Brother Gary Wednesday Evening 3/23/16

Brother Gary Wednesday Evening 3/23/16

Paul was telling the Corinthians that they were not doing the communion right.  We want to do our best to realize what a powerful experience the communion represents.

1Co 11:20  When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper.

1Co 11:21  For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken.

1Co 11:22  What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not.

1Co 11:23  For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread:

1Co 11:24  And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.

Jesus did not go through the suffering for His own good.  He did it for you and me.  I believe that whatever the individual’s need is if they will own their need and begin to seek God and His word and seek what Jesus went through, I believe beyond the shadow of a doubt that every need is supplied through the broken body of Jesus Christ.

This do in remembrance of me:  Let us remember how we got where we are.  For me, part of my remembering is that I know what I was before I got saved.  I know to some degree where I was headed.  I don’t know where I would have ended.  On the broad road of sin you don’t choose your own destiny. 

Millions say, “I don’t know how I got here.”  We know:  They choose to disobey and forget God.  It is unreal!  How can people forget God?  There is an intoxication.  Don’t forget where you were headed, how sin was treating you, and how it was designing to treat you.

Jesus’ body was broken for you and for me. 

1Co 11:25  After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.

1Co 11:26  For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come.

There are times when death comes that we begin to remember the individual.  It is always pleasant when the memories that we are left with are pleasant memories. 

Jesus was already the Son of God.  He did not have to go through what He went through to make heaven.  He did it for you and me.

Know what Jesus accomplished by His broken body: 

Gen 3:14  And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:

Gen 3:15  And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

Way back shortly after creation, God left this promise and prophecy that “Yes, Satan will bruise my heal, but I am going to bruise His head.”

Rom 16:20  And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.

You might be here tonight in a very narrow place.  These narrow places are good for us.  We have to get through the narrow place to get to the large place.  Psalms 113 to 118 may have been the hymns that were sung after the feet washing in Jesus’ day. 

In Psalms 118 it speaks of being closed in and then says, “The Lord will lead you to a large place.”  This I know:  Jesus went through a narrow place.  All men forsook him.  His sweat was as blood coming out of His pores.

He did it for us.  Today He is seated on the right hand of the Father making intercession for us.  There is one thing beyond a shadow of a doubt.  The communion is a remembrance of what Jesus has done.

The conviction point to me is that we recognize what Jesus made available to us: healing, victory, salvation, sanctification. 

We talked to a precious lady last night that was totally confused.  The seed of division is pride and carnality.  Someone wants their own way outside the authority of the Word of God.  God came to deliver me from all sin and all traits of carnality.

The desired effect of Jesus being bruised:  He is able to enable us to overcome.  He overcame all the bruising.  We feel bad and feel beat up when someone treats us bad and says bad things about us.  Jesus already went through it.

When people become bruised, if they don’t get the bruise taken care of, they will become bitter.  We will become bruised.  Sometimes people willfully bruise us.  Sometimes they bruise in ignorance, and they don’t mean to bruise you.  When I was sick someone said, “What in the world is wrong with you anyway?” 

We cannot afford to get bitter over anything.  If someone mistreats you unknowing in the fellowship, if someone says something that causes you to feel bruised, it is fine to go and clear it up, but get to Jesus.  He suffered all the bruising.  You and I don’t have to be bruised.  You and I don’t have to get bitter.  He suffered all the bruising.

Isa 42:3  A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth.

I can apply this to my life.  Thank God we didn’t keep a journal of all the bruising.  There have been times when, not well-meaning, people have gotten Karen and I in their sights.  We walked into one meeting and the preacher didn’t know who we were and yet started preaching at me things that he thought and was way off track. 

Well-meaning people will decide they want to tell you something because you need to know it.  At that time you need more grace than they have.  You need to have it settled that you will not be bruised.

The Corinthians were making a meal of the Lord’s supper and failing to realize what the bread and wine represented.  They failed to realize what it meant pertaining to salvation and the deliverance that accompanies salvation.

Are we allowing all that Jesus bought for us to work in our life? 

You are so blessed to know about divine healing.  God, His Son, and the Holy Spirit have answers.  They are not just practicing.  They have emotional healing.  There are a lot of things in the world that ruin people’s emotions. 

