The Gift – 4

The Gift – 4

Subject – The Gift of Light

By Rick Welborne

Isaiah 9:2-6 (NKJV)
²  The people who walked in darkness Have seen a great light; Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, Upon them a light has shined.
⁶  For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 

--That verse is the promise of hope for the hopeless and light to those who are walking in darkness. The nation of Israel had been walking in a season of darkness. 

--God speaks and offers hope that there would be a day when the darkness would be defeated and a new light would dawn for the entire world. 

--The timing of God could not have come at a more desperate point in history. Israel was suffering immensely under the occupation of Rome.

--The promise of the Messiah seemed like a dim hope. One night the darkness was broken by the light of a special star. Bethlehem’s Star!

--It was by no accident that God chose to guide the Magi to the Christ child through the light of a magnificent star. Christmas is the season where God penetrates the darkness to give us light and hope.

John 8:12 (NKJV)
¹²  Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life." 

1. The Light of Life.

--I love that phrase because it is obviously true. With just four words Jesus speaks the universe into existence. God said, “Let there be light.” These are God’s first recorded words. His first recorded miracle.

--Try to wrap your mind around His words. Light is the source of vision; without it we can’t see anything. Light is the source of technology; we can talk to people halfway around the world.

--Light is the first link in the food chain; no photosynthesis equals no food. Light is the basis of health; the absence of light causes everything from Vitamin D deficiency to depression. 

--Light is the origin of energy; in Einstein’s equation E=MC2, energy (E) is defined as mass (M) times the speed of Light (C) squared. The speed of light is the constant.

--Light is the alpha and omega of everything, and that includes you. "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life." 

John 1:4-5 (NKJV) ⁴ In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
⁵ And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. 

--Here at Christmas, can you comprehend that Jesus is your only hope for life…for eternal life, yes, but, also, light to walk in the darkness of this messed up world.

--Jesus told His disciples: I am the light of the world. The promise Jesus makes is one of hope that no matter what happens in life, we will never have to walk alone.

Matthew 1:18-23 (NKJV)
¹⁸  Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit.
¹⁹  Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly.
²⁰  But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.
²¹  And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins."
²²  So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying:
²³  "Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel," which is translated, "God with us."

2. The Light of the World.

Matthew 5:14-16 (NKJV)
¹⁴  You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.
¹⁵  Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.
¹⁶  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. 

--It is impossible for darkness to overcome light. Have you ever seen how darkness runs from the light? My encouragement to you is to keep walking toward the light.

--Illustration. At night I have to walk our trash cans out to the road to be picked up. When I walk away from the house, there are shadows and darkness that can make me trip and fall.

--But as soon as I turn around and start going back toward the light (the house) my ability to see becomes more and more clear.

--If you will be the light of the world, it will only happen because you have made a determination to follow the star or the light to Jesus. The light of life.

Psalm 119:105 (NKJV)
¹⁰⁵  Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path. 

--Light gives direction: Walking in the light tends to help you see where you are going and things to avoid. Light offers discovery: Things are much easier to find in the light. 

--Jesus pierced the darkness of death with the power of the resurrection and eternal life. There is hope because Jesus came to our world to defeat the power of sin and darkness.

--Today we celebrate that the light of life because the Savior of the world has come to us. Now, we can become the light of the world and share Him everywhere we go. 

Isaiah 9:2 (NKJV) The people who walked in darkness Have seen a great light; Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined. 

--A.W.Milne sailed to the New Hebrides in the South Pacific knowing that the missionaries before him were martyred by the headhunters there.

--Milne did not fear for his life because he had already died to himself. He lived among the people there for 35 years and loved them. They buried him in the middle of their village.

Milne’s Tombstone – When he came there was no light. When he left there was no darkness.

3. Jesus is Truly the Reason for the Season.

Isaiah 9:2-6 (NKJV)
²  The people who walked in darkness Have seen a great light; Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, Upon them a light has shined.
⁶  For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 

--People who have walked in darkness…that would be all of us. Raised in church or raised in the world, everyone is lost without Jesus…the Light of the World.

Romans 3:10-12 (NIV)
¹⁰  As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one;
¹¹  there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.
¹²  All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one." 

--It was for us but it is about Him. A Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 

--Why is it so hard for us to share Jesus? It’s a sad fact of life that only about 5% of born-again Christians will attempt to lead someone to Christ.

--If Jesus is truly the reason for the season, go shout it on the mountain tops that Jesus Christ is Lord! It is hypocritical to say you love Jesus when you never want to talk about Him.

