Welcome to Graceway 1. Communication Card. 2. Offering Box. 3. Cross. 4. Kidmo Prize Winner. 5. Pray

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Welcome to Graceway! 1. Communication Card.2.
Offering Box.3. Cross.4. Kidmo Prize Winner.5.
PrayerWorship Team
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In the 23rd Psalm, the Psalmist King David of
Israel, compares God to a caring shepherd. Since
most of us have never met a shepherd before, I
thought this video might help you understand more
clearly what this Psalm is saying.
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Today, we are going to conclude our series on
23-7 Stressbusters. If you missed any of the
messages, please feel free to visit our website
and download any or all of the messages in this
series. I truly believe that this beautiful
passage can help us overcome the stress in our
lives if we will let it.
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Lets just read the entire Psalm once again.
(Read Psalm 231-6) Today, we want to focus on
that last verse, verse 6, Surely goodness and
mercy shall follow me all the days of my life
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
forever.
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Im not going to recap all of the topics, because
I want to get right into the subject for today,
which is Facing the Future in Faith. All of us
have a fear of the unknown. We often face an
UNKNOWN future, and that fact alone can create
stress.
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No one couldve ever predicted the devastation
that Hurricane Katrina would bring. No one knew
the tragedy that would occur on that beautiful
clear blue sky day of September 11, 2001. No one
knew about the hundreds of thousands that would
die in the wake of the Tsunami in the Indian
ocean a couple of years ago.
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We can know a little about the future we just
dont know the facts. Many scientists who study
earthquakes and tsunamis are carefully watching a
mountain range in the Canary Islands. They are
predicting that this unstable range could
literally split off during a volcanic eruption.
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The tsunami that would result from computer
models is unimaginable. They are talking about a
wave 2000 feet tall traveling at 450 miles per
hour. It would take about 9 hours to reach the
East coast, and destroy most of Florida and the
Southeastern coast of the US. (Rense.com)
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And, what if a major hurricane like Katrina would
hit the Outer Banks? Stan Riggs, a geologist at
East Carolina University said, If we had a
Katrina-sized storm, 75 percent of these islands
would be gone. You can count on it cleaning the
clock.
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These things are not exactly comforting news if
you dwell on it. We minimize the stress by simply
saying, It probably wont happen. But there are
things about the future that do worry us The
economy, our jobs, the price of gasoline, our
relationships, our health, and so forth.
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And what about eternity? You see, there is one
fact about the future that we cannot changeand
that is, that one day, our life is going to come
to an end. 100 of everyone who is born, dies.
Hmmn. What do we do about that fact? Should we
get stressed about it?
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According to verse 6 of the 23rd Psalm, if God is
our Shepherd, we have no need to worry. Jesus
taught us that if we are His, we should take no
thought for tomorrowin other words, we should
not get stressed out about it. However, if you do
not know Christ as your Savior, you not only
need to worry, you need to do something about it!
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In the Bible, we see many examples of the
failures of men. We saw Moses get angry. We saw
David committing adultery. We saw Peter denying
Christ. We saw Paul killing Christians before he
accepted Christ. In fact, many of us have a past
that we are ashamed of.
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I am one of those. When Isaiah cried, Woe is me,
for I am undone! I know what he was feeling.
When Paul cried out, Oh wretched man that I am!
I know what Paul is talking about. Been there.
Done that. Many years of my life was spent in
fear about the future, because I was living in
sin.
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After a bad night with alcohol, the next day I
would make Rennie sit beside me as I lay on the
couch, afraid that I would die. For eight years,
I would drink myself to sleep, because I was
afraid to go to sleep any other way. Im telling
you, I was stressed about the futureor lack of
it.
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I knew without a doubt that if something happened
to me that I would not go to Heaven and that
stressed me out. After 12 years of running from
God, I finally submitted to Him. I finally said,
Okay God, Ive made a miserable mess of myself.
I turn my life over to You. Please fix my life!
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Over time, you will hear the details of my
conversion, but for now, lets just say that God
heard my cry. All of the sudden, my fears were
gone. I had no fear of the future. I knew I had
no reason now to be stressed out about where I
would go when I died, and that was comforting to
me.
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You too, do not have to be stressed about the
future. You too, can experience the confidence
that the Psalmist expresses in this verse. You
too, can be free from anxiety, fear and worry.
Lets look at three reasons that you can live in
confidence
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1. God is watching OVER YOU. This is big. When we
have a relationship with God, we have a Father
who is concerned about us. He wants the very best
for His children. He loves us. These are facts
that you can find throughout the Bible. Even when
things dont seem to go right, God is working
them out to our advantage.
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Consider what Gods Word says in Romans 828,
And we know that all things work together for
good to those who love God, to those who are the
called according to His purpose. Again, this is
one of my most favorite passages in the Bible.
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Look what it says ALL things work together for
good Say, ALL. If I were you, I would circle
that word in my Bible. You may want to refer to
it later when the devil is trying to beat you
down. Even the difficulties in our lives are
working for the good.
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I remember many years ago when Ashby was a little
baby. Oops! Sorry, Ashby, not THAT many years
ago! Anyway, I remember when we took her to the
doctor for her shots. These shots were to keep
her from getting polio, diphtheria, measles,
mumps and other dreaded diseases.
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As she lay there crying and screaming I would
hold her legs down while the doctor stuck the
needle in her leg. At that moment, she was
probably thinking, Youre a terrible daddy! How
can you say you love me! How can you let this man
hurt me like this! You see, she didnt know what
I knew.
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Were the same way. We say, God, how can you let
this happen to me? Dont you care for me? I
thought You said You loved me! But, you see, God
knows more than you. He knows more than me. And
the beauty of it all, even when the devil tries
to hurt us, God can turn it around for our good.
