The waters of baptism

 

LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

SERMON NOTES FROM SUNDAY 29 MAY 2022

MATTHEW 3 VERSES 13 – 17

In God’s word we find 2 ordinances or sacrifices laid down for us – one is the Lord’s Table when Jesus said “this do in remembrance of me.”  It is to bring us back to that place of thanksgiving and praise.  It reminds us of the body of Christ broken for us, how he suffered and died.  When we take that emblem we are celebrating the precious blood shed for us – for without the shedding of the blood there is no remission of sins.  The other ordinance is baptism.  What does it mean when we talk about baptism of believers?  It is the total immersion of the believer.  When a man or woman has come to put their faith in Christ then the next step is to go through the waters of baptism.  Let’s take a look at what baptism has to say.  There are false beliefs on baptism.  Everyone has their own slant on it.  Let’s take the word of God and go through and see what the word of God has to say about it.

 

The commission of baptism.  Baptism is not a right or ritual ordained by the church.  We read in John’s gospel of John the Baptist in chapter 1 verse 6 “there was a man sent from God whose name was John.”  He was a unique person in his birth.  His birth was announced and his name proclaimed.  His parents were well past the age of childbearing.  Zacharias was told that his prayers had been heard.  These were a couple in the Lord’s work.  They had been born into a priestly family.  When the angel came down to where Zacharias was he was involved in the ministry of the priesthood.  The angel’s first words were “fear not for thy prayer is heard.  Thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son and thou shalt call his name John.”  Zacharias was in the ministry of prayer on this particular week of service in the temple.  Remember Cornelius who was on his knees when the angel came down and said “your prayers have been heard.”  Zacharias was in the place of prayer.  This announcement surprised him.  He said “whereby shall I know this for I am an old man and my wife well stricken in years.”  It puts power to that phrase ‘with our Lord there is nothing impossible.’  Maybe there are prayers you have been praying day in and day out with no sign of a move at all take heart and courage from Zacharias today.  They were well past the age of childbearing, given up hope of having a child of their own.  These prayers would have ascended to the Lord when they first married and hoped to have a child.  They were seeking the Lord like Anna of old.  She had no children.  She poured out her soul to the Lord.  Eli thought she was drunk but she told him she was not but rather pouring out her situation to the Lord.  Zacharias and Elisabeth had prayed for them to have a child but it did not happen.  Now well on in years and suddenly we are told that prayer had been heard.  Maybe that prayer had not been on either of their lips for perhaps 20 or 30 years.  They were past the age of having children.  Their prayer was as relevant in heaven.  The timing was right.  Take encouragement your prayers are sitting in heaven.  One of these days God might say ‘thy prayer is heard’.  That long lost son or daughter or family member will come to the cross of Calvary one day.  God will answer prayer one day.  With our Lord nothing shall be impossible.  A miracle birth.  A miracle of grace and an answer to prayer.  That takes us to the ministry of John and commission of baptism.  We see his mission.  John came baptising and preaching repentance.  Mark 1 verses 4 and 5 preparing the way for the Lord to come.  Now we see the significance of that phrase “there was a man sent from God whose name was John.”  Baptism came from the heart of God for every child of God not a ritual of the church.  It is a commission from God to every believer.

 

A confirmation of baptism.  Matthew 3 verses 13 to 15.  This ordination commissioned by God was confirmed by Jesus in his teaching and physical example.  When we speak of believers following the Lord through baptism they are doing it in a practical sense.  Jesus himself came to be baptised to the River Jordan and to John the Baptist.  What an example to follow.  “But John forbade him, saying I have need to be baptized of thee and comest thou to me?  And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness.  Then he suffered him.”  John watched him stepping down into the waters and baptised him.  John’s ministry was preaching repentance and baptism.  Those who turn from sins were eligible for baptism.  Jesus didn’t have any sin., he was the perfect Lamb of God.  He came into the world to seek and to save that which was lost.  He came to die on the cross to save us from our sins.  Jesus was setting out his Father’s great plan.  He came to fulfil every purpose of the law the Lord had given him, to fulfil his plan at Calvary.  The confirmation of heaven is evident.  Verses 16 and 17.  As Jesus came out of the waters of baptism he could see the heavens opening and the Spirit of God coming down.  Then he heard the voice from heaven “this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.”  Mark 16 verse 16 “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.”  The Lord does not say you have to be baptised to be saved.  “By grace are you saved through faith.”  Faith saves us not water.  This portion of scripture speaks of the responsibility of everyone who believes.  To believe the gospel, to be saved and then go through the waters of baptism.  Many are saved but are not baptised.  Think of the thief on the cross.  “Remember when you come into your kingdom” he asked Jesus.  He realised that when he closed his eyes in death there was a great eternity before him,,  He realised he was the prince of that kingdom.  Jesus told him “today thou shalt be with me in paradise.”  He couldn’t be baptised.  He was on the cross and Jesus accepted him.  If circumstances had been different he would have been baptised.

