Brother Gary Sunday Morning 6/17/12

Brother Gary Sunday Morning 6/17/12

Hos 14:1  O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.

Hos 14:2  Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips.

Hosea was burdened with this thought because he wanted them to understand the goodness and the severity of God.  This is God’s handbook.  If you do what He tells you to do then you can rest assured that the goodness of God is laid up for you. 

The same goes for those that refuse Him and refuse to do what He says then there is the severity of God.  It is the same severity as when He opened the earth and swallowed those that resisted Moses.  It doesn’t matter what your family is or where you are from, the only thing that matters to God is if your name is written down in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

“Begin to call on God.”  There will be times in life when our mind is boggled with what is happening around us.  We need to remember that man doesn’t have the answer; God has the answer.

“Begin to call upon God.”  There is a definite way to call on God.  In Psalms 51, David recorded his heart of repentance before the Almighty God.  There are no secrets with God.  He knows all the sin.  The reality is that you and I need to confess our sins to God and for our spirit to be broken. 

The carnal and natural man has a haughty spirit.  People in management know that there are those that don’t want to be told anything.  In this, they can identify with God dealing with man.  There are those that are haughty and don’t want to be told anything.

David when he did wrong felt conviction and said, “God I’m so needy before you.”  Our spirit must be broken and we must realize that we really need help from God in order to receive help from God. 

No one ever got saved unless they realized that they were a failure.  Remember the Pharisee and the publican.  The one said that he wasn’t that bad and not even as bad as the one over there.  The other said, “Please forgive me of my many sins.”  The latter was the one that went away justified.

God is a God that takes pleasure in the prosperity of His servants.  Salvation is the beginning of prosperity.  It gives us what money cannot buy and man cannot give us.

Tit 2:11  For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,

Graciousness is the result of the grace of God.  Grace means unmerited favor.  We don’t deserve the grace of God.  The grace of God brings salvation.  When God convicts us of our sin it is the unmerited favor of God that helps us know our need.  God shows us our need and then he shows us by His word the answer for our need.

It is the grace of God that shows us our need of salvation.  Salvation means:  deliverance, help, safety, victory, and health. 

Deliverance:  There are walls of Babylon, and sinners are captive.  This deliverance that comes from salvation delivers us from our past.  Your past can be forgiven and you can start a new life.  We are delivered from bad habits. 

Help:  whether you have just gotten saved or have been saved for years, if you have this ‘treasure in earthen vessels’ then you are going to need help from God.  Though the mountains are carried into the midst of the sea, God is a very present help in the time of need.  There is not something wrong with you spiritually if you need help from God.  You are a normal child. 

If you are a babe, learning how to walk with God, that is fine.  Children need help learning how to walk.  Crawling for a child helps develop the brain.  God is a present help. 

Especially He wants to help you spiritually.  If you don’t have food to eat then God will help you have food.  If you need a ride to church then God will send you a ride.  Especially though He wants to help you spiritually. 

My dad got his back broke on cougar peak.  He laid on a piece of plywood for a long time.  The Medical community couldn’t do anything for him.  He asked for his children to be called in and told us that he was going to die if God didn’t heal him. 

He looked at me and told me to take care of my mother.  I remember being broken hearted thinking that my dad was going to die.  He reached a real low point and then he started to heal. 

Two weeks later he asked my mother to bring the car as close to the front door as she could and he crawled to the car.  He then asked her to take him to the hill.  We were raised on the hill where Sister Sheppard has a nice house.  Mom drove him up there and he got out and asked her to leave and come back in an hour. 

My dad crawled and would lift himself up on two canes.  He did this everyday for two weeks and if he could come back he would tell you that there he learned to walk again.  He went back to work sawing logs.  I don’t know if you could tell that he’d had a broken back.  

I can hear him saying, “I learned to walk again.”

You may be here this morning and a tragic thing has happened to you.  You may have forgotten God.  It really doesn’t matter how long it takes for you to learn to walk with God but what matters is that you learn to walk.  You may have had an injury that so to speak has knocked you out of the saddle but you can learn to walk again. 

Safety:  It is wonderful that you can be protected.  Most of us shudder when we think of the evil spirits that are loosed in the world today.  You don’t need to be afraid of those spirits.  As long as you have the robes of salvation on and are walking in the light of the Gospel then you don’t have to fear any spirit out there.  The devils tremble when the saints of God pray.  Though I walk in the midst of trouble God will protect me.  Safety is ours because we don’t override the checks of God.  Safety is of the Lord.

