Brother Gary Sunday Morning 5/18/14

Brother Gary Sunday Morning 5/18/14

Isa 62:6  I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence,

Isa 62:7  And give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.

It is vital that there be watchmen upon the walls.  This is dealing both with the literal walls of Jerusalem of the day, and the spiritual walls of the church in our day.  They are to be lifting up the standard and inspired by God in the exact day that they are in.

What has happened, to many of the watchmen on the walls, is that they got tired of crying out and lifting up the standard and began to be carried away with the cares of life or pleasures and it became a sad situation.

God wants his watchmen to not be silent but to preach the Word of God, not be silent but to get a message from God and give that message.  All of God’s people have the attitude, “God help me to come with an empty vessel ready to receive from you.”

God knows exactly what we need when we come to the church of God.  He knows what songs should be sung and what each of us needs.  It is a result of us staying before God and worshipping God.

Give Him no rest:  Jesus said, in Matthew 16:18, “Upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”  It is the spiritual Zion and the Heavenly Jerusalem.

We need to have the attitude, “Dear God I’m going to stay before you.”  People are capable of letting things slip, of moving away from the focus and their eyes becoming dim. 

We need brothers and sisters in Christ that have the attitude, “God help me to stay before you so that I am exactly what you’d have me to be as I journey the journey of life. “ 

God alone can establish His people, his church, a praise on the earth.

A city of light:  a city that is set upon a hill cannot be hid.  We live in a very dark world; multitudes live in darkness all the time.  Their soul is a cave of darkness.  Their mind is full of darkness. 

Our mind is as a Ferris wheel.  There are many places for passengers to sit and it goes around and around and around.  We have thoughts that go over and over and over in our mind.  Even little children experience at a young age getting something on their mind and their Ferris wheel is small and it goes over and over.

We have a mind, a soul, a spirit.  If we will allow the enemy, the difficulties, the regrets, the bad choices will be the only thing on the Ferris wheel.  If you allow those to be the only thing in the Ferris wheel, instead of a Ferris wheel of light and challenge, it will be a Ferris wheel of darkness and gloom.

David said, “Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”  That is not the design of God.  His design is that we be a city of light.  That we practice having in our mind that which is edifying, challenging and instead of causing us to look inward, look outward toward those that may have a need.

When the dark days come, they will come.  We are not a robot or a crystal.  We will have our seasons, our night, of darkness.  That is the reason that we need to know how to have contact with God and receive His light.

God is a God of light.  He is a God of shining light into our soul. 

Psa 119:105  NUN. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

This is the reason that we need to read the bible.  We need to read the bible every morning and every night.   

When a child is born, they are given 10,000 taste buds.  It is vital that you develop taste buds for the good things of God.  “Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness.”

Thy word is a lamp to my feet.

Every one of us will get lost if we trust any other source than the Word of God to direct us.  You will get lost, ensnared, caught in a trap that you will not get out of.

If you and I will take the Word of God and say, “God I face a new day.  I am going to face another week.  We are trusting for another month.  I’d like to be here for Father’s day.”  Being a father is a real blessing and a privilege.

We all have plans.  We want to have spiritual plans.  God help your word to be a light to my feet for this year.  May thy word be a light to my feet.  God knows where we ought to go and how we ought to get there and everything about it.

The Word of God is light and Jesus is light.  The church is a city of light and of praise.  I was tired last night and was telling Karen, “I cannot think of the words in Jude, but thank God we don’t want to be...”  She said, “It is murmuring and complaining.” 

Now the snow is gone it is going to get hot but we don’t want to be murmuring or complaining.  As far as I know everyone here has a bed.  The little children have a bed and have food to eat.  Those tangibles are important but more important is that we have a Bible.  The children have Sunday school teachers.  We have songs.

Someone had a vision in the 50’s that there would be a church in this town.  They had a building that they rented for $25 a month.  There were not enough tithes to pay the rent.  The pastor and his wife paid the rent.  We need to be thankful that we have a place to worship. 

We need to be thankful that we have those here we can worship with and fellowship with.  Isn’t it wonderful that God sent His Son that we could be saved.  Isn’t it wonderful that the war with carnality and self can come to an end.  That Jesus suffered without the gate that we could be sanctified and our focus can now be beyond our self.

1Jn 5:4  For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.

Isn’t it wonderful that you can have real victory through the Lord Jesus Christ?

It is a city of marriage.  Jesus is the head of the church in the thought that He is the husband of the bride.  He takes your individual care as His priority and responsibility.  It is a city of eternal values.  It is wonderful!

We come from a world that tells us many things are going on and to make sure that you keep track on when the bass start biting and get your permit in for that monarch elk.  The thought is not that any of that is sinful, but isn’t it wonderful that you can come away from all that stuff to a place of eternal values and come to a place of being stirred in your soul. 

I want to go to the rest home this afternoon as a servant.  Not as a faultfinder.  I want to walk in with the thought, “Every one of these are eternity bound souls.”  We are here to do our best to present hope.  Most of them feel hopeless. 

When we go where ever we go, we are dealing with souls.  We don’t think of this one having dementia and that one being messed up here or there.  That is not the problem.  If you think that way then you are the problem. 

Isa 62:1  For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth.

We live in a dark world but God has a way of lighting our candle.  You and I allow Him to trim our candle and the light can get brighter and brighter.

