SUNDAY SERMONS

 

What God Has Planned

for the New Year!

This is an alleged New Year’s letter written from a church member to the pastor.
Dear Pastor:
You often stress attendance at worship as being very important for a Christian, but I think a person has a right to miss now and then. I think every person ought to be excused for the following reasons and the number of Sundays indicated.

·      Christmas Holidays (the Sunday before & after) 2

·      New Years (the party lasted too long) 1

·      Easter (get away for the holidays) 2

·      July 4th (national holidays) 1

·      Labor Day (need to get away) 2

·      Memorial Day (visit hometown folk) 1

·      School closing (kids need a break) 1

·      School reopens (one last fling) 1

·      Family reunions (mine & wife’s) 3

·      Sleep late (stayed up too long Saturday night) 9

·      Deaths in family 2

·      Anniversary (second honeymoon) 1

·      Sickness (one per family member) 5

·      Business trip (a must) 1

·      Vacation (three to four weeks) 6

·      Bad weather (ice, snow, rain, clouds) 2

·      Ball games 2

·      Races 2

·      Unexpected company (can’t walk out) 2

·      Time changes (spring & fall) 2

·      Special on TV (superbowl, etc) 3

Pastor, that leaves two Sundays per year. So, you can count on us to be in church on the 4th Sunday in February and the 3rd Sunday in August unless we are providentially hindered.
Sincerely,
A Faithful Member

 

Isaiah 41:9-13 I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you. I said, 'You are my servant'; I have chosen you and have not rejected you. 10 So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. 11 "All who rage against you will surely be ashamed and disgraced; those who oppose you will be as nothing and perish. 12 Though you search for your enemies, you will not find them. Those who wage war against you will be as nothing at all. 13 For I am the LORD your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.

 

I.                 God Called

Isaiah 41:9-13 I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you. I said, 'You are my servant'; I have chosen you and have not rejected you.

a.  You have been CALLED by God Himself

Matthew 4:21  Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them,

 

b.  He took you …

c.   He Called you …

                                                           i.      My servant

 

What we are called from and called to: 

·       Called from labor to rest (Matt. 11:28) 

·       Called from death to life (1 John 3:14) 

·         Called from bondage to liberty (Gal 5:13) 

·         Called from darkness into light (1 Pet. 2:9)

·         Called from bondage to peace (1 Cor. 7:15) 

·           Called to the fellowship of His Son (1 Cor. 1:9) 

·         We are called to a high calling (Phil. 3:14)

·         We are called to a holy calling (2 Tim. 1:9)

·      We are called to a heavenly calling (Heb. 3:1)

d.  He Chose you …

e.  He did not reject you …

You are somebody special to God!

 

II.              Do Not Fear!

Isaiah 41:10 So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

a.  What is FEAR?

 

FEAR =

F           FALSE

E           EVIDENCE

A          APPEARING

R          REAL

 

You awaken in the middle of the night … you hear a sound … a board creaks … was that someone in my house? … something moves in the darkness … you are now convinced that someone is in your room with you … you shrink down into the covers wishing to hide… you are afraid … you remain there until morning breaks … since nothing has happened to you, you decide you are safe and decide to get up and investigate… everything is in place … doors are still locked , windows bolted shut. As you are walking down your hall the heat clicks on and a board in the wooden floor creaks as it expands under the heat … back in your room you notice a helium balloon bouncing around near the window in your room. Moving just enough to cause a shadow in the night.

But you were convinced someone was in the house with you…. False evidence appearing real.

 

b.  He is with you …

God deals in the “I Am’s” … not the “What if’s!”

c.   Do not be dismayed

(dismayed – a good word to describe your state of mind when you thought someone was in the room with you)––

Definition – Dismayed = sudden or complete loss of courage; 

utter disheartenment.

d.  He is your God

e.  He will strengthen you

f.    He will help you

g.  He will uphold you

                                                           i.      How … with His righteous right hand

Exodus 15:6  Your right hand, LORD, was majestic in power. Your right hand, LORD, shattered the enemy.

Exodus 15:12  "You stretch out your right hand, and the earth swallows your enemies.

Psalms 17:7  Show me the wonders of your great love, you who save by your right hand those who take refuge in you from their foes.