Victory:  “God hasn’t given us a spirit of fear but of power, of love, and of a sound mind.” We can trust God to give us the victory.  No matter what trouble you encounter you can trust God to give you the victory over it. 

Health:  it is wonderful that we serve a God that sent his son so that we could be healthy physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.  God doesn’t want you to just feel good so you can hike into lakes but He wants you to serve our brothers and sisters in Christ and help those that don’t have all their needs supplied.

Tit 2:12  Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

The grace of God is our teacher.  It is a wonderful teacher.  It is alright if people ask you, “What are you looking up for all the time?”  The grace of God has taught me to look to see if Jesus is coming.  We want to be looking and we want to be ready.

Hos 14:2  Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips.

800 years before Jesus came, Hosea wrote this.  Paul spoke it this way:

Heb 13:15  By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.

Hos 14:3  Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods: for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy.

Asshur was a rich king.  The rich will not be able to bail you out.  They will not be our salvation.  The powerful will not be our salvation.  It is not going to happen.  Don’t think in your mind that some man will save you.

The horses were strong, beautiful, well-groomed, and fast.  That will not take care of your problems.  Don’t trust in horses and chariots.

Sometimes people try to set a scene up so that everything is just how they want it but they will be disappointed.  If you do this, you will realize that you put a lot of effort into this and it is just not going to work.  Idol worship in our day is people giving their life to something in the world besides God, making it an idol.  Always they will come to the realization that it has left them empty and disappointed. 

We honor the dads that are in this congregation.  Most that are here if time terries will find our self fatherless.  Hosea was a great man that did some remarkable things even in the human side of his life.  God spoke to him that “In God the fatherless find mercy.”

Rom 8:15  For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

There is a lot of fear in the world today.  This spirit of adoption allows all of us that were unsaved to become children of God.

We can now cry out to God, “Abba, Father.”  In the Old Testament times slaves were never allowed to call their owner or master father, or his wife mother.  Jesus came to bring Jews and Gentiles all under the same covenant and have God as our father and refer to Him as Abba Father. 

He is not just the father of the Jew.  This was a big thing to Paul and to the Romans because there was the Jew, the Gentile and the distinction between them.  Today in Western Montana it is not a big thing but it is a big thing that we can call Him, “Abba Father.”

It is a wonderful thing to be a child of God this morning.

Rom 8:16  The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

You may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, or the most talented individual in the World.  If you are saved then the Father looks upon you and witnesses that you are a child of God. 

Rom 8:17  And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

There was a time that we couldn’t call God, “Abba Father.”  This father’s day is a special day because we have received the spirit of adoption.  I am not the step child and you are not the stepchild.  We have received that spirit of adoption.  It is beyond my mind this morning.  He loved us that much and the son loved us that much. 

We are joint heirs with Christ.  An heir can receive anything down to a dollar and still be called an heir but God doesn’t have it that way. 

Think of everything that you can think of that is good.  God created it.  All the beauty God created.  God created the beautiful flowers the seed that we hope produces beans.  God created love, joy, peace, longsuffering… 

Everything that is good here God made.  He told us to enjoy it.  Look at it, enjoy it and thank God.  When you see a new born baby enjoy that which can only come from heaven.  I look at Seth here and think, the beauty of seeing sweet old men! 

God made it.  All glory to God.  We are heirs with Christ.  This is all His, go ahead and enjoy it.  Enjoy peace and enjoy being happy.  Rejoice and be glad and enjoy today. 

We are an heir of God.  Jesus did some marvelous things when He was here.  He already had fish cooking when he called the fisherman in. 

We are joint heirs with Christ. Jesus prayed for us and asked God to help us to be able to come where He and God were.

Rev 21:7  He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.

There will be something to overcome.  If the steak gets burned and the salad doesn’t turn out just right if the coffee is too weak or too strong it is ok, it is just something for you to overcome.

“I will be his God and he shall be my son.” 

Matthew Henry:  It is God’s prerogative to help the helpless. 

God takes delight in helping, challenging lives destined for failure.  Will we believe?

“If thou wilt believe then all things are possible.”

Sister Teri Sunday school 6/17/12

Sister Teri Sunday school 6/17/12

Sin puts people in a whole different realm than the Kingdom of God.  Our job is to be ambassadors to them and help them get out of that kingdom of darkness and bring them to the Kingdom of God.  We are given the responsibility of being ambassadors in Christ’s stead to the lost. 

