Waiting, watching and witnessing for God

 

LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

SERMON NOTES FROM SUNDAY 25 SEPTEMBER 2022

HABAKKUK 2 VERSES 1 – 14

Habakkuk is an example of a man of vision.  He could see what was happening around him but he could also see further than that.  He could see what God could do for the people in the business of prayer, in communion with God.  Is that not what we want today – that we might be in communion with God?  Habakkuk gets himself off to a place where he can meet with God.  In chapter 1 he sees all the difficulties around him but now he is in a place where he is alone with God.  There are no interruptions, no disturbances.  He wants to concentrate his mind on what God would say to him.  That is the place of prayer.  I am sure you like myself find this a difficult place.  Just to be alone with God, to commune with God.  There is always someone looking for you at that exact moment or your mind gets flooded with the things to be done tomorrow or the things you haven’t done in the past week.  Habakkuk sees what is happening around him, the rebellion of the nation, people turning their backs on God. In his complaint to the Lord in chapter 1 the Lord answered him.  The remedy seems far worse that the problem was.  In chapter 2 verse 1 he says “I will stand upon my watch and set myself upon the tower and will watch to see what he will say unto me and what I shall answer when I am reproved.”  He is not looking for a board meeting or a committee meeting or a meeting with the elders.  No he decides to wait on God.  He sees the nation of Babylon for what they are.  In verse 17 we read that as a fisherman gathers his net so Babylon will gather all the people and they will be taken captive into Babylon.  Their nets will never be full.  Habakkuk then sees this great nation worshipping their own ability.  God is their own intellect, their hands are their gods.  Habakkuk sees all this and decides to stand upon the watch.  No man has the answer to this problem. In our province we can see things happening all round us, falling numbers in churches, people who have turned their backs on God.  Habakkuk finishes his prayer in verse 17.  He acknowledges that God is going to bring this cruel nation down to Jerusalem and will allow them to carry the people away.  He will rebuke a nation that is more righteous than they are.  Our ways are not God’s ways. God has ways of answering prayer that we might question at times. A cruel nation would come in and take the people captive.  Habakkuk in the midst of it all decides he will stand upon his watch.  He is waiting on God, to hear what God has to say to him.  Maybe we want to rush God.  We have been praying and pleading but there is no answer.  Habakkuk was going to persevere with God.  He was determined to stand.  Do we ever do that?  It takes time and patience.  This man is steadfast in what he is going to do.  “I will stand” – doesn’t say “we” but only “I”.  It doesn’t matter who would follow him, he was prepared to stand and wait.  To see what God has to say to him.  That can be a lonely place.  Maybe no-one else knows your burden at this moment in time but remember God knows.  Babylon was an idolatrous nation, a cruel nation, a nation that thought nothing of man or God.  Habakkuk was determined that God would answer him.  He leaves the time of prayer in expectancy.  He was expecting God to do something new in his heart.  God would answer.  He was sure that the answer would come.  He was not content unless the answer came.  Sometimes we are not content unless the answer suits us but that is not always God’s way.  We need to be prepared to pray but also to leave expecting something to happen.  How do I leave the prayer time?  Do I just say “amen” and then forget about it?  That is not the example we have here.  Habakkuk wanted to wait on God.  Do we leave the prayer time in expectancy?  Are we prepared to wait on God today?  Do we forget sometimes what we have prayed for?  Are we not really expecting anything from God?  “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not faint.” (Isaiah 40 verse 31)  In times of hardship we can renew our strength.  That means getting up in the morning and waiting on God for him to renew our strength for each and every day.  The eagle goes to the clouds, it soars above everything else.  When we renew that strength we can soar above our anxieties.  Hebrews 12 verse 1 tells us to “run the race that is set before us.”  Who can stand in our way?  Colossians 2 verse 6 “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk ye in him.  ”Be of good courage and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord.” (Psalm 31 verse 24)  How do we leave the place of prayer?  When Abraham received the promises of God he was told to take a heifer, a goat and a ram and divide them into pieces (Genesis 15).  As he waited on God the birds came down to devour the pieces but Abraham had to defend them.  He was to be on his guard at all times.  Perhaps God is asking you today to defend his promise.  Satan chips away at that promise but you have to guard it before God.  Habakkuk was showing patience and perseverance.  He went to the tower and waited upon God.  Have you a special place where you can be alone with God?  Philip Keller was a great author and he wrote a book called “Lessons from the sheepdog”.  One lesson he learnt was that of obedience.  The dog he worked with was quite old and he would obey all the commands except that one of obedience.  When the shepherd gathered all the sheep together he would tell the dog to wait.  The dog would hunker down but before long he would start to creep towards the sheep.  Soon all the sheep were scattered.  The dog couldn’t wait for the next command.  We need to learn to wait, not idly but working with God for his plan and purposes to be worked out.