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But, this verse is also conditional. You cant
claim the promises of this verse if you are not
His. You must be one of those who loves God. And,
you show Him that you love Him by being obedient
to His Word you are the called according to His
purpose.
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So many people today say they love Jesus and
completely ignore what they know is right. Jesus
said, If you love me, keep my commandments. Can
you do that? God said in the Old Testament, They
do honor me with their mouth, but their heart is
far from me. It is so important that we be
obedient to Him to show others that we truly love
Him.
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Even on the worst of days when it seems that the
devil is gaining the victory, God can turn it
around for good. Consider one of the worst days
in historyat least it appeared that way to the
disciples. They looked at their leader, their
teacher and master hanging on a cross.
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The sight was awful to behold. In fact, the
disciples at that point were so uncertain about
the future that the Bible says they all forsook
Him and fled. Im sure they were thinking,
Jesus taught us that all things work out for
good. How can this work out for good?
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If they had simply looked into Gods word, they
couldve seen the future. If they had simply
picked up the scroll that contained the writings
of the prophet Isaiah, they wouldve seen that
God had already worked out this situation, and
that all of mankind would reap the benefits.
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Seven hundred years before it happened, Isaiah
was inspired of God to write the words of Isaiah
533-5 He is despised and rejected by men, a Man
of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid,
as it were, our faces from Him He was despised,
and we did not esteem Him
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(4) Surely He has borne our griefs and carried
our sorrows Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted. (5) But He was
wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised
for our iniquities The chastisement for our
peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are
healed.
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This shows how big our God is. He can take the
worst day in history and turn it into the
greatest day in history. And, God can take the
bad things in your life and turn them into good
things for His glory. But God is not only
watching over you, secondly, God is working IN
YOU. This is incredible!
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When you become a Christian, God Himself comes to
live within you. That is the indwelling of the
Holy Spirit. This is a difficult concept to
understand, but it is a miracle of God, and it
can only be received through faith.
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Look at what Romans 88-9 says So then, those
who are in the flesh cannot please God. (9) But
you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if
indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if
anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is
not His.
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Did you see that? If you are saved, that is if
you have accepted Christ as your Savior, indeed
the Spirit of God dwells in you. And, if He
dwells within you, He will guide you into all
truth according to John 1613. How does He guide
you? He leads you and He follows you.
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In verse 3 of this Psalm, we read He leads me
in the paths of righteousness for His names
sake. Then in todays verse, verse 6, we see
that Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life Its hard to fully
understand that unless you understand how to
guide sheep.
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If you were in the Middle East you would see
shepherds out on the hills leading their sheep.
Behind them, you would also see sheep dogs coming
up behind them to keep them from going astray.
Imagine that there are two of them. Well call
one Goodness and the other one Mercy.
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Between the two of them they will keep the sheep
from getting lost. Does that make sense? So, the
fact that God is watching over you, and God is
working in you, should help you live in
confidence and apart from fear. But, one of the
main reasons you dont have to fear the future
is
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Because God is preparing a place FOR YOU. Do you
see the last part of verse 6? And I will dwell
in the house of the LORD forever. This is one of
the most important connections we see in the
Bible. It connects the present with the future.
It connects today with tomorrow.
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You see, life does not end with death. It goes on
and on. Forever. If you are a child of God, you
will one day spend all eternity with Him. 2 Cor.
51 says, For we know that if our earthly house,
this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from
God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the
heavens.
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The tent spoken of here represents our human
body. It is a temporary dwelling place for our
soul. Once we die, if we are saved, we
immediately go to be with Christ. That is why
Paul said in Phil. 121, For to me to live is
Christ, and to die is gain.
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What do we gain? We gain several blessings.
First, we gain an INCREDIBLE LIFE. Jesus said in
John 1010, I have come that they may have life,
and that they might have it more abundantly. In
our earthly body, we experience pain, sadness,
and disappointment. When we get to Heaven, it
will not be that way.
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Look at what Revelation 214 promises And God
will wipe away every tear from their eyes there
shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying.
There shall be no more pain, for the former
things have passed away. Oh, by the way, there
will be no more stress.
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Secondly, we gain an ETERNAL LIFE. In that
well-known passage, John 316 we see that
whoever believes in Him should not perish but
have eternal life. In Heaven, there is no aging
process. The last enemy of man, death, is
destroyed.
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Then, blessing 3 We gain a GLORIOUS HOME. No
matter how elaborate and beautiful homes may be
on this earth, nothing can compare with the home
that God is preparing for usHis children.
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Jesus said in John 141-3, Let not your heart be
troubled you believe in God, believe also in Me.
(2) In My Father's house are many mansions if
it were not so, I would have told you. I go to
prepare a place for you. (3) And if I go and
prepare a place for you, I will come again and
receive you to Myself that where I am, there you
may be also.
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Then, finally, Blessing 4, and perhaps the most
important, we gain PERFECTION. How can I say
this? Because the Bible teaches us will become
just like Jesus. Im not sure what age we will
be, or even if that really matters, but 1 John
32 tells us that we will be like Him
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1 John 32 Beloved, now we are children of God
and it has not yet been revealed what we shall
be, but we know that when He is revealed, we
shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He
is.
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While our worship team comes to prepare for our
closing song, I want you to think about some
things1. Do you know Christ as your Savior?
Not know OF Him, but truly KNOW Him personally?
You can know Him by inviting Him to come into
your life.
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2. Have you drifted from Him? Maybe there was a
time when you accepted Christ, but you are not
where you once were spiritually. 3. If you fit
in either of these two categories, please
consider praying the following with me. (Pray).
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Next week Transformers