We need to personally live the life of holiness that Jesus lived so that we are not a reproach to the Kingdom of God.  We are then to physically carry the message to others.  The Spirit of God is going continually, speaking to souls.  We are to be the witness in physical form and examples of what the Word and Spirit will do in a life.  We can be the visible proof of what God can do for souls.

Ambassador: a diplomatic representative sent to another country as a representative of their own country.  This world is not our home; we’re just passing through.  We represent our Heavenly Father, our King, and the kingdom that God desires to bring us into.

2Co 5:17  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

2Co 5:18  And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;

2Co 5:19  To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

2Co 5:20  Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.

2Co 5:21  For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

2Co 5:15  And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.

The two kingdoms:

Col 1:12  Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:

Col 1:13  Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:

When we were sinners we were under the power of darkness.  This darkness opens the door to sin, deception, and confusion.  When we are saved then we can begin to understand the truths of the Word of God. 

People couldn’t understand what Jesus was showing to them of the Kingdom of God, “light came into the world and the world comprehended it not.”

Luk 19:10  For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.

In the beginning of this chapter Jesus reached out to a sinner, Zacchaeus, and because he responded then Jesus was able to help him. 

1Ti 1:15  This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

The lost spoken of in Luke are the sinners spoken of in First Timothy.

Mat 20:25  But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them.

Mat 20:26  But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;

Mat 20:27  And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:

Mat 20:28  Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

Jesus didn’t come to set up an earthly kingdom where men would be held in high authority ruling over people.  He came to serve, and to save.  His life and death, his sacrifice, paid the price for our sin so that we could be redeemed and reconciled to God. 

We also are not saved for ourselves.  We are saved to be ambassadors for Christ: to live a holy life as Jesus did and reach out to the lost.  It is possible through the power of God to live a holy life.  We then give our lives to point others to Christ.  We cannot save them but we can point others to the savior.

Luk 4:43  And he said unto them, I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also: for therefore am I sent.

Jesus went about preaching what the Kingdom of God was all about:  What it takes to get in it and what it takes to be a part of it.  Matthew has a lot of the parables that Jesus told of the kingdom of God.  There is depth to those parables that can only be discerned by the Spirit of God.  It is about what is here and what is on the other side of time.

Mat 5:17  Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

Some measure their spirituality by whether they are living under a bunch of rules.  Others throw all of the rules out and think that they don’t have to follow any.  They think that the grace of God will cover all our sin and we can live however we want.  These spirits were in Jesus’ day and they exist today. 

Jesus came to fulfill the law and make a change in our heart.  The law was an eye for an eye but Christ said to love our enemies.  The law held boundaries because it knew what the flesh would do.  The flesh would be inclined to demand more than an eye for an eye.  It set boundaries and said that true justice is fair. 

Jesus went beyond this and gives a heart to love, to reconcile to those that have wronged us.  We wouldn’t want to harm another; we want to treat them as a child of God.  They are not loved less than us.

A heart change takes place: no longer do we have to say, an eye for an eye.  Not that there are not consequences, we leave that to God. God will take care of things. 

We are not in bondage and our salvation isn’t based on conforming to a bunch of rules.  We have a change of heart that helps us live according to God’s principals.

Luk 12:51  Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division:

Luk 12:52  For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three.

Luk 12:53  The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.

As peacemakers, as ambassadors for Christ, our job is not to just get along with everyone on the earth.  For us to do that we would have to all be totally silent on the message.  We’d have to be alone somewhere in the mountain where there would be no contact with others so our lives don’t bring them into conviction. 

We live in a divided world, there is the Kingdom of God and there is the kingdom of the world.  There will be times that we need to speak and put judgment on things but we need to let God let us know how to do it. 

We shouldn’t be silent though.  If we are, then the voice of the world is free to have a complete monopoly in the conversation.  We are to have our life on a candlestick not under a bushel.  We don’t want to sow discord and strife but we need to do what we should be doing.

It is not a battle of flesh and blood.  This is how we stay out of contention.  It is not a battle of people, but a battle of principalities.  We are not bringing this to condemn others.  Truth is truth and right is right.  If people continue in their sin then they will be lost forever. 

We need to let them know that we love them and they are on the wrong road and we don’t want them to be lost.  When a child runs into the road we need to pull them out even if they don’t like it. 

