This morning we are all keeping our eyes on the weather. Hurricane Ida is making her presence known

For most of us the words “Hurricane headed for the Gulf Coast” are words that bring fear

Goliath:
Over 9 feet tall
Armor weighed 125lbs
Spear was over 12 ft long
Spear head weighed 33+ lbs

David:
Less then 6 ft tall
Still a teen
Used a sling and a rock

I give you all this information because I want you to get a context of this story

The point I want you to take away from all of this is: “the battle is the Lord's”

How did David, a young teen, have the courage to face the giant with only a sling and a rock?!?

He knew he had the power of God on his side, and nothing is impossible for God!

God is described as the Lion of Judah

Why the Lion?

Because the Lion is the fiercest animal in the Kingdom

David showed the courage of the Lion because, in God, he had that same power

Understand this, when you accept Jesus as your Lord, you too are given the power to overcome the world

Believers today have been given that same power to overcome the world

Christians you have the strength of the Lion

I spoke with the children this morning about the cowardly lion from “The Wizard of Oz”

Courage

How could this be?!? He was a lion!

Somehow, something had happened to the Lion, and he lost his courage and believed he was forever weak

This gave him a paralyzing fear

Believers, today we are walking around in this world in some paralyzing fear believing we can’t

The one thing that can change all that, is remembering this fact: "the battle is the Lord’s"

David could look at that giant and know that he physically wasn’t able to defeat him

But, he knew that, without a doubt, God was able and the battle was His anyway

As believers, we wonder sometimes how someone can say “I don’t need God”

Then we turn around and live our lives as if “we don’t need God all the time”

Most days we think "I got this on my own"

When trouble strikes, we call on God. "Ok God, I need you this time."

The fact of the matter is that apart from God we can do nothing – John 15:5

When we trust in our own strength, we run around like a cowardly Lion,

Afraid to engage people in conversation about Jesus

Afraid to take a stand for our Heavenly Father

Afraid to do the mission that we were given as Christians – Go and Tell

We are the offspring of the Lion of Judah! Stop being a cowardly lion and walk in the power of God!

You can’t do that if you don’t know Him

Would you like to know Him today?

Psychologists say that, as a people, we typically only allow a few people to truly know us

That means that, we show most people what we want them to see instead of our true self

This includes close friends and family as well

As a result of that behavior, we sometimes believe that we can do the same thing with God

If we only behave a certain way around our church or our friends, surely God will believe this is how we are truly.

In fact, sometimes we try so hard to convince others that we believe the lies we tell ourselves

However, there is only one truth of who we are, and I promise you, God Knows you

In other words, God has looked in all our hidden places, and He knows us intimately

He knows us fully and completely, better than we even know ourselves

He is protecting us from every side and He wants us to grasp that fact

The next several verses say; where can I go from your Spirit? The answer is nowhere

In other words, God is always with us. No matter what we get into, He is there

Sometimes, people believe that they have just strayed too far and God can’t reach them

Why?

Why does God love me and why does He care?

We aren’t a mold that a factory uses to mass produce things

God spent time individually making every person in this world. He made us with His love.

“And my soul knows it very well”

The reality is, that deep down we know that God made us and He loves us

However, we allow ourselves to believe the lies of the world

Satan and the world say that you are better than God and you don’t need God

Those are all lies and truly our soul knows it, if we listen

God made you to have a relationship with Him

As humans, we lie, and we lie even to ourselves, but God Knows you

He is always with you no matter where you go

Won’t you give yourself to Him today?

During these crazy days, it is easy to get lost as to your real purpose in this world.

We are seeing Covid increasing at rapid levels once again and many hospitals are filling up

In fact, one of my High School classmates, Bubba Wood, needs your urgent prayers today

He is in ICU waiting for a respirator, which he desperately needs

When people are scared of death, they are usually more receptive to the Gospel

Therefore, we need to be ready to show people the truth of the Gospel

How can we make sure we are ready to share?

Be approved as a workman for Christ

However, there is a trap that we need to avoid

If we are lucky, we might make a difference or we might be remembered for a few years

Think about this, if we are good workmen for God, the outcome is the population of heaven will grow.

There will be people that change their final destination from Hell to Heaven because we worked for God

Are you a workman for God today?

Do you know Him in the first place?

Do you want to?

Have you ever had those days, weeks, months even years when everything went wrong?

It seems that no matter how hard you try, none of your plans work like you planned!

Alexander called this a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day!

Our week seemed to fall perfectly into that category

It is easy to fall into a state of depression or "woe-is-me" attitude

These things are really happening and some of them can be really bad

So how do we, as believers, handle these kinds of days or more?