--Jesus said, No greater love can we have than to be willing to lay down our lives for a friend, a relative, and maybe even an enemy. Just maybe witnessing is a way you die to yourself.

--What if people laugh at me? They laughed at Jesus, they mocked Him, they scoffed at Him, yet He still died for the sins of the whole world. One day you will be laughing and never stop. Heaven.

--How many of you remember Gerri Lehor. She is 90 years old and lives with her daughter in Ormond Beach. She fell a few weeks back and broke her hip. Usually fatal. Not for her.

--She went to the hospital and then, to rehab. I called to check on her a few days ago. She said, “I was not excited about rehab but I shared Jesus with everyone who came in my room.”

--She began to weep on the phone. Pastor Rick, I led this young nurse to Jesus and it was so wonderful. She is still shining forth the love of Jesus at 90 years of age. She is being light to the world.

--She knows Jesus is the reason for the season. Come on, Life Church, and shine for Jesus!

Give Us Today - 3

Give Us Today - 3

Subject – Being Ambidextrous 

By Rick Welborne

Matthew 6:9-15 (NLT2)
⁹  Pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.
¹⁰  May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
¹¹  Give us today the food we need,
¹²  and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us.
¹³  And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.
¹⁴  “If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you.
¹⁵  But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins. 

1 Chronicles 12:1-2 (NKJV)
¹  Now these were the men who came to David at Ziklag while he was still a fugitive from Saul the son of Kish; and they were among the mighty men, helpers in the war,
²  armed with bows, using both the right hand and the left in hurling stones and shooting arrows with the bow. They were of Benjamin, Saul's brethren. 

--This week we hopefully are moving on from our past and are straining forward to become all God wants us to be. We are developing more and more each day. Lord, give me today. 

--In our text we read about men who were Benjamites. There were several famous people from the tribe of Benjamin…King Saul, the Apostle Paul, Esther’s cousin Mordecai, and their most famous hero Ehud.

Judges 3:15 (NKJV)
¹⁵  But when the children of Israel cried out to the LORD, the LORD raised up a deliverer for them: Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a left-handed man. 

--Ehud’s victory possibly set the stage for the Benjamites becoming great warriors. Every move we make, every risk we take, sets the stage for someone else.

Batterson – Your brave is someone else’s breakthrough. We think right here, right now. God is thinking nations and generations. We think what God does for us is for us, but it’s never just for us. It’s always for third and fourth generations. When we win the day, in our own unique way we enable future generations to dream a little bigger and think a little longer. 

1. Be Deliberate in Developing Your Skills.

1 Chronicles 12:1-2 (NLT2)
¹  The following men joined David at Ziklag while he was hiding from Saul son of Kish. They were among the warriors who fought beside David in battle.
²  All of them were expert archers, and they could shoot arrows or sling stones with their left hand as well as their right. They were all relatives of Saul from the tribe of Benjamin. 

--We can assume that these men of Benjamin were not born with this skill set of using both the right hand and the left sense only about one percent of the population is born ambidextrous. 

--So how did these men of Benjamin develop this unusual skill of using both hands for battle? To become an expert archer or rock slinger takes lots of practice. 

--It is not only the 10,000-hour rule of doing something over and over. How many of you know you can practice the right thing the wrong way? It’s counterproductive. Ander’s Ericsson says we have deliberate practice. 

--Three dimensions of Deliberate Practice according to Ericsson:

First Dimension - Well defined goals. These allow you to measure progress and provide a means of feedback. 

Second Dimension – Reverse engineering. It is studying the best practice of others, then adopting them and adapting them to your unique situation. It takes diligence and determination to get better.

Third Dimension – Effort. Deliberate practice requires maximum effort, which is neither fun nor easy. When you are training your body, you have to stress it beyond its natural ability. 

--The Benjamites may have been the first to truly use the Cross-fit training method. It took many years and lots of blisters to get where they were awesomely ambidextrous. 

Ericsson – There is no point at which performance maxes out and additional practice does not lead to further improvement. Keep practicing till the day you die. That is what winning the day is all about.

2. Ehud’s Victory Became the Tribe of Benjamin’s Story. 

Judges 3:15 (NKJV)
¹⁵  But when the children of Israel cried out to the LORD, the LORD raised up a deliverer for them: Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a left-handed man. 

--Remember the quote from Batterson. Your brave is someone else’s breakthrough. Ehud was one of the most significant southpaws in the Bible. So what does that have to do with the Benjamites being ambidextrous? 

--Whether we understand it or not we are all born into someone else’s story. Ehud’s left handed victory became, for the tribe of Benjamin, their signature story.

