Brother Gary Sunday Morning 1/19/14

Brother Gary Sunday Morning 1/19/14

Isa 28:5  In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people,

Isa 28:6  And for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate.

God showed the prophet that in the days to come, God himself, described here as the host of an innumerable army, would be for a crown of glory.  The most spectacular thing that any of us can experience is the presence of God in our lives.  For the miracles you have experienced, that is wonderful, but the greatest of the miracles is that I got saved.

That is the way with everyone of us, to have God himself come to us and allow us that wonderful experience of confessing repenting and being born again is wonderful.  It is wonderful that the plan in the gospel day is that the beauty of the lord be God the Son, God the Father, and God the Holy Spirit in our lives, working in our lives, and in our relationships with one another.

We are so blessed to have Jesus, the Son of God as a Spirit to discern unto us the things that we are convicted about and His Word speaks to us.  It is only through His strength that the battle that is waged that comes against every soul.  Whether it would be the trial of faith or manifold conviction, the only way to victory is to have God give us strength to turn the battle to the gate.

Isa 28:9  Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.

Isa 28:10  For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:

It is vital that we know how to grow up spiritually and be able to teach knowledge.  Every one of us when we came to Jesus Christ came as a sinner and needed to be born again.  When we confessed and repented then a miracle took place, a marvelous transaction took place, we were born again.

1Pe 2:1  Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,

1Pe 2:2  As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:

The need for milk for a babe is critical and necessary.  Every individual that gets saved needs to have the season of drinking the milk and tasting the good things of God and then desiring to go further with God.  If we had a child in this congregation that was not growing we would have great concerns.

For the little premature baby, 4 lbs and some ounces, that was born it is critical that the baby grows so that it can be dismissed from the hospital.  It is critical, necessary, and we are desirous that we as the congregation teach babes how to grow.

Who will be able to understand knowledge and doctrine?  It will be because they go past wanting to be babes and just having spiritual milk and want to go all the way with God.

Isa 28:10  For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:

We are blessed to have all 66 books of the Bible.  We are blessed to have the Spirit of God making the Bible real.  We need precept upon precept so that we as individuals will grow past the baby stage to maturity having it settled to go forward for God.  This is the key for not being up and down spiritually.

Isa 28:12  To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.

Every one of us is bombarded by the world and all that is there to try to bring a stagnation to our soul.  It doesn’t matter at what age you got saved, God is ready to do that work so that they take the milk and then according to their maturity and their age and the setting of the home, they are able to grow, to grow, and to continue to grow.

Isa 32:1  Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment.

Isa 32:2  And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.

The King is Jesus.  There are a lot of spirits that blow around everyone that is saved and those that are unsaved.  There is a place that you can hide from all those winds of doctrine.  There is a place that you can be secure from even emotional feelings. 

There is no emotional feeling that guarantees that you are saved.  The way that you know that you are saved is not by feeling, it is knowing the Bible conditions and meeting the Bible conditions and living according to what God shows you thereafter.  That is how you know you are saved.

We are not taking away from God speaking to us through songs.  You can be faced with a wind of disappointment, heartbreak, and failure; if you allow it, it will paralyze you.  There is a man that is a hiding place. 

The thought of a tempest is a wind with water in it.  It can be beating on you, piercing you, really a difficult storm.  There will be tempest in our life.  They will come to us all.  The hiding place or covert remains.

We want to remember that this same man is as rivers of water in a dry place.  God allows everyone of us to experience in our life where we come to God and say as the song says, “I have a thirsting, a hungering, a longing in my heart for God.”

There are times when everyone in this audience has things of nature speak to us.  We wouldn’t have the same things that speak to us.  To us lumberjacks, Sister Brenda’s love of a snow storm wouldn’t speak to us, but it speaks to her. 

Some would say, “I have to go to the ocean.  I love the feel of the sand the salt water.”  There are gardeners that cannot wait to get the dirt under their fingernails.  There are those that love to fish, to hunt, and whatever it might be that God speaks to us through.  It is a part of our humanity. 

That is fine, but there is an inside of us that hungers for living water.  There is a source.  The same one that hides us from the storm and tempest is He, and He alone. 

He is rivers of water in a dry place.  Perhaps this morning God has allowed some in this audience that are saved to be facing difficulties and you would say it is like going across the desert and it doesn’t seem that the way is marked all that well. 

Mark ye well the bulwarks.  The lumberjacks and hunters know how to blaze a way so they know how to get back to where they were.  The old timers remember how the properties used to be marked.  When we were looking for a property line, we would see the blazed that marked, there is where one property ends and another begins. 

In this word of God we leave blazes like this.  There are times when you are going across the desert that there are no blazes.  We wonder, “Where am I at?”  He says, “I am the living water, you keep following and stay with the precepts that I have showed you before, and the desert will end and the living water, the times of refreshing, will flow into your soul.”

He will only let the heat be so hard and He becomes the shadow.  He will only let it go so far and He will step in and take care of the trouble.

Isn’t it wonderful that you can have a clear vision, in a world today with such confusion?  He will anoint our eyes with eye-salve so that we can see.

Joh 21:1  After these things Jesus shewed himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias; and on this wise shewed he himself.

Jesus appeared to seven of His disciples.  They had fished but they had caught nothing.  He said to them, “Cast your nets on the other side.”  When they did this they had 153 fish, so many that the net broke as they brought it to shore.  As they were coming to shore, Jesus already had some things prepared. 