After about the 5th thing in a row had gone wrong for us this trip, I began to get down

Suddenly God placed in my heart a song and some of the lyrics are:

"Hey, Hey it’s a good day, even if things aren’t going my way, Jesus is alive and I am saved; so hey, hey it’s a good day!"

That song reminded me of scripture and I want to share that with you today

He is telling them about the Holy Spirit who will come, and He is preparing them for hard times.

"In Me you will have peace but in this world you will have tribulation", Jesus said.

We have such amazing blessings in this world that when trouble comes we are shocked

The reality is that Jesus plainly told us that we will have trouble in this world

In the midst of all the things that went wrong this week, God said, "count your blessings!"

I began to look at that, instead of the trouble and, you know what, we had a lot of blessings

We were blessed with safe travel, we saw loving family, and hey, during this oppressive heat wave, we had AC!

There were way more blessings than trouble, and I remembered the other part of this verse

Jesus said “take courage, I have overcome the world”

We can focus on the negatives, and we will fall into dark places

Or, we can take courage knowing that no matter how bad it gets, Jesus has overcome the world.

You know, after God reminded me of this, things still went wrong

Grasping this scripture didn’t make things suddenly all go right

What it did do, was help me stand back, take a clear look, trust God, and carry on

When you begin to look for the blessings in the trouble, it is amazing how God gives you peace.

The question however is this, do you know the God that has overcome the world?

Because, if you do not know Him, you will have no peace.

Hebrews 10:38 - 11:6 KJV

^"38 Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.

³⁹ But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.

² For by it the elders obtained a good report.

³ Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

⁴ By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.

⁵ By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.

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."

Mark 11:24-25 NASB

I believe that, as human beings, this is something we all struggle with.

No one wants to be treated in a way they feel is wrong.

Many arguments stem from simple misunderstandings or miscommunications

The result however, is not simple at all.

When we have a hard time with forgiveness, sometimes, we hold on to that unforgiveness for a lifetime.

Unforgiveness in our lives can have a very negative effect on our prayer life.

In our text this morning, Jesus is telling his disciples that prayer is powerful, if you have faith.

In fact, He says, when you pray, believe that it is already been given and it will be.

If we look at these two verses together, we see that unforgiveness will truly block our prayers

In order to have true faith, we have to believe that God can conquer all things

A word spoken to a fig tree caused it to wither, and Jesus says you can cause mountains to be cast into the sea

These things seem impossible, but we know that Jesus said they are possible through faith

If we can trust that He is able to do these things, don’t you think He is able to help us overcome unforgiveness?

Faith!
Faith!
Faith!

True faith means giving everything to God

We give Him our fears, our hurts, our joys, our struggles, and yes, we can give Him our unforgiveness

This passage is showing us that, if we are to pray effectively, we have to forgive first

Matthew 5 says leave your sacrifice at the altar go and be reconciled and then return to offer it

In other words, forgiveness has to happen before God will even accept our offerings

In our world today, there is much unforgiveness. Certainly this is one of the reasons for so much discord.

We ask believers to pray without ceasing about our Nation, but we also need to forgive without ceasing

In our individual lives, as well as the lives of our Nation, we must rid ourselves of the hate through forgiveness.

Today I’m asking you to examine your heart. If you find there is unforgiveness there, please ask God to help you forgive today

Perhaps you don’t understand how that can be because you’ve never asked for forgiveness from your own sin

God is offering full forgiveness today, but you have to repent of the sin in your life and ask Him to forgive you

He stands with open arms waiting for you today.

Today, as we celebrate Independence Day, I want to reflect on true Independence

People have longed to be independent since the beginning of time

The problem is, what do we want to be independent from?

Today, much of our nation truly wants to be independent from our creator, God

They seek an independence that allows them to have freedom

They think that God represents oppression

The truth is, mankind can never be independent from God

John 15:5 says, "apart from me you can do nothing"

See, to be out from under God places you squarely under satan

You see, those who are not under God, add sin to sin with their rebellion

What you take safety in, that is not God, will be your shame

"We are endowed by our creator", says the Declaration of Independence

Our creator is clearly a reference to God, the creator of all

Our founding fathers recognized that it is our creator that gives us everything

To seek independence from God is like saying I want to be free from breathing

As an Independent nation, we are independent from other nations

The reason we can be independent from other nations is our dependence on God

President Eisenhower recognized that, and pushed to add that language in our pledge

In fact, if we are not Under God, then we are against God

Matt 12:30 says “He who is not with Me is against Me; and

He who does not gather with Me scatters"

Your life, just like our Nation, must be under God

God, our creator, has a purpose for you, but you have to be under Him to find it

How blessed are all those who long for Him

A true celebration of Independence from foreign powers

Is actually a celebration of dependence on our perfect God

Will you choose, today, to be Under God or against God?

He gives that choice to ALL