Sister Dorothy Sunday School 9/8/13

Sister Dorothy Sunday School 9/8/13

We want to know better how to think about God.  His ways are bountiful.  In the beginning God caused the sun to shine out of darkness and in these days He has shown His light into our hearts by His son, Jesus Christ.

I think of God as a present help.  God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are not meant to be divided.  They are all one and have a corresponding part in our lives.  When I speak of God I speak of the Holy Spirit because that is what is given to us today.

He is our constant companion; no matter where we are He is there.  He is a very present help in trouble.  He is our refuge and strength. 

I use Him as my seeker.  Many times I have lost something and as I get older it gets more often.  I say, “Lord you know where it is, would you please direct me to it?”

He is our healer and protector.

Psa 103:1  A Psalm of David. Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.

Psa 103:2  Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:

Psa 103:3  Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;

Psa 103:4  Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;

Psa 103:5  Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's.

Psa 103:6  The LORD executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed.

God has a benefit for us today if we will open our heart to let Him fill us with His benefits.  What a wonderful Heavenly Father.  He gives tender mercies and loving kindnesses. 

Day by day we have strength from Him and are renewed in every way.  In our mind in our spirit, in our bodies, and in every way He made us He will strengthen us.

Php 4:19  But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

He is our benefactor.  I have proved that to be true:  He has supplied all my needs, my material needs, my spiritual needs; He has supplied strength, and everything that I have needed.

There is a power in the Spirit of God when His voice talks to us we recognize it as God and He starts turning our ear and our path that we will follow Him.  He is a wonderful provider.

He is the God of creation.  He can create whatever we need.  There is power in prayer and in believing.  He is able to create a way to turn our children to God.  He gives hope when there is no hope. 

Jer 29:11  For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

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.

Mat 24:44  Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.

He will surely come one of these days.  If you are not ready then it will be when you think not.

Deu 32:4  He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.

2Sa 7:28  And now, O Lord GOD, thou art that God, and thy words be true, and thou hast promised this goodness unto thy servant:

Psa 146:6  Which made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein is: which keepeth truth for ever:

Heb 6:17  Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:

Heb 6:18  That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:

Heb 6:19  Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;

Heb 6:20  Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.

God’s character is merciful, just, and holy.  That is only three of His character traits; we could go on and on.  If you want to make a study of it is wonderful. 

Let this mind be in you as was in Christ.

How to think about Christ:

Mat 11:27  All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.

Open your mind to Him and He will give you that revelation.

Why did Jesus come?

Luk 4:18  The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

Luk 4:19  To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

What a mission!  He came to give to the poor in spirit the Gospel.  He came to give it to those that hunger and thirst after Him.  He heals the broken hearted.  He healed my broken heart when my son Marty died.

We can be free!  He came to preach deliverance to the captive and to set at liberty them that are bruised.

Joh 5:18  Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.

Joh 5:19  Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.

Joh 5:20  For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel.

Joh 5:21  For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.

Joh 5:22  For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:

Joh 5:23  That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.

Jesus was equal with God.  They did not like to hear that.  They rose right up, “How are you equal with God?  He said, “I come from the Father.”

Jesus was trying to show them the Father’s heart.  That was His whole point throughout the gospels.  He came to reveal the Father by His very acts, by His very character.  He was truth.  He wanted to show by His very being the Father. 

As He is so are we in the world.  He wants us to show the Father.  We want to be true to this responsible calling.  We are living vessels we are to be as Christ was.

Php 2:5  Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

Php 2:6  Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:

Php 2:7  But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:

Php 2:8  And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Php 2:9  Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:

Php 2:10  That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;

Php 2:11  And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Php 2:12  Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

Php 2:13  For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

He wasn’t being boastful; it was the way it was.  He was equal with God. 

Every tongue will confess that Jesus is God even if they don’t believe.  He came humbly and did not exalt Himself to be king and told them to do the same.  They wanted the Jews to be a great nation above all others and His words were an offense to them.

Luk 19:41  And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it,

 Luk 19:42  Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which 

belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.

We have a short window of time to believe and if we don’t then the truths will be hid from our eyes.

Luk 19:43  For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side,

Luk 19:44  And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.

How many times have people put it off and not recognized that today is the day of salvation.  God help us to recognize it and not keep putting it off.  We don’t want to have a blind spot.  If we don’t obey the truth and accept what God is trying to show us and open our eyes to see, we can get quickly a blind spot. 

A blind spot hinders the vision. 

Mat 6:23  But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!

Joh 12:35  Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.

Joh 12:36  While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them.

Wonderful light!  We don’t want to walk in darkness.  It says one place, “How great is that darkness.”  They were visited by God’s Son but pride, self-sufficiency and arrogance blinded them.

Some or most do not want to see Jesus.

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.

They did not want to come to the light because it would reveal them.  When God revealed my condition to me it made me afraid but also I wanted to get rid of the darkness.  Some do not want to come to the light.

I thought of the Father’s heart in the story of the prodigal.  When the one son came asking for his living.  I believe that the Father had confidence in His teaching of the two sons that they knew right from wrong.  He did not say, “If you leave then never come back.”  That is a terrible thing to tell your children.  That is harsh and not our Father’s, God’s, attitude.

Day after day He kept watching for his return.  When He saw him, what gladness, “My  son you are home!  You are forgiven.  You are my son.”

The other son gave his testimony, “I have served and not once transgressed and yet you never gave me a party or commended me for staying home.  Here you are giving a party for the son that wandered and squandered your living. I will not act like it is ok.” 

The father said, “You misunderstand my heart.  All I have is yours; I don’t even remember your brother’s sins.  He is my son.”

Many people cannot understand God’s ways.  He will answer prayer but He will not answer why.  He doesn’t have to explain His ways to us.  All we have to do is believe that He will work it for our good.  If we ask for an explanation then we misinterpret God.

God did not come to call the righteous but the sinners to repentance.  We can come back and live not as a servant but as a son. 

To them that receive Him he gives power to become the sons of God.

This is us.  Let us give and show thanksgiving to those that are faithful.  I want all of you saints to know that I appreciate you.  Sunday after Sunday we gather together and are at home just as that one son.  We work for the Father and I appreciate you so much. 

Act 26:18  To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.

We have an inheritance don’t we!  I want to tell you all that I appreciate you so much.  Thanks for staying faithful.