There are a lot of stresses in this world.  If you are stressed out, then get a hold of God.  He deals with me: “Trust in the Lord.  Don’t just talk about it.”

He went through Gethsemane.  The just suffered for the unjust.  Remember the trials, the mockings; remember the crown of thorns.  He suffered for us and He didn’t lose His direction.

Pray for me that when the battle gets hot and I am exhausted that I don’t lose my focus of being the church of God 2016

He bore the cross; He bore the weight of our sin.  It was heavier than the literal cross.  That is what this communion service is all about.  When we break that bread, it shows that His body was broken for us.  When we eat of the bread then we do it because we realize what Jesus bought for us.  It is because of His body and His blood that we are saved today.

He shed His blood that He could sanctify those without the gate.  May we examine ourselves carefully:  Am I living to all the benefits that Jesus bought for me?  Am I living to them? 

Every time I preach this message I am under conviction.  I love conviction.  I love being stirred in my heart.  Jesus suffered that we could be a healthy body of believers: the church of God. 

LET ME BE WORTHY

When I think about the Cross that My Savior had to bear
And how He died for me upon the tree
Then my heart with fervent plea cries
Oh Lord is was for me
Let me be worthy of the price You paid for me

Let me be worthy of the price that set me free
Let me be worthy of the blood You shed for me
Let me be worthy of the pain that You suffered for my gain
Let me be worthy of the price You paid for me

Oh, the beauty and the grace, Love, and pity on His face
All through His suffering and His awful pain
Made the thief upon the tree cry,
“Oh Lord, remember me”
Let me be worthy, Let me some day with You reign

Oh, what mercy and what love, as He prayed to God above
Forgive them for they know not what they do
In my heart there rings a prayer
Let me of his mercy share
Let me be worthy of the price He paid for me

Author: Lois Rosenquist Irwin

Brother Gary Sunday Morning 3/20/16

Brother Gary Sunday Morning 3/20/16

Joh 19:28  After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.

Joh 19:29  Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth.

Joh 19:30  When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

It is finished! 

It is because of Jesus and the cross that we have the opportunity to serve Him.  We were Gentiles and were not included in the special people of God, and would not have been had God not come and made a way.

Jesus Christ became the perfect sacrifice for the sins of the whole world.

It is finished!

It is wonderful that we know that Jesus made the perfect, acceptable sacrifice for the sin of each one that we meet and visit with that they can be saved.  Isn’t that wonderful?

Jesus washed the disciples’ feet, even Judas’.  As Jesus washed the disciples’ feet, He would have us do so and be obedient in that thought. 

Jesus took the bread with His disciples and broke it and said, “This is my body that is broken for you.”  If we can examine our self and grasp what Jesus made available to us!  It wasn’t just to the 12, or to his mother and the other Mary’s. 

His body was broken.  The very crown of thorns: they crowned him in mockery and took a stick and literally hit him on the head on the crown of thorns.

He took the wine:  “This is my blood of the New Testament.”  It is the blood of Christ that was shed that we could be free from all our committed and inherited sins.  In that blood there is life and there is the changing factor: Lives that are hopeless if they can get to God and have a heart cry to God they can have a new life.

We all have a conscience; we weigh it and deal with it.  We make choices and realize “This is offered, this is something I can do or think about, or this is someplace that I can go or deal with.”  Then our conscience begins to work with us, “Would this be profitable?  Is this something that I should do?”

We look at individuals and we wonder, “How did they get there?”  It starts with the conscience.  The blood of Jesus Christ can be applied and bring a person back to a sound conscience.

Sister Alta Hines had an extreme case of accusations.  God allows us to go through troubling things. 

In the Psalms 113 it is an account of the Children of Israel and of Jesus and what He went through.  The children of Israel were led across the wilderness and the Jordan and found themselves in a large land.

God wants us to go through and find our self in a large place.  Perhaps our thoughts were small and we were thinking a lot about ourselves and our life.  God speaks, “I want you to lengthen your cords.  I want you concerned about your own but I also want you concerned about those that don’t have a mother or a father.”