--The Benjamites cultivating right and left hand skills in battle, was a way of honoring Ehud, and his deliverance for Israel. Becoming ambidextrous was a way of tipping their hat (or helmet) to their national hero. 

--Most of us ignore our non-dominant hands. Why bother when it is so much easier to use our strong hand and it is so much better. How we handle our weak hand affects so much in our lives. 

--When I played basketball, developing my left hand was so important. Looking back after evaluating the great basketball players, I wish I would have spent more time training myself with my left hand.

--Ehud didn’t just provide a victory for the nation of Israel but he inspired other generations to develop skills that were not natural to them and to rack up more wins for Israel.

--His brave in winning the victory was not just their breakthrough, it became their inspiration. Everything we do, we should be thinking future generations.

Batterson – God wants to use you at your point of greatest giftedness. That’s a given. He is the One Who gave you those gifts in the first place. But God wants to also use you at your point of greatest weakness. Why? Because that is when His power is made perfect. That is where we provide double trouble for the enemy.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 (NIV)
⁹  But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.
¹⁰  That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

3. Connect the Dots.

--There is probably no phrase used more than “David verses Goliath.” It is one of the greatest mismatches and obviously the underdog story that everyone knows. 

--We have the tendency to read stories the wrong way, we always think David had the disadvantage. If it was hand to hand combat, yes. There is no way David could win that fight. But David had an advantage.

--Eitan Hirsch, a ballistics expert with the Israeli Defense Forces says that an average sized stone slung by an expert could travel the length of a football field in three seconds flat. 

--He said at that velocity, it would have the same stopping power as a .45 caliber hand gun. Goliath had a huge spear with its tip weighing 15 pounds. That’s impressive but Goliath brought a knife to a gunfight.

--Think about this, David was not the underdog, Goliath was a sitting duck, and a really big one at that. The irony is that no one saw David’s potential in this battle. 

--When Samuel came to anoint the next King of Israel, David was left in the field with the sheep. Talk about being hurt by your father. Then when David volunteered to fight Goliath, Saul belittled him.

1 Samuel 17:33 (NIV)
³³  Saul replied, "You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a boy, and he has been a fighting man from his youth." 

--When David was being forgotten as he tended his father’s sheep, God was cultivating a skill set in David that would catapult him into the national stage. God is doing the same in your life today if you allow Him.

1 Samuel 17:37 (NIV)
³⁷  The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." Saul said to David, "Go, and the LORD be with you." 

--When it seemed like God had forgotten David, God was preparing him for something bigger than he could ever imagine. This is important…David was willing to look foolish going up against a giant.

--This is how our brave can be someone’s breakthrough. David had to just win the day to change his life and other’s too. There is a final irony to this incredible story:

--Saul was a Benjamite. If anyone should have fought Goliath, it should have been him. He was head and shoulders taller than anyone else. He was a big boy. David connected the dots with God, Saul didn’t.

--The lions and bears look different in each of our lives but the truth is, God is getting us ready to face the giants. Everything in your past is preparation for something in your future. 

--It’s the Goliath in front of us that helps us discover the David within us. Keep winning the day and the giants will fall.

--Remember what we all said as kids…the bigger they are the harder they fall. Win the day! Give us today!

The Gift – 3

The Gift – 3

Subject – A Child is Born

By Rick Welborne

Isaiah 9:6 (NKJV) ⁶  For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 

--What a beautiful Christmas celebration of the coming of Christ to the earth to secure salvation for everyone who sincerely wants it. Truly, the greatest gift of all.

--This child, Jesus Christ is born and He is born for us. For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son and He did it for us. A gift that no one else can compare.

--Isaiah in his prophecy talks about what His name will be called and he says it will be Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. He has a name:

Acts 4:10&12 (NKJV)                                                                                                                                            ¹⁰  let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole.
¹²  Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."

--One of the things that makes this so powerful and such a tremendous gift is this fact…Jesus is the only way that anyone will ever make it to Heaven. His Name seems extremely important.

--Yes, there are thousands of religions in the world and all of them have had leaders of whom people worshiped and followed but none like Jesus. The other leaders died and were buried or burned.

--Because God the Father sent the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ, and made the declaration that receiving Him and believing on His Name is the only path to Heaven. No other Name.

1. A Child is Born and His Name is Wonderful.

Isaiah 25:1 (NLT2) ¹  O LORD, I will honor and praise your name, for you are my God. You do such wonderful things! You planned them long ago, and now you have accomplished them. 

--Scholars believe that somewhere around 570 prophecies have predicted so many things about the coming of Christ (A Child is Born), His life, and His death.