 

Habakkuk was also going to watch.  His eyes were set to watch for God from that tower.  Like Abraham who received the promise of a family, you and I need to be standing guard over what God says to us.  We pray for unsaved children in our Sunday School but we need to do something in the meantime.  We need to invite – that is our part.  Then God brings them in.  This man climbed up into the tower to wait and watch for God.  Remember when Jesus and his disciples went to the Garden of Gethsemane?  He left his disciples and went further to pray to his Father.  When he returned to the disciples he found them asleep.  He asked them “could you not watch with me for one hour?”  Just one hour devoted to the Lord.  Colossians 3 verse 1 “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.”  Habakkuk could see at ground level all that was going on around him but now he goes higher – he wants to see what God would say.  I am sure you have heard the story of 2 prisoners in a cell with just one window.  One looked out and saw the dirt and filth of the street beside the cell window whilst the other looked up and could see the clouds, the sun and the moon.  Sometimes we see only the things that keep us down but we need to set our eyes on the things above.  We could leave our church today thinking only of the empty pews or we could leave thinking we have a great God, I must learn to wait, watch and listen for him.  Yes we can pray for revival and the children in our Sunday School, for the preacher in the pulpit but do we actually believe God is able to do it?  The watchtower was a place of refuge and vision.  He could see what was happening all around him, such was the clarity of the vision he had.  Is our vision clouded today? Remember when Mary and Martha sent for Jesus because Lazarus was ill.  When Jesus delayed his coming they told him “if you have been here he would not have died.”  But they actually received something more, a bigger surprise.  They saw Lazarus resurrected from the dead.  Maybe God is going to do something more for us, far above what we could ever expect.  Habakkuk couldn’t see what God would say but he knew he would answer him.  Sometimes God answers right away but other times he tells us to wait.  Still other times he says no!

 

Habakkuk wants to witness for God.  “and what I shall answer when I am reproved.”  When God speaks to me what will I answer?  I must stand ready to be a witness for God.  God is working not through the big things but rather the little things.  We need to see the bigger picture.

 

Dr Lloyd Jones said “we preach not to fill our churches with men and women but we preach to see sinners saved from hell and the two are not the same.”

How long shall I Cry?

 

LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

SERMON NOTES FROM SUNDAY 18 SEPTEMBER 2022 am

HABAKKUK 1 VERSES 12 – 17

Habakkuk is a man of whom we don’t know much.  The burden which Habakkuk had.  The prophet was a full time prophet. He was looked up to.  For each of us we need to be full time Christians.  Men or woman of God.  We do know Habakkuk prophesied in the years up to the great carrying away of Judah into captivity in Babylon for 70 years.  Jeremiah was also the prophet at this time.  He was known as the weeping prophet and Habakkuk as the questioning prophet.  Habakkuk’s name means to cling or embrace.  In the attitude of prayer he had a burden in his heart.  He came to God with a problem and laid it before the Lord.  He could see what was happening around him.  He was not questioning God’s authority but questioning why these things were happening.  This man was no quitter.  He embraced the situation.  He went into the presence of God and clung to God.  Chapter 2 verse 1.  These were days of coldness and carelessness.  A falling away.  He didn’t say ‘I have preached and witnessed my heart out.”  No he wasn’t saying that.  He wasn’t saying “I am washing my hands off the whole situation”.  He embraced the times and clung unto God.  Sometimes we get to that stage. We pray and preach and nothing happens.  Time after time we ask ‘what’s the point?’  You cannot quit.  We could be just on the verge of a mighty revival, maybe just one person could be won for Christ from a message they have heard.  Suddenly something comes with a freshness.  There and then they accept Christ for themselves as their own and personal Saviour and Lord.  We could just be on the verge of such an occasion.  Wouldn’t it be an awful thing to stop praying now.  God could work at any time.