Joh 3:16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Joh 3:17  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

Joh 3:18  He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

Joh 3:19  And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

Joh 3:20  For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

Joh 3:21  But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

We don’t carry this message out to condemn people but so that they may be saved.  So they can get out of sin and be reconciled and ready to go to heaven.  People are already condemned.  They are condemned if they love darkness rather than light.  The light is not the condemnation but that they want to stay in their darkness rather than come into the light.

Joh 9:39  And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.

In verses 24 to 41 you see how Jesus healed a man that was born blind on the Sabbath day.  The man that was healed preached a message to these educated Pharisee’s “I don’t know all of what you’re saying, but this man healed me.”  We have this message as well:  “I don’t know all of that but this I know He delivered me out of darkness and now I am saved.”

The Pharisee’s were brought to a point of accountability.  There was a witness that this man was born blind and now is healed.  We have the witness that we were lost under sin and now live according to the Principals of the Word.  This brings people that see us to a point of accountability. 

Brother Gary Wednesday Evening 6/13/12

Brother Gary Wednesday Evening 6/13/12

Eph 5:1  Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;

Eph 5:2  And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.

Only eternity will reveal how men and women have gotten themselves into terrible messes by not following God for whatever reason.  First there must be a good relationship between us and God, we love Him and realize that He loved us first and then have a good relationship and love each other.

Christ loved us so much that he gave himself for us as an offering and as a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour.  In the 33 years that Jesus was here, He taught and then gave Himself as an offering.  This offering and sacrifice was a sweet smell coming up before the Father.  He didn’t do this for His benefit; He did it for our benefit.

In Noah’s day things were really bad and God was fed up with conditions.  God said that He would not always strive with man.  He repented that He’d ever made them.  Then God remembered Noah.  God had a plan. 

We may not be sure of what strategy we should have, it is ok to be in this position.  God has a plan.  I know this because of Noah.  We live in a time that is like the days of Noah.  Noah served God, God remembered Noah, and God had a plan.

Thank God there was a man that carried out God’s plan.  May God challenge us and give us an anointing to challenge others that we meet to find the plan that God has for us and the value of the plan.  The plan that God has, has value when we need it. 

Noah needed the value plan.  God gave it and it involved lots of work.  He worked for about 100 years, long and hard.  Most of the encouragement that He received came from God.  One day God said to come into the ark.  It began to rain and there came a day when the ark lifted off of the ground.  It rained forty days and forty nights and the ark was afloat for many days.  Noah sent out a raven that didn’t come back and then a dove that did.  He sent it out several times.

Noah built an altar to the Lord.  Keep your worship up. 

Gen 8:20  And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

Gen 8:21  And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.

Gen 8:22  While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.

It wasn’t the smell of food cooking that smelled sweet.  It was the attitude of Noah’s heart. 

In a world that stinks where the name of God is profaned out in public.  People will say anything; they will dress in any way and will talk about anyone.  There is no thing that is sacred.  In this world we can offer up sacrifice to God.  We can present ourselves to God a living sacrifice. 

We believe that we can die daily.  We can come back and say, “Father I want you to know that I have paid the price to be saved and sanctified but I want you to know that I’m paying the price again.  The world doesn’t satisfy.  I know that and I want to give myself to you anew.”

The world is sad, sick and disappointed and they are in such bondage.  May God help us to go back before that throne and offer up praise and sacrifices in such a way that it will go up before heaven as a sweet smelling savor. 

The imagination of the men’s hearts were only evil continually.  Sometimes we shorten things up when we talk about things.  They did this in the scripture too.  This is a terrible condition and America is headed right back to it.  Children are being taught that there isn’t a God and to worship mother nature.  They are taught to worship themselves and their minds are being turned to being only evil continually.

Let’s sew seed.  If we do this then we can believe for a harvest.  There will be summer and winter, day and night.  There will be the seasons and there will be seasons of working for God.

Rev 5:8  And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.

I know that I’m late on the scene.  I didn’t live in the 1800’s.  It is wonderful that you and I can still be adding wonderful odors into those Golden vials.  May God help your and my lives to be so in tune with God that we walk, talk, think, pray, meditate, love God and love each other so that when we approach God He can anticipate that there is going to be a wonderful odor coming up that will go into those golden vials that contain odors from the old and new testament.  There are those that come late on the scene that are as enthusiastic as the prophets of the Old Testament and the apostles of the New.