--How wonderful is the One of Whom so much was foretold about and no credible historian can deny how they came to be just as it was told.   

--If you have been born again or received Jesus as Lord, you should shout His Name is Wonderful!

2. A Child is Born and His Name is Counselor.

Psalm 73:24-25 (NLT2) ²⁴ You guide me with your counsel, leading me to a glorious destiny.
²⁵  Whom have I in heaven but you? I desire you more than anything on earth. 

--Counseling has become big business in our world. If we would turn to this Child Who was born for us so much could be solved. Jesus can guide us with His counsel. Holy Spirit – Counselor. 

3. A Child is Born and His Name is Mighty God.

--Mary is being told by the angel how the birth of Christ will happen and to build her faith he shares about Elizabeth. He is a Mighty God!

Luke 1:36-37 (NKJV) ³⁶  Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren.
³⁷  For with God nothing will be impossible."

4. A Child is Born and His Name is Everlasting Father.

--Maybe you didn’t have the best father growing up. Maybe your father was never around. Just maybe, your father was abusive. Because a child was born, your life will never be the same:

Psalm 68:4-5 (NIV) ⁴ Sing to God, sing praise to his name, extol him who rides on the clouds-- his name is the LORD-- and rejoice before him.
⁵ A Father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. 

--You will never be without a father again. He is a Father to the fatherless forever.

5. A Child is Born and His Name is the Prince of Peace.

2 Thessalonians 3:16 (NLT2) ¹⁶ Now may the Lord of peace himself give you his peace at all times and in every situation. The Lord be with you all. 

--A child is born and He is the Savior of the world. Through Him you can find peace that will change your life forever. 

John 1:12&14 (NKJV) ¹² But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:
¹⁴  And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. 

Give Us Today - 2

Give Us Today - 2

Subject – Time to Let Yesterday Go

By Rick Welborne

Matthew 6:6-15 (NLT2)
⁶  But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.
⁷  “When you pray, don’t babble on and on as people of other religions do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again.
⁸  Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him!
⁹  Pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.
¹⁰  May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
¹¹  Give us today the food we need,
¹²  and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us.
¹³  And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.
¹⁴  “If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you.
¹⁵  But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins. 

Philippians 3:13 (NKJV)
¹³  Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,

--From 1837 until 1901, Queen Victoria ruled the British Empire. Her 63-year reign set the record in Britain only to be broken by great-grand-daughter Queen Elizabeth II. Victoria’s name – The Victorian Age.

--Not long after assuming the throne, Queen Victoria fell in love with Francis Albert Augustus Charles Emmanuel. She proposed to him 5 days after he arrived at the castle. 

--They were married on February 10, 1840. The following is her entry into her diary about her wedding day:

Queen Victoria – I never, never spent such an evening!! My Dearest Dearest Dear Albert…his excessive love and affection gave me feelings of heavenly love and happiness I could have never hoped to have felt before! He clasped me in his arms, and we kissed each other again and again! His beauty, his sweetness and gentleness--- really how can I ever be thankful enough to have such a Husband! To be called by names of tenderness, I have never yet heard used to me before—was bliss beyond belief! Oh! This was the happiest day of my life!

--What tenderness…nine months later she gave birth to her name sake, Princess Victoria. She was not fond of being pregnant and she thought newborns were ugly.

--That being said, she and Prince Albert had nine children…I am just guessing that dear Albert’s “excessive love and affection” had something to do with that. Just saying.

--The royal couple had been married 21 years when Prince Albert contracted typhoid fever and died. Victoria went into a period of profound grief from which she would never recover.

--She had his room turned into a shrine. Every day for the rest of her life, she had the linens on Albert’s bed changed, his clothes laid out, and a basin of water poured for his morning shave. She slept with his night shirt.

--We experience a piece of us dying when we lose a loved one but Victoria stopped living altogether. She only wore black the rest of her life. She died 1/22/1901, but she stopped living December 14, 1861. 14,283 days.

--I wish Victoria was the exception to the rule, but we all know she is not. Most people stop living before they breathe their last. They become prisoners of past mistakes, past hurts, past offenses. 

--If you live long enough you will experience profound pain and suffering. There is no escaping this reality. Life is unfair, and then you die. Slightly depressing. The good news, you can move past your past!

--Our culture is not good at dealing with grief. We have to face it and learn its lessons for us to go forward.

Sir Walter Osler – So many people are so overwhelmed by so many things. We’re paralyzed by things we cannot change—the past. We’re crippled by things we cannot control—the future. The solution? Let go of “dead yesterdays” and “unborn tomorrows.”

