How to Survive a Heart Attack!

Sermon Text: Proverbs 4:23 Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.

Sermon Title: How to Survive a Heart Attack!

Point 1: Goes in Grows Out Proverbs 4:23 Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life. This is the way Message Bible puts it Keep vigilant watch over your heart; that's where life starts. Don't talk out of both sides of your mouth; avoid careless banter, white lies, and gossip. Keep your eyes straight ahead; ignore all sideshow distractions. Watch your step, and the road will stretch out smooth before you. Look neither right nor left; leave evil in the dust.

Prov. 23: 7 KJV For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he…

Point 2: God in God Out

Point 3: Jesus raises your heart rate Matt. 15: 19/20 For out of the heart come evil thoughts…these are what make a man 'unclean'…

Point 4: Search and Rescue Jeremiah 17: 9/10 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.

1.  He searches us Psalms 139: 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.

2.  He intercedes for us Rom 8: 26/27…the Spirit helps us in our weakness…the Spirit himself intercedes for us…he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit…the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance to God's will.

3.  He cleanse us

4.  He tells us to wash ourselves Jer. 4: 14…Jerusalem wash your hearts…

Conclusion: David said it best Psalms 51: 10 Create in me a pure heart O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

        In other words, David was saying I had a heart attack. I caused it and it's about to kill me.

Test Me: Giving Into Your Greatness

Sermon Title: Test Me: Giving Into Your Greatness

Sermon Text: Luke 21:1-4

Point 1: Give out of your poverty. Luke 21:4,…but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”

Point 2: Give prayerfully. Colossians 4:2, Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.

Point 3: Give politely. Matt. 6:3, But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,

Point 4: Give plentifully. Luke 6:38, Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap…

Point 5: Give progressively. 2 Cor. 9:5…it will be ready as a generous gift, not as one grudgingly given.

Point 6: Give purposely. Matt. 6:20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.

Point 7: Give positively. 2 Cor. 9:7, Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

Test Me: Just the Facts

Test Me:  Just the Facts

Mal 3:6-12 - 6 “I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. 7 Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty. “But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’ 8 “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’  “In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. 11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the Lord Almighty. 12 “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the Lord Almighty.

1.  Tithing predates the law

Abraham tithed to Melchizedek, Gen. 14: 18-20 Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, 19 and he blessed Abram, saying, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High,     Creator of heaven and earth. 20 And praise be to God Most High,    who delivered your enemies into your hand.” Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

2.  Tithing was not altered by Jesus

Luke 11:42 - “Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone.

3.  Tithe is a test to trust God’s word.

Mal. 3:10 - ¹⁰ Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.

4.  Tithe is a symbol of the whole and is holy. 

Leviticus 27: 30 Contemporary English- Ten percent of everything you harvest is holy and belongs to me, whether it grows in your fields or on your fruit trees.

5.  Tithe is 10% of your gross income.

Mal. 3:10 - ¹⁰ Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.

6.  Tithe is the only thing God will allow us to test him in. 

Mal. 3:10 - ¹⁰ Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.

7.  Tithe is one of the main ways God uses to activate his blessings.  …and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.

8.  Tithing aligns you with God’s system and God’s economy.

Gen. 8: 22 Common English- As long as the earth exists, seedtime and harvest, cold and hot, summer and autumn, day and night will not cease

2 Cor. 9:6-8 6 Contemporary English-Remember this saying,    "A few seeds make    a small harvest,    but a lot of seeds make    a big harvest."  Each of you must make up your own mind about how much to give. But don’t feel sorry that you must give and don’t feel that you are forced to give. God loves people who love to give. ⁸ God can bless you with everything you need, and you will always have more than enough to do all kinds of good things for others.

Gal. 6:7,9 - Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. ⁹ And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

9.  Tithing rain down blessings.

Mal. 3:10 - ¹⁰ Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.

10.      Tithing supports your house and God’s house. 

2 Chronicles 31: 10 put it. …”Since the people began to bring their contributions to the temple of the Lord, we have had enough to eat and plenty to spare, because the Lord has blessed his people, and this great amount is left over.”

Mal. 3:10 - ¹⁰ Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house.

