Brother Gary Sunday Morning 2/14/16

Brother Gary Sunday Morning 2/14/16

Psa 139:14  I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

David was giving praise to God in the thought of, “he was fearfully and wonderfully made.”  I think of how careful God was in His details in how He made man; how He made the world, the light, the sun and the moon, all were carefully made.  God’s greatest creation was when He made man. 

Man was created to know and serve Him.  That is how God made us.  We are fearfully and wonderfully made in the thought that we have a body and a soul.  He made the body first and then breathed into his nostrils and man became a living soul. 

Mat 22:37  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

No one has been able to determine the size or weight of the soul.  According to those that work with hearts, they say that our heart is as big as our fist.  Our literal heart is a miracle.  They are still learning about it.  They know quite a bit but as they learn they realize how little they know and how much more they need to know.

The little that I have learned about the mind: I learned that there are two sides one controls each side of the body.  A part of the mind is memory.  I can remember things about my childhood and yet cannot remember the grocery list.  Pray for my wife.

We are fearfully and wonderfully made.  God made us with a soul, an intricate part of us that can know and fellowship with God.  It can identify with the conscience. 

I remember my conscience as a child and as a young person.  I remember a season when I resisted God and His ways.  I remember Him specifically dealing with me on this thought, “You can deny me, but you will still have to face me.”  I appreciate God working with my conscience.

I remember as a parent while we were raising our children I needed to draw good boundaries of being fair with my children.  God ordained that children know right from wrong and the law of sowing and reaping. 

I didn’t use the same guidelines that my mother used.  I didn’t think they were wrong.  My mother was an ear puller and I needed it. 

I tried to make the limits strong enough that they could know that they were wrong, but fair enough that I never beat the child.  There were seasons that I asked them to forgive me when I didn’t think that what I had done was acceptable.  I am not above asking anyone to forgive me when I am wrong.  I still have a conscience and feel very badly.

The conscience witnesses when you please God.  He is not a God that you can never please.  You have all worked for those that are never happy and whatever you do they just add more for you to do.

The soul is able to feel the presence of God.  This is wonderful.  Children are built in with a censor to know when there are dangers all around them.  They need to be taught that when they feel that they are in a place where they shouldn’t be then to take precautions to get to where they know they are in safety.

We need to pray for children today.  They are under attack probably throughout the entire world to lose their innocence young and be exposed to things that will trouble their mind all their life.

We are fearfully and wonderfully made.  God made us a creature of choice.  I trust that every one that is here this morning is here because they chose to be here and that you will exercise your will to look at the scripture and do your best to glean from the scripture what you can gain. 

When I was a young person I would will to think of something else rather than listen to the pastor as they talked about what I didn’t want to hear about.  With every choice there comes a reward.  Maybe God has something in this message that will help you as you go to school next week or as you seek a companion or face difficult seasons in life.

We have a will, we can choose to listen or not.

I am glad that I am not a bear that has to hibernate in winter, I am glad that I am not a beaver and living in a beaver hut.  I am glad that I am a man and can serve God.

God created us with the ability to think, to learn, and to reason.  The creation of man is one of the many proofs of the miracles and power of God.  I like to think of God creating man with His hands of the dust of the earth.  Then He breathed into his nostrils and man became a living soul. 

God visited Adam and Eve in the Garden in the cool of the day.  In the morning and in the evening they would hear God walking.  Isn’t it wonderful that you can meet with God?  It is wonderful that you can know that God is here.

Psa 139:17  How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!

It is wonderful this morning that God has thoughts toward everyone here this morning.  God has thoughts toward the children and toward the young people; toward the young married couples and toward those that are getting older.

The desire and thought of GOD is to meet every need.  God’s thoughts are large.  “How great is the sum of them!” 

There are days that you feel are tough.  There are weeks that are tough.  There are months that are tough.  There are seasons in our life when we think, “This has really been a tough season.”  Sometimes it is sickness, heartache, finically tough, or seasons of limbo.  Even though you don’t know what God wants you to do, “God knows.”

Always remember the lesson that Paul taught the Corinthians: Patience.

David spoke of the largeness of the thoughts of God as the sum of them.  God’s thoughts are to meet with us in the secret closet of prayer.  You don’t have to know any big words when you commune with God.  It is important that you find a place where you can enter the closet and when you have shut the door.  That is the toughest thing to shut out the things that would take our mind away from praying.

When you shut the door, I have found scripturally and practically that God meets with you there.  In Psalms 96 it teaches us that when we come into the presence of God His honor and presence is there.

God is waiting for every one of us to be in the secret closet of prayer. 

Brother Figeroa brought the message of Esther and Ahasuerus.  She went before the king because there was a plot to destroy all the Jews.  The king didn’t know it but Esther herself was a Jew.  She dressed her best to go before the King.  Had she not gained audience with the king it was likely that all the Jews would be destroyed.

