Title: God’s Timing
Date: August 23, 2009
Text: Psa 27:14
Introduction
- Ecclesiastes 3:1 “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.”
- Is this a fatalistic concept?
- “When I was just a little child,
I asked my mother, “What will I be?
Will I be pretty? Will I be rich?”
Here’s what she said to me:
“Que sera, sera, Whatever will be, will be;
The future’s not ours to see.
Que sera, sera, What will be, will be.”
- Is life just a matter of “whatever”?
- God is involved in our lives
God is a God of perfect timing
- God is not limited by time
- But he does things in an orderly manner, there is a beginning and an end
- Alpha and Omega
- Revelation 1:8 “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty”.
- There is a time of preparation
- Example of our call to Wisconsin
God knows us
- He knew us the day we were born
- Psa 139:13-16 For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb.I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.
- He knows all that is happening in our life
- Verse 1-4
- God knows about your personal issues, things you have spoken about to no one
-
God knows our needs
- Philippians 4:19 “And my God shall supply all your need,according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”
- Example of providing for our needs
- Many times God has stepped in and provided for our needs
- Example of check for $4000
- I am restoring the years of the locust
- God knows what we need and when we need it
- He does not give it to us early, nor does he supply it too late
- He supplies our needs in the broader context of what we truly need
God knows the best time for us
- God knows the best time to call us
- He knows the best time to intervene in our affairs
- He is a God who leads us and draws us, not forces us
- Hosea 11:4 I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love: and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid meat unto them.
- God’s ways are different from our ways
- Isaiah 55:8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
- One way in which God’s thoughts are different from ours, is that He looks long term
- He sees the end from the beginning
- Isaiah 46:10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:
- On the other hand, we tend to live and think about the present
- That is the way we are made
- Jesus even tells us to live by the day
- Matt 6:33-34 “Mat 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
God knows when things are hard
- God is teaching us to live in relationship with him
- When we need things, he asks us to talk to him
- Philippians 4:6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
- Sometimes the hard times are there for another reason, to teach us a lesson
- Sometimes we have brought things on ourselves and it is a form of discipline
- Heb 12:5-11
In all these things, God is with you
- Heb 13:5 “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you
- God knows what the reason is for the trial
- We don’t
- It may be something to strengthen our character
- It may be something we brought on ourselves, but even then God is in charge
- And it may even just be time and chance
- But God can step in and deal with the situation
- So ask him if there is something to learn
- Or something we should change
- Or some action we should take
- Then make your requests known and allow God to do his work in his timing
- God is with you, wherever you are
- 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.
- Psalms 27:14 “Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart: wait I say on the Lord.” NKJV
- And finally
- Psalms 40:1,2 “I waited patiently for the Lord, he turned to me and heard my cry He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and the mire; He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.”
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Called to be Cleansed - Isaiah 1:18
Title: Called to be cleansed
Date: August 9, 2009
Text: Isaiah 1:18
Introduction
- Background
- Isaiah lived during the early 700’s BC
- During his day, the House of Israel was taken into captivity by the Assyrians, in 721 BC
- Isaiah prophesies to the House of Judah, to turn from their wicked ways
- They had seen the results of the disobedience of the northern 10 tribes
- But they were going down exactly the same road
- In fact they were even more hypocritical
- They were bringing their sacrifices to the temple and seemed to be worshipping God
- But their lives inside did not match their outside form of religion
- God says they were like Sodom and Gomorrah
- Isa 1:2-15
- But God calls to them to repent
- 16-20
God calls to rescue us
- God makes the first move
- God always makes the first move
- God has to make the first move
- Because we are dead in our trespasses and sins (Eph 2:1)
- We cannot come to God
- Our nature rebels against him, we don’t want him in our lives
- So we battle against it continually
- Luke 19:10 – Jesus came to seek and save that which was lost
- We think there is some goodness in man that will cause him to seek God at some point
- No, man is utterly depraved
- Within me dwells no good thing (Rom 7:18)
- John 6:44 – I can never come to God except God draws me to him
- 1 John 4:19 – we love because He first loved us
- God sees our state way better than we do
- Have you ever been in a position of total depravity
- I respect every human being as a person, but there is nothing respectable about a drunk who is lying in his own vomit underneath a bush or out on the street somewhere
- If you have ever been there, you probably had no concept of how bad things were
- It is only when you sobered up that you saw the blood in your vomit and knew this had to stop
- It takes God to sober us up
God’s call is for now
- 2 Cor 6:2 – now is the day of salvation
- When a man has fallen over the edge of a cliff, and is hanging onto some roots to stop his fall to destruction, he does not argue about when he needs to respond to the rescue helicopter
- Oh, I’ll wait till tomorrow
- No, the time to deal with it is now
- Otherwise we are like the person described in
- 2 Pet 2:22
- This person is not yet sick and tired of being sick and tired