Children desperately need a mother and a father.  They need the examples before them.  It is in the little tender years that the parents affect the child the most.  Once they are gone, you don’t roll time back. 

The children’s conscience, the children that are in your life:  You may say, the adults in my life have a conscience that is tough and seared.  I want to tell you about the blood of Christ. 

Remember the soldier that came by with a spear to pierce Jesus?  He was also going to break His legs.  Jesus was already gone so the soldier did not break His legs.  That was a part of God’s plan. 

But there was something else that was a part of God’s plan.  The soldier took his speak and thrust it in His side.  Zechariah says, “In that day a fountain shall be opened for sin and uncleanness.”  Out of His side came water and blood. 

That fountain is still open this morning.  Isn’t it wonderful that there is still a place to go?  If you have been struggling with an attitude or unclean thoughts, if you need divine intervention from God, it is wonderful that there is a place to go to be cleansed.

Jesus went into Gethsemane and was praying.  He was really asking someone to pray.  He asked His disciples to pray.  Sometimes folks sleep to get out of the pain that they are feeling.  Things had not worked out how these disciples had hoped it would. 

Disappointment is a part of life.  We would like everything to work good for children.  We would like for them to grow up and be nurtured by their mom and dad and never experience disappointment, but for us adults, disappointments will come. 

For whatever reason the disciples couldn’t stay awake, and Jesus prayed alone. 

When we get a call to pray, Karen and I stop whatever we are doing and pray. 

Jesus prayed alone.  He probably did this so that you would always have an intercessor.  He was interceding for me and for you before we got up this morning.  He knows what it is. 

He prayed because what He was faced with was not what he would have chosen: “Death by crucifixion.”  He prayed, “Not my will … never the less, Thy will be done.”

Luk 22:43  And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.

It is when we feel our greatest need.  (It is ok to feel very needy this morning.  It is ok to come before the throne and say, “I am so needy.”  It is ok to be praying for your son or daughter.  It is ok to keep praying for the ones that have been so afflicted.) There is a God in heaven that sends angels. 

The angels of the Lord are thousands upon thousands.  I want to be worthy of the price that Jesus paid in the thought, “Lord you bought it for me.  I will pay whatever price.  You purchased it.” 

Jesus was betrayed; there was a Judas.  Probably everyone in this audience will have an open door to betray Jesus or someone else.  When it comes to betrayal, whatever is offered you, remember that Judas couldn’t keep it.

Many have been offered lots of worldly pleasures; they don’t last.  I am not going to preach on the end of Hollywood people.  Such sad stories!

Judas betrayed Christ for 30 pieces of silver.  He thought he had gained, but he ended up bringing them back.  Those that had paid him said, “What is that to us?  It is not our problem.”  They left him with a big problem.

After Gethsemane Jesus was arrested.  Have a Gethsemane before you start anything.  Brother Chancellor told me, “This one said, “I will be glad when this is over,” and they didn’t know what they were saying.””

You may face a gethsemane as Jesus was, and an after gethsemane.  We have experienced walking into a place and looking for a friendly face.  There didn’t seem to be any friendly faces in that place for Jesus.

He was sent to Pilot and then to Herod.  Herod was hoping to see a miracle.  He perhaps was hoping for something that would relieve him of the responsibility. 

He mocked Jesus.  He put a scarlet robe upon him.  There were different styles of robes for different people in authority and different kings wore different types of robes.  Perhaps Jesus wore many different robes and was mocked in many different ways. 

It did not affect Him.  He knew that He was headed for a purpose.  Sister Karen sings, “When He was on the cross, I was on His mind.”  We think of Jesus looking down the road so that someday clear down to 2016 the child that is born, the same Jesus that was on the cross is looking down.  He is looking down that you and I can be saved.

He was mocked and ridiculed.  Two enemies, Herod and Pilot, became friends because they both wanted to destroy Jesus.  Perhaps Pilot didn’t want to destroy Him, but he wouldn’t stand.

In Mark 15, he asks, “Shall I release Jesus?”  The leaders moved the people to ask for Barabbas to be released.  Then Pilot asked, “What shall I do with Jesus?”  The crowd was moved to say, “Crucify Him.”  Pilot released Jesus to be crucified.

