Brother Gary Sunday Morning 11/1/15

Brother Gary Sunday Morning 11/1/15

Pro 18:1  Through desire a man, having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom.

Pro 18:2  A fool hath no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself.

Pro 18:3  When the wicked cometh, then cometh also contempt, and with ignominy reproach.

Pro 18:4  The words of a man's mouth are as deep waters, and the wellspring of wisdom as a flowing brook.

It is wonderful that God created us as an individual with desires.  That desire is shown at birth, or shortly after, of a child when they are in need of nourishment.  If you read of the miracle of a child being able to nurse, it is a miracle!  It is something that cannot be taught by human teaching.  He gave a baby that desire. 

If there is not a desire to thrive, there are real problems.  It is the same spiritually.  God has created a great desire in every heart to know God. 

No one will know God in the depths that He designed without them having a desire and putting forth real effort.  That desire for God needs to be fanned and made a priority in every individual’s life.  God will work with that desire but there is a part for each of us, as an individual, to take care of that desire.

The wellspring of wisdom is as a flowing brook:  I think of how we respond to a spring or a brook.  It is refreshing to be able to leave everything of our individual life and go to the mountains.  Whether we are hiking or going by a natural creek, it is refreshing just to be by that creek.

In the spiritual realm, God has designed a wellspring of wisdom.  No one in this audience will have a blessed life just because you were born into a certain family or because someone worked hard to give you a good childhood.  Those things are important and it would be our desire for each child.

There is a very serious question men, women, children, and young people think, “What would be the best thing for me to do?  What choices should I make so that I don’t fall into the pitfalls?” 

A man recently told me that as a child the family had friends that would tell him, his dad, and everyone that the children didn’t have much of a chance because of the difficulties in their life. 

My barber has only talked about spiritual things twice.  As I was there this week, Ken began to unburden his heart a bit.  When they were growing up, they were of a fellowship that if you were divorced then you were damned and your children were damned.  Ken told me that he didn’t let it damage his faith.

Your past may not have been as you’d like it to have been, but you are an individual before God.  We are responsible before God.  The sins of our past can be forgiven and we can become a new creature in Christ Jesus. 

This promise is for you:  through desire; the desire to know Jesus.  Jesus is wisdom.  I couldn’t help but think of the wonderful flowing brook of wisdom that you and I can refresh ourselves by.  It is there that we can receive sweet counsel from the greatest counselor.  He is the one that fulfilled the prophecy given by Isaiah of being the messiah, “His name shall be called wonderful, counsellor…”

There is the wellspring of wisdom that is flowing.  It is wonderful that the design of God is that as long as time exists on earth, the wellspring will be flowing. 

There is the river of life and the tree of life is on both sides of it.  It is available on this side of the river.  You can come and find out what it takes to be saved and sanctified.  The leaves are for the healing of the nations.

You can find what is best.  What is best is a question even in the thought of for the Church of God, in Montana, November 2016.  We want to be right in time with God on everything. 

It is an old question that has been asked many times.  What is best?  The answer of wisdom is according to Matthew chapter 16:

Mat 16:19  And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

For myself and those in this audience that feel aged.  You still are of a great worth.  There are things in this world that will cause you to not be able to accomplish what you used to.  But this wellspring of wisdom has refreshment for your soul and has a job for everyone to do.

Jesus said this to Peter and God is no respecter of persons.  When someone tries to put you into a mold, “You are just like old so in so,” God is not a respecter of persons.  When you come to Jesus Christ He throws the old mold away, “I am going to make you a new creature.”

We have a Bible that is full of the keys for every situation in life.  If we were preaching to the people in the Sander’s County Jail, they could be guilty of a lot of things, but we wouldn’t be there if we were not fully aware that this Word of God has the key and answer to every situation.

We serve a God that ordained that we have faith.  Faith is the victory that overcomes the world.  For your situation in life, this Word of God has the key that will unlock what is best for you. 

I think of Sister Phyllis Griffin; her father got gloriously saved when she was young.  He had been a Catholic and was Italian.  Brother Martin got saved and began finding the keys.  He came out of the church that had the book locked.  He shortly had to count the cost. 

His Roman Catholic family disowned him.  After Brother Martin got saved, they had no visitation from their grandparents.  They were considered dead and nonexistent.  But he found the key. 

We must find the key.  It is a part of life to need the key here in Western Montana.  In order to survive here we must find the key.  Spiritually we must find the key, “What is best for my life?”

You say, “I was thinking of this or that.  I talked to someone and they said, “Whatever you do don’t go here or there, someone else said, “Just wing it.””  Whatever you do, call upon God.

