If
Selective verses
Introduction-
This sermon was put together after reading Mark Batterson book If.
This morning imagine with me what your life would be like if…
Money was not an issue
Your dreams would turn to reality. Would you be able to identify what you want from life?
You could start over and have a do-over. A mulligan in the golf game.
Would you do anything different?
Most of us would say yes.
Why?
Because if you were smart, you would have learned from your mistakes.
You would make smarter decisions concerning your life and not live for the moment.
You would look long range and not be short sighted.
Why do we think short term when it concerns the things of God? The mentality of I have plenty of time to do these things. I will deal with that when the time comes.
According to Google search there are 1,784 if’s in the Bible. I will take their word for it.
Any one if could change your life.
Any one if could change anything and everything.
To me, everything starts with if.
If I go to college.
If I go talk to him/her.
If I apply for this job.
if I get out of my own comfortzone.
If I would save money.
If I take the time.
If I have the courage.
Until if becomes a determined action, it is a dream that has no legs (Repeat)
Illustration-
I remember when God called me to ministry. I remember where I was and what I felt God was telling me.
In my mind was hundreds of if’s.
Some negative and some positive.
Some drawing me toward the dream and many excuses that took me away from the dream.
I mean negative obstacles that pulled me away.
What are your if’s?
Again to me there are two main ifs-
What if…
If only…
One is present and forward looking and one is past and looking back. Which one will define your life when this life is over?
Like I said there are over 1700 if passages in the Bible and we certainly are not going to look at each one. But there is a few I do want to look at and they will literally change your life if you will let them.
As we get older, we use less of the left side of the brain which is the imagination side and more of the right side which is supposed to be the more logical side.
I think most people don’t use their brain at all when it comes to spiritual things in their life.
(1) Let’s start with what if…
We have all said that to ourselves. What if and named numerous things that could happen if I would take positive action toward it.
College
Girl/boyfriend
Job
Courage for change.
We all have had some regrets later that the “”what if turned into “I should of”.
Why? Because we did not respond correctly and/or when the opportunity came up.
2 Chronicles 7:14 (Right it down)
“If my people , who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
Would you agree that this world is in trouble?
God’s people are not seeking his face as they should and they are not on their knees praying that God would intervene in this troubling time.
Disunity
Family breakdowns
Racial divide
Conflict/ terrorism
Political unrest are just a few problems that face us as a nation.
There are certain things we have to do if… we want to see God’s hand in our lives. Then, after the if we can see God intervene.
If my people will pray, seek my face… Then I will heal their land.
Our magnificent God calls his people to be a people of prayer and seeking His face and He out of His graciousness promises to heal their land and be their God.
An awesome promise from God if we take a hard look and respond to His word if.
Evangelist Tony Evans
“Prayer is an earthly request for heavenly intervention. It is the tool and strategy we have been given in order to pull something down out of the invisible and into the visible. Prayer enacts God’s hand in history like nothing else because prayer is relational communication with God.’
If…we are going to turn our communities and nation around, God’s people are going to have to repent and to throw themselves down before the face of Almighty God.
We could save a lot of time and worry if we did things God’s way and communicated with God. Amen.
Another what if passage is found in Romans 8:31-
“What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?”
You really want to take a minute to wrap your head around that passage!
The God of the universe, the creator of all things, the God that saves your soul and promises you eternal life- if He is for you… who could possibly be against you that you have to worry about?
We have to take this verse in context and we have to be reminded that this world is not our final resting spot.
We are more than conquerors in Christ. IN CHRIST.
We know that all things work together for Good. TO THOSE THAT LOVE HIM.
Those who may have present suffering, but will one day receive FUTURE GLORY.
Romans 8:24-
“For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.”
Some people seem to have the idea that God is like a wicked father who can't wait for his children to misbehave so that he can punish them. But that description in no way fits our Creator.
Although our heavenly Father is a just God, and will punish those who do not know Him or obey the gospel of His II Thessalonians 1:8-9), the Scriptures plainly reveal that God is also a loving Father, who does not want to see any perish: "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance" (II Peter 3:9).
