The darkest of times in David's life

 

COLERAINE INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

SERMON NOTES FROM SUNDAY 28 JULY 2024 – MR KEITH WILSON

1 SAMUEL 27

Here we are at a dark time in David’s life, when he found himself discouraged, alone.  Last time we looked at Daniel and the words of chapter 2 “he purposed in his heart”.  Here we have a contrast in chapter 27 verse 1 “and David said in his heart.”  It was not from God.  He meant what he was saying.  “I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul.”  A wrong thought that he was thinking.  The darkest of thoughts.  Usually in those times these are always wrong thoughts.  In the workplace when we think about something someone has said or done, you could come home and think something is not right.  Everything was against David.  His life was one of constant battle.  When the Lord saved me that is when the battle began.  Because of David’s sin the Lord had said “the sword would not depart from his house.”  What made David great?  When we read these words we are not thinking of a great king but rather someone in defeat, who allows discouragement to come into his life.  Instead of putting it out they have dwelled in that discouragement.  What made David great was not the people around him or his surroundings, it was God who was for him, who had come to him and anointed him to be king over his people of Israel.  One of my favourite stories from David’s life is 1 Samuel 24 when Saul took 3000 men to hunt David.  Saul came to the cave where David was.  David had his back against the wall.  He could have killed Saul but he didn’t.  He was a man after God’s own heart.  “The Lord forbid that I should do this thing against the Lord’s anointed.”  Verses 6 and 7 everything was against David for a large part of his life, his circumstances were against him.  I want you to understand this morning circumstances can be against us as the children of God.  God is for us.  We can find ourselves in difficult or impossible situations but God is with us.  He can perform the miracle, turn the circumstances around in an instant.  That is what he did for David.    Not at this time though.  He allowed this to happen in his life.  He was not standing up to the giant Goliath at this stage in his life.  He found himself saying in his heart “I am now going to die.  One day Saul will take my life, I will perish.”  The real test of the Christian walk is how we treat others especially those who do us wrong.  David is a perfect example.  That is why he found favour with God.  That is why God called him “a man after his own heart.”  Samuel said these words to Saul after he had sinned against God.  Saul did not obey God in the war with the Amalekites.  2 Samuel 5 he was the first king of his own tribe, the tribe of Judah.  David is saying “I am going to perish.”  What a wrong thought that was.  We can be one moment rejoicing in God’s word then the next moment a thought can enter into our heart.  God provided for David.  He had proved his faithfulness in the past.  It is possible that these thoughts he was having now were not from God.  God’s focus was on David not on Saul.  David’s back was against the wall, totally defeated and discouraged just like the times when his brethren came against Goliath.  David finds himself in the same position.  Broken.  Defeated.  He wants to hang his head in shame.  It is always darkest before the dawn.  Saul was about to commit suicide.  David did not know that Saul would fall on his own sword.  God knew but David did not.  Saul had been running from God for years.  He had more opportunity to take Saul’s life and he didn’t do it.  Sometimes people do wrong things against us.  We can feel hurt.  That hurt is always strongest in the church.  Maybe been friends with someone for years and then all of a sudden things go astray.  It is what we do in those situations that is important.  Where we direct our thoughts.  The thoughts David had were not right.  They led him down a path of discouragement and defeat.  Away from the presence of God.  David was not singing any psalms at this point in his life.  He was not in a relationship with God.  Where was God?  He still had his hand on David.  No matter how far into the land of the Philistines David found himself God’s hand was still on him.  God allowed him to experience this situation.  David did not know why.  Maybe you are afraid of something this morning or someone today.  Persecuting you.  Damaging you.  Fighting against you.  Could you be feeling like king David felt?  God will prove faithful.  He will deliver you.  He will prove himself to you.  When I come against a difficult person I always come up with the same answer – “God will never forsake me.”  I have been praying for something for years.  This situation is getting harder and it feels like I am losing the fight, my back is against the wall.  Psalm 46 verse 1 “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in time of trouble.”  It might not be someone, it could be doubt, fear, illness, maybe nothing at all at the moment.  It is a life of battle for the Christian.  We are in a war against the evil one.  The devil is like a roaring lion and we could be days from his grasp.  Remember God is our refuge.  He is our strength.  Our very present help in trouble.  David didn’t need to fear that day, that one day he would perish at the hand of Saul because David had proved God continually in his life.  1 Samuel 17 David defeated the army of the Philistines by killing their leader.  Even when he was a shepherd boy minding his sheep he had killed a lion and a bear.  David knew his God and he knew that his God had delivered him in the past and one day he would deliver him again in the future.  The beauty about being a Christian is that we have this hope.  Our God is in the midst to defend us.  Why did David go through this?  I have asked myself the same question – why God have you allowed this to happen?  Maybe you are asking “why is this happening?”  Maybe you have a husband or wife or a child who no longer is walking with God.  Maybe there is a friend for whom you have been praying for years.  David learned so much through his experiences.  He asked for a land – verse 5.  He was planning to stay, not go back to the people of Judah.  The king, a Philistine gives him the land of Ziglag.  David would have learned so much in that land.  Prepared him for the plan God had for him.  In God’s plan nothing alters.  David’s plan would be for him to be king of Israel.  We look forward to the day when Christ will return.  God has a plan for the end of time.  He will come back and dwell amongst his people.  On the cross he was forsaken by man but one day he will sit upon the throne of David as the King of all the earth.  That is what we have to look forward to.  Sometimes we can look at the television and ask ‘why is this all going on?’  It is all recorded in scripture.  Wait until the Tribulation when it will be even worse for the Jewish nation.  We may not always know what God is doing.  We might not always understand the hand of God but we can trust the heart of God.  If you find yourself in a situation you cannot work out or you are worried about family members rest in God today.  Trust in him because God was the one that was faithful to David and he is the one who will be faithful to you.  You don’t need to doubt God in that sense.  We don’t need to be afraid.  “Let not your heart be troubled ye believe in God believe also in me.”  Our hearts get troubled and we look at situations instead of looking at God.  God was preparing David for a time when he would be king over Israel.  That is what God is doing in each of our lives today.  David was to find encouragement from God.  David went with the Philistines to fight against Israel.  David was put at the back of the army.  People asked what he was doing there.  They did not want to fight with him.  David left and went back to Ziglag where he discovered the place had been destroyed.    People blamed David for all that had happened.  He should never have been in that situation at all. David did what each of us need to do.  He encouraged himself in the Lord.  1 Samuel 30 verse 6.  David’s heart was turned back to God.  He came back to know God again and he gave him back all that he had taken from him.  God had a plan David didn’t know about.  He ran from that plan just like Jonah ran from God’s plan for the Ninevites.  God has a plan for us.  Why is the church decreasing?  Why are people leaving and are not interested in the things of God?  The time of the end “and they shall depart from the truth.”  Many will go down into the land of Philistines and seek refuge away from God’s people.  Therefore it is good to find ourselves in God’s house today.  It is good that God has saved us.  Where else would you rather be?  David got back to the place where he should have been with God.  He took 600 people with him.  A lot were killed while he was away from God.  Maybe your heart is not where it should have been.  Instead of saying “I shall now perish.”  Maybe it is time to come back to God, our refuge and strength in the time of trouble.

