Brother Gary Sunday Morning 2/10/13

Brother Gary Sunday Morning 2/10/13

Psa 5:1  To the chief Musician upon Nehiloth, A Psalm of David. Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my meditation.

Psa 5:2  Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee will I pray.

Psa 5:3  My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.

This is a beautiful exhortation to seek God in the morning, to come before Him with adoration and praise.

I will direct my prayer to thee and look up.  David used the terms of a bow hunter.  “My prayer, my adoration, my worship will be as an archer with a bow and arrow and I will pull it back and shoot that arrow toward heaven and then look up and see where the arrow went.

We have this instruction.  Many times we shoot an arrow toward heaven and hope it gets there.  This brings the thought of having faith: I have prayed; I know that you have heard prayer.

We want to always start out thanking, praising, and adoring God.  We are so blessed.  God has been so good and we have much to be thankful for.  There are crises in men and women’s lives this morning.  Pray, look up, and believe that God has heard your cry. 

In the multitude of mercy and in your fear will I worship:

Psa 5:7  But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy: and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple.

Psa 5:8  Lead me, O LORD, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies; make thy way straight before my face.

We have a God that is known for leading His people right.  We have a personal Savior that said that He would go before His sheep.  The important thing is for us to cry out and express, “God, I want you to lead me.”

Psa 5:11  But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee.

Psa 5:12  For thou, LORD, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield.

‘Compassed with favor’ means that God puts a shield out before us.  It is a shield of protection, a shield of His blessing, a shield of God delighting in His own, and a shield of “God wants to give you of His good pleasure.”

Many times we can only think of the thought, “The enemy is out to get us.”  The reality is that God is much greater than the enemy.  God will bless with His favor and be all around us as a shield.  We can trust Jesus.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

Verse 10 is God’s promise to visit.  We can thank God for the faithfulness of God to visit men since creation and the visit of God to Adam and Eve in the garden.  There is an assurance today for those that you are burdened and praying for that God will visit them. 

Sometimes we need to instruct others that don’t recognize God’s visit that God is trying to visit with them.  God’s thoughts are of peace and not evil.

God is thinking and has expressed what He is thinking.  God is thinking His thoughts of peace.  We live in a world where there is no peace.  The world around us will take our peace, and Satan Himself is out to steal that peace that it is our right to have.

I think of everyone that is saved, whether you are a new convert or have been saved a while, the trick of the enemy is to steal our peace with accusations.  He brings up the past that has already been forgiven, brings up a failure of the past that you have cleared with God and God’s people.  Be on guard against the enemy bringing up the past that God has forgiven you of.

When you confess, repent, and turn from your sin, God forgives you and will never bring up your past again.  The enemy loves to accuse those that are saved, “There is something wrong with you and you don’t know what it is.” 

That is not the way that God is.  When you have failed God He will specifically show you how you have failed and in His Word show you how to get it taken care of.

The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

When you get saved and Jesus comes to reign on the throne of your heart, His kingdom of peace, joy, and righteousness is set up in your heart.  After you get saved, you no longer take pleasure in sin but you want to do right.

Joh 14:27  Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

The world gives some things temporarily.  The world sometimes has a good time, sometimes has pleasure, sometimes has an agreement, and sometimes has peace.  Then the world will change, “We’ve decided we are not going to do that anymore.”

That is not the way Jesus is.  If we stay rightly related to Him we can have peace.  There may be storms and war around us we may be the targeted one, but we can have peace. 

As Sister Brenda taught us this morning on the fear of God, if we will stay in the love and fear of God then His peace can be in us.

Joh 16:33  These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

Part of life is tribulation, that doesn’t mean that we lose our peace.  In the world things will go wrong.  You will make mistakes in judgment: buy things before they go on sale, or buy things and the market drop out of them.  That is just the natural world and that is not the peace that God has given you.

You may think that you will be promoted one day and the next things change and you don’t know how things will work out as far as your promotion.  Things may not go the way that you want them to go, but you can have peace.  Thank God.

You may have studied for the test and think that you are prepared, but you may not get a 100%.  That is a part of life, don’t let it affect your peace. 

Stress:  You may try to be as organized as you can and have a list, but there will be some stress in your life and there will be the unforeseen.  Don’t let that take your peace. 

When who you invited for dinner today is not able to come, or if you were hoping for an invite and don’t have anything cooked but you are not invited anywhere, don’t let it take your peace.

There may be one that you hoped would be the son or daughter that you never had, don’t let it take your peace if it doesn’t work that way. 

You will have burdens; know what to do with your burdens.  I went over the prayer requests yesterday from Wednesday evening and I practiced using the bow and arrow from the secret closet.  I’m practicing using the bow and arrow: I’m shooting these requests up to God and believing that God heard prayer. 

“I cannot do anything about this and I’m shooting it up to God.”  Pull it back, “I’m going to shoot this because this is too big for me to handle.”  Look up, “God I’m depending on you to take care of whatever problem it is.”

Burdens don’t go away.  Those in grade school and high school have burdens.  Those that are employed have burdens.  It is important to know what to do with burdens. 