Psalms 18:35  You make your saving help my shield, and your right hand sustains me; your help has made me great.

Revelations 1:17  When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last.

 

III.          Your enemies will fail

 

A reporter was interviewing an old man on his 100th birthday. "What are you most proud of?" he asked him. "Well, " said the man, "I don't have an enemy in the world." "What a beautiful thought! How inspirational!" said the reporter. 
"Yep," added the centenarian, "I’ve outlived every last one of them." 

 

Isaiah 41:11-12 "All who rage against you will surely be ashamed and disgraced; those who oppose you will be as nothing and perish. 12 Though you search for your enemies, you will not find them. Those who wage war against you will be as nothing at all.

a.  Your enemies fail

 

If you read the Old Testament Profits you find stories of God calling an individual “preacher” and giving him a message to preach that the people did not want to hear. The preacher would preach, the people would get mad. Mad enough that sometimes they would kill the preacher.

In more recent times Martin Luther recorded in his diary being run out of a town. He would go to a church and preach and they would physically chase him out of town and threaten him never to come back!

Evan today it is a fact that when you preach the Word that God has given you, some people will bow up their necks and get mad at the preacher. They either leave or try to make the preacher leave.

 

What does God say about such …

b.  They will be ashamed and disgraced

c.   They will be nothing

Matthew 22:44  "'The Lord said … "Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet."'

d.  They will perish

                                                           i.      You search but can’t find them

 

IV.         God takes your hand

 

A father said: On a summer day I took my three-year-old daughter to a Kiddy Park in Dallas, Texas to ride the rides. I put her on a small ride which she insisted on trying even though it was the ’scariest.’ As she whipped around the corners in the kiddy car, she wrinkled up her face into a terrified cry. I tried to catch her attention and finally she caught my eye and I was smiling and shouting, "Hey, this is fun" When she saw that I was not terrified, but smiling, she, after a few more whips around the corners also began to laugh. What was once terrifying became enjoyable -- even fun I thought how our Heavenly Father will "put us on some scary rides" in life, not really to terrify us, but to cause us to catch His eye, to teach us that He is in control and we can trust Him.

Isaiah 41:13 For I am the LORD your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.

 

The picture is that of a father who lovingly takes the hand of his daughter and leads her through the tuff and scary places in life.

a.  He is our Heavenly Father

b.  He loves us.

c.   He takes us by the hand and

d.  Leads us through the tuff and scary places in life.

 

During the late 1800’s an English evangelist named Henry Moorhouse made several trips to preach in America. On one of those occasions he was 
taking a walk through a poor section of town when he noticed a small boy 
coming out of a store with a pitcher of milk in his hands. Just then, the boy slipped and fell breaking the pitcher and spilling the milk all over the sidewalk. Moorhouse rushed to the child’s side and found him unhurt but terrified. "My mama’ll whup me," he kept crying. So Moorhouse picked up the boy and carried him into the nearby store where the preacher purchased a new pitcher. Then he returned to the dairy, had the 
pitcher washed and filled with milk. With that done, he carried the boy 
and the pitcher home. Putting the youngster down on his front porch, Moorhouse handed him the pitcher and asked, "Will your mama whup you now?" A wide smile spread across the boy’s tear stained face, "no sir, cause 
this is a lot better pitcher than we had before." 

In grace God saves us. He doesn’t patch up our old lives that have been 

shattered by sin and Satan into a million pieces. That would not do. His reputation is at stake. We are His workmanship!

 

Precious Lord, take my hand
Lead me on, let me stand
I'm tired, I'm weak, I'm lone
Through the storm, through the night
Lead me on to the light
Take my hand precious Lord, lead me home

When my way grows drear, precious Lord linger near
When my light is almost gone
Hear my cry, hear my call
Hold my hand lest I fall
Take my hand precious Lord, lead me home

……………………

R.C. Sproul tells us … transcendence means literally, "to climb across." It is defined as "exceeding the usual limits." When we speak of the transcendence of God we are talking about that sense in which God is above and beyond us. He is higher than the world. He has absolute power over the world. The world has no power over Him. Transcendence describes God in His consuming majesty, His exalted loftiness. He is an infinite cut above everything else. Yet despite His lofty position as the only God … the God above all … He reaches down His hand to grasp ours and says follow me my child!