Is failure final?

 

COLERAINE INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

SERMON NOTES SUNDAY 21 JULY 2024 PM – MR ANDREW DALY

JOHN 13 VERSES 36 – 38 – IS FAILURE FINAL?

There are so many examples in the word of God where men and women failed the Lord.  Throughout church history there are examples of people who failed too.  Abraham, that great patriarch who was set aside for the service of God yet he failed the Lord.  The Psalmist David, known in the Acts of the Apostles as the man after God’s own heart failed and failed miserably.  He committed adultery with Bathsheba.  He had Uriah her husband sent to the front of the battle.  He became an adulterer and a murderer.  Peter is the most striking of failures of all when he denied the Lord.  The Lord had chosen and called him into his service, to leave behind his boats and business to wholly follow the Lord.  He was the leader among the disciples, a brave, strong man but also a volatile man.  The last you would expect to fall down in such a fashion yet he failed the Lord.  Failure is not final.  Through the mercy and grace and love of God failure wasn’t final.  Nor was it fatal in the life of Peter.  We are in John 13 in the Upper Room.  Jesus and the 11 disciples.  Judas has gone out into the night and betrayed the Lord.  Jesus is ministering to his remaining disciples, to prepare them for what was coming ahead.  It was the night before the crucifixion.  In a few hours they would go up to the Garden of Gethsemane.  They would see Jesus praying to his Father in heaven.  They would see the drops of blood dripping from his brow.  Here he is ministering to them in his last hours.  He has been telling them for the past 6 months that he has to go, he will die but he will rise again.  He tells them he is going but where he is going his disciples cannot go with him.  Peter was struck more than the others.  His failure was predicted.  The Lord knew before the foundation of the world that Peter would be the one who would deny him.  If you were to read John’s gospel you would see that Jesus knew all that would happen to the people he met.  He knew Nicodemus, the woman at the well.  He knows his sheep.  He is all knowing.  He was ministering to his disciples about going away.  Peter is bewildered and asks where he is going.  He is bewildered by what he has seen and heard.  As he heard these words the full impact is dawning on him. They received much instruction from Jesus but didn’t fully take it all in.  They had preconceived ideas of who Jesus was.  They were now being told what was actually going to happen.  Jesus was going to go away, going to die.  They didn’t fully get it.  They couldn’t come now but they would one day.  Peter knew the Old Testament revelation of what happened after someone died.  They did not have any meaningful revelation of what happened after death.  This was before the resurrection of Jesus and the coming of the Holy Spirit made a difference.  Paul to Timothy said “our Saviour has abolished death and brought life and immortality through the gospel.”  That is what Christ has done.  He has abolished death for the believer.  Death has lost its sting.  It became the gateway into the heavenly realm.  Peter is not grasping it.  He couldn’t understand why he couldn’t go with Jesus.  The questions Peter asked are similar to what many ask today – what lies beyond the grave, where am I going after I die, where is Jesus Christ and how do I get to where he is?  Peter was bewildered – verse 36.

 

Peter’s boastfulness – verse 37.  Why cannot I follow thee?  You must know that I would lay down my life for your sake.  He is starting to grasp Jesus is going to the cross.  If he is going to die he was willing to die too.  Peter believed that in that moment as he came to love the Lord with a deep and warm affection for him, he was perfectly willing to lay down his life for Jesus.  What a paradox between him and Judas.  After seeing the treachery of Judas his resolve was strengthened that he would never betray the Lord in a despicable way.  Rather he would lay down his life for his Saviour.  As Peter thought and reflected there was no sense of doubting.  His personal devotion for Christ is evident.  Christ knew all about his future betrayal just as he knew about Judas.  Christ knew Peter well enough.  Verse 38.  The word “deny” doesn’t mean to pretend to not to know but rather to utterly utterly deny.  Peter is making a big statement.  Not only will you not lay down your life for me but you will utterly utterly deny me.  He would plumb the utter depths of cowardice.  No blame or malice on Jesus’ part.  Peter doesn’t seem to answer back which was so unlike him.  He was silent.  Was he examining his own life?  Failure was predicted.

 

John 18 failure was perpetuated.  Verses 15 – 18, 25 to 27.  In a short space of time Peter went from being staunchly loyal to Christ, I stand with you, I will die for you to now he is standing by the fire warming himself and denying the Lord.  Not once, not twice but 3 times just as Jesus predicted.  Perhaps we can be up with the Lord on the mountaintop and the next minute we have failed him.  Peter utterly denies the Lord.  “I will lay down my life for you.”  He hadn’t realised the fragility of his nature which fights against the new man.  Peter thought he was strong enough to fight against the old nature.  “wherefore him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.”  Peter thought he was standing but didn’t realise the human condition of his heart.  Do you think you can stand?  To follow first your heart?  To follow your feelings?  We go off track from the Lord.  “The heart is deceitful above all things who can know it?”  We need to be grounded on the unchangeable word of God.  Peter knew God in his heart but he is now failing in a dramatic way.  His weakness which made him fall as he warms himself at the worlds fire.  He did not think Satan would not get a foothold.  He was willing to die now he is denying the Lord 3 times.  Just as Christ predicted.  Matthew records his reaction when on the third denial he heard the cock crowing.  He wept bitterly.  He reached a depth he never thought he would.  He thought his ministry was over.  He was one of the strong disciples, a messenger of the gospel.  Now he has failed.  That could have been fatal.  It could have been final.  God’s grace reaches further than our failure.  Love is wider than we could ever get around.  His failure was not fatal.