There is a revelation of God to consider.  Verse 14.  In verse 2 Habakkuk asks “how long shall I cry and thou wilt not hear?”  He was saying ‘I am crying but the heavens and your ears are closed.’  In Psalm 34 verse 15 we read “The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his ears are open unto their cry.”  In Moses’ day the Lord said “I have seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters for I know their sorrows.” (Exodus 3 verse 7)  In Habakkuk 1 verses 5 and 6 God is giving a revelation for Habakkuk to consider.  God would raise this Babylonish army up.  A reminder that God can raise people up and bring them down again.  God is able to chastise his own people.  God allowed Nebuchadnezzar to come down into Judah and conquer them.  He would carry them into captivity.  “I will work a work in your days which ye will not believe.”  In verse 8 we read it will be a swift invasion and in verse 9 we read they will be hungry for war.  God was taking his prophet into the heart of the battle.  Before we can see the hand of God at work, God works in the heart of King Nebuchadnezzar.  Think of Daniel when the decree was made against anyone praying to another god.  They had a spite against this Jewish man.  They worked against him until a decree was made.  Anyone found bowing to any other god was to be thrown into the lions den.  Daniel immediately went to his own room, opened the windows and started to pray.  Daniel was arrested because of his defiance.  He was brought before the king and then thrown into the lions den.  Maybe Daniel had been praying for this decree itself.  It didn’t stop him being arrested, being taken before the king, being cast into the lions den and it didn’t stop the lions mouths being shut.  God delivered in the heat of the battle.  Maybe that is where we are today – in the heart of the battle.  We cannot go on.  We are exhausted.  We have done as much as we can.  God is able to move.  Remember Joseph at 17 years of age.  God would save the nation through hunger and famine.  Joseph had to go through treachery, being thrown into a prison cell, forgotten for years before God elevated him to a position where he could be used to bring honour and glory before God.  Maybe Habakkuk had asked for revival.  He realised that is what the people needed.  He acknowledged the people had grown cold and careless but he pleaded for revival to come in the land.

A reflection that Habakkuk bears.  He takes time now to reflect before God in his presence.  God had revealed he would use Babylon to sweep into the land and carry the people away captive – verse 12.  Habakkuk took this revelation of God and reflected on it.  When you pause to think, to consider what God has done in the past … Habakkuk was doing that – verses 12 and 13.  Consider what God has done in the past and then apply it to your present situation.  We can apply God’s word because it is a living word.  What has been done in the past can be helpful in our future.  Sometimes we battle in the place of a prayer for a difficult situation and we think there will never be a difference.  Habakkuk is looking around him and what does he see?  Verses 3 and 4 – oppression.  A foreign government bringing upon God’s people disorder, idolatry and greed among the people.  Habakkuk takes time to reflect on the problem he sees.  He knows that if he brings it before the Lord in prayer the outcome will be good but before then it will be a difficult time.  Verse 13 “thou art of purer eyes that to behold evil and canst not look on iniquity.”  Joseph took time to reflect on what was happening in his life.  His wife Mary was found to be with child.  Joseph’s first thought was to put her away but “while he thought on these things” God told him not to divorce her.  He revealed to him what was going on in his life.  “fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife for that which she has conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1 verses 20 and 21)  When Isaiah came into the temple he saw the Lord high and lifted up.  It was a new vision for him.  The story of Elijah and Elisha – Elisha wanted to go with Elijah to the very end.  The sons of the prophet asked Elisha “do you not know that the Lord will take Elijah away from you.”  Elisha said “yes I know, hold your peace.”  He was reflecting on the bigger picture.  He knew God would take Elijah away but God was bringing a man to change the situation.  Habakkuk got his mind focused on the Lord.  Maybe God is going to do something in your life, something you would never have thought possible.