Whatsoever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven.  It is wonderful that in your life all those things that are designed to destroy you: the works of the flesh, they are designed to destroy your mind, your health, and your spirit.  They are designed to destroy the good things that God has for you.  They can be bound.

Whatsoever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Christ is made unto us wisdom:

1Co 1:30  But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:

There are times in our life when every one of us feels the extreme necessity to resort to a place that we have found as a refuge over and over again.  I find a refuge in the Word of God.  I find a refuge in the beautiful hymns of Zion, and I find a refuge in prayer.  I find a refuge in opening the Word of God and there is the key that unlocks the things of God.

Jer 29:10  For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.

God told them that this captivity was only for a season.  You may feel heavy burdens and wonder, “How long will I be held in the position that I am in?  God always brings restrictions, in the thought of captivity, to an end. 

He told them, I will visit you and will cause you to return to the place that I designed you to be in.  God has a marvelous place for each one of us.

Zion is beautiful for situation.  That means the place where God is, is a beautiful place to be young.  It is a beautiful place to be a teenager.  It is beautiful as we journey the journey of life and it is a beautiful place to be old.

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.

God’s thoughts are thoughts of peace.  They are thoughts to bring us to an expected end.  To think no evil thoughts, to have thoughts of peace, that is wonderful. 

Jer 29:12  Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.

You are blessed to be taught to pray as a child.  You are blessed to know how to pray.  You might say, “I was never taught to pray.”  Find your Bible and go with me to Matthew chapter 6:

Mat 6:9  After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

Mat 6:10  Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

Mat 6:11  Give us this day our daily bread.

Mat 6:12  And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

Mat 6:13  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

When we approach God we approach the eternal God that is the father of all those that are saved.  It brings a chill to us to hear individuals take God’s name in vain.

Jer 29:12  Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.

It is never too early to learn to pray.  We pray because we know that God hears prayer.  He not only hears prayer, but He answers prayer.

Jer 29:13  And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

You might say, “I have been praying and I still feel an unrest in my soul.”

David said, “Search me O God…” 

You shall seek me and find me when you shall search for me with all your heart:  There are occasions in life when we lose things.  We look and look, and sometimes they are never found.  It is never that way with God.  That desire that you have for God, that hungering that you have for God, that cry that you have for God, “Oh that my soul could more encompass!” 

As a child grows, their heart grows.  It is the same spiritually.  When we got saved, God filled our little soul, but there was something in there that cried out for more of God.  “God I want to be growing and growing.” 

Search with all your heart:  “God I want you more than anything else.”

Jer 29:14  And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.

There are times in our life that we realize, “I am saddled with the wrong thing.  I have thought that thought so much that it has worn a groove in my mind.”

There was a young man that came to Jesus with questions Matthew recorded it in chapter 19, Mark in chapter 10.  “What shall I do to have eternal life?”  The first thing that I want to tell you is that Jesus looked on the young man and loved him. 

Be it known to you that Jesus really loves you.  You may have been rejected by family, by a boyfriend, or girlfriend, or in school.  Or you may not have gotten the promotion on the job.  I want to tell you that Jesus really loves you and His thought would be the very best for you.

God called Sister Griffin and she answered the call in the capacity that He called her to.  She said, “There is no way that my life could have been more blessed.”  God can answer when it seems an impossibility.  There is nothing impossible with God.

“What can I do to gain eternal life?”  This man asked that question because he felt a lack in life.  When we feel a lack it is because God is calling on our soul.  This have I done, “What lack I yet?”

This young man was wealthy and probably with his wealth there was entertainment and friends.  Jesus knew that if he wanted eternal life and to be truly satisfied he had to forsake everything.

We don’t come to Jesus with the thought, “I want to miss hell, but I want my own way.” 

God gave you the desire to get to Him and He invites us to come and really count the cost.  Have you known anyone that counted the cost of what sin would cost them and then go on and say, “I want to be lost forever?”  Sin has never paid well; sin never will pay well.

It is so awesome that God, through Solomon, gave us understanding in the Old Testament and now in the New Testament Jesus gives us understanding, “Come to the waters.  Come to the brook.  Come to the wellspring of wisdom.  Come and let your soul be satisfied.”

If you are not saved the first thing I want you to know is that God loves you.  Jesus will take care of the things in your life.  He has never failed.  He never will fail. 

Not only does Jesus love you, His church loves you. 

You might say, “I am saved, but I feel the desire for more of God.”  You are blessed.  However you feel that God would have you to respond, then respond.  I wouldn’t hesitate.