 

His failure was pardoned.  John 21.  Jesus had a private meeting with Peter before there was a public declaration – 1 Corinthians tells us he was seen of Cephas which is Peter and then the rest of the disciples.  That fisherman’s heart must have been broken.  He confessed to the Lord that he had failed him.  The Lord assured him of his forgiveness, grace and mercy.  It was possible to have a new beginning.  There is one faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  There must be a public declaration.  John 21 takes place at the Sea of Galilee.  The Roman name for Tiberius.  Imagine the morning sun coming up over the mountains and hitting that sea making it glisten.  Right out in the middle was a boat with 7 big fishermen on it.  They had been out all night and caught nothing.  They were experienced fishermen and had caught nothing.  They were disappointed and cold.  They could see a figure on the shore preparing a fire.  They heard a voice calling them “Children have ye any meat?”  Who else could it be but the Lord?  A public restoration for Peter.  The disciples witnessed a miracle because the creator brought in the fish into the net.  They had a great catch.  They were unmistaken about the work of God.  Peter realises who it is.  He jumps out of the boat and swims to the shore.  He found a Saviour who met his every need.  Jesus knew they were cold and he prepared a fire.  He knew they were hungry and he provided them with breakfast.  He knew they needed fellowship even though they had each other.  They had fellowship with the risen Lord.  He met them at their very point of need.  “My God shall supply all your needs in Christ Jesus.”  He met their physical need then their spiritual need.  Peter would be commissioned to the service of God.  He needed to confess the Lord 3 times around that fire.  He did so on the shores of Galilee.  Verses 15 to 17.  There are several things to notice in these verses.  The love Simon had, it had to be his priority.  The Lord questioned him in verse 15.  Did you notice the extra 3 words – “more than these”.  Those words have caused some debate down through the centuries.  Was he pointing to the other fishermen, his friends and companions?  Andrew his brother was in amongst that company.  That man who had grown up with him, who had led him to the Lord.  Jesus had previously said “he that loveth father and mother more is not worthy.” Imagine Peter locking his eyes on Andrew.  The Lord is asking him “lovest thou me more than these?”  Maybe he is pointing to the boats and nets and asking “do you love me more than these things?”  Christ is examining his heart.  He is determining his motives to see if he loved him more than the old way of life, more than the business, more than making a profit.  It is so easy to get caught up with material things but what about our devotion for the Lord?  Do we love the Lord more than created things?  Do you love me more than these disciples?  Will you die for me?  Peter examine your heart – is there an idol that is taking my place?  Something in your life you are giving more affection to?  Maybe it is time for a little self-reflection of our own.  So often our love for the Lord is low.  Maybe there is something in your heart that has dampened your affection for the Lord.  A family business, church activities.  Let’s be like Peter and examine our hearts.  “Lovest thou me more than these?”  Love had to be a priority.  Love had to be personal – verse 16.  Christ has cut all those things out of his life.  He is driving home the main thing.  The glow of your affections, the devotion of your feelings that really mattered.  It had to be pertinent.  Agape love is the strongest, highest selfish love.  It is the word attributed to God’s love in John 3 verse 16.  A love that cannot be surpassed.  There is another love – phileo love.  A bond between good friends.  The Lord is asking in 2 questions – lovest thou me – agape love, the highest love.  Peter realises he cannot say that.  His response is I have affection for you.  That is the word used in verse 17.  Jesus asked him a third time “lovest thou me?”  The bond of friendship.  The Lord has lowered the bar and rattled Peter.  The Lord is searching his heart.  He has to come with an honest confession.  He is not boasting any more.  He does not have his sword, he is literally confession, he is being honest.  Lord my love is not what it ought to be.  Not only confession here but there is a commission.  Verse 15.  “Feed my lambs”, “feed my sheep”, “feed my sheep”.  If you love me here’s the way to express it.  The love for the sheep is determined by the tender shepherding of the sheep.  Our love must be expressed in action and attitude to others.  It is reflective of our love for Christ.  John 13 set that standard – “as I have loved you.”  That is sacrificial love, unconditional love, Christ’s love.  No group we don’t love.  No exclusive groups once we care for others.  The Lord gives Simon a new commission.  He was called to be a fisher of men, an evangelist.  Now he is being given a broader remit – he is being given souls to care for in a pastoral ministry.  God gave that servant a mighty task to feed the flock of God.  He became a bold rock.  He stood before the Sanhedrin who had the ability to put him to death.  He told them they had put their Messiah to death.  He became a theological giant as he wrote 2 amazing epistles recorded in our word of God today.  He died in crucifixion upside down – he didn’t feel worthy enough to die the same way his master had.  The Lord used Peter after he pardoned his failures.  Failure is never fatal.  It is never final.  Maybe you have failed the Lord.  Maybe you have been silent when you should have spoken or spoken when you should have remained silent.  The Lord is waiting on the shore of our disillusionment and disappointment, waiting to restore a fallen disciple.  He is faithful and just to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Despondency

 

COLERAINE INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

SUNDAY 21 JULY 2024 – MR ANDREW DALY

1 KINGS 19 VERSES 1 – 18 – DESPONDENCY

During the great Depression of the last century a certain man was sitting on his front porch when he saw the postman coming to deliver a letter.  He was waiting on the social security cheque coming.  He asked himself “is this all there is to it, I have nothing to do but sit week by week waiting for the cheque.”  A discouraging thought.  Hr became despondent and desolate.  But he was not going to be defeated.  He sat down and took out a notebook.  He started to count his blessings and named them one by one.  It did surprise him.  He was the only person to have his mother’s fried chicken recipe.  So he took himself off to a local restaurant and asked if he could cook his recipe and sell it to the locals. That dish became the most popular meal on the menu. Soon he left that restaurant and he opened his own.  His restaurants snowballed until he had built a chain.  That man was Colonel Saunders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame.  Discouragement, despondency, depression – he experienced them all.  He could have been defeated buy it but he held onto the promises and blessings of God.  He became the most successful business man of the last Century.