There is the reaction of the prophet.  Habakkuk is going to turn afflictions into reactions.  In verse 15 they are going to be thrown into nets to drag them in from far and wide.  In verse 16 we read they will worship that net and burn incense.  What is God saying here?  They will worship skills and abilities.  Habakkuk was clinging to God.  Remember when Abraham was interceding and praying for Sodom.  In his mind there was only one family he was concerned about – his nephew Lot’s family.  We need to be able to pray for people and communities.  Habakkuk knew he needed to keep his eyes fixed on the Lord.  Chapter 2 verse 1 “I will stand upon my watch and set me upon the tower and will watch to see what he will say unto me and what I shall answer when I am reproved.”  Are we quitters or stickers today?  Are we waiting on God to really move?

A life worth living

 

LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

SERMON NOTES FROM SUNDAY 18 SEPTEMBER 2022

1 TIMOTHY 4 VERSE 1 – 11

Verse 9 “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation”.  What is? Verse 8 “For bodily exercise profiteth little; but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.”  A life worth living.  A life of godliness.  The priorities of life – what are they?  Jesus said “what shall it profit a man, if he should gain the whole world and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8 verse 36)  When he would come to the end of his days and go out into a Christless hell for all eternity.  Those are the same priorities some have.  A life worth living, a life of godliness would end in heaven and home above.  Moses as he led the children of Israel said “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live.” (Deuteronomy 30 verse 19)  2 parallels, blessing and cursing.  He was encouraging the people to choose life.  Paul is telling Timothy to follow in the way of godliness.  Fitness of body due to bodily exercise does benefit a little but godliness is more profitable not only in this world but in that which is to come.

A rejection that has to be made.  Verse 7 “But refuse profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness.”  Paul has in his mind “the latter days” (verse 1).  There has to be a rejection of the teaching in this old world today.  Superstitious and religious jargon.  They will come to your ears and you must reject them.  Press on for this life of godliness.  To the little church of Galatia Paul said “Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?” (Galatians 5 verse 7) Paul had preached in Galatia and many believed and trusted in Christ.  Not long after others came in with false teaching and the believers started to listen to it.  Something hindered their walk with Christ.  “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel.  Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ.” (Galatians 1 verses 6 and 7)  We can get caught up in the lesser things of this world and forget the need of the soul.  One day we will however go out into a godless eternity.  Remember the rich young ruler who came to Jesus one day.  He had everything but he missed out on the one thing.  He knew he was not right with God.  He would be lost for all eternity.  He came to the feet of the Lord, begged him for eternal life.  He gripped the wealth and riches and walked away.  He couldn’t let go, he was putting the lesser things of this world first.  Paul in 1 Corinthians 1 spoke to the believers of the mission he had, the commission given by God – 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)  Paul said “in the last days there will be an outward religiosity but no inward change of life."  Is that not what we are seeing today?  The wise man of the Old Testament said “there is a way which seemeth right unto a man but the end thereof are the ways of death.” (Proverbs 14 verse 12)  These preachers were coming in offering another way which seemed right.  They were turning their backs on the teaching of Christ and Calvary.  They had a cloak of godliness that could be covering all sorts of things on the inside.  Jesus taught of the narrow way and the broad way.  There has to be a change in our lives. Remember Moses.  When everything was going for him he came to the place in his life where he had to make a great decision.  A choice to be made.  Who would he serve?  He could see a race being put down.  He was in Pharoah’s palace, he would have to reject that name as being the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.  Turn his back on money he had, the prominence he had.  He came to a decision.  There has to come a place of rejection, turning our back on the world and all it offers.

