Our name | Mission | Vision | Leaders Ministries | Schedule | Directions | Contact Home   Gateway Church gathers for worship Sundays at 10:30 a.m. Location: 6425 Jefferson Rd. (Hwy. 129) in Athens, Georgia. For directions, click here. Ministry of the Word: Recent sermons Our quarterly e-magazine Gateway Today For the Gateway family Pastor Jerry's Weekly E-Mail A GATEWAY SERMON SUMMARY AUDIO Overcoming unbelief (Second in the series, Overcoming the Enemies of Joy) Jerry Varnado, pastor Gateway Church, Athens GA February 19, 2006 Main Scripture text: Matthew 17:14-21 Two points from last week's sermon: 1) Biblical joy is "the happy state that results from knowing and serving God." 2) Joy is promised to every believer. Today we begin to explore the common enemies that steal our joy -- enemies that lurk within us: attitudes of heart and mind, patterns of living. Today, the subject is unbelief. In our culture of fast food and high-speed Internet, we have lost the concept of perseverance. Most of us know nothing about what used to be called "praying through" -- that is, not giving up in prayer until we get an answer. Sermons in this series 1-The Promise of Joy 2-Overcoming Unbelief 3-Overcoming Self-Centeredness 4-Overcoming Our Fear 5-Overcoming Anger 6-Overcoming Negative Thinking 7-Rejoice Always! Rejoice! We pray about whatever is sapping our joy, but after a while we give up -- thinking that God cannot or will not do anything about it. We just get tired and quit. But the biblical pattern is "persevering faith" -- a faith that finally overcomes the opposition. Our joy is so critically important to God's mission in the world that the devil -- who is trying to steal our joy -- won't give up without a fight. When God brought Israel out of Egypt and got them to the land He had promised to them, they had to go into the land and take it away from the Canaanites. They had to fight for what God had promised. The devil is the enemy of our souls, and if we want the joy that is our possession in Christ, we've got to fight for it -- and not give up. To do that we must believe God will empower us. We must persevere in faith -- with prayer, fasting, and meditating on God's Word. Supporting texts: Mark 9:14-29 | Luke 10:17-19 A mp3 audio file of this sermon is here (31 min.). (Download to a PC by right clicking on the link and choosing "Save Target As." Mac users: click, hold, and choose "Download Link to Disk." Depending on your connection speed, the file may take several minutes to download.) An audio tape of the sermon summarized above is available free of charge (U.S. requests only). Request a tape by calling or writing the Gateway Church office. Please specify tape number 060219a: Overcoming Unbelief. © 2006 Gerald R. Varnado To the Gateway Church home page How to contact us