Opening Prayer - Heavenly Father we thank you for the oppertunity to worship your Son this morning. We look forward to what awaits us this year, and we are very thankful that You know the future. We pray that You will help us to trust that You know what is best for us and that You will help us to do what You want us to do in 2015. Please bless us indeed and give us the strength and wisdom to live the way the Bible says we should live. We pray that everyone who reads this sermon who are not saved will become saved before it is too late. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
Worship music - Please click the links and sing along if you know the words (You can also click skip ad to go straight to the songs) -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05hhZ0oFEIk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2J6RSS_Qkeg
How good would it feel to know that your prayers will be answered in 2015? If you are a Christian, Matthew 21:18-22 is your answer.
Matthew 21:18-22 says -
"18Now in the morning as he returned into the city, he hungered. 19And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away.
20And when the disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying, How soon is the fig tree withered away! 21Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done. 22And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive."
The key is to have faith. If you are a Christian, you had to believe that when you told God that you trust Jesus' death on the cross and His shed blood to erase your sins, you really believed that your sins were washed away at that moment and knew that you will go to Heaven when you leave this world. The same kind of belief can be used when you ask God to heal you and others, help you make the right decisions when you don't know what to do, and save people who are not Christians. If you pray for these type of things, God will answer. He won't necessarily answer prayers that aren't according to His will. 1 John 5:14 explains this, and it says, "And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:"
So, what if we are not totally sure that God will answer our prayers? The Lord has revealed to me a very simple and effective way to be sure. Many times each day, we sit down in chairs or couches and do not even worry if they will be able to hold us without falling apart and droping us to the floor. The same kind of worry-free faith can literally be used when we ask God to heal us and others, help us make the right decisions when we don't know what to do, and save people who are not Christians. When you are sitting in a chair or lying in bed, tell God that just how you "know" this chair isn't going to fall apart, you "know" that your friend is going to be healed of cancer right now through Jesus' healing power.
You can say, "There is no way that this chair is going to fall apart. In the same way, there is no way that my friend is going to have cancer anymore. The chair falling apart - is not going to happen. My friend having cancer - is not going to happen. You can actually imagine that the cancer is part of the chair you are sitting on. You have faith (are confident) that the chair is not going to fall while you are sitting on it, and since the cancer is the same part of the chair that you know will not fall apart while you are sitting on it, you believe that Jesus will heal your friend of cancer. Since you believe that the chair is not going to fall apart, then that is all the faith that you need. Since the cancer and the chair is the same thing, your only job is to believe that the chair is not going to fall apart while you are sitting in it.
The people in Acts 5:12-16 had this same kind of faith because they believed if Peter's shadow would pass over sick people, they would be healed.
Acts 5:12-16 says, "12And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch. 13And of the rest durst no man join himself to them: but the people magnified them. 14And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.) 15Insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them. 16There came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed every one."
The Bible teaches that we should pray until we are satisfied that God has answered our prayer. If you have the kind of faith that has been mentioned in this sermon when you ask God to heal and save people, you will obey that teaching.
However, if you are a Christian, but you have sinned and have not asked God to forgive you for that sin, God will not answer your prayers until you have asked God to forgive you for saying something sinful, thinking something sinful, doing something sinful, or not doing something that the Holy Spirit urged you to say or do. Also, you should ask God to forgive you for sinning in ways that you didn’t realize you had sinned. These concepts are taught in Psalm 66:18, and it says, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:”
In conclusion, if you have never prayed or made a decision to become a Christian, you need to believe that you will get saved when you pray or make a decision to do that: please follow this website - http://chriswaug5.wix.com/howtogotoheaven
If you have prayed or made a decision to trust Jesus' death on the cross and His shed blood to erase your sins and let you into Heaven, but you are not sure that you are really a Christian, please follow this website (http://chriswaug5.wix.com/makingsure) because Hebrews 11:6 says, "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."