- God saw where the Israelites were going
- He knew what captivity would be like and the horrors of the punishment that they were bringing on themselves
- If we only could see and experience a little of where our sinful life is taking us
- If we could only see the video in heaven called, this is your life
- If we could see our shame and embarrassment when that video is played on judgment day, and the awful voice of him who says “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels” (Mat 25:41)
God’s call is personal
- Isa 1:18 – come let us reason together
- This is an intimate and very personal call
- This is not a pastor saying some words to the whole church hoping someone will listen
- This is a personal, intimate call to an individual
- So if we feel the nudge of the Holy Spirit, God is knocking at the door of our heart
- God says to us, let’s get together and settle this issue
- It will be sorted out, one way or another
- In this verse we sense God’s longing for us to get our act together
- This is a personal thing
- He draws a line on our heart and pulls on us to step across that line, to safety
- Do you see that line, do you feel that pressure, that sense that God is talking to you personally (Hos 11:4)
God’s cleansing is total
- God promises, when we come to him, our sins that were scarlet will be white as snow
- This is a total transformation
- God no longer sees us as being sinful
- Because ours ins have been blotted out
- We can now commence a journey of walking with him, without all the baggage of the past
- Amos 3:3 – can two walk together except they be agreed
- We can walk together with God, but only when we have sorted things out
- God says, lets settle this case out of court, I’m giving you a chance for freedom
- If we don’t accept this invitation, one day we will see the video and hear the words, and feel the torment
- We don’t want to go there, now is the time to change our future
Date: August 9, 2009
Text: Isaiah 1:18
Introduction
- Background
- Isaiah lived during the early 700’s BC
- During his day, the House of Israel was taken into captivity by the Assyrians, in 721 BC
- Isaiah prophesies to the House of Judah, to turn from their wicked ways
- They had seen the results of the disobedience of the northern 10 tribes
- But they were going down exactly the same road
- In fact they were even more hypocritical
- They were bringing their sacrifices to the temple and seemed to be worshipping God
- But their lives inside did not match their outside form of religion
- God says they were like Sodom and Gomorrah
- Isa 1:2-15
- But God calls to them to repent
- 16-20
God calls to rescue us
- God makes the first move
- God always makes the first move
- God has to make the first move
- Because we are dead in our trespasses and sins (Eph 2:1)
- We cannot come to God
- Our nature rebels against him, we don’t want him in our lives
- So we battle against it continually
- Luke 19:10 – Jesus came to seek and save that which was lost
- We think there is some goodness in man that will cause him to seek God at some point
- No, man is utterly depraved
- Within me dwells no good thing (Rom 7:18)
- John 6:44 – I can never come to God except God draws me to him
- 1 John 4:19 – we love because He first loved us
- God sees our state way better than we do
- Have you ever been in a position of total depravity
- I respect every human being as a person, but there is nothing respectable about a drunk who is lying in his own vomit underneath a bush or out on the street somewhere
- If you have ever been there, you probably had no concept of how bad things were
- It is only when you sobered up that you saw the blood in your vomit and knew this had to stop
- It takes God to sober us up
God’s call is for now
- 2 Cor 6:2 – now is the day of salvation
- When a man has fallen over the edge of a cliff, and is hanging onto some roots to stop his fall to destruction, he does not argue about when he needs to respond to the rescue helicopter
- Oh, I’ll wait till tomorrow
- No, the time to deal with it is now
- Otherwise we are like the person described in
- 2 Pet 2:22
- This person is not yet sick and tired of being sick and tired
- God saw where the Israelites were going
- He knew what captivity would be like and the horrors of the punishment that they were bringing on themselves
- If we only could see and experience a little of where our sinful life is taking us
- If we could only see the video in heaven called, this is your life
- If we could see our shame and embarrassment when that video is played on judgment day, and the awful voice of him who says “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels” (Mat 25:41)
God’s call is personal
- Isa 1:18 – come let us reason together
- This is an intimate and very personal call
- This is not a pastor saying some words to the whole church hoping someone will listen
- This is a personal, intimate call to an individual
- So if we feel the nudge of the Holy Spirit, God is knocking at the door of our heart
- God says to us, let’s get together and settle this issue
- It will be sorted out, one way or another
- In this verse we sense God’s longing for us to get our act together
- This is a personal thing
- He draws a line on our heart and pulls on us to step across that line, to safety
- Do you see that line, do you feel that pressure, that sense that God is talking to you personally (Hos 11:4)
God’s cleansing is total
- God promises, when we come to him, our sins that were scarlet will be white as snow
- This is a total transformation
- God no longer sees us as being sinful
- Because ours ins have been blotted out
- We can now commence a journey of walking with him, without all the baggage of the past
- Amos 3:3 – can two walk together except they be agreed
- We can walk together with God, but only when we have sorted things out
- God says, lets settle this case out of court, I’m giving you a chance for freedom
- If we don’t accept this invitation, one day we will see the video and hear the words, and feel the torment
- We don’t want to go there, now is the time to change our future
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