How High Is The Bar?
Ephesians 2:4–-7, NKJ
“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us...raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus”
What a God..
What a Word....
what a promise to those of us
who are in Christ Jesus! (repeat)
“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us...raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
He took us..He loved us...
when we were nobodies...He made us a somebody
"Say I'm Somebody" and you are somebody this morning....
Because He has made you SOMEBODY! Amen??
He adopted us and treated us...not like step children
but like we were one of His own children and gave us a seat,
right by His own Son...in fact it says made us sit together in Him!
Does anybody remember when they were a little child… And your mother made you sit by someone that you didn't want to sit by?
That's what God has done… Because even when you don't feel like it,
even when you don't feel worthy to do it...
God has a designated that that's where you belong, that's where you are entitled to be and it's where he wants you!
Why? I'm sorry did you say WHY?
So that in the ages to come...
That means from here on out....
to eternity
He might show the exceeding riches of His grace...
That means to shower...
To Blanket...
To Encompass...
To inundate...
To bombard you with a never ending supply....are you getting the picture here?
You see I'm not talking about just a little welfare check amount of grace each month...but a lifetime supply of His amazing Favor and Goodness towards us!
I want you to think for a moment about the richest person you can think of in the whole world and what their fortune is...
that amount does not even compare to what God is willing to do for you in your own life… If you can only believe and receive his promises and what he wants to do for you!
Did You know...some people have just as hard of time getting past the victories as well as past failures in this thing we live..called life?
Its true, they hold on to them like the present and future depends upon the remembrance of them,
The next statement I'm about to make…
Is truly a to him who has the years let him hear statement....
We can expect each day to be better than the one before, when we are serving and doing Gods work...and if were not
Then shame on us!
2 chronicles 16 says....
For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him
MSG says it this way...God is always on the alert, constantly on the lookout for people who are totally committed to him.
It's like a big radar screen covering the whole universe…
And God's favor is constantly looking for something
Or someone that it can bounce off of...and be a blessing to! Amen??
If we couldn't expect tomorrow to be better than today...
What incentive would that give us to look forward to...the future???
TBS. His mercies are new every morning, Great is His faithfulness!
That means 100% of the time...we can look for Gods Goodness and Faithfulness participating in our lives if we want them to!
The bible records the most amazing miracles throughout history
and we should always be willing to acknowledge
what God has done in the past.
But don't miss the blessing of the right here and now and what is to come...
Because in your mind you can't figure out how it could be greater
than the one you received yesterday!!!
It's like He wants you to realize...if you think past blessings are amazing
He would have me tell you..."you ain't seen nothing yet"
A lot of people don't realize this...but
God is a progressive God, both in thinking and action...and He wants us to be the same way!
And if we're not we're cheating ourselves
out of what God wants to do for us!
We should wake up every morning with an expectant heart...willing to pursue what God has in store for us..each day He gives us!
In our text, Paul was talking about and looking towards the future, not the past
TBS. (the Bible says) that “in the ages to come” God would do things that far supersede anything He’s ever done before.
Can you imagine? That means over and above anything up to this point...that He has done!
And if your expectant of Him, and are a follower of Him, you can count on Him to be a deliverer of what you ask,
not just occasionally, but consistently and faithfully.
Its true, TBS. He raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
That means we have what Jesus has available to Him, available to us.
We have the righteousness of God, through Christ Jesus!
This is an amazing statement! “
we have what Jesus has available to Him, available to us.”
Really?? This is to good to believe??
Well let me ask you this… Do you believe the Bible to be the inspired word of God?
If the answer is yes… Then why in the world
would we not receive what the word is clearly telling us this morning and every morning...we are willing to believe it?????
Psalms 23:1 NKJ
1. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
God doesn’t want us to want, we should want for nothing...because He is our able and constant provider.
David makes a statement here, that all Christians should take to heart...
with the Lord as our shepherd, there should be no want in our lives.
He wants to meet our needs and for us to come boldly when we ask Him for anything, no matter what It is.
Matt. 7:7-11MSG.
7-11. "Don't bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need. This isn't a cat-and-mouse, hide-and-seek game we're in. If your child asks for bread, do you trick him with sawdust? If he asks for fish, do you scare him with a live snake on his plate? As bad as you are, you wouldn't think of such a thing. You're at least decent to your own children. So don't you think the God who conceived you in love will be even better?
Maybe someone hasn't told you lately… But God is a fantastic God! Amen??
What is your image of Gods Goodness towards you?
While I'm not sure of what it is....I'll tell you what it out to be!
