Knowing God #4: Finding Stability In An Unstable World
Pastor Scott Applegate
Sermon Notes:
“I am the Lord, and I do not change…” Malachi 3:6 NLT
“In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment. Like clothing you will change them and they will be discarded. But you remain the same, and your years will never end.” Psalm 102:25-27 NIV
“Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow.” James 1:17 NLT
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” Hebrews 13:8 NLT
How to Find Stability in an Unstable World
- I need to build my life on God’s word because God’s word never changes
“The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.” Isaiah 40:8 NIV
“Long ago I learned from your statutes that you established them to last forever.” Psalm 119:152
- Two ways to build a house; on a solid foundation or a shaky foundation
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. Matthew 7:24 NIV
“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” Matthew 24:35 NIV
“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,” 2 Timothy 3:16 NIV
- I need to live for God’s purposes because God’s purposes never change
“The Lord has made everything for his own purposes…” Proverbs 16:4 NLT
“…Everything was created through him and for him.” Colossians 1:16 NLT
- His unchanging purpose for me is that I live for His glory
“Everyone who is called by My name, And whom I have created for My glory, Whom I have formed, even whom I have made.” Isaiah 43:7 NASB
“In commanding us to glorify Him, God is inviting us to enjoy Him.” C.S. Lewis
“God is most glorified when I am most satisfied in Him.” John Piper
- I bring God glory when I love Him by enjoying Him, obeying Him, worshipping Him, sharing Him, being myself and loving people
- I need to find my identity and self-worth in God’s love, because His love for me never changes
“…God is love.” 1 John 4:8 NIV
“I have loved you with an everlasting love…” Jeremiah 31:3 NIV
- God’s love is: Personal, Passionate, and Powerful
Romans 8:31-39
“…If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us. Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”)No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:31-39 NLT
“For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!” And through Christ, our “Amen” (which means “Yes”) ascends to God for his glory. It is God who enables us, along with you, to stand firm for Christ. He has commissioned us, and he has identified us as his own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first installment that guarantees everything he has promised us.” 2 Corinthians 1:20-22 NLT
“He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a human being, that he should change his mind.” 1 Samuel 15:29 NIV