Faith To Make It Through Another Year

FAITH TO MAKE IT THROUGH ANOTHER YEAR

Text: Romans 5: 1-11

We are all heading into a New Year.

There is nothing to good about the outlook of what we could be facing in the coming months.

There is uncertainty on every hand!

The world is far from peaceful.

We feel the increase of living costs;

Crime is on the rise,

There is rebellion against law and order.

Sorrow and heartaches will come!

If we look to our circumstances and surroundings, it is not good.

If you are not careful your faith will become week.

So what are the possibilities for a making it through 2007?

We need a faith that holds under the pressure!

Let me give you three things that you must rely upon.

I. WE MUST RELY ON GOD’S PROMISES

If we are to make it through this next year, it will be because you were relying on the very promises of God.

Over And Over we find those who relied on His promises.

Abraham was one. Turn to Hebrews 11:8-13

A promise was given to Abraham and yet we do not find that God gave any other information whatsoever.

God did not identify the country nor tell Abraham where he was to go.

Neither did God tell Abraham when his wife (Sarah) would bear the seed (the male child) from whom the promised nation would be born.

God made a simple promise, and all Abraham had to go on was that simple promise, that is, the sheer Word of God.

Only one condition was attached to the promise. Abraham had to believe God.

You cannot rely on the promise if you do not…

A. Know the promises of God.

Turn to 2 Peter 1:4 (KJV)

Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

Peter uses three words to describe the promises of God.

1. Exceeding = beyond natural limits of supernatural.

2. Great = large, surpassing all others.

3. Precious= of such great value that a suitable price is hard to estimate.

The great and mighty promises of’ God mean nothing because most people do not know what they are.

How can you ever have faith in His promise of peace, power, provisions, and all needful things unless you know the promises?

How many promises of the bible do you really know?

How many can you name?

You cannot rely on the promise if you do not…

B. Use the promises.

Too many people live poorly while wealth and abundance are stored nearby.

We need to turn the promises of God into present possessions.

You cannot rely on the promise if you do not…

C. Embrace the promises.

Don’t just distantly acknowledge them.

Hebrews 11:1 (KJV) “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

We are talking about the faith that pleases God it is found in that individual who is willing to embrace the promises that were made by God.

Who is patiently waiting for the promises to be fulfilled, even if it doesn’t happen in their

lifetime.

But they believe with conviction and confidence of things hoped for and things not seen.

You cannot rely on the promise if you do not…

D. Trust His promises.

Some people know the promises, even try to use them; but they still are fearful and afraid. Why?

Because they are not sure that God is faithful to perform what He has promised.

In childlike faith believe what God has said Like Abraham and rest your soul on His Word.

II. WE MUST RELY ON GOD’S PAST PERFORMANCE

Psalms 77:11 (KJV) “I will remember the works of the LORD: surely I will remember thy wonders of old.”

Psalms 143:5 (KJV) “I remember the days of old; I meditate on all thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands.”

One of man’s greatest failures is forgetting God’s past blessings. Despite all the miracles which God has performed for us, we go about complaining about all of our hardships and problems.

God realizes that we often forget what he has done for us. In Deuteronomy. 6:12 Moses issued a final warning to Israel just before they entered the promise land, “beware, lest you forget the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt…”

Some times we need to get out the photo album and remember!

We who are Christians…

• were lost -dead in trespasses and sins.

• were on the broad road to hell, without power to change our course.

• Christ came and died for our sins on the Cross and saved us from our sins, and changed our destiny from hell to heaven.