 

At certain points in time we can become despondent, depressed.  No matter our age or circumstances there are periods in our lives when we become discouraged and despondent.  Maybe you are in that situation right now.  The concerns of life lay heavy on your shoulders.  It seems that there is no light at the end of the tunnel.  Perhaps you are discouraged, depressed.  When we come to the word of God we are actually in good company.  Men and women in the bible have had that same experience.  Think of Jonah, the mighty man who witnessed revival in the city of Nineveh.  He was sent by the Lord and he saw revival.  Yet a few chapters later Jonah was asking the Lord to take away his life.  “It is better for me to die that live.”  He got despondent, depressed.  Moses was a man of God chosen to lead the children of Israel through the wilderness into the Promised Land.  He was prone to despondency.  He asked the Lord to kill him. 

 

This morning we come to another mighty man of God, a prophet included in the hall of fame.  James reminds us he was a man who was selfish too – “a man of like passions such as we are.”  He had some physical limitations, spiritual weaknesses like we have yet in the word of God he is a mighty man of God.  Elijah, the prophet of God departed into heaven without going through death.  On the Mount of Transfiguration he was with the Lord.  A spiritual giant.  Yet in 1 Kings 19 we find he was fearful, exhausted, ready to throw in the towel.  He was despondent.  He got to the point in verse 4 where he said “it is enough now O Lord take away my life.”  He has got to the point where it would be better if God would take him out of this life.  Satan has got him to the point where he believed his ministry was over.  His circumstances were too difficult.  He does the same today to us – he tells us we are finished, our days of usefulness are behind us.  Satan is a liar.  I have good news for you today – if God were finished with us he would have taken us home earlier.  Elijah would have to find that out for himself.

 

The timing of despondency.  It was a rather unusual time.  In chapter 18 Elijah wrought one of the great miracles in the history of Israel.  He had stood on Mount Carmel and confronted 450 prophets of Baal, false apostate prophets with 10,000 people looking on.  It was a battle between Jehovah and the apostate God of Baal.  The nation had gone astray.  They started to worship Baal but were still trying to include God.  It was ecumenical worship.  The God who reigns in fire from heaven, that is the true God.  Baal was the prophet of the sun who produces heat.  It should have easy to bring down heat to consume the fire.  The prophets tried every possible way of bringing down fire on their sacrifice but it did not work.  Then Elijah stepped up, he cast his eyes to heaven and asks the Lord to reveal himself.  Fire fell and then rain fell.  The people had to see how the Lord is God.  In other words revival broke out.  Verses 46 “and the hand of the Lord was on Elijah.”  God is using this man and he is demonstrating through him what he could do.  Hadn’t God supplied the need?  Throughout his life hadn’t God supplied everything for him?  He sent the ravens, the brook to be nourished.  His prayers were answered on Mount Carmel.  God had honoured him.  He saw thousands of people turned from idols to worship the true God.  Elijah was in the hour of victory.  An unmistakeable work of God.  He should have been on the mountaintop but was in the valley.  Satan brought him down to the point of despondency instead of victory.  We can be on the mountain top one minute, when sin has been conquered and we are on top of the world but then Satan comes and fills our minds with doubt.  He brings up our past sin.  We give in.  We go from victory to defeat.  From the mountain top to the valley in a short period of time.  We need to take heed less we fall.  The devil wants to get us when we are on top of the mountain.  Elijah is under the juniper tree.  It is the time of despondency.

 

The topic of despondency – verses 1 and 2.  King Ahab was a very wicked man.  He was a worshipper of Baal.  He had taken the nation away step by step from Jehovah to the worship of Baal.  He had seen the heavens open and the fire fall and the rain fall.  He saw the prophets slain.  Now he reports it to his wife.  She was the most wicked woman ever known in scriptures.  Jezebel was furious at what she heard.  She issues a death warrant on Elijah.  She threatens and intimidates the man of God.  She will have him killed within 24 hours.  Elijah got the word and he was frightened.  He compared her words to what God has done for him in his life – and he felt nothing.  Elijah had stood on Mount Carmel, he had seen God providing everything that he needed.  He relied on the word.  He relied n the promises of God.  He had proved God throughout his life time and time again.  What confidence he should have had in the Lord.  His fear has paralysed him completely.  How easily it would have been for the God of heaven to keep him from that evil woman.  God had provided for him and protected him on that mountain.  When 10,000 people had watched.  She would have lynched him if she could yet God had protected him.  If only he had remembered David’s words when he said “my times are in thy hands.”  What a wonderful reminder.  Our times are in his hands.  The divine protected hand of God is with us on the mountaintop and in the valley.  Nothing should discourage us when God’s hand is upon us.  We can have full confidence that he works all things together for good.  We are in the palms of his hand.  He will do what is right.  Think of what David had come through.  Saul had tried to kill him so many times yet he couldn’t.  Think of the rebellion of his son Absalom and the coup against him  His testimony was "my times are in thy hands”.  Elijah needed to learn that lesson.  What could harm this man when he was in the protected hand of God?  Verse 3.  what is he doing?  Elijah takes off.  He runs for his life.  He goes a full days journey out of Jezebel’s reach.  He left his servant behind.  Everything was left behind.  Despondency.  He runs from his troubles right into the wilderness.  Who told Elijah to go there?  No-one.  There were times in the past when he had relied on the word of God for every direction.  He was not only concerned about God’s word but also about God’s will.   Time and time again we read “and the word came unto him.”  The will of God was his concern for his life.  He goes to a place where God never told him to go.  He was in a place he never should have been at all.  Verse 9. “what doest thou  here Elijah?”  What are you doing in this desolate place in the middle of the wilderness?  Is that where I have directed you to be?  Are we in a similar place.  Is it because we haven’t relied on the word of God?  On the will of God?  Is there some decision you never brought before the Lord and you find yourself under the juniper tree?  Do you think all hope is gone?  There is mercy with the Lord.  He is the one who gives his word and gives his spirit.  In every change of circumstance.  God will change our gloom into glory if only we will come and seek him.  Solomon in Proverbs said “in all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths.”  When we seek him, trust him let him direct our ways his plan is perfect.  The acceptable will of God.  Elijah didn’t do the Lord’s will.  He runs from the evil woman and finds himself under a juniper tree.