 

A confession of our faith.  Baptism is an outward expression of our inward faith.  If you are saved by God’s grace, going through baptism is giving an outward expression to that faith.  Faith is a personal thing.  Acceptance of Christ is between you and God.  As we do that we realise it is private and personal.  Baptism is making a public display of the inward work of Christ in our hearts.  In Acts 2 when Peter preached, the question was asked by the people “what shall we do?”   Peter said “repent and be baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”  “Then they that gladly received his word were baptised.”  They were confessing their faith in the finished work of Calvary by demonstration of going through the waters of baptism.  3000 people on that day of Pentecost were saved and added to the Lamb’s book of Life.  Everyone came individually to the Lord, this was not salvation by mass.  Every individual had to make his mind whether they would go through the waters of baptism, it was their own choice.

FaIth like a mustard seed

 

LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

SERMON NOTES FROM SUNDAY 15 MAY 2022

MATTHEW 17 VERSES 14 – 21

Last week we looked at the building of the house of God after the children of Israel had come back from captivity in Babylon.  The task they faced was large and there was much opposition.  Humanly speaking it was doomed to failure.  In Zechariah 4 verse 8 God told Zerubbabel that the work would be finished, not by great military power or human intellect but by his Spirit.  Zechariah 4 verse 7 points to a mountain and in the minds of the builders everything seemed insurmountable.  “Who art thou, O great mountain> before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain.”  God was taking Zerubbabel to one side, pointing to the fact that although the people were fearful, they could not complete the task of rebuilding the temple, he would complete the task.  It would be finished.  There is much today to bring discouragement and dampen the work of God.  We need to keep at the work of God.  God is able to finish his work just as he did in Zerubbabel’s day.  In this passage in Matthew 17 we read of another mountain.  Jesus had just come down from the Mount of Transfiguration with his disciples when he came across this scene.  A man had brought his son to be healed and the disciples were not able to do it.  Verse 20 “Because of your unbelief; for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.”  Jesus took the boy to one side and “rebuked the devil and he departed out of him.”  The disciples were in despair – they couldn’t understand why they couldn’t heal the boy.  Jesus told them this situation required prayer and fasting.

The strategy that God gives.  It is not out of our intellect or ability.  The strategy we are in is the battle of prayer.  In Ephesians 6 Paul tells us that the battle is on – “we wrestle not against flesh and blood”.  Behind the scenes Paul could see something bigger – “but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” that come against us.  This father lived with a situation for some time.  He saw his son become progressively worse.  The spirit took over his son’s life.  It tried to destroy him.  Jesus identified it as a spiritual battle.  It was not a physical battle, not a natural illness.  We can read and talk about.  We can read the great giants like E M Bounds or Reece Howell’s The Intercessor.  The challenge comes to you again and again.  We can preach about prayer and go to seminars, but we need to exercise prayer – getting alone with God, closing the door and seeking God with all our hearts.  Many homes today are in distress, many with problems that cannot be resolved.  We need to pray for them.  Satan knows the value of prayer.  We see that demonstrated clearly in the kingdom of Persia.  Satan knew there was a direct line from that earthly domain to the heavenly kingdom.  There was a voice coming into the ears of God from one man – Daniel.  Every day he was on his knees before God – morning, noon and night.  Satan knew the only way to curtail him was to cut this direct line off.  He provoked the counsellors who were stirred up out of jealousy.  They asked for the king to sign a decree that if any man was found praying to another god he should be cast into the den of lions.  Then they arrested Daniel.  Satan thought the chain was broken but Daniel went into his own house, threw open the windows and got down on his knees as before.  The devil will do everything to stop us from praying.  Of all the meetings in this church and in any church the devil hates the prayer meeting.  The devil knows the Lord is able to save and he will do anything to stop you from attending that meeting and from participating in the meeting.  Remember Daniel was on his knees for 21 days before the angel came to him and the angel was able to tell him that something had prevented him coming to Daniel – why – there was a battle going on.  Fatigue can stop us from praying.  No answers to prayer can stop us from praying too.

A secrecy in prayer.  It can only be wrought by prayer and fasting.  We are communicating with God.  Jeremiah 33 verse 3 “call unto me and I will answer thee and shew thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not.”  The psalmist said in Psalm 50 verse 15 “And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify me.”  Thomas Cooper’s hymn puts it well “restraining prayer, we cease to fight, prayer makes Christian’s armour bright and Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees.”  When we get down before God in prayer, we are allowing God into our situation and problems and difficulties.  Remember when Jesus called his disciples to prayer, he looked out on the harvest fields and said they were “white, ready to harvest” but then he went on to tell them the labourers were so few in number.  “Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.” (Matthew 9 verse 38)  Take a look around you, see what is happening around you, get before God and pray that he will send forth labourers into his harvest field.  It is not a matter of going out and picking people to do things.  Jesus said to his disciples “pray that the Lord would send forth labourers into the harvest field.”  “The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds.” (2 Corinthians 10 verse 4) Satan has a grip on this province.  What is the secret of pulling down that grip?  Prayer.  Paul and Silas in the prison house were praying – what happened – the walls shook – why – because of one man praying.  In Acts 4 the people communed with one another, spoke about what had happened, prayed together for boldness to preach the word of God.  What happened?  The walls shook because of that prayer.  John Knox prayed “give me Scotland or I die”.  Mary Queen of Scots feared John Knox more than anyone because of his prayers.  Sometimes we say we cannot pray because we listen to the great people around us who really can pray but we need to remember that Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees.  What is the purpose behind the spiritual forces that come against us?  Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.  And he prayed again, and heaven gave rain and the earth brought forth her fruit.” (James 5 verses 17 and 18).  In Acts 19 Paul’s ministry in Asia saw a people healed, saved and delivered from demon possession.  There were those who followed him and watched him carefully.  There were 7 sons of a priest who wanted the same power Paul had so they took on the ministry of exorcism, casting out demons.  They came to one man and the result had serious implications.  The demon went out of the man and put the 7 men to flight – verse 15 “Jesus I know and Paul I know but who are ye?”  Do we give the devil any consideration when we get down to prayer?  Does the devil quake when we pray?

