Brother Gary Wednesday Evening 4/25/12

Brother Gary Wednesday Evening 4/25/12

Vicarious means suffering in the place of another.  It is marvelous that Jesus Christ willingly suffered for us.  Dealing with the thought of strength:

Psa 22:1  To the chief Musician upon Aijeleth Shahar, A Psalm of David. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?

There are times in our life when we feel alone.  We are put in a position where we are going through trials, sickness, or being misunderstood.  Sometimes in these positions we feel all alone.  There was one crucial time in the life of Christ when He found Himself in that exact situation.  God the Father couldn’t bear to look on him as He took on the sins of the whole world.

David went through a similar situation in the thought of this being a prophecy of Christ.

Psa 22:2  O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.

Psa 22:3  But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.

David left the thought with us: we know God is holy.   (Genesis through Revelations teaches this.)  Thou art Holy that inhabits the praises of Israel.  Life will leave open doors that we will be unhappy if we go through them.  There is a whole other door that we can go through:

1Ti 2:1  I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;

We either choose to be thankful or we choose to not be thankful.  There is a great value in being thankful.  Among these is that God inhabits the praises of Israel.  Being thankful draws God near to us.  Often times in the scripture the words strength and praise are interchangeable.  If we don’t praise God then we will become very weak. 

Paul exhorted Timothy to supplicate: to ask god to advert evil.  There has always been evil since the fall in the garden.  We live in a day as the Bible teaches that evil men will wax worse and worse.  We want to be before God asking Him to advert evil for ourselves and for others. 

Our minds can become targeted by evil.  They can become targeted by the times that we live in and by our economy.  People that you never thought would hear say it are uncertain as far as to what is going to happen financially.  We are not immune to those statements affecting us. 

Jesus taught us the great danger of having the thought of “My barns are full; I’ll tear them down and build greater.”  After giving this parable, Jesus promised to supply all our needs.  Isn’t that wonderful!

Supplications are pleading for God to take care of evil spirits.  Our children and grandchildren are exposed to unholy spirits that I am very uncomfortable with.  It is wonderful that God and His Holy Spirit can put a check in their hearts, “Be careful here.” 

When your sons and daughters, or grandchildren reach a certain age they need to be taught when God is warning them and know how to excuse themselves and stay away from those that make them uncomfortable.  We want to protect our children.

Prayers: it is wonderful to be able to pray.  It is not just taking the list and saying, ‘oh God do this and do that.”  I is not just, “I want this or I want that.”  When we pray we need to worship.  When we approach Our Father we are coming as one among the family.  He is “Our Father.”

Intercessions:  when God lays a burden on your heart for a soul and you feel the urgency of praying again and interceding.  We are not just dealing with family tonight, we need to be burdened for our family, but we don’t want to just have the small circle of my, mine, and ours.  Whoever God lays upon our heart we want to be faithful to intercede for.  Lengthen our cords.

Psa 22:4  Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them.

Psa 22:5  They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded.

Psa 22:6  But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.

The idea of the worm is a caterpillar that as it gets ready to bring forth children it forms a chrysalis and dies.  Its body is used to make scarlet dyes.

Psa 22:7  All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,

Psa 22:8  He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.

Psa 22:9  But thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts.

Psa 22:10  I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother's belly.

Psa 22:11  Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help.

Psa 22:12  Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round.

Psa 22:13  They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion.

Psa 22:14  I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.

Psa 22:15  My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.

Our strength being dried up…  There will be times when we realize that “I’m in the valley and I don’t have strength to climb the mountain.”  This doesn’t mean that you are not saved; it means that you need to go to God for strength. 

A piece of potsherd….  A piece of pottery that has been baked and is all dried out.  None of us likes to be dry or without strength.  It is all to put us in the situation of going to God and getting the good from it.

There is not anyone here that hasn’t been bullied by either the devil or people.  It is a terrible thing.   Oppressing someone is terrible.  Jesus endured bullying.  He endured suffering so that you and I would have a way to be delivered from our sin.  Isn’t that wonderful! 

Poured out like water….  I’ve given all that I have and I am exhausted.  Jesus was exhausted and rightfully so.  When you feel exhausted you can rest assured that there is one that knows how to help you. 

When on that cross…  Can you imagine the suffering in your joints when on the cross?  Jesus was on a cross His feet about a foot above the very earth that He created.  When you are feeling that you are out of joint or having a difficult time being fitly joined to the Body of Christ, Jesus knows how to help you to be fitly joined. 

The spiritual body is made of many members.  We are all different members, not puppets or mimics; we are individuals that have found Jesus Christ and His salvation.  We are individuals and we fill different positions in the body.  The position, whether a little joint or a little finger, is important to the whole body.  It doesn’t matter how big the member is, if it is just a joint hurting, then it affects the whole body.

His heart melted, my strength is dried as a piece of pottery.  So dry:  I don’t like to feel dry and strength less, but Jesus was there. 

Psa 22:16  For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.

False prophets and false brothern are dogs that are terrible and run in packs.  The church and sinner’s worst enemy are the hypocrites.  Jesus was crucified by false, religious people.

Psa 22:17  I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me.

Psa 22:18  They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.

Psa 22:19  But be not thou far from me, O LORD: O my strength, haste thee to help me.

We will be right there several times in our life.  We will need strength so desperately that we cry out, “Oh God I need thy strength.

Psa 22:20  Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog.

Dealing with the thought of the soul, David said, “Keep my soul, the most precious thing that I have, the only thing that will last indefinitely from the power of the dog.  Don’t let anything contaminate me.”

Psa 27:1  A Psalm of David. The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

Everyone in this audience has the possibility of being visited by the spirit of fear.  God hasn’t given the spirit of fear but we find ourselves visited by the spirit of fear.

Psa 27:2  When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.

Psa 27:3  Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.

Psa 27:4  One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple.

We are to be a living sacrifice.  Our body, our time… is to be a living sacrifice.  When someone needs our time, they need our undivided attention.  I covet your prayers for this.  There are times when our time is already demanded and that is different but God help us that when someone needs our time that we can align our self so that we can give them the time that they need.

Psa 27:13  I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.

Psa 27:14  Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.

You can become really weak but you don’t have to faint or lose your direction.  You can be exhausted and not feel that you have strength to climb.  It may be that the battle is raging. 

I’m not an evening man.  As the evening comes on my body begins to shut down.  There have been times when I’ve gone to God and said, “I don’t have strength to deal with this tonight, I’m going to trust it with you.  When morning comes I’m going to deal with this.”

You can get exhausted and tired, but you don’t have to lose your way.  Wait on the Lord, God always comes through.

Probably the saddest testimony we ever hear is someone coming to us and saying, I wish I wouldn’t have run ahead of God; I wish I would have prayed more about that situation.

Don’t let the enemy ever convince you that God is not going to come through.  Be of good courage.  God will come through.  God spoke to Joshua again and again as he began to lead the Israelites, “Be strong and very courageous.”

Keep holding on just one more hour.  Be of good courage and He will strengthen thy heart.  There are promises that God will send strength.  You will be tired or feel like you are dry and need living water.  You will feel like you’ve been climbing and you need more strength to keep climbing. 

If God gave us everything that we asked for the first time that we asked, then we wouldn’t know how to have patience with ourselves or with others.  Wait on the Lord.