Can We Satisfy God? (Part 3)
Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
In the Greek (Strong’s Concordance):
Faith = To be convinced, satisfied, agreeable
to, relying on, surrendered with
confidence.
Believe = To have faith in something or
someone.
Please consider the poor souls listed below:
-The poor man that can’t feed his family…
-The rich man whose beloved wife has an advanced cancer…
-The addict who wakes up in an alley vomiting blood…
-The depressed woman that doesn’t want to wake up at all…
Surprisingly, all of these people need the same thing!
If a wise man asked for that one gift that would satisfy every person in all circumstances, what would he ask for?
The answer, of course, is FAITH in God.
In the verse above, the word “please” means to be completely satisfied, to be gratified entirely and to be excited about someone and what they have done.
Imagine if God felt that way about you and your life! Imagine if God wanted to use your life to convince others of His love and power!
Every one of us has this privilege to please God. No one can take it away from us or charge us for it. What they CAN do is:
-Lie to us so that we don’t think it is attainable.
-Hide it from us by changing what the words mean in the Bible.
-Tell us that this is only available in Heaven (after we die).
When we think of the previous message (about not believing), we find that it is a simple thing to find out if we have no faith.
Living in the flesh is so common that we think EVERYONE is doing it.
-Stressing about things we can’t control.
-Fearing death and avoiding anything that might end our lives.
-Feeling a need for more and more money to avoid running out in an
uncertain future.
-Taking care of “number one” first.
-Letting tomorrow’s problems ruin our enjoyment of today.
-Putting off finding God until “tomorrow”.
Living in faith not only avoids these miseries, but it brings you peace, confidence, love, happiness and joy!
But if you do NOT have it,
How do you get FAITH?
Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
“Word” = utterance, something spoken.
Ok, faith comes when God speaks to us…
Isn’t getting God to actually talk to us even more difficult than believing?
We need to begin at the beginning…
Romans 10:13-15 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
Clearly, many people who call themselves “preachers” can talk to us for hours and we still haven’t heard from God... The measure of a minister is not the size of the audience or the popularity of the messages; it is whether or not God changes our hearts.
-Do the scriptures “come alive”?
-Does the Holy Spirit confirm the word with signs following?
-Do the listeners surrender to Jesus Christ and His will?
We must be very careful about sweet people that are false prophets. They will “tickle our ears” and “make merchandise of us”. Jesus was homeless (nowhere to lay His head), giving all His wealth to help the poor. The apostles were beaten, imprisoned and most were martyred. Does that sound like your preacher?
Some Words About Prayer…
Now, you knew we were going to have to consider prayer! After all, talking to God and prayer are closely related. When Jesus prayed in John 17, the word means to interrogate or inquire. When Jesus directs us to pray, He uses a word that means to bring your desire before God in worship.
First; prayer is between YOU and GOD. Prayer is private.
Matthew 6:6-8 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.
Since God ALREADY knows everything, what is the purpose of prayer?
-It is not to get God to do what we want.
-It is NOT to inform God of what is going on…
-It is not to OBEY God (like a law) to get Him to do what we want.
Prayer is to ask God to speak to us!
James 1:5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask (pray) of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
When God speaks to us, faith will come!
But what do we say to God in prayer?
Let’s consider a secular analogy:
I have a friend named Armando that is an excellent air conditioning technician. Now imagine my air conditioner is not working correctly and I can’t figure out what the problem is. If I could just know what is wrong, I could get things running smoothly again…
I’m reluctant to ask my friend for help (you know how busy those kinds of friends are), so I call a local company to send a tech over. The tech says the problem is a dreadful one…very costly and difficult to repair. Perhaps I should just give up on it and get a new air conditioner. Time to call Armando!
The phone is ringing…
But what do I say to Armando?
-I can’t tell him what to do.
-I can’t tell him when to do it.
-I can’t tell him how much to charge me.
Armando picks up…
I say to him, “Hello Armando, this is Joe.”
He says something like, “Hi Joe, good to hear from you. God bless you
(Armando is a Christian). What’s going on, brother? Something I
can help you with?”
At this point, I have to make a decision. I believe (mentally) Armando is a great technician. I believe (mentally) that Armando can fix my A/C. But will I trust him to do it?
I decide to put the whole matter in Armando’s hands:
“Armando, I want to know if you will fix my A/C. Can I trust
you to do whatever it takes?”
Of course, Armando says,
“Sure, Joe, don’t worry about a thing. I sure appreciate you calling
me. We’ll be over right away.”