Isa 62:2  And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD shall name.

Isn’t it wonderful that God is no respecter of persons?  The Gentiles can be saved as well as the Jews and come to a knowledge of GOD.

Isa 62:3  Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God.

He saw the Gentiles coming from being without hope because of Jesus Christ and coming to be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord.  There is something so wonderful that a sinner can come to Christ.  It is a common denominator for a sinner’s life to be all scarred up.  God needs to work with their mind and attitudes.  He does this after we get saved too. 

The scripture says, “You are of your father the devil.”  This refers to when we came to Jesus Christ all marred up by sin, having lived a life for self and for the pleasures of this world and living for the satisfaction that can be had in the world without God.

The only way to come there is just as we are.  We come realizing that “I need a savior.”  The only way to get to God is to call on God and ask him to forgive us of all our sin.  God made a plan before the World was ever created that a man could be forgiven by the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ.

God can take a mind and heart that is marred: having done things that were totally wrong and coveted after things that were really wrong.  He takes that life and makes it completely new.

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.

When a little baby comes into the world and the parent looks upon that little child and knows when they see that baby smile that there is a God in heaven.  They are a perfect creation of God.  When you get born again, confess, repent, and turn from your sin, you may have been all sour, malformed in your mind and your desire.  When you get born again, there is a treasure there.

This treasure is in the hand of God.  “Thou shalt be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord.”  It is a changed life, not changing habits.  It is good to quit bad habits but that doesn’t save you.  We must confess, be born again, and become a new creature in Christ Jesus. 

This royal diadem is the marvel of an individual becoming a new creature in Christ Jesus.  We serve a God of miracles.  People boohoo God and what He can do.  If you don’t believe in a God of miracles then look at the order in the world.  If God had not set things in order what a chaotic world this would be. 

A royal diadem is something that is beautiful, precious, valuable.  To think of the beauty that God gives a soul! 

Ecc 3:11  He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.

How could any thing beautiful come out of this hard place in my life?  If you get your hands off of it and quit trying to micro manage your life so that everything is just perfect and you control everything and are the individual that is in control at all times, and say, “God there is this difficulty.”  We would be a spoiled kicking brat all our life if there were never difficulties.

The diadem is something so precious.  You think of all the beauty that God the Father and Jesus had.  All the beauty, the power of creation, all the gold was theirs.  He made the Garden of Eden, planned it, planted it, and put man in it. 

This spring the flowers are starting to bloom.  It is beautiful isn’t it?  In the Bison Range on that one hillside there are hundreds of yellow-bells.  You like flowers?  God does too.  Drive a little father and you see a lot of sunflowers. 

That is not the beauty in his hand.  The beauty in his hand is a life that has yielded to Him and been forgiven of sin and He looks at it and says, “How beautiful that is.  The only thing that can make it more beautiful is the finger of God.”

Isa 62:4  Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah: for the LORD delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married.

We live in a world that is full of lonesome people.  It is an old story.  It is not just a plague of the 21^st century.  People feel all alone.  They feel desolate.  Is there anything sadder than the life without the love and grace of God?  Without praise and thanksgiving those are the saddest in this world. 

The scene changes:  When they turn to God then they become Hephzibah and Beulah, He delights in you, claims you for His own and says, “This one is mine.”

Isa 62:5  For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.

There is something about God being happy with us.  The easiest thing in the world is to get out of trouble with God.  All it takes is a humble heart to say, “God I’m wrong, I will do anything to get right.  If I have done this brother wrong then I will make it right.  If I have taken something from Him then I will restore it.  If I owe him an apology then I will make it.” 

If an individual is in trouble then it is not hard to get out of trouble with God.  If you are always getting in trouble with saying things that you shouldn’t say and acting as you shouldn’t then initiate the conversation with God.  Say, “God I’ve failed you.  You go ahead and hold it on me good and hard.  Go ahead and scourge me.” 

You say, “I am timid.”  If you are in trouble then you are not very timid.  You are stubborn and rebellious.  Say, “God I want you to break it.  I want to be broken.  I want to be a delight to you so that I know that I have a heavenly father.”

Go through the gates.  God says, “Son or daughter there is a gate that I want you to go through.  In order to get through the gate then you need an attitude of total surrender.  You need to quit worrying about what someone else is thinking.” 

Go through the gate.  The gate to me may be, “Brother Kelly you are reaching the place where you need to go through the gate and step down.”  We don’t need to worry about that.  Right while I am preaching He may be preparing a man in New Zealand to be the pastor. 

Go through the gates.  Maybe God is convicting someone in this congregation that there is a step in consecration that He wants you to take.  With God He always says, “Take another step.  Go higher, go deeper; go through the gates.”

Prepare the way of the people.  May God help me to have it settled.  That I am so prepared before God that people see the joy of being saved, the happiness of being saved, the privilege of preparing for rest home, the privilege of being saved. 

If there is something in your life that you are always tripping over, then gather out the stones.  Say, “I’m getting rid of this thing in my life.  It is always causing me to trip, to lose the victory.”  If you have something that you are always tripping on then get to God and say, “God carry this thing off.”

When you don’t feel good then the stone says, “You know I’m still rolling; care if I roll in your heart?”  Yes I care, get going.

Lift up the standard.  What will cause our lives, outreach to be beautiful is to lift up the standard.