Brother Gary Wednesday Evening 5/21/14

Brother Gary Wednesday Evening 5/21/14

O Sweet Will of God
(The Bondage of Love)

O sweet will of God!  Thou hast girded me round
Like the deep, moving currents that girdle the sea
With omnipotent love is my poor nature bound,
And this bondage to love sets me perfectly free.

Chorus
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! My soul is now free!
For the precious blood of Jesus cleanseth even me.

For years my soul wrestled with vague discontent
That like a sad angel o’er shadowed my way;
God’s light in my soul with the darkness was blent,
And my heart ever longed for an unclouded day.

And now I have flung myself recklessly out,
Like a chip on the stream of the INFINITE WILL;
I pass the rough rocks with a smile and a shout,
And I just let my God His dear purpose fulfill.

Forever I choose the good will of my God,
Its holy, deep riches to love and to know;
The serfdom of love to so sweeten the rod,
That its touch maketh rivers of honey to flow.

Roll on, checkered seasons, bring smiles or bring tears
My soul sweetly sails on an infinite tide.
I shall soon touch the shores of eternities years,
And near the white throne of my Savior abide.
Brother George Watson

Eph 5:17  Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.

As Church of God people it is important that we know what the will of God is.  It is the will of God that we be saved and it is the will of God that we be sanctified, but it doesn’t end there.  Seeking the will of God is not a once in a lifetime experience. 

When you put new doors on or replace the windows, when you redo the deck, you’d like it to last a lifetime.  It is a rude awakening when you find out that from 1990 to 2014 the new doors now need replaced.  We get things set up and we want them to stay that way.  That is a part of humanity.

There is a much higher goal in life and that is to seek the will of God for that day, every day.  The will of God is not a new subject.  Jesus taught us that it is the will of God that we don’t perish.

Mat 18:10  Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.

Mat 18:11  For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.

Mat 18:12  How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?

Mat 18:13  And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.

Mat 18:14  Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.

It is not the will of the Father in Heaven that one of these little ones should perish.  We need to have an understanding of what it means to perish. 

Perish – waste away.

When you think of precious children, precious young people, precious graduates from high school, when you think that without them seeking the will of God they are immediately going into a position of perishing and soon they will begin to deteriorate and waste away.

You and I know in our personal experience, if we don’t stay close to God, worship, and put forth special effort in praying and seeking after God, we can feel a wasting take place.

We have all probably had occasions in our life where we were faced with circumstances where we did the best we could but we were not able to pray, communicate, and worship as we should and we could feel a lack coming into our spiritual life.

Perish means to mar. 

To mar means to be bruised.  When I think of how people are bruised.  You can start with children, children are bruised.  There is no child that doesn’t suffer a sad effect when the parents don’t serve God.  They get bruised. 

This thought of being marred includes not only bruising but scarring.  As a child my Aunt Lila was scarred on the left side of her body.  She had terrible scars.  Some people’s scars take their life.  It is not God’s will that any perish. 

You like to think, “So in so is a good guy.”  They may be, but if they are not saved then they are in a position of being scarred.  There is an adversary out there that will take the finest of young men or young ladies, and take the one that is ready to distribute and wash the saint’s feet.  If we give up a little bit then it won’t be long and the enemy will scar us.  Sister Powel went to the creek and one scratch gave her lockjaw. 

The highest goal for today is to do the will of God.  The highest goal for me today was to prepare for prayer meeting.  We must make spiritual things our highest goal or there will be many things that will take our day.  We have plenty of choices but we must choose the higher road which is the will of God for the day.

To perish means to be warped. 

The enemy is out to warp us.  You don’t have to take the attitude of looking inward and looking at injustices in your life, if you do then it won’t be long and you will be warped.  There are a lot of takers in this world and people that will take advantage of you.  People are taken advantage of because they don’t open their selves to the will of God and so who knows what will come on their plate.

To perish means ruin. 

People that have ruined their lives with drugs, alcohol, bad attitudes, bad spirits… Sin ruins lives.  Is there no hope for them?  You can sense pain in people’s lives.  Sin, heartache, sorrow, ruined.  That is what perishing does to souls, ruin.  It knows no boundaries.  The only thing that stops the progress and the process is the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Every day we have the opportunity of saying, “Dear God I want to do your perfect will today.”  You will have options, there will be people that cross your path.  Not everyone that calls or walks in is from God.  Not every thought that comes to your mind comes out of heaven. 

The last thing is that it is not the father’s will that they wreck.

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.

Through desire, through desire, Oh God help me to desire the will of God more than anything else, more than the will of anyone else. 