I’ve been reading in the Foxes Book of Martyrs and I think that we need to have some word other than persecution for what we go through.

In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.

We will have tribulations, but He has overcome the world.

1Jn 5:4  For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.

I am challenged today, but I need to overcome.  I am overcoming by faith.

Thoughts of peace: it is wonderful that God has thoughts of peace toward us this morning.

Jer 29:12 than shall you call upon me:  there always has been a remnant calling upon God. You shall go and pray unto me:  it is vital that we know how to persevere in prayer.  Sometimes we have to pray more than once to get the answer. 

Elijah prayed seven times.  There may be situations in your life where you pray, you are expecting and believing and then you find yourself overcome again.  Only one thing to do and that is to go back and pray again. 

When you feel yourself reigning above the issue and victory in your soul, then you are reigning.  When you feel manipulated by whatever it is then you need to pray again.  I have worked on this; I’m going to the altar, and I’m not giving up until the answer comes.

God is going to hear prayer is the conclusion of verse 12.

Jer 29:13.  I have been saved a while, but there is no place to ever stop seeking after God. There are heights, depths, greatnesses of God’s love, compassion, wisdom, instruction, of the depth of patience, of depths of instruction, that I have never caught a sight of yet.  

I was burdened in my own personal life with the thought of “God I want to be taught.”  God can give something to you that I need to learn.  I can learn from one that just got saved.

If you won’t take anything from anyone then you will always be ignorant.  We are to be teachable and easily entreated.  God can use whomever He uses and even a child shall lead them.

I have a burden in my heart to teach someone about Jesus that has never heard.  These people are not just in Africa, probably my next door neighbor has never heard.  I want to know how to get this message to someone that has never heard it.

If one is just starting out here this winter, we could get a seed catalogue and try to teach them how to grow beans.  It is the same with serving God.

You shall seek me and find me.  There is a lot of gold in the Nine Mile.  Some got 100,000 in gold out of there in the sixties.  They sought, found, and probably spent it all.  There is something better than gold.  Your soul and mind were designed for lots of God.  Your heart was designed for lots of God.

In the day that they seek me, in the day that they say “God I want to go further” I will be found.  I have been reading and praying but I want to give God more time because there is something in my soul that cries out for the living God.”

Brother Naylor wrote the song, “I mean to go right on.”  He was confined to a bed for 41 to 43 years.  He had been hurt in an accident and lay on that bed 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. 

He wrote a verse in there, “I see a shining crown awaiting me.”  That brother was tired of the bed.  He was tired of his wife going out to make a living in a laundry.  He was weary of sores.  Probably even his arms were shriveling up and his body was wasting away. 

The legs that once were able to move and work had no feeling or strength in them.  He said, “I see a mansion all prepared for me and decked with beauties rare.”  I believe that he had sought God of “How is it over there?” 

I feel healthy today but have had my sicknesses.  One of these days, when our body begins to deteriorate, we will know how Brother Naylor felt.  He was looking forward to the day when he laid this body down and could enjoy a new body and all the good things there for an eternity.

During the dark ages there were those seeking after God.  During the days when the Bibles were destroyed there were those seeking after God.  Jeremiah said, “Thy words were found and I did eat them.”  He was rejoicing in the day.

When Bibles were burned in England, there were those that were hiding the Word of God.  One even put their bible in bread dough and baked it to preserve it.  There are those that have sought after God.  For that remnant that seeks God, when they search for Him with all their heart, He will be found.

I will turn your captivity.  It is wonderful to be free this morning, bondage removed.  If you are saved then you’ve experienced freedom from the guilt of sin.  That is the beginning of liberty. 

After you get saved then you are like a babe, you have learning to do.  After you are saved a while, you reach a place that you say, “Lord, I am thinking too much on negative thoughts.” 

I don’t know if you are strong enough to read a newspaper 365 days a year.  I am not.  I’m about to cut it off for the rest of the year.

If you have always thought and wondered what someone else is thinking, then God will lead you and guide you to victory.  As you find yourself thinking about what someone else is thinking then God says, “You walk before me.”  You say, “God I want to please you.”  You step out on that perfect law of liberty.

Maybe you fear what will happen in the future and you have bought up a lot of coffee and other things and now you live a life of fear of whether someone will steal it.  God doesn’t want you to be a bad manager, but God wants you to trust God.  Your income may be cut in half and it may double. 

God knows how to bring us to greater liberty.  People that have been taught false doctrine, think of how truth liberates them.  

There are people that cannot enjoy gospel music from any instrument.  How sad when God said, “Let the harps praise God, let the stringed instruments praise God.”  God is always leading us to liberty.

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.

Where does God bring us to?

Heb 12:22  But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,

Heb 12:23  To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,

Heb 12:24  And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.

God has ordained that we have peace.  He has ordained that we come to MT Zion, the place where God dwells, to the heavenly Jerusalem, and we live among angels.

We have come to the general assembly and the church that Jesus built.  We have come to God the judge of all and to the spirits of just men made perfect.  It is wonderful to be among those that love God with all their heart.

The new covenant is not a book of laws but the written Word of God on the fleshly tables of our souls.