Believers Church of Statesboro

Join us this Sunday at Believers as we discover that TODAY MATTERS!

Have you been waiting for an answered prayer or for God to move in a situation in your life? Today Could Be Your Day! That’s right! Today could be your day, so let’s live each day with a since of expectation of what God will do. Come at 9 or 11 so that you won’t miss anything good. Last Sunday if you were late you missed a special performance by the praise band followed by a video call “Today”. It was powerful!

Come Sunday expecting that this will be the day that God will move on your behalf.

Believers This Is Our Time, Today Matters, and This Could Be Your Day!

Today Matters! Wk 3 Today Could Be Your Day 08-22-10 Believers Statesboro

Acts 3:1-3 “Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour.

And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the

temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple; who, seeing Peter and

John about to go into the temple, asked for alms.”

Peter and John met a crippled man who had to be carried everywhere (no wheelchairs) and who had to beg for an income. He was born crippled and was now over forty years old. (Acts 4:22).

All Peter and John were doing were going to the temple to pray; all the lame man was asking for was a financial handout. The Holy Spirit had a different agenda.

Acts 3:4-7 “And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, "Look at us." So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. Then Peter said, "Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk." And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.”

How long had this man been begging at the Gate Beautiful? We can safely assume it was most of his adulthood. Begging became his profession and livelihood. How many times had Peter and John walked passed this lame man? We don’t know exactly. Since the Day of Pentecost, they had been going to the temple for daily for prayer. This man had been sitting there daily. So, we know that Peter and John were passing by a man in need daily and that God was fully aware of this man’s need. He was not healed many times. But, this day was different. God had chosen that this would be his day! It was for God’s glory. Without warning, a day like any other, doing the routine of life, this was the lame man’s day!

One touch from God changes everything! Bill Godwin

This could be your day! You may have a need today. It may seem to you that God has passed you by many times before. You may be on the verge of giving up. You may be discouraged. Things may look like they are getting worse. God may look down on you today and say this is your day! Lame Man, rise up and walk! So, with that knowledge and understanding, we should start each and every day with a sense of expectation!

EXPECTATION!

It’s good to believe that God can do anything. (Luke 1:37) We should believe. We call ourselves believers.

But, we need to move beyond belief. (James 2:19-20) If we believe God can do anything, and I feel that we do, then the question we should be asking ourselves is do we EXPECT God to do anything?

Have we lived with our need for so long, over forty years for the lame man, that we don’t really expect God to act on our behalf. Oh, we believe that He can. But, do we expect Him to do it today? We need to raise our level of expectation today! We need to believe and expect that today is our day!

Death Spiral: People often have a doctrine in which they believe. Then, they may discover that, in life, their experiences may not be the same as or match up to their belief standards. When people experience less than what they believe is possible, they begin to lower their doctrinal standards, belief levels, and expectations to match their experiences. Then, instead of believing for God’s highest and best, people expect less. Then due to doubt and unbelief, they experience less. After experiencing less, they again lower their belief and expectation levels, resulting in a death spiral rather than a cycle of life.

We must keep our expectation levels high; not just believing that God is able, but expecting to see God move on the behalf of His people according to His Word.

We need to live in an atmosphere of belief and expectation! Rather than trusting in what you are currently seeing or experiencing, you need to trust in the promises of God! The promises will keep our expectations high!

How can we maintain a high level of expectation when we don’t always see the results that we want to see?

1. Realize that God is sovereign. God is the Supreme Ruler, and He is not limited to any doctrinal box in which we try to put Him. He can do whatever He wants to do when He wants to do it!

Luke 1:37 “For with God nothing will be impossible.”

2. Remember God’s faithfulness. Joel 2:23 “Be glad then, you children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God; for He has given you the former rain faithfully, and He will cause the rain to come down for you– the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.”

Ps 37:25-26 “I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his descendants begging bread. He is ever merciful, and lends; and his descendants are blessed.”

3. Keep believing in His Word and His promises. Do not lower your belief standards to match your experiences. Believe that your experiences will soon match your beliefs. “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” Mark 9:23.

Phil 1:19-21 “For I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayer and the supply

of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be

ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by

life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”

Num 23:19 “God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He

said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it

good?”

4. Don’t shrink back. Keep praying, asking, and seeking. Matt 7:7-8 Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. (NIV)

Hebrews 10:35-39. 31 “So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For in just a very little while, He who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him. But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.”

Matthew 6:31 “But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you.”

5. Be patient. Rom 8:19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.”

Hebrews 6:11-12 “And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.”

James 1:2-4 “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”

6. Repent – change your way of thinking. Matthew 4:17 “From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” In this context, the Greek word used here for ‘repent’ is metanoeo (met-an-o-eh’-o); which means “to think differently,” i.e. reconsider; always, when used in the New Testament, involves a change for the better. “Change Your Way of Thinking.” Change how you think about things. Stop doubting God. Start expecting God to move mightily in your life.

Matthew 6:9-10 Pray as Jesus taught us, “Lord, let thy kingdom come, let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” After you have prayed, expect it to happen! Something good is going to happen today!