The faithfulness of God: Pilot’s wife sent him a  note, “Don’t have anything to do with this just man.”  God sent the checks, but the crowd pressured him.

Pilot scourged Jesus.  I don’t know if he did it himself, or had it done.  There was a long stick with several feet of leather and at the end a rock or metal designed to break the flesh.  Think if His suffering!  It is by His stripes that we are healed.  Emotions, physical, heartache, and relationships can be healed.  Isn’t that wonderful?

We all identify with how it hurts to feel a distance from those that you love.  Isn’t it marvelous that there is a healing through Jesus Christ?  You may not be able to change them and their distance but you can change you and your distance. 

You try to reconcile and they almost go into a tantrum; there is not a problem that cannot be solved if everyone will let Jesus heal their wounds.

They put a crown of thorns on him and a scarlet robe.  When I think of him suffering for my sin so that I could be freed, my heart is moved.  Sin does terrible things to people.  You and I would not be an exception.

It made a vast difference in the Kelly’s because my mother went to a revival meeting and heard the wonderful news that her sins could be forgiven and all washed away.  She was in a very narrow place.  Her little brother had been taken by appendicitis and died.

They found a church of God preacher.  He later went and knocked on her door and invited her to a revival.  She went and got saved.  My mother prayed for my dad 9 years.  In May of 1949 my dad was making shavings to make a fire and God told him to go pray.  He went to the barn and prayed. 

Oh what a change!  It is all because Jesus finished the work on the cross. 

The cross and Jesus: Jesus was too exhausted to carry the cross.  A man named Simon was summonsed to carry it.  Isn’t it wonderful that there was someone to help?

Jesus was taken to Golgotha, often called Calvary.  He refused the sedative that would lessen the pain: wine and myrrh.  It was given so those that were to be crucified wouldn’t feel it so intently.  He wanted to feel it because He loved you and me that much. 

They didn’t have to force Him to lay down on the cross.  They didn’t force Him to go.  He could have called 10,000 angels.  He laid down on the cross.  The soldiers drove the nails in both hands and both feet and He endured the pain.

In three different languages they wrote, “He is the King of the Jews.”  He is more than the King of the Jews.  He is the King of kings. 

I trust that ever one is so moved by the Word and Spirit of God that we will covenant afresh, “I will keep my eyes on you; You will always lead me right.”

Jesus wanted every need to be fully supplied.  He suffered all the nails.  He suffered knowing that His mother was there.  He hung only one foot above the earth according to the account that I read.  He said to John, “Take care of my mother.”

There were two thieves beside Him.  One railed on him and the other said, “Remember me when you come into your kingdom.”  In all He was going through, (What a savior!), He spoke to the thief individually and said, “This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise.”

Jesus said in his suffering, “I thirst.” It is wonderful that we have the example of the Son of God that made all the water; He made living water and gives living water.  They gave Him vinegar to drink.  Jesus bowed His head and died on the cross. 

Why Jesus came:

Mat 20:28  Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

The thought of ransom:  you and I fell into sin, and became so bound by sin that it is a very underestimation to say that there are millions that wish they could change their life today.  They speak the words, “I so regret living like I’m living.” 

The ransom has been paid.  Jesus gave His life a ransom right there and paid the price that you and I could be saved from all sin.

Rom 5:11  And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.

Jesus finished the work on the cross so that an atonement could be made for sin.  When that soldier took the spear and placed it into His side, a fountain was opened.

The atonement and the price for sin was paid.  It was the price that we could be forgiven of all sin.

Gal 4:5  To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

Think this morning, not only so that we could know a little bit about Jesus, but to be redeemed.  You and I were held captive but through His blood there was a way that Jesus bought us back to God.  Isn’t it marvelous that the Father and the Son had the attitude, “I want them to be as a son?”

You never feel that you are lesser.  It doesn’t matter what side of the tracks that you came from, or how much you messed up your life in the past.  The only thing that matters is the blood of Jesus paying the price and you and me turning to Him and repenting.

Jesus doesn’t refer to me as “the adopted one,” or His “half-brother.”  We are adopted, one of His own.

Tit 2:14  Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

We are a peculiar people, a purchased treasure, zealous of good works.  There is something about what Jesus did for every one of us that we desire to turn and do something for someone else. 