1. We Have to Let Go of Dead Yesterdays.

Philippians 3:13 (NKJV)
¹³  Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,

--The Jews had a wonderful way of grieving. They would allow for a pre-determined amount of days for two different kinds of grieving.

--When Job was grieving the loss of his children, his friends sat with him in silence for seven days. This week long period for close relatives is a Jewish ritual called Shiva. Take note, they sat in silence.

--Too many people say way too much to people who have lost a loved one. A pastor friend of mine told a family who just lost their 16-year-old son…Why are you crying, he is in heaven with Jesus? 

--He wanted to know why I kicked him. Yes, their son is in heaven but they will not see him graduate from high school, college, get married, have children. Hug him and hold him before he sleeps.

--People need an extra measure of grace during this time. Silence. Just say, I love you and can I get you anything? That’s enough. We give them space to breathe because their hearts are broken. Pray…

Matthew 6:9-11 (NLT2)
⁹  Pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.
¹⁰  May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
¹¹  Give us today…

--How do we get through this kind of pain and grief? Father, give me today. Help me today to deal with this pain. Help me today to trust You and to not allow my heart to be wounded or bitter.

--I believe I have some right to speak to this matter because I have dealt with it personally and in my 35 years here I have done close to 420 funerals/memorials. 

--It hurts when you truly love family and friends who leave us to go on to heaven. With God’s help, you can get through it and you can continue living, not just existing. Hopefully we still believe this:

2 Corinthians 5:8-9 (NKJV)
⁸  We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.
⁹  Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. 

--When we are experiencing profound grief, pain, and a broken heart, whether from the loss of a loved one, a betrayal, an unexpected tragedy, we have to pray…Father, give me today. Get me thru today.

2. We Owe It to Everyone to Pray for God’s Help Each Day.

--This may be a shock for someone to hear today but life does not stop for those around you just because you are going through something terrible. It may be your time of greatest influence.

Romans 14:7-8 (NKJV)
⁷  For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself.
⁸  For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's.

--Queen Victoria owed it to her empire to keep living, to keep leading. She owed to her children who needed her so much. She owed to Prince Albert. So important, she owed to herself to keep living. 

Romans 1:14 (NCV)                                                                                                                                               ¹⁴  I have a duty to all people—Greeks and those who are not Greeks, the wise and the foolish.

--Please don’t misunderstand me, we all should take time to grieve, to hurt, to process what we have been through but if we will ever be healed, and we can be, we must pray, Father, give me today.

--When we fail to bury our dead yesterdays whatever they were or how bad they hurt, we are not just cheating ourselves.

--We are cheating those who could be touched by our influence and our touch. Hear your pastor, we also cheat God because we are saying we can’t trust Him or believe He can give us this day.

3. Keep Straining Forward and Keep Praying, Give Me Today.

Philippians 3:12-15 (NCV)
¹² I do not mean that I am already as God wants me to be. I have not yet reached that goal, but I continue trying to reach it and to make it mine. Christ wants me to do that, which is the reason He made me His.
¹³  Brothers and sisters, I know that I have not yet reached that goal, but there is one thing I always do. Forgetting the past and straining toward what is ahead,
¹⁴  I keep trying to reach the goal and get the prize for which God called me through Christ to the life above.
¹⁵  All of us who are spiritually mature should think this way, too. And if there are things you do not agree with, God will make them clear to you. 

--Let’s face it, none of us are all God wants us to be. We have not arrived by any means but we keep trying and why we keep praying…Give me today.

--Yesterday is done and tomorrow is still unknown but today I can apply myself to strain forward through whatever it is I am going through. I am preaching to myself as much as I am you.

--He made me His, not so I would lay down and die or give up. But that I might trust Him to do in me, and thru me, what He can today. One day at a time, Sweet Jesus, that is all I am asking of You.

I'm only human, I'm just a woman…Help me believe in what I could be…And all that I am. 

Show me the stairway, I have to climb…Lord for my sake, teach me to take…One day at a time. 

One day at a time sweet Jesus…That's all I'm asking from you…Just give me the strength 

To do every day what I have to do…Yesterday's gone sweet Jesus…And tomorrow may never be mine. 

Lord help me today, show me the way…One day at a time…Do you remember, when you walked among men? 

Well Jesus you know if you're looking below…It's worse now, than then. Cheating and stealing, violence and crime…So for my sake, teach me to take…One day at a time….One day at a time sweet Jesus 

That's all I'm asking from you…Just give me the strength…To do every day what I have to do. 

Yesterday's gone sweet Jesus…And tomorrow may never be mine. 

Lord help me today, show me the way…One day at a time.