11.      Tithing helps you keep first things first. 

Matthew 6:33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

12.      Tithing breaks the hold of selfishness. 

Hag. 1: 4-6 NIV- ⁴ “Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?” ⁵ Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. ⁶ You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.”

13.      Tithing is the starting point of giving as you purpose in your heart

2 Corinthians 9:7  Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

14.      Tithe when you get paid

Luke 18:12 - English Standard Version (ESV)12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’

15.      Do I tithe instead of paying bills?

Matthew 6:33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

16.      What if I want to tithe but my partner doesn’t?

Amos 3:3 Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so?

Matthew 18:19-20 18 “Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be[a] bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be[b] loosed in heaven.  For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”

17.      Tithing test the covenant relationship between me and God

Mal. 3:7, …Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty.

Test God: Satisfaction Guaranteed

Sermon Text: Malachi 3: 10 Bring me the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.

Sermon Title: Test God: Satisfaction Guaranteed

Point 1: God will open up heaven for you vs. 10…I will…throw open the floodgates of heaven…

 The only other place this Hebrew phrase is used is in Gen 7: 11/12…on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of heaven were opened…and rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.
 2 Chronicles 31: 10 put it. …”Since the people began to bring their contributions to the temple of the Lord, we have had enough to eat and plenty to spare, because the Lord has blessed his people, and this great amount is left over.”

Point 2: God will prevent the pest for me vs. 11…I will prevent pest from devouring your crops…

Point 3: God will feature me vs. 12 Then all nations will call you blessed…

Point 4: God will guarantee it vs. 10 …test me in this…

Conclusion.

Get ther ITES OUT!!!!!

Sermon Text: Deuteronomy 7:1-2, 13, When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you— 2 and when the Lord your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally.[a] Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy. 13 He will love you and bless you and increase your numbers. He will bless the fruit of your womb, the crops of your land—your grain, new wine and olive oil—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you.

Sermon Title: Get the “ites” out

Point 1: They are the:

a)   Hittites: sons of Heth. We know they were fierce warriors based on the story of Uriah, the husband of Bathsheba, who preferred to be on the battlefield than take a one-day pass to be with his wife. They lived near Hebron. This is some of the very same land that is disputed today in the Middle East which is still being fought over.

b)   Girgashites: Unknown derivation. Dwelling on clay like soil.

c)   Amorites: means a sayer. They lived in what is now called Syria, Palestine and some say the Jerusalem area. A tribe of Canaan. They were also giants.

d)   Perizzites: People who belong to a village. They may have had a small town perspective.

e)   Hivites; or Hortites: Cave dwellers. One might say they were lovers of the dark. Hideouts and secrets. There is a lot of confusion about their name and origin. Which also tells me they could have flourished in confusion.

f)     Jebusites: They were also thought to be from Jerusalem and imposters of the holy, on par with the Amorites and Canaanites.

g)   Canaanites: The son of Ham. A large number of their populations were slaves; war captives, defaulting debtors, unemployed men and women who sold themselves into slavery, children who parents sold them into slavery; farming slaves who worked the land but did not own it, state slaves, and temple slaves. It is obvious they had a slave mentality. They worshipped Baal and Anat two gods at the head of pantheon (lot of gods). They were vegetation gods.

Point 2: We can see how the Israelites begin knowing themselves in verse 1, 7 Deuteronomy 7:1, 7  When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you 7 The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. Deuteronomy 7:6, For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession. Paul put it this way in 1 Peter 2:9, But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Point 3: In order to get the “ites” out you have to face them head on. God told the Israelites not to play with the “ites”. He said to follow my lead. Hit them in the face and slap them in the face. Deuteronomy 7:10, But those who hate him he will repay to their face by destruction; he will not be slow to repay to their face those who hate him. Deuteronomy 7:5, This is what you are to do to them: Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones, cut down their Asherah poles[b] and burn their idols in the fire. In other words 2 Corinthians 10:4-5, (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; 22, The Lord your God will drive out those nations before you, little by little. You will not be allowed to eliminate them all at once, or the wild animals will multiply around you. He told Israel, He will love you and bless you and increase your numbers. He will bless the fruit of your womb, the crops of your land-your grain, new wine and oil-the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks in the land that he swore to your forefathers to give you. Jesus put it this way in John 10:10, I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.