless YOU ARE SLAMMING THE DOOR in the

face of God.” (Charles Allen)

“Remove hope from a man and you make him a

beast” (Darnell Neister)

A. Includes Faith (inseparable)

“ feed your faith and doubt will starve to

death” -copied

B. Packed with trust

(transitive verb) to influence the

composition of so as to bring about a

desired result.

A1. Trusting God (Psalms 91)

“when you have nothing but God,

then you become aware that God is enough”

B1. Trust your people around you

Illus: a fellow wrote to a mail

order house: -copied

“Please send me the engine you show on

page 878, and if it is any good I’ll

send you the check. A week later he

received the reply: “Please send the

check, If it’s any good we’ll send you

the engine.”

“The men who trust God are the men who

can be trusted” -copied

C1. Trust your work.

Persian proverb) “trust God, but tie your

camel tight”

Conclusion:

So put your concerns, your worries, your fears, your hopes, your dreams, your families and your relationships in God’s hands because... It depends whose hands it’s in.

God bless you all,

Pastor Butch Magsino