If God is for us, who can come against us?
Proofs of God’s power
Proof 1: God will graciously give us all things (Rom. 8:32). (Needed and some wants)
Proof 2: No one will bring a charge against us (Rom. 8:33). (He will find us innocent)
Proof 3: No one will condemn us (Rom. 8:34). (In Christ/ no condemnation)
Proof 4: Nothing will separate us from the love of Christ (Rom. 8:35–39). (Protector God)
We must remember that God is outside of time.
We calculate time by the rotations of the Earth around the sun and the passing of seasons, but God holds the sun and the Earth in His hands! Therefore what we perceive as past, present and future, God sees as one constant present."
Here is a third one-
Romans 10:9-
“If you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord; and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved,”
Our mouths can say anything- in fact God’s word tells us that our hearts are deceitful and our tongue is wicked. But when God gets a hold of our heart and out of our godly centered heart comes belief in God and our mouth confesses that truth, than we can be assured of salvation on the promises of God.
I want you to see Paul heart as he wrote these words and see God’s mercy and Grace as he gave it to him.
Paul is dealing with mistaken zeal
The Jews were zealous for God-
Paul acknowledged that- but they were more zealous for religion and Paul was putting it in perspective.
They based their religion on obedience to the law. The 10 commandments which none of us have kept or could keep. If you broke one you were forever lost in your sin.
Paul was saying that Christianity is based upon a relationship with Jesus Christ and what He has done for us.
Because we have a relationship with the Lord, we strive to keep His teachings and be obedient to His word.
The Law told you how far you could walk on the Sabbath.
If any burden weighed more than two dried figs, you could not lift it.
You could keep a sick person from getting worse, but you could not make them better on the Sabbath.
The Jews struggled with the if-
The Jews wanted it by their works- Paul is telling them to put their faith in the finished work of Christ if they want to be saved.
The Jews struggled with the fact that the good news was open to all everyone. Paul tells them that “Everyone that calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
The Jews struggled with the fact that they compared themselves to others that they were better than instead of seeing each one of us as sinners compared to a holy and perfect savior in Jesus Christ.
The one little word if makes the difference in what if-
What if you truly believed that if my people would pray, seek my face, I would heal their land.
What if you truly believed that if God was for you, who could possibly be against you that could eternally harm you?
What if you truly believed that Jesus Christ is Lord- You down deep in your heart believe that He died for your sins and was raised by our Heavenly Father from the grave and because of that fact- and that belief of His resurrection power, you had eternal life…HOW WOULD THAT CHANGE HOW YOU LIVE EACH DAY?
If these things became beliefs you lived, you life would be changed forever.
The final if for this morning is if only- we will not spend a lot of time this morning, time is getting away.
Everyone of us has if only regrets!
Back to the very first things I said to you this morning- we all have maybe career things we do different, maybe a relationship that we missed, maybe if we got out of comfortzone our life would be different.
The if only can destroy you if you let them. We cannot go back and change those things in our past.
We can in fact from this day move forward.
Close-
The only “if only” that would have eternal consequences is “if only I had put my faith in Jesus”- that is one that cannot be changed or done over once you die.
Unless there are dead people setting here this morning, we all at this moment have a chance to have God speak to us this morning. I have been praying for each of us that God would speak in a special way.
2 Corinthians 5:17-
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old is gone, the new has come.”
A new creation in the fact that you would now look at what Christ has done for you and not at all your short comings.
A new creation in the fact that your past does not define who you are- Christ defines who you are in Him.
A new creation in the fact that what is ahead of you is fresh and new and not a carrying of the past that weighs you down but a freedom that is in Christ.
In Christ, means that you do not do things only in your strength but now are able to call upon the Lord to help you.
If is a very big word when we look at it through the eyes of God’s Word! Amen.
If you look at redemption, you will not live in condemnation.
If you look at reconciliation, you will not live in alienation of a God who loves you.
Would you bow your head this morning and pray with me if you want that loving God to speak to you this morning.
To show you His love and mercy and grace
Prayer
