For centuries, the descendants of Abraham had anticipated possessing the land God had promised to the Patriarch in the Abrahamic Covenant, and then reiterated to Isaac and Jacob. Joshua is the compelling history of the fulfillment of that promise. It is the story of God’s faithfulness and how, by faith in God’s promises, God’s people can overcome and experience His life-changing deliverance. The message of Joshua can encourage and have a wonderful impact on one’s life. For that to occur, however, we need to be serious in our study of Scripture.
True success is not what the world thinks of you and what you have done, but what God thinks of you and what you have done.
The book of Joshua is a book of new beginnings for the people of God. Many of us have a weary sense of spiritual need for a new beginning.
Joshua had some very big shoes to fill. Joshua was facing one of the greatest crisis points of his life. He was not only facing the challenge of replacing Moses as the leader of the nation but also of actually leading the people into the promise land.
This Means War – Part 5
Psalm 108:13
Through God we will do valiantly, for it is He who shall tread down our enemies.
We have seen that prayer is a work we are invited to, and the invitation is to every believer. It is a call to partnership with the One who has given His life for us. It is a call to extend His Kingdom, seeing His life and light penetrate the darkness of evil that surrounds so many.
How are you going to answer that invitation?
When it comes to invitations, many of us immediately come up with our stock excuse list, which I have found mostly centers around time—not having enough of it or, in the case of a “prayer invitation,” thinking that the limited amount you do have is not enough to make a difference. But EVERY PRAY COUNTS!!!! This Sunday we will look to the Scriptures for victory though prayer!
This Means War – Part 4
In this message we will look at effective fervent prayer that engages the battle against the kingdom of darkness with the power of the Kingdom of God. This kind of prayer calls for earnestness and fervency in prayer that moves into the invisible realm where evil has dominated a situation, and then breaks the yoke of bondage over those circumstances. This is prayer that confronts the work of hell and casts down the rule of darkness that is hindering God’s intended blessing for that situation. I want to say to you pointedly that every believer needs to face the responsibility of letting his life be enlarged by this dimension of prayer. If you want to see release or breakthrough happen in your life and in the lives of those you pray for, then there are times when you will need to enter the battle in a fervent pursuit of prayer—breaking in on the works of darkness and seeing them shattered by the power of the word of God that comes forth from your lips. There is no substitute for that kind of confrontational prayer.
This Means War – Part 3
Today, we’ll look at strongholds, the enemy’s access points that can compromise God’s power and purposes in our lives. We’re also going to cover how these access points are established and how they can be dismantled. If I have inside of me the fullness of the power of Jesus Christ that raised him from death, it’s not an issue of needing more power. A lot of times in the church of Jesus Christ we think we need more power. But in salvation, in our union with Christ we have the power that raised Christ from death. That’s a pretty significant starting point. So it’s not an issue of needing more power; it’s an issue of why that power is not being released in my life. This week we look to the scriptures and see to live triumphantly in Christ is to understand what strongholds are. For more information go to: http://www.mtzchurch.org
This Means War – Part 2
This week, we will see that Satan has many methods to deceive anyone and everyone. He is a defeated foe and is not to be feared. Movies like The Exorcist portray Satan in an erroneous way. He is coming with deceptions and works through his people to attempt to accomplish his plans. His methods are cunning and many times mazelike so a person who is unsaved or a saved person who is biblically illiterate will fall for his schemes. I pray that we all see that God uses situations to build His children; Satan uses evil to destroy his children. For more information go to: www.mtzchurch.org
This Means War – Part 1
This Sunday, we begin a brand new series: “This Means War”. When a believer sins, he destroys his witness. Satan wants to destroy the effectiveness of the believer’s witness. The devil is an enemy who confronts each of us. We are powerless on our own to stand against him. However, we are given examples in the Bible of how to overcome this formidable foe. We know the end of the story told in the Bible. We are convinced that the devil will be defeated; but, until then we struggle with a day-to-day battle with him and his attacks. In this series, we will discover that we are not defenseless and we are more than conquerors and we can defeat our enemy!
A Time For AmericaTo Remember
My friends, proper equipment in life demands a good memory, likewise the ability to forget. All of the blunders, murmurings and fault findings unjustly made ought to be forgotten, but the fear of Moses was they might forget the God who had led them all the way, who had fed them with manna, bread from heaven, and who had caused their garments not wear out, nor their feet to swell. The nation of Israel was a chosen nation and had a close relationship and fellowship with God that no other nation before or since has had, except the Christian nation which is the Church of Christ. However, I would like to suggest that there may be a parallel in various ways to this wonderful bit of history. Some have called America a child of providence. I am inclined to agree with those thinkers who believe the founding of the United States of America was providential and that God had a hand in it. This is not to say that America is a chosen nation like Israel, but it is to say that possibly there was a guiding hand in the history of America, one of the greatest countries on earth– whose motto is, “one nation under God with liberty and justice for all.”.
This Is What We Do – Part 3
Today we are in part three, the final week, of a message series called This Is What We Do. Today, I want to talk to you about the blessings of generosity. When I think about it, I wonder how many of you would love to blessed with a massive blessing of being able to be obedient God and it impacts someone else’s life because we really believe it is more blessed to give than to receive. How many would love to be blessed like that? This is what we do. Because of what Jesus did, we lead the way with irrational generosity. As Jesus followers, this is just what we do. It may not be what everybody does, but it is what we do. We recognize that giving and being generous are actually two different things, right? Everyone gives but to live from a heart, a posture, of irrational generosity, that is different from just giving. In fact, if you’re taking notes, we say it this way. Giving and being generous, they are two different things.
This Is What We Do – Part 2
I believe that our God knows that the number one thing competing for your heart is money, and stuff. So we could not, if this is what we do, we are open handed people. We want to be influential, we want to be generous, we could not be talking about a more important topic today.
So here’s how the scarcity cycle works. God supplies, we begin to consume what God supplies. Then, after a while, we start lacking because we’ve been consuming. After we’ve been lacking, that brings us into a place of fear and anxiety, and so what do we do with that fear? We medicate it by more consumption. And the cycle goes on an on and on. This week I want to just take this topic just a little bit deeper, and so if you’re taking notes I want you to write this thought down. The scarcity cycle starts in the mind, not in the wallet.
This Is What We Do – Part 1
When I look around, here at Mt. Zion Church, I truly do see some of the most amazing, crazy, passionate, generous people.
We’re going to do everything we can to make a difference with what God has blessed us with, and I celebrate the generosity of so many of you. It’s truly, truly amazing. It’s God inspiring, and it makes a big difference in this world.
Unfortunately, if we can just call it what it is, a lot of people get uncomfortable when you talk about generosity, and the truth is, tragically in our country, many people are not that generous. If you ask them, are they generous? Many people are going to say, “Yeah, I’m pretty generous.” And the reason is because they give something, but we need to understand that giving and being generous, they’re actually two different things. This week, we begin our brand new series with, “More Abundantly”