 

The toll of despondency.  It doesn’t just impact us in one way.  For many who are affected by despair they will tell you that they cannot eat or sleep or function.  They are not able to go out.  They are physically exhausted. These effects were found in Elijah’s life.  He feels it is no use in going on.  “Enough now O Lord.”  The place of despondency.  The weight of evil was on Elijah.  He felt he couldn’t go on.  Today we have a suicide epidemic particularly among young men.  We cannot understand what young men are going through.  We see some of the symptoms in Elijah’s situation.  He went through physical exhaustion.  He was not immune to pain and tiredness.  He had just gone through 3 years of famine.  He had faced down 450 prophets of Baal.  He had missed meals and a lot of sleep.  He had travelled a great distance.  Physically exhausted by the weight of the physical battle.  George Whitfield was once asked “do you ever get tired of your work?”  He replied “I sometimes get tired on eh way but never of the way.”  Elijah is weary in well doing the word of God.  It has taken it out of him physically.  He is physically wrecked and emotionally drained.  Who wouldn’t be fearful.  The fear of man had become a snare to him.  That fearless prophet standing on Mount Carmel with such faith is crumbling under such fear.  What was his biggest worry?  That it was just him all alone – verse 10.  Elijah thought it was him against the world.  Only one engaged in the battle for Jehovah.  If it weren’t for him there wouldn’t be anyone else.  Sometimes we can get into that same place.  We feel the weight of it.  If it weren’t for us there would be no-one else.  God is God.  He was here long before us and will be here long after us.  Elijah thought it was him against the world.  Elijah thought it was just him.  Elijah also had a problem with his ego.  He thought it was just him.  “For I am not better than my fathers.”  Did he think he was any better than Abraham, Isaac or Jacob?  Or Moses or Joshua or David?  He believed himself that he was the only one that remained, that he was just a nobody.  God worked through the experience of Moses who was brought up in Pharaoh’s palace when he though he was somebody.  In the backside of the desert he was a nobody and for the last 40 years of his life he realised what God can do with a nobody.  Was the Lord using this experience to humble Elijah?  Paul talked of his thorn in the flesh.  He asked the Lord 3 times to remove it but God showed him the correct perspective – “And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.⁸ For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.⁹ And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.¹⁰ Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.” (2 Corinthians 12)  Paul was brought down.  Elijah was brought down.  Elijah was physically wrecked.  He was emotionally strained and mentally drained.  The spiritual weight of the service he was involved in was too much.  Satan went first to his mind.  Paul reminds us to put on the helmet of salvation to protect us.  He was spiritually pained.  He was God’s man whether the prophets and people admitted to it or not.  The work of God takes energy.  It takes a strain.  Many don’t realise the man of God can become spiritually pained.  Everyone sees the public sight of his ministry yet do not see what goes on behind closed doors 24/7 in his life.  It takes it out on the prophet of God.  It was the lowest point in his life.  He was spent.  When we get to that point that is when Satan comes and circles us.  On his agenda is the tool of discouragement.  Maybe you are ready to despair in the work you are involved in.  You feel the responsibility is too much.  It feels as if you are under the juniper tree.  “It is enough now Lord I cannot take any more of it.”  There is a time of despondency and a topic of despondency and the toll of despondency.

A tenderness in the despondency.  That is the character of God.  None so tender as the Lord.  He has walked this scene of time.  Think of his way ward disciples.  Like Thomas who doubted.  He was not there on the first Sunday when the disciples seen the Lord.  When he came the next Sunday he said “Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.”  When the Lord came he didn’t rebuke him and say “you don’t have enough faith.”  The Lord held out his hands and told him to thrust his hand into his side.  He dealt with him tenderly.  That is how the Lord deals with us – tenderly.  The Lord has already been dealing with Elijah and he didn’t realise it.  He had provided the juniper tree to protect him from the burning eastern sun so that he would not be dehydrating.  He provided for him physically.  Verse 6.  He was dehydrated.  He was hungry.  He was exhausted.  The Lord gives him food, drink and sleep.  The Lord provided for him spiritually too – “the word of the Lord came to Elijah” verse 13.  If ever a man needed a word from God it was Elijah.  If ever a man needed to know the will of God it was Elijah.  We are not meant to be hiding from God.  He has a work for us to do.  God was meeting Elijah spiritually.  He was calling him back to the work he first called him to do.  There was still a purpose in the divine plan of God.  Not even Ahab and Jezebel could thwart that command.  Verse 15.  Elijah had to appoint Hazael to be king over Syria and Jehu to be king over Israel, then Elisha to be a prophet in his place.  The devil has ben saying “you are finished, your ministry is done” but God said “no Elijah it not final, I have work for you to do, go and return on your way.”  He provided for him emotionally.  Verse 18.  God had a faithful remnant in Israel – 7000 standing behind Elijah in the spiritual battle.  Isn’t that one of the great things about the church.  We are never alone in the fight.  There are brothers and sisters behind us in the time of need and despondency.  Not only 7000 but the power of God in the school of spiritual mathematics.  God plus one is always victorious.  God came and met him at the point of need.  What is your need today?  Are you despondent, discouraged, depressed?  Cast your anchor on Christ.  The one who will never leave you nor forsake you.  He will supply all your need.  Grace for your every situation. 

