Brother Gary Sunday Morning 1/25/15

Brother Gary Sunday Morning 1/25/15

Zep 3:16  In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not: and to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack.

Zep 3:17  The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.

There is no secret love with God.  He loves us openly.  “It is no secret what God will do; what He has done for others He’ll do for you.”  He rests in His love.

There is a definite place where we settle it, “We are going to serve God.  You can rest in your love for me.”  All the provisions that He made for us to be saved to be sanctified, to live, to resist temptation, and to know how to have victory in our life.  The nuggets are hid away in the word of God.  “God, I can rest in your love.”

We pray, “God I need divine intervention in my life, as soon as possible, but whether it goes the way I want it to go or not, you can rest in your love.  There will be no pouting or self-pity.  I am going to go forward for you.”

Zep 3:14  Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem.

We as the church, the bride of Christ, have a real song to sing.  I thought of the song of Moses:  It is wonderful to be delivered from Egyptian bondage.  We don’t want to forget where we have come from.  The song of the lamb: we have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ.

Zep 3:15  The LORD hath taken away thy judgments, he hath cast out thine enemy: the king of Israel, even the LORD, is in the midst of thee: thou shalt not see evil any more.

Zep 3:16  In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not: and to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack.

We live in a world where many things will try to steal our peace, our joy, and the approval of God.  Among these things is the spirit of fear.  We are all subject to the spirit of fear.  It works in your mind as an imagination.  It presents itself and then grows and grows.

Among the things that you and I know as far as having our devotions and being in the house of God.  It is vital that we are busy doing what God wants us to do and what He has laid upon our heart. 

As we enter this new year, what God has laid upon our heart as an individual and as a congregation, let not your hands be slack. It is important that we are busy doing what is the responsibility that God has designed that we do.

The Lord in the midst of thee is mighty: don’t underestimate God.  You may be going through a dark season.  You may be going through disappointment.  There are those in this audience that have suffered immensely. 

Injustice is very difficult to take.  It could be a real dark season in a child’s life, in you as parents’ life.  You may be in a winter season of things with your family.  I think of my brother sorely afflicted with a stroke.  It doesn’t matter where you are or I am, if God is there we can rest on, “He is mighty.”

Brother Gordon pastor at Chicago was dying and said, “Have the saints come in and sing and read scripture.”  He preached for many years after that. 

The Billing’s child:  I am just a man.  I am no faith healer.  If anything happens to the child it will not be because of me it will be because of God.  I felt that I failed.  I didn’t do a very good job praying, but I was faithful.  It is al in God’s hand from there on. 

Mrs. Billings called after we got home.  She said, “It was a miracle.”  The child was given something from the clinic and was very sick.  She said, “I have heard a lot of things about you folks, but what I know is that God answers your prayer.” 

It is ok if you feel brain-dead when you try to tell someone about God.  It is not all about you, it is about Him.  Stay with God and He can work. 

Our God is mighty.  He will save to the uttermost.  In the world your son or daughter may look hopeless.  There is a God that is mighty.  When men, women, boys, and girls begin to feel conviction from the Mighty Hand of God, we don’t want to underestimate what God will do.  He is mighty.

He will rejoice over the redeemed:  we don’t know much about heaven.  We haven’t been there yet.  We get together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.  There are times that we weep together.  There is no weeping in heaven.  There is a lot of joy in heaven.

Luke 15 is a marvelous chapter.  There are three things in that chapter about joy here on earth.  The first one talks about a shepherd that has lost his sheep.  He leaves the ninety-nine and goes out looking for the one.  When He finds it he brings it back.  There is great joy because the lost one is brought back.  There is more rejoicing over the one that got saved than over the ninety-nine. 

You and I will not always be the center.  There is great rejoicing over the one that got saved than over the ones that have been faithful.  The bible doesn’t say that he doesn’t rejoice over the saved, the Father in heaven rejoices over the saved.

There is such joy.  We have to watch or we will let the world, Babylonians, or the prodigals steal our joy.  Babylon is a world of sad sacks. 

The second thing rejoiced over in Luke 15 was the coin.  The woman swept the house and when she found it she called the neighbors and said, “Rejoice I have found the coin.”

The third thing was the prodigal that got back home.  When someone gets saved there is great joy.  We want to let them know that after they have been saved a while, we are still glad that they got saved. 

Heaven is a place of rejoicing.  Heavenly places in Christ Jesus is a place of rejoicing.  In our homes we need to have rejoicing; in our private devotions we want to have rejoicing.

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.

There was a great price paid that we could be saved.  There is a thought, “What is the best…”  If you are thinking of buying something you want to get the most for your money.  The best was the Love of God in sending His son.

Joh 15:13  Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

He has a right to be able to rest in His love.  He left heaven for us.  He came to a world that for the greatest part rejected Him.  He came anyway.  He loved and He keeps loving.

Eph 3:14  For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Eph 3:15  Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,

Eph 3:16  That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;

Eph 3:17  That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,

Eph 3:18  May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;

Eph 3:19  And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

The breadth: I think of the open arms of Christ that will take in any that will confess and repent.  Of all nations and all ages, he will take them in if they will repent. 

Do you know someone that looks hopeless?  God’s love can go clear there.  You say, “What would be my part?”  Pray.  Plead with God. 

The depth:  I think of to what depth He will go to change a life.  The thought of how high He will lift them up:  You and I hear the testimony of what God will do in lifting mankind. 

The love of God that passes knowledge:  someone wrote the song, “How could He love me so?”  Every one that was blessed with a mother and father that really loved them, you were so blessed.  Oh His love and care, His unprejudiced that He would reach to even me.

The reason that we need to know and acknowledge the love of God is that we might be full of the fullness of God.  It is a marvelous thing that God has ordained that individuals can know the love of God and be filled with the fullness of God. 

God’s love reaches, instead of being bitter which is a terrible thing that never stops: Things may get better but then will get worse again.  His love reaches all the way down.  It paid the price that every man, women, boy, and girl can be freed from all bitterness.

Jesus taught us, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and your neighbor as yourself.”

Paul asked, “Who is going to condemn God’s people?  It is Christ that is interceding.”

Christ wants you to make it.  He wants you to keep it settled.  He wants you to never lose the position, “It is settled I will serve God.” 

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Then he dealt with tribulation, hardship, depths, crisis, trials.  We are more than conquerors through Jesus Christ that loved us.  Rest in the thought that He is resting in His love and you are resting in His love.

I am his and He is mine, now and forever.