There is not anyone that doesn’t have needs.  The Laodicean church says that they are increased with goods and have need of nothing.  Those that think that they have no needs have the greatest need.

Tit 2:15  These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee.

He said, “It is finished.”  We all can look back to the cross and realize, “He bought my soul through death on Calvary.”

Sister Sunny Sunday Morning 3/20/16

Sister Sunny Sunday Morning 3/20/16

Some things that I need and pray for daily: daily bread:

He gives grace: the unmerited favor of God, the divine influence of God and its reflection out into the life, graciousness, joy liberality, …

Psa 84:11  For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.

Grace - Thayer Definition:

1) grace

1a) that which affords joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness, charm, loveliness: grace of speech

2) good will, loving-kindness, favour

2a) of the merciful kindness by which God, exerting his holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ, keeps, strengthens, increases them in Christian faith, knowledge, affection, and kindles them to the exercise of the Christian virtues

3) what is due to grace

3a) the spiritual condition of one governed by the power of divine grace

3b) the token or proof of grace, benefit

3b1) a gift of grace

3b2) benefit, bounty

4) thanks, (for benefits, services, favours), recompense, reward

Grace – Strongs Concordance Definition: G5485 χάρις charis khar'-ece
From G5463; graciousness (as gratifying), of manner or act (abstract or concrete; literal, figurative or spiritual; especially the divine influence upon the heart, and its reflection in the life; including gratitude): - acceptable, benefit, favour, gift, grace (-ious), joy liberality, pleasure, thank (-s, -worthy).

Glory – It comes from Him.  It is His glory, His presence in our life: 1) glory, honour, glorious, abundance

1a) abundance, riches

1b) honour, splendour, glory

1c) honour, dignity

1d) honour, reputation

1e) honour, reverence, glory

1f) glory

His grace gives us something to give out.  We receive and then we can give out.  We are not paupers; we are a child of the King and receive of His table.  We open the door to Him and He comes in and sups with us.  His is a bounteous supply! 

This bounteous supply is ours in the tough times as well as the joyful times.  Life, being the way that it is, sometimes has more tough times than good.  His supply allows us to continue to be filled, saturated, in the difficult times.

Psa 65:4  Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple.

Satisfied - A primitive root; to sate, that is, fill to satisfaction (literally or figuratively): - have enough, fill (full, self, with), be (to the) full (of), have plenty of, be satiate, satisfy (with), suffice, be weary of.

Goodness - From H2895; good (as a noun), in the widest sense, especially goodness (superlatively concrete, the best), beauty, gladness, welfare: - fair, gladness, good (-ness, thing, -s), joy, go well with.

Rom 5:2  By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

We have access by faith into grace wherein we stand and rejoice.  What a lovely place to stand!  “There is joy unspeakable and full of glory… Oh the half has never yet been told.” 

He has promised, “Cast thy burden upon the Lord and He will sustain thee.”  Here the word, burden, means your lot in life; whatever God has given you.  Cast it on Him and He will uphold you, nourish you, support you, and sustain you. 

Every need supplied!

Rom 5:17  For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)

Abundance of grace!  Gift of righteousness!  We can reign in life by Jesus Christ.  He supplies our every need.  He is the bread of life. 

Eph 4:7  But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.

He gives faith: the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen,

Rom 12:3  For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

He gives wisdom: if any lack wisdom, let Him ask…

Jas 1:5  If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

Jas 1:6  But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.

Jas 3:17  But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

In His presence is fullness of joy: river of pleasure.

Psa 16:11  Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

Psa 36:8  They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.

Psa 36:9  For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.

He is an ever present friend. 

Pro 18:24  A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.

Joh 15:12  This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.

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

Joh 15:14  Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.

Brother Gary Sunday Morning 3/13/16

Brother Gary Sunday Morning 3/13/16

1Pe 2:9  But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

My thought this morning is of the purchased possession which is the better translation of “A peculiar people.”

We are a chosen generation: He chose us, called us, and we answered the call to be one of His very own.  We can have a changed heart, be a changed man or individual.  We can be a holy nation.