Standing somewhere in the shadows
You’ll find Jesus
He’s a friend who always
Cares and understands
Standing somewhere in the shadows you’ll find Him
And you’ll know Him by the nail prints in His hands

. 

 

Continue in prayer

 

COLERAINE INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

SUNDAY 14 JULY 2024 – JASON CRUISE

COLOSSIANS 4 VERSES 1 – 6

The letter to the Colossians is one of the imprisoned letters which includes Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and Philemon.  The apostle Paul is writing to the early believers in Colosse.  We nevr read of them outside of this epistle.  We are never even told that Paul visited the Colosse church.  We know that up to now at this point in time had never been there – chapter 2 verse 1 “For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have seen my face in the flesh.”  It was Epaphras who came to Paul in prison that Paul knows what has been happening in Colosse.  The theme of the book of Colossians is the supremacy of Christ.  Chapter 1 verse 18 “And he is the head of the body, the church: Who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.”  Does Christ the pre-eminence in your life?  Is he first place on a Sunday?  But what about on Monday morning?  Or even Wednesday morning?  I trust that Christ has the pre-eminence each and every day.  That the Lord has first place.  I want us to look at verses 2 to 6 of this chapter.  Verse 1 is in connection with chapter 3.  The apostle Paul is speaking in chapter 3 first to wives – “submit unto your own husband”.  Then to husbands – “love your wives”, to children “obey your parents”, to fathers “provoke not your children to anger”, servants “obey in all things your masters” and then finally in verse 1 of chapter 4 masters – “give your servants that which is just and equal”.  Now we come to a new section starting in verse 2

“Continue in prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving. 

Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds:

That I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak. 

Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time. 

Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.”

 

Notice that the apostle Paul does not say “start to pray” or “begin to pray” but rather “continue in prayer”.  The apostle Paul means – if you are a believer, have trusted the Lord as your Saviour and are in a relationship with him then you should also be people of prayer.”  If we are in fellowship with the Lord you should be a people of prayer.  Have you that passion, burden, zeal for the place of prayer?  To see a work done for the Lord?  Paul was a man of passion.  He had a burden for prayer.  Remember what was said to Ananias in Acts 9 verse 11 “And the Lord said unto him, Arise and go into the street which is called Straight and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for behold he prayeth.” 

The necessity of prayer.  Prayer for the Christian is like oxygen.  It is vital in your spiritual walk.  I must be coming continually to the Lord in prayer.  1 Thessalonians 5 verse 17 “pray without ceasing.”  The word “continue” in Greek means steadfast and persistent.  Coming continually to the Lord in prayer.  I trust you and I are men and women of prayer.  If you and I are to be mirrors of Christ to have Christlikeness in our walk, we must be continuing in prayer.  Luke 6 verse 12 “And it came to pass in those days that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.”  If the Lord needed to spend all night in prayer how much more do we not need to spend time with the Lord.  We need to get down on our knees and bring everything to God in prayer.  John Welsh was a Scottish minister married to John Knox’s daughter.  He ministered in Selkirk and one morning at 3 am his wife awoke and realised her husband was not in bed.  She made her way down the stairs and found John in the living room.  She saw him kneeling on the cold stone floor.  She asked him what was wrong and he replied “I have so many people under my care and I know not where many of them stand for eternity.”  He had a great burden for people, for the lost that he brought them before the Lord in the early hours of the morning.  When did you last feel that burden – to drop to your knees and bring family before the Lord?  That the Holy Spirit would bring conviction to their souls.  Psalm 109 verse 4 “But I give myself unto prayer.”  Do we bring those we know still trampling the broad road to hell?  I wonder how the younger generation measure up to the older people who had now passed on?  Do you first come to the Lord in prayer when you awake in the morning?  And what about last thing at night?  Every revival can be traced back to a praying individual.  Think of the Isle of Lewis, Evan Roberts in the Welsh Revival or even the American revivals with Charles Finney and others like him.  Many came to know the Lord.  All of them can be traced back to a praying individual.  Even here in our land in 1858 4 young men were challenged when their minister asked them “will you not do something more for God?” They began to meet in a schoolhouse in Kells.  These lands were saved for the Lord as a result.  Someone has said that prayer is like a steam engine.  It cannot pull a heavy load if you don’t light the fire.  You need prayer today.  We must be a praying people.  Philippians 4 verse 6 “Be careful for nothing: but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.”  Those early believers were men and women of prayer.  The necessity of prayer.  It is vital, just like oxygen for the body.  It is vital for the Christian.  Acts 1 verse 14 “These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus and with his brethren.”  Can it be said of us that we are of one accord in prayer?

Prayer also demands discipline.  We have so much to do other than pray yet often sadly in our day and age prayer is pushed aside.  Make sure you are in the place of prayer corporately and individually.  “What hindrances we meet when we come to the mercy seat” William Cowper said.  I am putting all the emphasis on prayer because we must be a praying people. “Watching in the same with thanksgiving.”  We must be watchful.  We must be focused, alert, vigilant, warning believers against dullness of soul and distrction of the mind.  We are so easily distracted from the place of prayer.  We get our eyes off God.  We shouldn’t worry about other things.  We should have that burden for souls to be saved, to see his work extended.  1 Peter 5 verse 8 “Be sober, be vigilant: because our adversary the  devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”  Young people you must be on guard.  We have a mighty addversary.  He is a defeated foe but he continues her on earth prowling like a lion.  We see a world repeatedly going into the depths never before seen.  Even in our own country there are peoplee trying to bring in rules that are contrary to the word of God.  We must be people of prayer.  “With thanksgiving”.  Quite often we come to the Lord with a catalogue of requests.  I wonder do we take time to come and thank God.  Remember in the Luke the 10 lepers – only one came back to give thanks.  Nine didn’t.  We must be thankful for what the Lord ha done for us.  In verses 3 and 4 Paul gives 2 specific prayer requests.  He tells the people to pray that “a door would open, a door of utterance to speak the mystery of Christ”.  We should be doing this for children’s workers, preachers, pastors, evangelists and teachers of the word of God.  That they may be able to tell men and women, boys and girls about the love of God manifested at Calvary.  Paul did just that.  He used every opportunity to speak of Christ.  We should be the same as the apostle Paul – take opportunities to say a word for the Lord.  When you are talking to your neighbour over the garden fence, in the workplace.  We are living in perilous times and we need to talk about the Lord and his salvation.  Are you taking every opportunity to speak for the Lord?  Verse 4 “that I may make it manifest.”  Paul was an experienced speaker and evangelist yet he knew he had to rely on the Lord.  Charles Spurgeon said he never felt as weak as when he entered into the pulpit.  He knew he had to rely on the Lord not on the flesh.  Telling people to pray, to make the gospel so simple that others could understand it.  Billy Sunday wanted to preach the gospel that the man and woman on the factory floor would be able to understand it without opening up a dictionary.  We should ask God to make his word so simple that even a young child can understand and put his faith in the Lord Jesus.  Paul was saying this knowing that despite the fact they were so far from him, that their prayers would be heard in heaven.  We might never travel to darkest Africa or India but we can pray for those who are there, that they would see fruit in their labours. “My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 2 verse 3)  You could have the greatest public preacher in the pulpit but he will have no power if not done for the Lord.  If you have someone with no education and he comes into the pulpit and he rests solely on God, God will use that person as his tool in his hand.  Paul knew he had to rely on the Lord. 

The Christian’s prayer life but also the Christian’s conduct – verses 5 and 6 “Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time.  Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.”  He is referring to those outside of Christ, around our neighbourhood, in the shops and places of work.  They will never read a bible but they will read us every day in how we conduct ourselves and our behaviour.  We must walk in wisdom toward them that are without God.  People are watching how we live our lives.  We should be mirrors of the Lord.  We must see a work for the Lord.  We can be tools in the master’s hand.  If we are not going to do a work for the Lord then who is?  We must be walking the walk not simply talking the talk.  Paul writing to Timothy gave instructions for those who hold office in the church - 1 Timothy 3 verse 7 “Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without: let he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.” We must be continually mindful of those around us in our neighbourhood, in our town and community.  Ephesians 5 verse 15 “See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise.  Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”  We have to take every opportunity to witness and win souls for the Lord.  Are you redeeming the time?  Making use of that time?  The Lord has given you people to witness to.  We know that salt flavours but it also prevents corruption.  You and I in our communities should have that purifying influence seeking to prevent decay in Christian principles and morals.  Standing against those seeking to bring out country down and contrary to the word of God.  We should have a purifying influence in our town and where we live. Philippians 2 verses 15 and 16 “that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation among whom ye shine as lights in the world; holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.”  You and I in this day and age should be shining as lights, as beacons for the Lord.  A beacon shines best in the darkness.  We are in a very dark world in which we live.  We might leave our back yard light on all day and never notice its light until it becomes dark.  So we should be shining brightly in the day we live in.  Tychicus would take this letter back to Colosse.  What an encouraging and challenging word this would be to them.  To be men and women of prayer.  What a challenge for us as we go into this new week.  To be witnesses and ambassadors for the Lord.

The chief priests who mocked Jesus, Pilate who marvelled, the Roman soldiers who gambled and the man who was convicted

 

COLERAINE INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

SERMON NOTES FROM SUNDAY 7 JULY 2024 – JASON CRUISE

MARK 15 VERSES 1 – 5, 15 – 25, 34 – 39

We have read here in verse 1 about the morning and then in verse 42 “now when the evening was come”.  A morning and an evening of a very great day.  In a recent survey people were asked “what day would you consider to be the greatest day in the history of the world?”  Some gave the date 20/7/1969 when man first walked on the moon.  Others said 11/11/1918 when the First World war ended.  Others said 9/9/1989 when the Berlin Wall came down.  Others said 12/10/1492 when Christopher Columbus discovered America.  Others said 15/6/1215 when King John signed the Magna Carter.  This day we have read about in scripture tonight was the greatest day in the history of the world.  When Jesus was nailed to a Roman cross.  He hung there for your sin and mine.  There were many there that day.  Many witnessed how he suffered for your sin and mine so we can have the assurance of sins forgiven and a home in heaven.  I want us to consider the people of that day, to see their response and attitude to the person and work of the Lord Jesus.  Then I would like to ask you which one resembles you tonight?

The first group of people are the chief priests in verse 3.  Remember before these chief priests stands the Lord, God manifested in the flesh.   He no longer speaks to the chief priests.  If you are still in your sins and not saved what an awful thought – to think that one day God would stop speaking to you.  Maybe you have heard the gospel so many times.  Perhaps you could preach the gospel as well as any man.  You can teach theology, debate the doctrines – what if tonight it would be the night you cross the   boundary and God would stop speaking to you?  Do not harden your heart.  Come and accept Christ as your own personal Saviour.  You might say “I am nowhere near as bad as the chief priests.”  Maybe that is true but on the authority of scripture I want to say you are a sinner.  Romans 3 verse 23 “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”  It doesn’t matter if you are a king on the throne or just brought up in the town of Coleraine you must still come and accept the Lord for yourself.  Do you know the Lord as your Saviour and Lord?  8 billion people in the world are all sinners.  Romans 5 verse 12 “wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.”     An awful thought – if you sat through a gospel meeting and go out through the doors still a Christ rejecter and you had an appointment with death one day when you stand before God he will say you cannot enter into heaven.  You would meet him as a Christ rejecter not a Christ accepter.  “Sin when it is finished bringeth forth death.” (James 1 verse 15 “It is appointed unto man once to die but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9 verse 27)  We have an appointment with death one day.  You cannot cancel it like a dentist appointment.  Notice the reaction of these chief priests to the Lord in verse 31.  Here now is the Lord hanging on the cross.  The chief priests are mocking the eternal Son of God hanging there with the crown of thorns on his head and wound on his hands and feet.  He has made his way to Calvary.