Sweet! Problem solved! I believe in Armando and I believe that A/C is going to be fine.
This phone call is an example of our prayers to God the Father. If God doesn’t answer, how do we know His will?
-He already knows about our problem.
-He knows how to fix it (and whether we will let Him or not).
-He WANTS to help us!
Will we give our problem into His hands?
Will we let Him solve it His way?
Didn’t He say; “Trust Me?”
1 John 5:14-15 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:
15 And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.
That word “hear” is not in the “scientific” sense, but in the “responding” sense. It means to listen to with the intent to carry out or perform.
For many of us, prayer has been a way to list our problems, frustrations and desires before God. We figure (Him being God and all) that He hears our prayers. Yet we are not sure if He will do what we ask. We figure that hoping that He will is faith…
A much more useful purpose for prayer is to hear from God. Are you an “equal time” Christian? By that I mean do you ever let God talk?
-When you talk with a friend, he listens without talking.
-When your friend is answering, you listen without talking.
Oddly enough, an important part of talking is NOT talking!
Some Words ABOUT GRACE…
Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Grace is God helping us by doing what He wants. It is not US doing anything. Paul is here explaining to the Ephesians that they were hopeless without God. It is God’s GRACE, His GIFT, His SON that saves us! We had nothing to offer Him.
When we surrender our lives to Christ in repentance and trust, we receive a gift we could never afford. The blood of Jesus is spilled on our behalf, cleansing us of sin and calling us to follow Him.
Do you realize that even after we are born again, we are STILL unable to do the wonderful works that He has planned for us? We cannot mend a broken heart. We cannot heal the sickness and infirmity around us. We cannot win souls to trust in Christ.
These are the things that GOD wants to do!
Ephesians 2:8 tells us that God’s grace will be done THROUGH FAITH.
If we wish to see Jesus act, we must surrender these problems to Him:
1 Peter 5:6-7 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:
7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
Can we trust Jesus to take care of our needs?
Can we trust Christ to quicken our ministries?
Can we live by faith?
John 6:28-29 Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? 29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.
Hebrews 11:32-40 And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets:
33 Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions.
34 Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.
35 Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection:
36 And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:
37 They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented;
38 (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.
39 And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:
40 God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.
All of those others are now watching us because God has promised to do more things through us than He did for them!
Matthew 11:11 Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
Let’s get to work!!
Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
In the Greek (Strong’s Concordance):
Faith = To be convinced, satisfied, agreeable
to, relying on, surrendered with
confidence.
Believe = To have faith in something or
someone.
Please consider the poor souls listed below:
-The poor man that can’t feed his family…
-The rich man whose beloved wife has an advanced cancer…
-The addict who wakes up in an alley vomiting blood…
-The depressed woman that doesn’t want to wake up at all…
Surprisingly, all of these people need the same thing!
If a wise man asked for that one gift that would satisfy every person in all circumstances, what would he ask for?
The answer, of course, is FAITH in God.
In the verse above, the word “please” means to be completely satisfied, to be gratified entirely and to be excited about someone and what they have done.
Imagine if God felt that way about you and your life! Imagine if God wanted to use your life to convince others of His love and power!
Every one of us has this privilege to please God. No one can take it away from us or charge us for it. What they CAN do is:
-Lie to us so that we don’t think it is attainable.
-Hide it from us by changing what the words mean in the Bible.
-Tell us that this is only available in Heaven (after we die).
When we think of the previous message (about not believing), we find that it is a simple thing to find out if we have no faith.
Living in the flesh is so common that we think EVERYONE is doing it.
-Stressing about things we can’t control.
-Fearing death and avoiding anything that might end our lives.
-Feeling a need for more and more money to avoid running out in an
uncertain future.
-Taking care of “number one” first.
-Letting tomorrow’s problems ruin our enjoyment of today.
-Putting off finding God until “tomorrow”.
Living in faith not only avoids these miseries, but it brings you peace, confidence, love, happiness and joy!
But if you do NOT have it,
How do you get FAITH?
Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
“Word” = utterance, something spoken.
Ok, faith comes when God speaks to us…
Isn’t getting God to actually talk to us even more difficult than believing?
We need to begin at the beginning…
Romans 10:13-15 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
Clearly, many people who call themselves “preachers” can talk to us for hours and we still haven’t heard from God... The measure of a minister is not the size of the audience or the popularity of the messages; it is whether or not God changes our hearts.
-Do the scriptures “come alive”?
-Does the Holy Spirit confirm the word with signs following?
-Do the listeners surrender to Jesus Christ and His will?