We are a possessed possession:  We have been called out of darkness.  Every once in a while our paths are allowed to cross the darkness in the world.  We live in a very dark world.  For some it is more than every once in a while.  We realize that it is a dark world and it is a wonderful thing to be called out of that darkness.

There is joy, peace, and fulfillment in life that far exceeds anything that this world can possibly offer.  We are called into this glorious light which gives us hope and direction for the day and prepares us for eternity.

We are a purchased possession.

Act 20:28  Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.

Paul had called a meeting of all the elders.  They came together and Paul was giving them the instruction that he was near the end of his journey.  It is vital that each pastor and each member of the congregation take heed to their selves.  It is good instruction.

Jesus came with a real goal, it was not only to bring salvation, but we thank God for bible salvation.  Without salvation we cannot receive spiritual life and more abundant life.  Not only did He come to cleanse us and purify us but to build a called out assembly that He purchased with His own blood.

The reason that we can be saved today is not because we joined church or learned some catechism but because Jesus came and shed His precious blood.

I am impressed with the accuracy of the prophecy of Isaiah.  God has not left us without proofs.  It was prophesied of.  History records it. And it is shown forth in lives today.

Isa 53:1  Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?

People say, “That cannot be true.”  Then they find that the archeologic facts prove it and come back and say that, “It is true.”

Every soul is important to God.  There is a prison of self-consciousness, or of feeling no self-worth.  If you are in a prison this morning, you can believe God’s report that He sent His Son to give us life and more abundant life.

Isa 53:2  For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

Jesus is prophesied as growing as a tender plant.  Think of Jesus and all the splendor of heaven!

When Kathy left for college, it seemed that even the dogs cried.  We were glad that she was getting an education but there is never joy when the little treasures are leaving the nest.  It is a part of life.

Can you and I grasp God, Jesus the very Son of God and His only begotten Son? 

In Proverbs 9 it speaks of the Son being the delight of the Father.  We understand as a mother or a father the delight of a mother or a father. 

I hope I can some way convey to you the Father sending His only begotten Son.  He was tender. 

You and I know that Jesus came upon the scene in one of the very darkest days of our history.  It was approximately 460 years after the last prophet.  Men sat in darkness.  Light shone into the darkness and the darkness comprehended it not.  In the days of Eli, the lamp had almost gone out.

He who had never known sin was born into the world with the exact situation set up.  He was to be born in Bethlehem.  It was all ordained of God.  He had a very lowly birth.  There were those that came to see Jesus.  The king wanted to know all about it and it was not long until he issued a law that all the little boy babies should be killed.

Isa 53:3  He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

He was despised and rejected:  It was fulfilled in Christ but is still true today.  Jesus kept on His course.  He came with a purpose, to fulfil the will of God.  He came with the thought, “I am going to pay the price so that mankind will be our purchased possession.” 

You are bought with a price.  Glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are the Lords.  Don’t be servants of men.

God deserves our very best.  You might be here and not feeling well.  Maybe you had a challenging week or weekend.  Maybe you are sick and afflicted and are here doing the best that you can.

God designed that we glorify Him in our bodies and in our spirits that belong to God. 

We are to glorify God and not be servants of men.  Everyone in this audience is precious and important to us.  More than that they are important to God.  How vital that they keep everything rightly related to God.  One of the thoughts of the cross is “God help us to always keep things clear between us and God.” 

Be not servants of men:  This doesn’t mean that we are not to serve one another.  We are to love and care for one another but we are not indebted to each other in the thought of selling out for the gifts or praise of man.

Always remember that the plan of God is that we are all brethren.  I am not against a pulpit.  We need a place to have orderly worship and a place to lay our bible.  When we were building the building I told the deacons, “It is fine with me if I don’t have a raised platform, for we are brethren.”  My calling is different but there is no big I’s or little You’s.

Reverend and holy is God’s name.  I don’t want it.  I am brother or pastor Kelly.

He is despised and rejected.  He did it for you and me.  I think of what Jesus went through.  He was mistreated.  He did this for the sole purpose that he could buy your soul from the auction block of sin.

Romans 3:23, we all came into the world with the nature to sin.  Isn’t it wonderful that God sent Jesus that we could be saved?  He sent Him to pay the price.