A receiving of this life.  Verse 10 “For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.”  As we reject a life in the past we can turn to religion or to our church, become a better church member, sit at the communion table, do so much for our church, better attender at every meeting but that is only trying to do something better.  “we trusted” by taking the Lord and what he has done when he died on the cross, God has completed a work of salvation in our soul.  He is the gateway into a life of godliness.  The apostle Paul is not teaching a universal salvation, that all men will be saved.  He finishes it by saying “specially of those that believe”.  There is a general grace of God in this world and a general mercy afforded to the work by God.  It is only when we receive the Lord as our Saviour and Lord that he becomes our personal Saviour.  Paul was a religious zealot.  He left one day to go to Damascus.  He was a religious and devoted young man but he knew nothing of God’s salvation in his heart.  On that road to Damascus what a change came into his life.  He turned his back on a world of religion and ritual to a finished faith in the work of Calvary.  It is profitable now in this life because of the peace it brings to us.  It is a wonderful thing to have the assurance of sins forgiven.  Remember the woman caught in the act of adultery.  The people brought her to Jesus who said “let him that is without sin cast the first stone.”  When he looked up again he asked the woman “where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee?”  She replied “no man Lord”.  And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee; go and sin no more.” (John 8 verses 10 and 11)  That is what salvation is profitable for – the deliverance of sinful habits.

A great reward that awaits us.  The demonic boy possessed of demons – what deliverance came to his life when Jesus spoke the word.  Paul points forward to a life of godliness.  It is for the here and now.  The joy and gladness it brings.  Philip came down to Samaria and preached Christ.  The people accepted Christ and were delivered from their many afflictions – unclean spirits, demon possession, palsies, lameness.  Then we read “and there was great joy in that city.”  This life we live now is not the end.  When we close our lives in death we will go out into God’s eternity – one of 2 places – heaven and hell.  We must chose what to do.  Think of Paul in that prison house.  After a life of service in preaching he was now in prison.  He hasn’t given up, there were many upsets in his life but he was now looking out into eternity.  He was waiting for his executioners to come into his cell.  What did he say “I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.  I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.” (2 Timothy 4 verses 6 and 7)  Are we enjoying that life now but looking forward to a life yet to come?

Habakkuk's cry

 

LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

SERMON NOTES FROM SUNDAY 11 SEPTEMBER 2022

HABAKKUK 1 VERSES 1 – 4

 

The book of Habakkuk is like all scripture – timeless, the message is still important and timely.  A message for all generations, for all ages.  It is so relevant even for this day.  As we read these verses we see the innermost thoughts of this young prophet.  A man who shares so much with us today.  He is coming to terms with the situation around him.  We see him coming to prayer, pouring out his heart – verse 2 “O Lord”.  It reminds us of Hannah in the temple.  Her lips did not move but her innermost thoughts were being expressed.  It was not a matter of getting the right phrases together but pouring out her heart.  Habakkuk was doing that for his nation.  He lived in a time of change.  4 kings reigned one after the other.  His name means to cling or embrace.  We see a man who embraces the situation around him and does not walk away from it.  He is a man who clings onto God in prayer, to seek a change for that situation.  He is clinging onto God and waiting for an answer.  If ever there was a day when we need to be a Habakkuk it is today.  The world is changing so drastically and quickly.  We need to be able to embrace the situation we are facing.  We are constantly hearing of the decline of the church and people falling away.  The bible tells us to expect that in the last days, that there will be a form of godliness, that people will deny the existence of God.  We need to be those who cling unto God and know he is in control.  The 1859 Revival swept across our land.  They were just ordinary people who got together to pray specifically for the children of the area.  God started to move very slowly and then a revival swept through the entire land.  These people embraced the situation, they prayed for a change.  They clung to God for that to happen.  The situation Habakkuk saw around him.