“I don’t know about tomorrow.”  There would be those in this audience that say, “I wonder what it will be like tomorrow.”

For those that are going to be traveling, it is always the thought pattern, “How will this trip be, will there be someone there to meet me, will I feel comfortable with those I associate with, will my surroundings be sociable?”

There is something that I want to tell all in this audience this morning.  I trust that we will have no one ushered into eternity but if He does, then He will have a portion for you.  He has a definite plan of things He wants you to do. 

I press my claim this morning.  Dear ones God has things prepared for you and open doors that He has for you but there are things that you and I must deal with.

Jesus so graciously brought those dear ones that had toiled hard into shore with fish.  Whether you are in kindergarten, grade school, high school, or the school of hard knocks just learning, or whether you are getting to a riper age.  Jesus has something preparing for you.

It looks like the disciples had fished all night.  They were undoubtedly worn and tired.  They needed refreshment and they ended up successful; they got 153 fish.  They cam to the shore and Jesus said to come and dine. 

They enjoyed the fish but Jesus was preparing them and I believe they all heard him speak to Peter.

Joh 21:15  So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.

Joh 21:16  He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.

Joh 21:17  He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.

I thought of these words that were spoken in AD33.  He has said these same words to millions in the last 2000 years.  We have met individuals and you have heard and read their testimonies, “Yea Lord I love thee more.”  We have sung their testimonies of their songs. 

Way back in time there was a young minister, Brother Norman and Sister Barbara Claypool.  You would not have guessed their life story from looking at them.  You would have guessed it was picturesque.  It was not that way.  They sang, “Modern times have brought us many pleasures…. Lovest thou me more than these my child?”

Many here have met Sister Wingate; I am told we would not recognize her now.  She is hungry and thirsty and trying to get a drop of water in the dry place she is in. 

“When I first heard of Jesus… I love Him too much to fail Him now…”

There is another verse and another chapter in your life after your first encounter of being saved and walking with God.  “When I told Him I loved him it was easy to say but harder to prove when temptation came my way.”

Everyone that has been saved a while knows and understands that the life of a Christian is made up of many blessings but there are seasons of manifold trials, “Will you stay true to God?”

My mom and dad could preach so clearly about having to take a stand and there were those that loved them but because of fear or whatever they didn’t stand with them.  There will be temptations, “Why don’t you let up a little here or there to be accepted?”  Right in the middle of that we count the cost, “I will serve God at any price.”

Jesus asked, “Peter do you love me more than anything else.  Peter answered, “Yea Lord I love you more.”  Jesus then left this thought, “Identify with the lambs.  It is so amazing how empty our life becomes if everything points in to our own life, our own trials, and temptations. 

Jesus asked the question again and Peter answered.  Jesus still wasn’t satisfied and asked the question again.  I wish I had kept a journal from the time I was young of having come to the line and hearing that voice, “Do you love me more than these?”

When you reach my age, popularity is not an issue at all.  I’m not faultfinding you for anything but look at it as it is.  “Do I love God more than this?”  Whatever is offered. 

We live long enough to know the enemy of our soul never quits offering lies.  We have the opportunity to say, “I love you more than all of this.”

The pattern of the working of Jesus in John 21:  First He meets our need.  Isn’t it wonderful this morning? 

You say, “If I asked you if you had needs what you say?”  I would say, “I do.  Jesus will meet every need.”  He has done it over and over again.  Whenever I stand and face the need, whether in the day or the night, I say, “I know that God will supply whatever the need, and I love Him too much to fail Him.”

When we come before God and give him the smoke screen whatever it might be, he shakes his head and says, “It is so sad, I’m not here to be impressed, I am here to meet needs.”

Jesus meets our needs.  He brings conviction and you say, “I love Him too much to fail Him, I will be fervent and faithful in devotions.”  Jesus meets the tangible needs, those that are not spiritual but are a part of your life.

In the audience it would be normal for every sinner to feel that they need to get saved. For those that are battling carnality, the world, or self, “I need victory over myself, over the world, over carnality.”  There would be those in this audience whose life is consumed with their life and their health.  You can trust God He knows how to help us.

When families fail, as sad as it is, if your life has a cloud on it because of the failure of a dad, a mother, a companion, of whatever, that deep inside there is resentment, hurt, and pain.  Jesus is here to help, not to condemn.  The reality is, the pattern of Jesus is, that He gives us spiritual nutrition and then says, “Son or daughter, do you love me more than these injustices, pains, disappointments?”  There is only one thing to do and that is to come back and say, “Yea lord I love you more.  I need your grace.”

This question has been asked many times.  I am asked and you are asked.  As I work on this lesson, I plead that none will answer by neglect.  Some people say, “Oh yah, I love you.”  Dear ones we are facing Jesus and He is asking a really serious question, “Do you love me more?”  We can answer, “Yea, Lord I love you more than anything in this world.”

We are so blessed to be asked this question, “Do you love me more?”  May our hearts and spirits respond, “Yea Lord I love thee more.  I will love the lambs, I will love the sheep.”

It is so interesting to me.  Jesus had two or three other things that He told Peter.  He said, you not only need to love me but you need to follow me.  You can follow Jesus and sometimes you have companions to follow with. But you must have the attitude: I will follow even if I have to follow all alone.

Peter wanted to know about someone else.  May God help us to know our boundaries, love the lambs, the sheep, and let God take care of everything else.