Isa 53:4  Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

A man of sorrows, acquainted with griefs: He bore our sorrows.  Jesus carried our sorrows.  This spoke to me for myself and for everyone that is here.  Even little children know anxiety.  As you age anxiety becomes something that most deal with.  If you live your journey out, you will deal with anxieties. 

You will wonder “What is going to happen when I reach a certain age?”  You, as parents, will be challenged with the thought, “Are our children going to serve God?”  There will be the anxiety, “If they don’t...”

Young people will wonder, “Will I find that individual in life that will love me and I them?”  It is the desire of children to grow up and have a good home.  We live in a world where especially boys come into the world thinking that the world owes them a living and they look for someone to support them. 

The bible says, “The man that doesn’t work or provide for his own is worse than an infidel and denied of the faith.” 

I am not talking about that handicapped man with injuries or disabilities.  I am talking of the one that his grandfather spoke of, “I wish he would get to work.  He has the education, he needs to go to work.”

Isa 53:12  Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

Every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess.  He will divide a portion with the strong.  There is nothing too hard for my God to do.  He poured out His soul to death.  He took the place of a prisoner named Barabbas.  They bound Him like a prisoner

Van you imagine coming from the splendor of heaven to being bound like a prisoner.  He could have called 10,000 angels but He didn’t.  He bore the sting of death.  He bore the sins of many.  He became the author of salvation. 

Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.  John the Baptist said this twice.  One of the times his disciples left and followed Jesus.  “Look at that one and follow Him.”

He prayed for me.  He prayed for every sinner.  After you get saved He doesn’t stop praying but makes intercession for His people.

Sister Sunny Sunday School 3/13/16

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.

As I have prayed this prayer many times and tried to focus on each part, the part, “Give us this day our daily bread,” was at first an enigma to me.  I knew in part it meant the very literal food that we were to eat that day, I knew that Jesus is the bread of life, but what all does bread mean? 

Some meanings of bread – satisfaction, life, necessities, maintenance, and the yield of our actions. 

Some examples of where we use the word bread:  Bread is the staff of life; you are said to earn your bread; in sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread; eat not the bread of idleness.

Jesus is the bread of God:

Joh 6:30  They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work?

Joh 6:31  Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.

Joh 6:32  Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.

Joh 6:33  For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.

Jesus came to give life to the world.  As literal bread gives strength and nourishment, or life, Jesus came that we might have spiritual life.  To become alive, we must be born again. 

To be born again we must first die to the old life that we had built.  A kernel of wheat lives and grows as a part of the wheat plant and then must die and be separated from its old life before it can be planted and grow into a new plant. 

The old life contains our own way of looking out for ourselves first.  This way causes many troubles in the world today.  When Jesus came to the earth, He did not live this way.  He showed us a better way to live.  It is a way that gives more abundant life. 

Jesus is the Son of God.  He died on the cross and rose again.  Take up His cross, His life’s work and direction, and follow Him to have life more abundant and everlasting life.

Joh 3:3  Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Joh 3:4  Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?

Joh 3:5  Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

Joh 3:6  That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Joh 3:7  Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

Joh 12:23  And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.

Joh 12:24  Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

Joh 12:25  He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

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.

Joh 10:9  I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.

Joh 10:10  The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

Mat 16:24  Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

Mat 16:25  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

Mat 16:26  For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

Once we receive life from the Bread of Life, His life maintains our life:  He nourishes us, strengthens us, and causes us to grow.  Give us this day our daily bread: Give us that which is needed to support our spiritual life daily.  It represents all we need supplied.    

Php 1:6  Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

Bread (Webster) - (n.) Food; sustenance; support of life, in general.

He gives our literal bread and supplies our every literal need.  It was testified of in the Old Testament and we bear testimony to this in our own lives. 

Gen 48:15  And he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day,

Deu 8:3  And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.

Deu 8:4  Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.

Neh 9:15  And gavest them bread from heaven for their hunger, and broughtest forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and promisedst them that they should go in to possess the land which thou hadst sworn to give them.

Psa 23:1  A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

Psa 23:2  He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

Psa 23:3  He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Psa 23:4  Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Psa 23:5  Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

Psa 23:6  Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

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