The sincerity of prayer.  Jesus touched here on victory in prayer.  A young man possessed by the devil from childhood.  His father probably travelled everywhere trying to find someone to help them.  He decided to take him to Jesus but couldn’t find him.  Jesus’ disciples were present, but they couldn’t help him.  When Jesus came down from the mountain, he told his disciples they needed prayer and fasting.  We ask how much faith we need today, and Jesus tells us it needs to be as a grain of mustard seed.  If you have that faith to believe today, you can say to this mountain remove and it would be removed.  Remember when Jesus sent out the 70 and they came back with the story that they had exercised power over demons, even the very powers of hell bowed down to them?  Jesus said, “rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.” (Luke 10 verse 20)  Is my name recorded there?  Was it pencilled in when I came and bowed my knee at the foot of the cross?  When I looked to the Lord?  When I realised, he was my safety?  When I cried “Lord I am a sinner and I realise that you have died on the cross for me and I am asking you now to save me?”  If there is any other way that you are depending on, then your name is not written there.  Don’t rejoice because you can cast out a demon, rejoice because you have accepted Christ as Lord and Saviour.  Maybe you have grown careless today.  Hebrews 11 verse 6 “But without faith it is impossible to please him; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

The sufficiency of prayer.  I have never seen a mountain yet that God could not take me over it.  I have never been in a valley so deep that the Lord didn’t forsake me in it.  We can face spiritual mountains today because we know we are “more than conquerors through him that loved us.” (Romans 8 verse 37)  Will we leave today encouraged in what God has done for us?  What God has given for us?  What he wants to do with us even in these days?   Yes I need to use my intellect and my ability, but God can use even the lack of both.  He will use us in his own way in these days.

For who hath despised the day of small things?

 

LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

SERMON NOTES SUNDAY 8 MAY 2022

ZECHARIAH CHAPTER 4

“For who hath despised the day of small things”

Listening to so much on our televisions, radios, social media we hear talk of church attendance being depleted and going down.  I am always reluctant to put those things down because God tells us not to despise the day of small things.  We need to read the whole context of Zerubbabel and what he was doing in Jerusalem.  We need to take in other books like Esther and Nehemiah and Haggai to see what was happening in Jerusalem at that time.  But before any commentaries are used we need to read and re-read the scripture for ourselves.  Sometimes the best commentary is the bible itself.  This text tells us not to despise the day of small things.  What are the things we notice about small things?

 

There is a challenge here.  Today is akin to the day Nehemiah found himself in.  Difficult and discouraging days for him.  There wasn’t much to encourage him.  He had to lift his eyes heavenward and encourage himself in the Lord.  Just like David when he came home to Ziglag and found the place on fire and all the people gone.  The men who had fought with him were so discouraged, they started to turn against David.  “David encouraged himself in the Lord.” (1 Samuel 30 verse 6)  That is what we need to do today.  This portion of scripture finds its roots after Israel had rebelled against God, who allowed Nebuchadnezzar to come down and carry them captive into Babylon.  He made them a promise though – after 75 years had passed, he would bring them back to Jerusalem. (Jeremiah 25 verse 12).  In 2 Chronicles we read that God raised us Cyrus to challenge the people in Babylon to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple – “All the kingdoms of the earth hath the Lord God of heaven given; and he hath charged me to build him an house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah, Who is there among you of all his people?  The Lord his God be with him and let him go up.” (chapter 36 verse 23)  Cyrus looked at himself, what he had been given and gave all the glory to the Lord.  He wanted to do God’s will and, in his pausing, realised what God expected of him.  What a heritage we have today.  God sent his son into the world, he watched him being despised and rejected and nailed on cross to save this world.  If God has spoken to me, how can I turn my back on him?  That was what Cyrus felt – he was charged to build a house in Jerusalem.  He is challenging us to do great things for him today.  There were those in Babylon who did return but not all came home.  Some had set up homes, had families and businesses in Babylon, were very comfortable and they didn’t want to leave.  They were happy to leave it to others to rebuild the house of God.  They were cold and careless.  After 20 years of returning to Jerusalem though no work was going on.  In Nehemiah’s day the people got together and started the work of rebuilding.  There were however local people who didn’t want to help, who didn’t want to get involved, didn’t want to knuckle down to the work.  There are people today who would still prefer to be in the COVID days.  They would rather sit back and watch what is happening.  That leaves us with a problem.  We see our churches half full, and it is easy to criticise – but don’t despise the day of small things.  The challenge of small things.

 

The courage of small things.  Cyrus had stood up above his people and princes, testifying to what God had told him.  He gave the challenge to the Israelites. What courage it took for him.  If you are going to take a stand for the Lord today, you are going to face the enemy.  If you are going to testify in the workplace you are going to face the enemy.  In the days of Ezra, they started to build and the enemy didn’t like it.  They set every obstacle in their way.  Whatever you do for the Lord you will find the devil will prevent you, hinder you in some say.  The devil will tell you do not offend people.  When Nehemiah came back with the people and started to build the walls they met with a problem.  They had to get rid of the old stone to build firm foundations.  Tobiah his enemy questioned what they were doing.  Ezra 4 verse 4 “Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah and troubled them in building.”  The local people did not want them building and they set out to stop them.  Ezra 4 verse 2 “Then they came to Zerubbabel and to the chief of the fathers and said unto them, Let us build with you; for we seek your God, as ye do and we do sacrifice unto him.”  The local people even sent letters back to the king to try and stop them from continuing.  We have to be careful in this day of small things.  Nehemiah was clear in his day – they had no right to help them.  He told them that the God of heaven would prosper them, and they didn’t need their help.  We need to watch our standards today.  Yes it would be good to see people coming into God’s house but as John warns us “do not believe every spirit but test the spirits to see if they be of God.” (1 John 4 verse 1)  Think of the COVID days when the bigger churches had to close the doors.  Our little fellowship here took the decision to broadcast daily devotions.  Then we set up the church in the car park and relayed our message to everyone who came in.  When we were able to come back into the church, we opened our doors again maintaining all the correct procedures.  We need to be careful – this is the day of small things.  There were those who preferred to stay in the car park, they were comfortable listening in that way and at that time.  It is the day of small things now and we cannot despise it.  It is the same God.  Think of the courage of David when he went out to face Goliath.  Goliath looked down on David.  He was not dressed in any military armour or equipment.  He was the best Israel could offer.  “Am I a dog that thou comest to me with staves?” Goliath said to David.  David responded “Thou comest to me with a sword and with a spear and with a shield but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel whom thou hast defied.” (1 Samuel 17 verse 45)  David was in God’s company.  God was in the majority.  He stepped out in the Lord’s name, and he could do anything as a result.

 

The confidence.  It doesn’t matter about small things as long as we are confident in the Lord.  Notice the confidence that Cyrus had.  Verse 6 “not by might nor by power but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.”  Nehemiah encouraged the people to continue in the work God had planned.  The people committed themselves to the work and completed the rebuilding of the city gates.  Remember Moses when he was sent into Pharoah’s house – he was a simple shepherd, but God used him to bring the people out of Egypt.

 

The comfort God gives.  God would complete the work.  “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you.  For who hath despised the day of small things? For they shall rejoice and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole earth.”

The message of the resurrection

 

LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

SERMON NOTES FROM SUNDAY 17 APRIL 2022

ACTS 17 VERSES 22 – 34

 

The apostle Paul comes to the city of Athens.  He has been in Thessalonica preaching the word but had to leave there because a riot started.  He came to Berea and another riot broke out.  Paul had to leave Berea quickly so came to Athens.  This was a city of learning.  The people spent time listening and hearing some new thing – verse 21.  When the apostle Paul came he came with a message.  It was new to them.  It is the message of the resurrection.

 

Here was a message that had to be developed.  Paul saw the spiritual condition of the people in Athens – verse 16.  This man of God standing in Athens was not looking at the architecture of Athens but the spiritual condition of Athens.  The people were given over to idolatrous worship – verse 22 “I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious.”  He realised that although they worshipped false gods they were really religious.  Paul from that point takes the message and develops it – verse 23 “him declare I unto you.”  The apostle Paul knows religion is not enough, that it cannot save.  Religion cannot pave our way into heaven and home.  It can only take us to this side of the grave then it must leave us.  The only one that can take us across the grave and through to eternity is Jesus.  “For there is no other name given among men whereby we must be saved.”  As he looks around Athens he sees the various altars with names.  There is one altar though that is named “to the unknown god”.  Just in case there is one we don’t know anything about there is one to the unknown god.   It is to him that Paul declared.  The eunuch sitting in his chariot was coming from Jerusalem when Philip drew alongside him.  He was reading through the prophet Isaiah about the suffering servant in chapter 53.  He was reading about the Lord, how he took our place.  He was standing in our place as a condemned sinner, bearing my sin and yours on Calvary.  That man in the chariot couldn’t understand.  Philip asked him “do you understand what you are reading?”  The eunuch replied “how can I understand unless someone explains it to me?”  Philip developed that passage and preached Jesus unto him.  Paul looks at this altar and says “let me tell you about Jesus.”  He develops this message back to creation.  This is the God you worship.  He is the one who created everything around us – verse 25.  He doesn’t need our help to worship, we give it to him.  Verses 26 and 28 he gives life.  Verses 30 and 31 the one who will judge one day.  He is coming again and will sit in judgment.  Verse 32 gets to the crux of the matter – the resurrection.  God in heaven who loves us, created everything, stands alone, saw our plight, made sinners through Adam’s sin in Genesis 3.  He took his only begotten son, loved him and sent him to this earth that he might die for us.  He is the one who died on the cross for you, you who were born in sin and shapen in iniquity.  It doesn’t matter how good we think we are we have come short of what God expects.  God sent his son to die on Calvary to bring you up to the mark.  Paul was criticised for this message.  Some say he forsook the simple message of the cross because of the audience he met, they were more sophisticated.  He had no success as a result.  If he didn’t preach of a death how could he preach of the cross?  If he didn’t preach of a death how could he preach of the cross?  Paul gets to the resurrection message.  He found in the hearts of the people a longing and he develops the message.  There was a hunger in their souls to know more of this unknown God.  This is the message of the cross.  This is the message of the empty tomb.  Religion cannot help us in any way, save us in any way.  The rich young ruler came to Jesus one day and was told to give all he had away and take up his cross and follow Christ.  His possessions were not taking him to heaven.  Religion wouldn’t take him to heaven even though he followed it to the letter.  Nothing would satisfy but Christ.  In the days of Christ there was a great feast in Jerusalem when the Greeks carried waters through the streets.  Jesus said “if any man thirst let him come to me.”  The Greeks could see the rituals, the priests and the formality.  They cried out the more “let us see Jesus”.  They wanted to come to Christ not have the religious trappings.  Are you saved tonight?  Or are you depending on going to church, taking communion, giving offerings?

 

A message despised.  In verse 17 we read that Paul preached in the synagogue and the market place – verse 17.  In verse 18 they wanted to hear what he had to say.  This was the answer to their hunger.  They needed to hear about the God of heaven.  The apostle Paul turns to this crowd – verse 32 – to them it is despised though - “some mocked”   In Acts 18 Paul was thrown into the prison and beaten – why – because he had preached the gospel.  In Acts 17 Paul comes to Thessalonica.  He set the place in uproar.  We are told in God’s word that in the last days men will have a form of religion but will deny the power thereof.  It will be like a cloak thrown over them.  Many have that form of religion today.  Jesus sent his son to die on Calvary.  If I had been the only person in the world he still would have died for me.  Church will never take us to heaven.  Good works will never take us to heaven.  If you are depending on these it is time to come to Christ. This was the message to their hunger.  Many turn to all sorts of substance craving or something similar.  When they heard about the resurrection they listened to everything else – God, judgment but the resurrection they mocked and laughed, they never heard of such nonsense.  The people in Athens turned their back on God.  A despised message.

 

A message delayed – verse 32.  Others said we will hear thee again.  There was a number who no doubt were touched by it.  They wanted to hear it again.  That is what happens even today.  You have heard this message time and time again.  You have delayed it.  When it comes to the appeal to come to Christ to give your life and heart to him, somehow you cannot do it.  We will come again next week and hear it again.  What a chance you are taking.  We do not know what a day will bring forth.  Many say would love to be saved but not now - today is the day of salvation.  “Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near.”  There might be a time when you cannot respond.  In the book of Acts 24 Paul stood before Felix and when Paul preached to him Felix trembled.  Felix told him to go his way but he wanted to hear from him again.

 

A message that delighted – “certain men clave unto him and believed.”  God had affected them so much they believed and accepted Christ individually.  Everyone comes separately.  You are coming to trust the Lord as Saviour as an individual because he took your sins, he placed them on his own body on the cross of Calvary, he suffered and died.  He said it is finished.  Have you accepted that tonight?  Have you believed in that?

Truly this man was the Son of God

 

LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

SERMON NOTES FROM SUNDAY 24 APRIL 2022

MARK 15 VERSES 33 – 41

 

We see one man standing in the shadow of the cross – verse 39 “truly this man was the Son of God.”  I want us to look at the experience of this centurion.  God will take you as you stand.  Here was a man standing at the foot of the cross. He didn’t have to go away to make amends, to clean himself up.  He was standing there and was accepted where he was.  I want us to think of the privileges tonight for this man to be received by the God of heaven, to be saved by God’s sovereign grace.  Have you really considered this great privilege as a child of God tonight?

 

Look firstly at the privilege of this man’s position.  This man was a Roman centurion.  A man of authority.  He ruled over other soldiers.  An experienced army officer and because of that experience he was here to oversee things, to see what his men did.  He had to make sure that nothing happened that was untoward.  He has been given the command that these 3 men would be crucified.  They left Jerusalem and went to Calvary, to the place of the skull.  As we look at this scene, as the centurion looked on these 3 crosses he saw the Son of God, the Lamb of God, the one who came into the world to seek and to save that which is lost.  He took your sin and mine and placed it all on his own body.  There on Calvary he took our sins that we might be redeemed.  The privilege of this man’s position.  He was on duty at this place on this particular day.  A selected soldier.  Little did he realise that day when he went out to fulfil his duties that this was the day, he would come face to face with the Son of God.  It was some position to be in.  God has brought us to this place for one purpose.  The one who died in our room, for our sins.  The privilege of our position.  Have we taken it for granted?  In Acts 16 the Philippian jailer had a privileged position.  Paul and Silas were brought into his custody.  He placed them in a cell and put their feet in stocks.  His duty was to guard them well.  He never thought for one moment that he would come face to face with his sin and how Jesus came to save him.  What a privilege he was in.  Do you realise the privilege of position you are in tonight?  To be born in a home where parents spend time in prayer for you.  Many don’t have that privilege.  Of attending a good bible believing gospel preaching church, to hear that week after week, to have had teaching from the scriptures by Sunday School teachers.  In Acts 18 we read of a man called Apollos.  He came to Corinth one day and in that congregation, there was a godly couple Priscilla and Aquila.  This couple realised something was missing in his preaching.  Verse 26 “he began to speak boldly in the synagogue whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly.”  They sat him down and took time through the scriptures to show him his great need.  The eunuch coming up from Jerusalem.  His head was full of religion.  He had the word of God before him and in particular Isaiah 53.  Philip came alongside him, and he invited him up into his chariot.  Philip showed him from those same scriptures Christ.  Remember Moses when he came to that great decision – “he chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God that to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.”  He was educated in all the intellect of Egypt, brought up in the palace, the son of Pharoah’s daughter.  Where did he hear about sin?  Not from Pharoah’s daughter or the teachers in the palace or school.  Where did he hear about sin?  On his mother’s knee.  What a privilege to be taught in the things of God.  Just like Timothy.  Paul reminded him of the godly upbringing he had from his mother and grandmother - “which are able to make you wise unto salvation in Christ.”  What a privilege we have had in this province of ours.  Mission after mission, open air preaching.  Have you taken the opportunity of that privilege?  Are you saved by God’s grace?  Have you stood where this man was standing, gazing on the one who was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities, God’s own sinless Lamb of God?

 

The privilege of his place.  His position brought him to the place of the cross.    It was all because of his position and rank.  He was brought to the shadow of the cross.  Maybe it has made you turn away?  The position he held in life gave him this great privilege.  Hearing those words from Christ.  7 times he spoke while hanging there.  I am sure he turned his head each time he heard Jesus speak.  His position in life gave him a privileged position that day.  Every statement went into his heart like an arrow.  Every arrow came with that deep conviction as he listened to Jesus until that final statement “it is finished”.  Then he said, “surely this man was the Son of God.”  Isn’t it wonderful to hear the word of God?  To bring us to Calvary, to contemplate what Christ has done for us?  Sometimes we let it go past us.  He was God’s own precious son, yet God loved you and I that he would send his son into a sin cursed world, to take every sin on his own body.  To die a redeeming, atoning death for every person because he loved us so much.  We have let that privilege go past us.  Remember Nicodemus who went to Jesus by night.  He had been selected by the Sanhedrin, the ruling body of the Pharisees.  He followed Jesus, listened to every message, watched the miracles he performed.  That position brought him to the feet of the Lord.  Remember what he said, “Rabbi we know thou art a teacher come from God.”  Something special in the way he preached – “for no man can do these miracles.”  He was examining all these miracles and realised something very special.  Jesus looked at this man standing before him and said, “except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”  Remember the leper living in a colony.  He had the opportunity to meet the Lord.  He runs to him, falls down at his feet.  A leper brought to the place of redemption, to the feet of the Lord.  What a position.  That it brings us to the very place.  The centurion stood at a place where he gazed up and looked into the face of Christ.  Have we ever taken a moment of saving grace to ponder what Jesus has done for us?  The Old Testament tells us that Jesus would be taken and rejected, would be beaten and scourged.  They plaited his brow with a crown of thorns.  A robe was put around his shoulder.  He was mocked and beaten.  He had to carry his own cross to the top of a hill called Calvary.  They nailed his hands and feet then lifted him up.  We cannot take it lightly.  We preach a salvation that is free, but it cost the Lord so much.  His visage was marred so much.  Maybe the centurion was present when Jesus had been beaten in the Judgment Hall.  Can we see our handiwork tonight?  Dying for your sin and mine.  The thief recognised he was dying for his own errors.  He knew he was different, something special, different about his death.  His sins were transferred.

 

A privilege of his profession.  This centurion was transfixed to the very spot.  Let’s just stop at that place, to look and gaze upon him.  This centurion looked upon Christ, halted where he was.  He looked on the Lord.  Reflected on the day.  Even Pilate said, “I find no fault in him.”  He saw Judas carrying the money back to the chief priests, throwing it down and asking to be free from it.  Maybe he heard Pilate’s wife who warned her husband not to have anything to do with Christ.  Jesus on the cross saw the Roman centurion.  Perhaps he was the one who nailed his hands and feet.  Perhaps he heard the words “Father forgive them.”  He asked for forgiveness from those who had scourged him and beaten him in the Judgment Hall.  Now he hears those last words “it is finished” and he yielded up the ghost.  His profession makes him say “surely this man was the Son of God.”  The gospel rings out loud and clear.  The call of the gospel goes out tonight.  God is looking for you, searching for you.  He can do no more.  He has sent his son to die for you.  Accept him as Saviour. He suffered and died and bled for your soul.

What is a true conversion?

 

LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

SERMON NOTES FROM SUNDAY 1 MAY 2022 pm

1 THESSALONIANS CHAPTER 1

 

These young believers were going through a doubtful frame of mind.  Paul writes to them to give assurance.  They were not sure whether they were saved or not.  Paul takes time to write this letter to bring to their remembrance certain things.  Doesn’t that happen too as children of God? The devil gets us to doubt our salvation.  It is good to return to the word of God, to give us assurance.  What is a true conversion today?  Satan takes control at times to discourage us as believers, to make us doubt why we are going through certain things.  For those who are not saved he can bring confusion about salvation, to keep us locked in his hand.

 

A revelation of the gospel – verse 5.  The salvation of man begins in the heart of God not in the heart of man.  “There is none righteous, no not one.  There is none that seeketh after God.” (Romans 3 verses 10 and 11) John 3 verse 16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.”  God shows his great love for us that while we were yet sinners, he died for us.  That he would send his son to die for us – that is his love for us.  This is the love that drew salvations plan, the grace that brought it down to man, the mighty gulf that God did span, at Calvary.  Jonah in the depths of the belly of the fish cried out “salvation is of the Lord”. (Jonah 2 verse 9)  It is God who reaches to man in his sin.  A man in his sin cannot reach out to God for he is blinded by the devil of this world.  It is only a revelation of the gospel that brings salvation to man.  The Psalmist described it as being in a pit and his feet being on the miry clay.  He couldn’t get solid ground to stand on.  He was sinking all the time.  He cried out to the Lord and the Lord heard his cry.  The Lord lifted him out of the miry clay and set him on a solid rock.  The Lord does that for you tonight.  The rock tonight is Christ Jesus. He puts a new song in your mouth.  Are you coming face to face with the gospel of saving grace tonight?  In Acts 17 when Paul went to Thessalonica, he found those who were interested, concerned about their soul. They asked questions and he was willing to sit down and answer from God’s word.  He showed that Jesus must suffer and die on Calvary and be raised the third day.  For 3 Sabbaths he reasoned out of the scriptures building his case on the word of God.  He would go back to Genesis where God created Adam and Eve, how God gave them every tree in the garden to eat except one, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  From that day they ate from that tree they would surely die.  He would tell how the serpent came and told Eve she wouldn’t die but would become like God.  She ate of the tree and gave it to her husband, and both were exiled from the Garden that day.  God came and made coverings for their sin and nakedness.  Paul would take them right through to Isaiah 53 and show them the suffering servant, the one who would fulfil every sacrifice for mankind.  When Jesus offered that one sacrifice he sat down at his father’s side.  I can see Paul taking the people through these scriptures.  It was said of Timothy how that from a child he had known the holy scriptures which were able to make him wise unto salvation.  Paul said, “Christ sent me not to baptize but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.” (1 Corinthians 1 verse 17)  The image of the cross hasn’t changed 2000 years later.  Suzanna Wesley, mother of Charles and John was the wife of a Church of England minister who was set in her ways but not saved.  She heard her son John preach on the blood of Jesus Christ which cleanseth for all sin.  She realised that she wasn’t saved, was still in her sin and was going out into a lost Christless eternity.  As she listened to her son she came to Christ and trusted him for her Saviour.  It is through the preaching of the gospel that we realise we have sinned and come short of God’s glory, that we realise that Christ came into the world to be the sacrifice for our sin.  If we never hear the gospel we can never be saved.

 

They were to receive the truth. When they heard the gospel, they were brought to the place of decision.  Those who trusted in Christ realised something they had to do with this.  In Acts 17 verse 4 we read “some of them believed”.  Paul realised there were those in the congregation who never trusted the Lord.  There were others who were totally changed.  We can be like the tares Jesus spoke of, happily growing together in the field. They go to church, read their bibles, do great things but there is no difference on the outward.  When God looks on these people, he looks on the inward man.  He knows whether people are saved or not.  Jesus was the sinless, perfect lamb of God who died on the cross to save a lost world.  He rose again from the dead and is seated with his Father in heaven today.  We can know all those things yet do nothing about it.  That is what it was like in the synagogue in Thessalonica – “but the Jews that believed not”.  In the synagogue there were those who believed and beside them there were those who did not believe.  In John chapter 18 verse 8 Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane with his disciples when the crowd came to arrest him.  He told them “You seek me, let these go their way.”  He was referring to his disciples.  They took Jesus that day and crucified him.  I can go free as a result today because of Jesus’ death. 

 

A rejection of the past – verse 9.  It was plain to see in the lives of these people.  They had rejected the past and come to faith in Christ.  They had worshipped idols previously but now when they got saved, they set these to the one side.  They now embraced the Lord as Saviour.  That is a sure sign of your salvation - that you have turned from the past and come to the cross of Calvary.  The old things have passed away and all things are become new.  Remember the people in Ephesus – there were those who had come to a saving knowledge of Christ. Before they were involved in witchcraft and black magic.  In Acts 19 the people brought the books they had used in their witchcraft into the city centre and burned them.  They were getting rid of the past.

 

There is a radical change in their lives – verse 8.  Others had seen their faith in Christ.  What a change when Jesus comes in.  Here were a people who were showing the signs of true conversion. You have to hear the gospel, receive the word of God, turn away from the past and then there will be a change in your life.  Do others see the change in us, in our place of work, in our homes?

 

Are you saved tonight?  That is the most important question you could ever be asked.  Are you sure of your salvation?  The church will never take you to heaven nor can your pastor.  Only Christ can – will you trust him now?

Benefits and blessings to the disciples in the Upper Room on the day of resurrection

LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

SERMON NOTES FROM SUNDAY 1 MAY 2022

JOHN 20 VERSES 19 – 31

Think today of the benefits and blessings to these disciples who were there in that Upper Room on the first day of the week, the day of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

 

The community that is assembled.  This is the community of God’s people – verse 19.  It had been a difficult few days for the disciples.  What must it have been like in the Garden of Gethsemane to see that mob coming with their lanterns?  To see Judas at the front stepping in front of Jesus and giving him a kiss, to see the guards arrest Jesus, Peter taking out a sword and cutting of the servant’s ear then Jesus healing that servant again.  To see Jesus being taken into the Judgement Hall to be beaten, mocked, spat on then to be led out to the cross of Golgotha to bleed and die there.  Then to be placed in that borrowed tomb.  Despite all that had happened they came together in the Upper Room hours later.  Remember Lydia, a businesswoman who came on the Sabbath Day to a meeting by the riverside for prayer.  She wanted to be among God’s people.  There is a difference between being religious and being saved.  Having a profession and having a possession.  It is so important to remember to come together with God’s people.  Hebrews 10 verse 25 tells us to not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, to give priority to be in the house of God on a Sunday.  This was a feature of Paul’s ministry – on the first day of each week he would go to the synagogue.  In 1 Corinthians 16 verse 1 Paul gave specific instructions about the collection for the saints.  “Now concerning the collection for the saints … upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store as God hath prospered him …”  Paul wanted them to come together on the first day of the week and share their offerings.  Sadly today Sunday is more a day of entertainment or a time to spend with family.  Sunday should be a special day.  Remember the 2 on the road to Emmaus coming from Jerusalem.  Their hearts were so heavy that day because of what had happened.  They had heard that Jesus’ body was not in the grave, how the women who had gone to anoint the body had ran and told the disciples who went and saw the empty tomb for themselves.  Jesus drew alongside those 2 disciples on that road “and beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.”  On that journey their eyes were opened to all this great truth.  When Jesus left them, they “returned to Jerusalem and found the eleven gathered together … and they told what things were done in the way and how he was known of them in breaking of bread.”

 

The conversation of the community.  These disciples gathered together to share their accounts of Jesus.  The conversation was all about the Lord.  Mary had gone to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ body only to find there was no body.  As she waited she had an encounter with the Lord himself.  We come together today to share our faith.  That Jesus is no longer on the cross or in the tomb but is seated at his Father’s right hand in heaven.  That Jesus will one day come again and receive us unto himself.  Our main focus must be on Jesus today.  In Hebrews 10 verse 25 we are urged to “exhort” one another which really means to encourage each otherin our faith.  Our thoughts must be on Christ at all times.  It is an uplifting experience. The hymns and praise we offer must be all of Christ.  Sadly today that is not the case in many meetings.  In some places it is all about the music and singing.  The pulpit is no longer the central part of the church, a stage has now taken over and the musicians play for 45 minutes with a short message at the end.  Think of the angels on that first Christmas visitation.  They came down to the very hillside, to where the shepherds were.  That must have been a tremendous scene.  All the heavens lit up the place where the shepherds were.  They didn’t ask about where they came from but rather it was all about the message they brought.  Those shepherds didn’t think about the angels but rather decided to go and find out if the message was true that they had brought.  Christ was the centre of that message.  When Jesus was first brought into the temple by his parents, Simeon’s eyes were fastened on the baby in Mary’s arms for he was the Saviour of the world.  He asked to be able to depart in peace for his eyes had seen Jesus.  John the Baptist cried “Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.”  He pointed everyone to Christ.  Your thoughts and minds should not be on this church today or on the music or on the preacher but rather on the Saviour.  When Paul went into the synagogue one day the leader told him that if he had a word to say then he should speak. 

 

The clarity that was witnessed.  Something very special happened that night in the Upper Room.  The Lord came amongst them.  “Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord.”  They had gathered with doubts and fears but now Jesus came and brings clarity.  He stands before them.  He shows them his hands and feet.  Sometimes we don’t feel like going to the prayer meeting or church or perhaps we don’t want to read our bibles but it is at that time we need to be in the meetings, in the word of God, need to be praying.  Especially when you are in that dark valley.  The disciples were confused and had doubts but they were together and Jesus came right into their midst.

 

The challenge they went out with.  Will we leave the meeting today tired and weary or will we leave challenged?  Thomas wasn’t with the disciples when this meeting occurred.  He left it until the next meeting after the disciples went to find him.  Think of little Samuel in the temple.  He was given a message by the Lord himself.  With a heavy heart he had to tell Eli the next day all that God had revealed to him.  Are we focusing our thoughts today on the resurrected Saviour?  Will we tell someone else today about the Saviour as a result of meeting with him?