God is a God of way to much, not a God of barely get by!!!!
He’s constantly looking for new ways, for even the slightest reason, to show His favor to us and bless His Children!
TBS. in Lamentations 3:22-23 NKJ
22. The LORD’s mercies
Because His compassions fail not.
23. They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
God is constantly doing new and exciting things for all of us...
we may not see it in the natural and if we did it certainly
wouldn't require much faith to believe that he is!
but you can rest assured, He is always...
constantly working behind the scenes on our behalf!
And the best news is, we are only limited as to what He wants to do for us, by our expectation of Him!
Imagine that, the only thing standing between us and the amazing Favor and Grace God wants to do for us, is us!
Sometimes we need to tell ourselves to just shut up and get out of the way! Don't we??
Other times we may like to blame others,
for not receiving what we want from God
Gen. 37:23-28NKJ.
23. So it came to pass, when Joseph had come to his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the tunic of many colors that was on him.
24. Then they took him and cast him into a pit. And the pit was empty; there was no water in it.
25. And they sat down to eat a meal. Then they lifted their eyes and looked, and there was a company of Ishmaelites, coming from Gilead with their camels, bearing spices, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry them down to Egypt.
26. So Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is there if we kill our brother and conceal his blood?
27. Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother and our flesh.” And his brothers listened.
Makes you wonder what they would have done to him, in he wouldn’t have been their brother?
28. Then Midianite traders passed by; so the brothers pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt.
Josephs brothers thought they had done away with him, they thought they had finally gotten rid of the favorite one, once and for all!
What they didn’t realize was, it wasn’t just their fathers favor Joseph had his life, it was Gods favor.
His brothers hadn’t ended his life, they had just set him up, for the opportunity of Gods favor to take Him places and open doors and opportunities for him, that they would never know, or even dream of!
Joseph, could have held a grudge against his brothers, but he didn’t.
Because of the favor of God on his life, he later saved his family and his nation, as a result of the destiny that God took him to!
Everybody can not go where God wants to take you...
It's true… You may think they can, but they can't.
Because they have their own destiny to fulfill
If they will attempt it.
However some people...as in Joseph's case, even family think they can keep you from Gods Favor and what He wants to do in your life.
But Nothing...I repeat nothing
can stand between you and the Favor and Love of God!
Romans 8:37-39 NKJ
37. Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
38. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,
39. nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
There is so much love available to us through Jesus if we will embrace it....but few like Josephs brothers will ever realize it.
We haven’t even scratched the surface, of what God wants to do and is willing to do for us!
Think about your greatest blessing and achievement....Its awesome when you think about how good He has been to us already huh?
And to think...we’ve only just begun, Praise God!
We can receive from God as much as we can believe Him for!
We don’t have to figure out why He loves us so much...
in fact when we do that it just consumes precious energy
that could be focused and used to believe instead of doubting...
TBS. in Jerm. 33:2-3
2-3."This is God's Message, the God who made earth, made it livable and lasting, known everywhere as God: 'Call to me and I will answer you. I'll tell you marvelous and wondrous things that you could never figure out on your own.
Right now, even with the economy as shaky as it is, God wants to do marvelous, wondrous things for you, that you could never figure out on your own.!
Amazing things, things that continue to baffle the minds of the business world!
1st Cor. 1:27 NKJ
27. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;
What an exciting time to be alive, if you let Him, He will make everyday more exciting than the day before!
He wants us to awake with great expectations every morning,
with Him right smack dab in the center of them...
Not only meeting..but exceeding those expectations!
What a better time than the present, to trust and to be blessed by God,
Illus.
Oral Roberts used to use a chorus that went like this...
Expect a miracle every day,
Expect a miracle when you pray,
If you expect it God will find a way,
To perform a miracle for you each day.
And He will...And He does...Amen??
Matthew 21:21-22 MSG
21-22 But Jesus was matter-of-fact: “Yes—and if you embrace this kingdom life and don’t doubt God, you’ll not only do minor feats like I did to the fig tree, but also triumph over huge obstacles. This mountain, for instance, you’ll tell, ‘Go jump in the lake,’ and it will jump. Absolutely everything, ranging from small to large, as you make it a part of your believing prayer, gets included as you lay hold of God.”
What are your expectations of God in your life?
How High have you set the bar?
Are you asking for mountains or molehills?
So many in life, think that they have done
It all, heard it all and seen it all...can't surprise them
However, if someone will put God and His ways at the forefront of their lives,
I can safely say, “get ready to be surprised...because you ain’t seen nothing yet”
Amen, Lets pray!