A man having separated himself, through wanting the will of God more than anything else, it causes you to draw yourself away from everything.  It caused you to become saved, it caused you to desire baptism, and it caused you to desire to be sanctified fully. 

That was the highest goal.  Then we still need to desire to separate our self, “I want to do your will.”  The highest ideal that you can present to anyone is to do the will of God.

The toughest thing that any of us has to separate our self from is our own mind, our own thoughts that we have within; that is the greatest battle.  Then we can do good to others that God would have us do.

You will never find the will of God until you separate yourself and say, “I know this is God’s will.  I know that God is leading me today.”

A fool has no delight in understanding.  The only thing that he wants to know is that his heart discover itself:  Self satisfying.

Psa 10:3  For the wicked boasteth of his heart's desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the LORD abhorreth.

God hears those wicked men and women boasting.

Psa 10:17  LORD, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear:

What a scripture!  God has heard the desire of the humble.  Isn’t that beautiful?  As humble saints of God we prove our humility by saying, “God I know that I don’t know your will for tomorrow.  I need you to reveal it.”  God will prepare our hearts to do the perfect will of God.

Psa 21:1  To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The king shall joy in thy strength, O LORD; and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice!

Psa 21:2  Thou hast given him his heart's desire, and hast not withholden the request of his lips. Selah.

David the king rejoicing in salvation!  God had given him his heart’s desire. 

The will of God.  The highest goal is salvation.

Psa 145:16  Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.

It breaks my heart: the wonderful things that God is preparing and has prepared for men and women and they miss it.  They try to satisfy their cravings.  God has prepared the best but they are selfish and want their own ways and will not turn to God.

Psa 145:17  The LORD is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works.

Psa 145:18  The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.

Psa 145:19  He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him: he also will hear their cry, and will save them.

The highest goal that you can have is to do the will of God.  The highest goal that a graduating senior can have is to do the will of God in their life.

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.

 

Sister Alice Sunday School 5/18/14

Sister Alice Sunday School 5/18/14

Jer 31:21  Set thee up waymarks, make thee high heaps: set thine heart toward the highway, even the way which thou wentest: turn again, O virgin of Israel, turn again to these thy cities.

In order for us to set our heart on the highway we must be drawn.  It is wonderful that God will draw each one of us.

Jer 31:3  The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.

God draws us with loving kindness.  Set your heart on the Law, the Word of God, and the Royal Law.  James says that the Royal Law is that we love each other.

Jas 4:8  Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

This is a promise.  When we start reaching out to God then right away He will start reaching out to us.

No situation or person can interfere with us drawing nigh to God.  A tough situation with your spouse or a difficult situation at work that takes up your mind, you don’t have to let anything hinder you from drawing nigh to God.  You can still draw nigh to God.

How do we draw close to God?

Joh 3:1  There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:

Joh 3:2  The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.

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.

Nicodemus wanted a strong interview with Jesus but didn’t want anyone to know about it so he came at night.  We can each have a strong interview with 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?

Nicodemus wanted to get it.  He didn’t let it go with, “It is probably something symbolic and old.”  We need to get it.  We need to press.

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 3:8  The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

Nicodemus was earnest and really wanted to know.

Joh 3:9  Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?

Joh 3:10  Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?

Joh 3:11  Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.

Joh 3:12  If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?

Joh 3:13  And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.

Joh 3:14  And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:

Here He was giving reference to His crucifixion.  When they looked upon the serpent that was lifted up in Moses’ time they were healed.  He was lifted on the cross for our healing emotionally, spiritually and physically.

Joh 3:15  That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

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 3:17  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

It is wonderful to know that we can have salvation through Jesus Christ.  How do we get it?  We must have a one on one interview with Christ.

Act 2:36  Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.

He is the messiah and the governor with the heart of a shepherd. 

They asked, “What shall we do?”

Act 2:37  Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?

Act 2:38  Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Act 2:39  For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.

It is to all.  Even to as many as the Lord our God shall call.  If we are drawing near to Him then He is drawing nigh to us. 

Repent means to confess and turn from it. 

Act 3:19  Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;

There is a repentance.  We can look at a specific day and time when we were through with our own way and willing to turn God’s way.

Luk 10:20  Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.

Heb 10:10  By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Heb 10:11  And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:

Heb 10:12  But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;

Heb 10:13  From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.

Heb 10:14  For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.

Heb 10:15  Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before,

Heb 10:16  This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;

Heb 10:17  And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.

Heb 10:18  Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.

1Th 4:3  For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:

1Th 4:4  That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour;