Ananias and the task God gave him

Sermon notes from Sunday 12 January 2020

Acts 9 verses 10 - 19

We read in Acts 9 verse 10 this man called Ananias got up out of his bed one morning, got before the Lord and prayed.  Perhaps he read God`s word.  He headed out into the day.  God`s voice spoke to him, gave him a task that I am sure his heart sank into his boots.  Go into a certain house and there you will find this man Saul of Tarsus.  He is praying.  The moment Ananias heard that he said "Lord I cannot do that."  Here am I Lord were the words that stuck out.  Not a phrase preached upon these days, not often challenged from our pulpits today.  Micah chapter 7 verse 7 "therefore I will look unto the Lord, I will wait for the God of my salvation."  We began to think of what the prophet was really saying.  "Therefore" why was that word put in there - we began to look back at the darkest days the prophet was living in.  The government was corrupt, doing what they wanted to do.  Trading standards were at an all time low, cheating and frauding people, using dishonest weights and measures.  The religious world was in apostate way, people were going through the motions.  Their hearts however were far from God.  Micah was beginning to reflect.  To show that he was reflecting on all these things of the past, reflecting on the coldness, no comfort in them.  It brings him to a great resolve.  I am not lying down to this.  Very few could trust each other, mother was turning against daughter, father against son.  Great resolve - therefore I will look unto the Lord, the one who is high overall from everlasting to everlasting who cannot fail me.  In one way or another I will lift up my eyes unto the Lord.  From whence doth come my help, my help comes from the Lord.  You can trust the Lord today.  Micah was looking unto the darkest of days, had a resolve in his heart to look unto the Lord.  We look at the great desire that is within today.

It was personal - "therefore I"  A personal desire to look to the Lord.  Maybe you have been trusting someone today and they have somehow let you down, failed you in some way.  The Psalmist was not going to look to anything else, to anything like armies or chariots or horse but rather to one who was able to do far more abundantly than he could ever ask of think.  We have all these great resolves in this new year.  Micah was resolved to look to the Lord.  One thing is on his mind.  Micah says it was very easy to get swallowed up in the careless activities of society but God asks us to take out stand.  Isaiah 5 verse 7 God called for someone to stand in the gap in Ezekiel but he couldn't find one.  Paul `s great resolve in Philippians 3 verse 13 striving for eternal glory, only one thing on his mind.  We cannot get saved unless we have a clear mind, that must be the utmost thing in our hearts and minds.  When you listen to God`s word heard about about the cross, how Christ came into the world to seek and to save that which was lost.  Then he pointed across and said it was for you and me.  If not first in our minds we cannot get saved.  God speaks to Jeremiah ye shall seek for me and find me when ye seek me with all your heart.  We cannot hold onto any sin in our life, it all has to go.  God says we must repent of our sin, leave things behind, trust Christ as Saviour.  When we get saved we must guard things that are crowding in on us, the sin that doth easily beset.  Paul says to keep our eyes on the finishing line and the crown he is about to win.  Can we say this one thing I do like Paul?  Micah says he will set his sights on God and him alone  Many things that trouble and hurt us.  Paul says this one thing I do  We have to get our eyes set on that eternal glory.  Joshua was an old man in chapter 24, led the people into the Promised Land, he divides the land between all the families.  Will you serve the gods of the Amorites in whose land we dwell.  A challenge before them.  God gave him all the prosperity of the land.  Now you have to chose - the gods of the Amorites or the gods before the flood.  That old man said "as for me and my house we will serve the Lord."  Resolve and desire like Micah of old.  He had seen the hand of the God in his life, the goodness of God.  Is there something in our lives we need to get rid of that God says is not right.  Jonathan Edwards said "trust in God and you have nothing to fear."  He is closing his eyes in death, gathers the family, only one word - "trust in the Lord and you will have nothing to fear."  It is up to you and me to make the same resolve.  The desire was personal.

It was positive - "I will"  As we go into the New Year will we be content to continue as last year or will we have that same desire to live and to serve the Lord?  Ananias said "Lord here am I".  We need to be quiet sometimes in God`s presence and hear what God is saying to us.  Micah said "therefore I will."  Noah in Genesis 6 "when man`s thoughts and intentions were only evil continually."  God separated Noah.  He walked with God  God called Noah to one side, told him what he was going to do, told him about the sins of people, I want you to build an ark.  Noah was given a full description of the ark.  That was a big task.  Sometimes God gives us tasks, we think no way around them.  Genesis 6 verse 22 "thus Noah did get resutls  ..."  According to all God commanded so did he.  God is speaking to us as he spoke to Noah.  You have to do it and he agreed to do.  God puts a task on our hearts.  He is asking you to put his will in your heart.  Micah would look to the Lord.  Elijah complained that he was the only one left to stand for God.  He was mistaken because there were 7000 who hadn't bowed their knees to Baal.  There may be problems and difficulties, situations we have never faced before but God is with us in all of these.  Isaiah 6 he is in the house of God on this particular day gets a vision of God.  Isn't that what we need today - that we might see something special of God.  Isaiah in the presence of God realised his own shortcomings.  God was concerned about the man standing before him that day.  God sent the angels, lifted the coal from altar, touched his lips.  When God asks us to do something are we willing to do it for him?  He is interested in you as an individual for a specific task in the service of God.  He wants you to be able to stand up and say "here am I Lord."  The Lord is not coming to the pastor, to the elders or anyone else but you.  He says "I have a task for you."  Ananias took time to hear what the task was.  Sometimes we don`t take that task seriously.  Micah says I will look unto the Lord.  That is what the Lord is asking for today.

The task was practical.  It was more than lip consent, this was going to be hands on experience for the future.  Are there things lacking in our lives that need to be addressed?  Micah was saying I will look.  It was practical.  Micah chapter 7 verse 8 spoke of the enemy rejoicing over him.  He knew battles and difficulties but he said he would look to the Lord.  Will you make this resolve today - to look to the Lord, to watch for him and seek him?  Will you say "here am I, what would you have me to do?"  This is my resolve, this is the person I want to be in 2020.