O Christ, what burdens bowed thy head!

Our load was laid on Thee

Thou stoodest in the sinner’s stead

Didst bear all ill for me

A victim led; thy blood was shed

Now there’s no load for me.

The Lord hangs on the cross for man.  These men mocked him.  The are not relying on him.  They are depending on doctrine and tradition.  They are hiding under a cloak of religiosity.  Could it be said of you tonight?  Where will you spend eternity?  There is only one way to be saved and made fit for heaven.  “For by grace are ye saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any an should boast.” (Ephesians 2 verse 8)  Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.  What is faith?  You came through the door tonight and sat down in your pew, you rested on it to hold your weight.  That is what faith in Christ means.  Resting in him for your salvation.  They said of Jesus “he saved others, himself he cannot save.”  We are thankful that not only can we say “he has saved others but he has saved me too.”  You were born again of the Spirit, made right and ready for heaven.  The apostle in John 1 verse 12 said “but as many as received him to them gave he the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.”  We are trusting in him for eternity.  If it is not the Lord it is futile.  The chief priests mocked Christ.

The second person to look at is Pilate who marvelled.  Verses 4 and 5.  Matthew tells us he marvelled greatly – Matthew 27 verse 14.  Not only did he marvel when Christ was alive but also when he was dead  - verse 44.  Here we see that Pontius Pilate marvelled when Christ was alive.  The Greek word means to be in wonder or astonishment.  He was amazed at the man who stood before him.  Pontius Pilate judged him before he was condemned to the cross.  He had seen many before Jesus but he never marvelled at them.  He said of Jesus “this man has done nothing worthy of crucifixion”.  Yet Pilate condemns him to the death of the cross.  Matthew records that Pilate washed his hands off the whole situation.  There is something however that will never wash away that sin.  The only thing that will make you right and ready for heaven is the precious blood of Christ.  Maybe you will be like Pilate – too scared of others.  Maybe your school friends or work colleagues or neighbours.  What will they say when they find out that you gave your life to the Lord Jesus.  Will you give in to pressure and yield?  Invite the Lord to be your saviour.

The third group to look at are the Roman soldiers who gambled – verses 24 and 25.  These Roman soldiers have led the Lord out to Calvary.  They have driven nails through his hands and feet.  Previously they took him into the Common Hall and buffeted him, spat on him, pulled the hairs form his face.  They led him through the streets to Calvary where they raised him up between heaven and earth.  There the eternal Son of God hands in your place and mine.  What a demonstration of such love.  That God would send his begotten Son into this world to give his life so that everyone could have eternal life.  Where are you going to in eternity – there are only 2 destinations – heaven or hell.  We see these soldiers gambling over the clothes of Jesus.  Will you gamble over your soul?  Will you rise from your seat and say “I will not get saved tonight but maybe on some other occasion.”  If we could lift back the gates of hell tonight we would see there a multitude of people who said the same thing but death came and they were not ready.  They went out into hell unprepared, unforgiven and unchanged.  Why would you leave tonight travelling the broad road?  Not knowing what a day will bring forth.  Why would you not come and accept the Lord as your own and personal Saviour?  You may remember one day that you heard you needed to be saved and yet you rejected it.  There is no second chance.  Maybe you are almost saved.  On the 1^st of January 1919 a small boat was making its way to the island of Lewis.  On board were 281 men who had fought in the World War and were making their way home after victory.  They were making their way home to safety.  They had walked over the border to Scotland and boarded a boat to Lewis.  The boat entered the harbour of Stornoway.  Notorious in that harbour were 2 large rocks which locals called “the beasts of home”.  That vessel crashed into the 2 rocks.  281 men went into the water and 205 perished, lost beneath the waves.  Almost home.  Some could have seen the homes they were reared in.  They were going home but never made it.  Some had with them toys bought on the way home for their children.  One man was found with an engagement ring in his pocket.  Almost saved but perished in the harbour.  An awful tragedy.  Many tonight are almost saved but not quite.  Those Roman soldiers had been gambling over the clothes of the Lord.  Jesus wanted to clothe them with his clothes of righteousness.  Christ on the cross was able to cry out “it is finished”.  The price has been paid on your behalf.  We speak of one who is alive.  He was dead but is alive for evermore.  Maybe you are saying in your mind “you don’t know the awful things I have done.”  The Lord says “him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.”  If you will come in repentance you will be secure for all eternity.  Whatever else you are relying on is futile.  John 14 “I am the way, the truth and the life; no man cometh to the Father but by me.”  You must come by the way of the cross.  The Roman soldiers gambled.

There was a man who was convicted – verse 39.  On that day this Roman Centurion came to know Christ as his very own and personal Saviour.  I look forward to meeting this man in heaven.  This day started out like any other day for him.  He woke up in the early hours of the morning.  He gathered up his men and gave them orders.  He told them of the 3 men who would be led out to be crucified.  A normal day for all of them.  News came through later that morning that Barabbas is going to be released.  If he was released who would be taking his place?  Did that Roman centurion look on as they flogged Jesus.  Did he think that there was something special about this man?  Did he hear Pilate’s words “I find no fault in this man”?  Did he hear the 2 thieves and their conversation with Jesus on the cross?  Now he becomes convicted.  This man is indeed the man Christ Jesus, the Son of God.  You can be like this man and come to know Christ as your personal Saviour.  D L Moody was once asked by a young man if he could preach in his church.  He came along one evening and D L Moody listened as he preached the gospel.  The meeting was brought to a close and the young man thought he had done a good job telling men and women of a lost world and how Christ came.  That he was suffered and died for the people.  D L Moody made his way to the young man and he wasn’t too pleased.  The young man asked him what was wrong.  D L Moody told him “you left Christ on the cross.  The Saviour we present is a risen Saviour, one who is exalted and sits at the Father’s right hand today.”  The Lord beckons you to come unto him and he promises rest when we give our burdens to him.  Believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.  It is not maybe but you shall be saved.  Make sure you close in with God’s great offer of salvation tonight.