She went before the king and He had a scepter.  If he did not hold out the scepter to the one that came before him, they would be usured away and into eternity.

God had probably caused the king to be thinking of Esther.  She was his wife that had replaced the one that wouldn’t come when he called.  Esther appeared before him and he held out the golden scepter and asked what she desired. 

She wanted him to come dine with her.  He granted the request.

I have been thinking about you and me praying and going into the closet and shutting the door.  His honor and majesty is there.  Beauty and strength are there.  You might feel challenged to get through the difficult season of your life.  You children in school will feel challenged. 

There is a wonderful source of help that you have.  You young people are in a beautiful stage in life of being young, having lots of energy, and the most wonderful is that God has wonderful thoughts toward you. 

You may be getting into years, into the seventies, eighties… God has wonderful thoughts toward you.  You might think, “I need to pray.”  God is waiting.  God has great thoughts.

God has thoughts for us in the secret closet of prayer.  I believe He is waiting for me there every morning and every night.  Almost every night my wife and I bow beside our bed and pray together and thank God for the blessings.  He loads us daily with benefits.

It is wonderful to have the Word of God, to read it, and have it spoken to us.  We heard about the will of God in Sunday school.  It is wonderful to know that God has a plan. 

Exo 15:1  Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the LORD, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.

God loves to give us a song.  The Bible is full of songs.  “I will sing unto the Lord for He has triumphed gloriously…”

Exo 15:2  The LORD is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father's God, and I will exalt him.

They sang this song when they came out of Egyptian bondage.  This is like when we got saved and came out of the bondage of sin.  I was thinking of this song recently: “Since Jesus came into my heart.”  It is a wonderful thing to have Jesus come into our heart.

After God had been good to them for forty years and they were ready to go into the Land of Canaan he wrote another song.

Deu 32:1  Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.

Deu 32:2  My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass:

Deu 32:3  Because I will publish the name of the LORD: ascribe ye greatness unto our God.

When we start out with God, we have a measure of faith.  We know that He has forgiven us of our sin.  After we have been saved a while we learn more about God.  This is where Moses was.  He speaks of God as the rock.  It is wonderful to be on something sure. 

Deu 32:10  He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.

Deu 32:11  As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings:

God was with them for all those tough years.  Have you had a tough year?  Have you had a tough few years?  Moses had a tough 40 years. 

As an eagle stirreth up her nest:  your nest will become very uncomfortable before you soar.  If everything is going perfect in your life, then congratulations.  I am happy for you.  There will come times when it gets tough. 

An eagle gathers things to make their nest strong and then they look for parts of cotton and soft things for their eggs to lay on.  They want a soft place for their babies.  Those eggs are laid and the parents take turns feeding the babies after they hatch.  The babies begin to grow and the nest is very nice.  They are comfortable and don’t have a problem in the world. 

Then the instinct of the eagle is, “It is time for them to learn to fly.”  The mother and the father both begin to take the softness out of the nest.  As the material pokes them and they begin to feel uncomfortable, they don’t like it too well.  They feel, “I don’t like this too well.  I am going to step on the side of this nest.”  And they see a big world that scares them. 

Soon the mother and father eagle decide, “It is time to teach them to fly.” 

How are you soaring this morning?  Are you able to reach the mark that says as Paul did, “In all things I am more than a conqueror.”

The parent eagle puts out the wing and convinces the baby to jump on the wing.  Then they take the eaglet for a ride.  They soar around.  They have a wonderful time.  Where there is a lot of room, at the right time, the parent gives their wing a lurch and the baby eagle falls off and begins to flounder and to try to fly. 

All the time the parent is watching and before the young can hit the ground or a tree they slip under the eaglet catch them on their wing and carry them a while again.  However many times it takes, the mother goes back under. 

As the eagle stirs up her nest.  She spreads her wings, takes them, and bears them on her wings…

Deu 32:12  So the LORD alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him.

God’s thoughts toward the children: God loves the children.  “Suffer the little children to come to me and forbid them not.”  His thoughts are abundant and full of good things toward the children. 

God has good thoughts toward the youth.  God has marvelous thoughts.  “Remember now the creator in the days of thy youth.”  Isn’t that beautiful?  Don’t forget your mom and dad.  Be sure to tell them you love them and that you care.  Appreciate how hard they work.

God’s thoughts toward our soul are abundant.  If you have sin in your life then you are blessed to realize that “I need a savior.” 

God told Isaiah, “Come, let us reason together.”  The world is full of regret but God says, “Come let us reason together, you sowed bad seed, but I am willing to forgive you and to help you start sowing good seed.”

For whatever season of life that you are in, God says “Come.”