Author: Pastor Dennis Williams | Page 32 | Answers to Life Ministry

Start Strong And End Strong

1 Corinthians 9:24-27 Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.25 And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.26 I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so, fight I, not as one that beateth the air:27 But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.

WHEN RUNNING IN THE RACE OF LIFE:
PHYSICAL READINESS AND SPIRITUAL READINESS ARE IMPORTANT
• We should not neglect our physical bodies
1 Corinthians 6:19-20: What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
To be effective as Christians, our body, soul, and spirit are essential

Drink water
Get a consistent amount of sleep daily
And eat as healthy as you can
As you age, these things are more important
It is never too late to start
Take care of your whole body, soul, and spirit
For your spirit man: stay in the Bible and prayer
So you can run this race (of life) with endurance

SO, WE CAN SAY AS CHRISTIANS:OUR GOAL IN THE LONG DISTANT RUN CALLED “LIFE”

Is to finish life’s race
And stand at the judgment seat of Christ
And receive what the Lord has for us (he has many surprises for us)

One of those prizes is in:
2 Tim 4:8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

THE LORD WANTS US NOT TO BECOME WEARY IN WELL DOING, BUT KEEP RUNNING THE RACE
Galatians 6:9: And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
WEARY: WORN OUT, BURNED OUT, BEATEN, TIRED AND EXHAUSTED
WE GET WEARY DURING:

Discouragement with life in general
Financial situations
Negative People
Outside and inside pressures
Stress and Anxiety
The test of our faith
Lack of answers to our prayers

YOU MAY BE TEMPTED TO QUIT BUT DON’T QUIT

Keep running the race: “for in due season, we shall reap, if we faint not.”
Keep sowing the seed of the Word of God in your heart
Build your faith
Keep developing your Christian Character

Ro 5:3-4 : 3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope:
Hebrews 10:23 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)
1 Corinthians 15:57-58 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
• BE STEADFAST: stable, faithful, loyal, fixed, unmovable, firm in what you believe
SEEK TO BE SPIRITUALLY STABLE AND FIRM IN YOUR WALK WITH THE LORD

Attend to your own spiritual life
Don’t become overburdened with too many of life’s issues
Various trials and tribulations

Give your heart to Jesus today by saying this prayer:

Dear Lord Jesus,
Thank you for dying on the cross for my sin. Please forgive me. Come into my life. I receive You as my Lord and Savior. Please, help me to live for you the rest of this life. Fill me with your Holy Spirit. In the name of Jesus, I pray.
Amen.

Battle of Spiritual Senses

By Pastor Dennis Williams

2 Corinthians 5: 5-7: 5 Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. 6 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight)

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Prison House of Discouragement

By Pastor Dennis Williams

Isaiah 42:6-7 I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles;7 To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.

DISCOURAGEMENT: A sense of unhappiness arising from a loss of confidence in one’s abilities,
• a loss of our dependence on God or in the power of the Gospel.
THE WORD DISCOURAGEMENT COMES FROM THE ROOT WORD COURAGE.
• The prefix dis- means “the opposite of.”
• Discouragement is the opposite of courage

WHEN WE ARE DISCOURAGED, WE HAVE LOST THE MOTIVATION TO PRESS FORWARD.

• The mountain seems too high to climb
• the valley too dark
• or the battle too fierce
• and we lose the courage to continue.
Joshua 1:9: Have, not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.
• After God’s leader, Moses, died
• Joshua had “big shoes” to fill
• But God told Joshua that “HE” would be with Him
Deuteronomy 31:6: Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

GOD COMMANDS HIS PEOPLE TO TAKE COURAGE
Psalm 31:24: Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord.
Psalm 27:14: Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.

THE APOSTLE PAUL’S MINISTRY BROUGHT DIFFICULTIES, DISAPPOINTMENTS, FAILURES AND DISCOURAGEMENT.
• But he never quit
• He was committed to the work
• that God called him too
AT THE END OF HIS MINISTRY HE WROTE IN
2 Tim 4:6-7:For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.7 I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:

TO BE A COMMITTED MINISTER OR EVEN A CHRISTIAN
• takes everything a person has
• A selfless commitment
• Which sometimes can bring Depression and Discouragement
PAUL WANTED TO TELL TIMOTHY TO “DEAL WITH” THE SAME KINDS OF SITUATIONS THAT HE HAD TO FACE IN THE MINISTRY
2 Timothy 1:8 Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the Gospel according to the power of God;
• Don’t expect things to be a piece of cake
• Smooth sailing
2 Timothy 2:3: Paul said: Thou, therefore, endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

Give your heart to Jesus today by saying this prayer:

Conspiracy Lies and Half-Truths

By Pastor Dennis Williams

2 Timothy 4:4: And they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables.

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God’s Strength Lies and Delusions

By Pastor Dennis Williams

Eph 6:13: Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
• Yes, we live in an evil day
• Where people believe or consider anything that comes out of somebody’s mouth
• Even if it is a conspiracy theory
• Even if is a political propaganda
• Even if it is a lie
2 Thess 2: 2-3,9-11 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or trouble, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. 3. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; (down in vs )9. Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, 10And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.11And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
YES, EVEN THE VISIBLE EVANGELICAL CHRISTIAN MASSES ARE BELIEVING
o Anything that comes out of someone’s mouth
o Rather than consider what “Thus saith the Lord” (The Bible)
o And Not a so-called “Prophet or Prophetess.”

Jesus said in Matthew 5:14-16: Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

THE WORD OF GOD SAYS THAT JESUS CHRIST WILL COME AS A THIEF IN THE NIGHT

If we are HIS LIGHT
His coming should not overtake His faithful followers as a thief

1 Thess 5 1-8: But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. 2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.7 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.

LET THE LORD BE YOUR STRENGTH IN THIS DARK HOUR

Psalm 18:1-2: I will love thee, O Lord, my strength.2 The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.
• But how do we get God’s strength and have it show in our lives?
Psalm 147:10,11 tells us: He delighteth not in the strength of the horse: he taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man.11 The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.
Zechariah 4:6: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the LORD of hosts

Give your heart to Jesus today by saying this prayer:

Weak Made Strong

By Pastor Dennis Williams

2 Cor 12 :3-4,7,9And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;)4How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. 77And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.

Jesus said in vs 9: And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

IT IS GOD’S GRACE
• God’s grace gives us what we do not deserve
• And in His mercy, he does not give us what we deserve

THE LORD’S POWER IS MADE PERFECT IN OUR WEAKNESS
WE ARE ALL FOOLISH, WEAK AND BASE (LOWLY AND DESPISED) PEOPLE WITHOUT JESUS CHRIST IN OUR LIVES
1 Corinthians 1:26-29:
26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: 27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.
• The Corinthians tended to be puffed up with pride
o Pride our Proud: is merely having an overly high opinion of oneself or one’s importance
• The Corinthians were puffed up with the knowledge they had 1 Cor 8:1
• “they were puffed up for one against another” 1 Cor 4:6
• “some are puffed up” 1 Cor 4:18:
• ” not the speech of them that are puffed up but the power” 1 Cor 4:19

WE CAN FIND POWER AND STRENGTH IN CHRIST
Ephesians 3:16: That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;
2 Corinthians 12:10: Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.
Romans 8:37: Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
Psalm 18:2: The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.