We must be very careful about sweet people that are false prophets. They will “tickle our ears” and “make merchandise of us”. Jesus was homeless (nowhere to lay His head), giving all His wealth to help the poor. The apostles were beaten, imprisoned and most were martyred. Does that sound like your preacher?
Some Words About Prayer…
Now, you knew we were going to have to consider prayer! After all, talking to God and prayer are closely related. When Jesus prayed in John 17, the word means to interrogate or inquire. When Jesus directs us to pray, He uses a word that means to bring your desire before God in worship.
First; prayer is between YOU and GOD. Prayer is private.
Matthew 6:6-8 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.
Since God ALREADY knows everything, what is the purpose of prayer?
-It is not to get God to do what we want.
-It is NOT to inform God of what is going on…
-It is not to OBEY God (like a law) to get Him to do what we want.
Prayer is to ask God to speak to us!
James 1:5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask (pray) of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
When God speaks to us, faith will come!
But what do we say to God in prayer?
Let’s consider a secular analogy:
I have a friend named Armando that is an excellent air conditioning technician. Now imagine my air conditioner is not working correctly and I can’t figure out what the problem is. If I could just know what is wrong, I could get things running smoothly again…
I’m reluctant to ask my friend for help (you know how busy those kinds of friends are), so I call a local company to send a tech over. The tech says the problem is a dreadful one…very costly and difficult to repair. Perhaps I should just give up on it and get a new air conditioner. Time to call Armando!
The phone is ringing…
But what do I say to Armando?
-I can’t tell him what to do.
-I can’t tell him when to do it.
-I can’t tell him how much to charge me.
Armando picks up…
I say to him, “Hello Armando, this is Joe.”
He says something like, “Hi Joe, good to hear from you. God bless you
(Armando is a Christian). What’s going on, brother? Something I
can help you with?”
At this point, I have to make a decision. I believe (mentally) Armando is a great technician. I believe (mentally) that Armando can fix my A/C. But will I trust him to do it?
I decide to put the whole matter in Armando’s hands:
“Armando, I want to know if you will fix my A/C. Can I trust
you to do whatever it takes?”
Of course, Armando says,
“Sure, Joe, don’t worry about a thing. I sure appreciate you calling
me. We’ll be over right away.”
Sweet! Problem solved! I believe in Armando and I believe that A/C is going to be fine.
This phone call is an example of our prayers to God the Father. If God doesn’t answer, how do we know His will?
-He already knows about our problem.
-He knows how to fix it (and whether we will let Him or not).
-He WANTS to help us!
Will we give our problem into His hands?
Will we let Him solve it His way?
Didn’t He say; “Trust Me?”
1 John 5:14-15 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:
15 And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.
That word “hear” is not in the “scientific” sense, but in the “responding” sense. It means to listen to with the intent to carry out or perform.
For many of us, prayer has been a way to list our problems, frustrations and desires before God. We figure (Him being God and all) that He hears our prayers. Yet we are not sure if He will do what we ask. We figure that hoping that He will is faith…
A much more useful purpose for prayer is to hear from God. Are you an “equal time” Christian? By that I mean do you ever let God talk?
-When you talk with a friend, he listens without talking.
-When your friend is answering, you listen without talking.
Oddly enough, an important part of talking is NOT talking!
Some Words ABOUT GRACE…
Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Grace is God helping us by doing what He wants. It is not US doing anything. Paul is here explaining to the Ephesians that they were hopeless without God. It is God’s GRACE, His GIFT, His SON that saves us! We had nothing to offer Him.
When we surrender our lives to Christ in repentance and trust, we receive a gift we could never afford. The blood of Jesus is spilled on our behalf, cleansing us of sin and calling us to follow Him.
Do you realize that even after we are born again, we are STILL unable to do the wonderful works that He has planned for us? We cannot mend a broken heart. We cannot heal the sickness and infirmity around us. We cannot win souls to trust in Christ.
These are the things that GOD wants to do!
Ephesians 2:8 tells us that God’s grace will be done THROUGH FAITH.
If we wish to see Jesus act, we must surrender these problems to Him:
1 Peter 5:6-7 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:
7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
Can we trust Jesus to take care of our needs?
Can we trust Christ to quicken our ministries?
Can we live by faith?
John 6:28-29 Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? 29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.
Hebrews 11:32-40 And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets:
33 Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions.
34 Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.
35 Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection:
36 And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:
37 They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented;
38 (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.
39 And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:
40 God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.
All of those others are now watching us because God has promised to do more things through us than He did for them!
Matthew 11:11 Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
Let’s get to work!!