Notice a crisis in politics.  Jeremiah and Habakkuk lived around the same time when the nation of Judah went into captivity and Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babylon was in charge.  Both men cried out for change.  Jeremiah was known as the weeping prophet because he cried over Jerusalem.  His heart was broken.  Habakkuk steps in and we might see him as the questioning prophet. This man was not afraid to come before God and question God.  Not about his authority, who he was or his character. He was asking questions about the things he didn’t understand.  In verse 2 he was praying – why – because of the burden he had in verse 1.  This man gets before God and asks “how long will we remain in this situation before you move?”  Verse 3 “why do you show me all this and you are not prepared to move and save?”  Jeremiah was a man whose heart was broken for the nation.  Habakkuk was coming to do business with God – “we don’t understand this, why should it be?”  James in his letter in chapter 1 wrote “if any man of you lack wisdom let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not and it shall be given him.”  The challenge for us is coming before the God of heaven in faith knowing who he is, what he has done in the past and is prepared to do now in the present and then be assured he will do the same in the future.  Do we not harbour the same attitude when we come to God in prayer?  We are burdened for those not saved and we ask why.  Are we afraid to ask God why today?  Maybe God will ask something of us when we come to pray and that is what we are afraid of asking.  Remember the Children of Israel under Joshua’s leadership.  They obeyed God and the city of Jericho fell before them.  They became complacent and over confident when it came to the city of Ai but they were defeated there.  Joshua and the elders got down on their faces and cried out “why did this happen Lord? How will we go against our enemies in the next battle?”  The Lord told them to get up, he questioned why they were lying there for Israel had sinned.  One man out of that whole nation disobeyed God and brought the nation down in defeat.  That is how serious sin is and how we must treat it in these days.  It cannot be set aside today.  We need to seek God and ask for his forgiveness.  God’s words to Joshua was simple “Up, sanctify the people and say, Sanctify yourselves against tomorrow … There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee O Israel.”  Achan saw the Babylonish garment, the gold and silver, took them and hid them in his own tent.  He thought no-one was watching him but God saw him.  Failure came for the entire nation as a result.  For Habakkuk things were changing.  The good king Josiah had passed away, now his sons were on the throne, one after another but they were not good.  Josiah wanted to seek and serve the Lord and as a result blessings fell on the nation.  When he died there was a great decline in his sons day.  They turned from God.  They knew not God neither did they listen to him.  Do we not see the politics of our day in crisis?  The 4 kings who followed Josiah turned their backs on God.  Here in Habakkuk’s day we see the Assyrian and Egyptian nations coming to an end and Babylon was a rising power.  Jeremiah 1 verse 14 “Then the Lord said unto me, Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land.”   Habakkuk could see it happening all around him and the heavens were as brass.  He asks the Lord “how long shall we cry, why did you show me all this iniquity and are not prepared to save?”  When our prayers are not answered sometimes we are like that too.  God is still listening, he knows our hearts, he is still in control.  We find this solemn figure in chapter 2 verse 1 waiting for God “I will stand upon my watch and set me upon the tower and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.”  No-one stood with him but he was holding onto God.  A reminder that we should not give up.

The crushing of a people.  Normally the duty of a prophet was to declare God’s word to the people.  Here was a man whose role was reversed.  He was taking the burden of the people and bringing it before the God of heaven.  In 1 Kings 17 Elijah came bursting on the scene.  He stood before Ahab in the palace and told him God was going to close the heavens.  When he left the palace he was on the run.  He had brought God’s word before the king.  Habakkuk took the needs of the people before God. If ever there was a day when our family needs us, when our community needs us, it is today.  “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God should shine unto them.” (2 Corinthians 1 verse 4)  We need God to break in and shine his light on them, showing them the need of God in their lives.  Today we have a great high priest seated at the Father’s right hand who sees everything.  He knows every thought and every word.  The Psalmist could say “such knowledge is too wonderful for me.” (Psalm 139 verse 6) Jesus said to Peter that he had prayed for him because Satan wanted to have him “Simon, behold Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not; and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.” (Luke 22 verses 31 and 32)  Samuel said “God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you; but I will teach you the good and the right way.” (1 Samuel 12 verse 23)  The people had demanded a king to reign over them.  Habakkuk sees the needs of people crushed.  We see the same situation today.  People do not really know what way to turn in our present day.  We are told that in the end times many will turn from God, that there will be a one world government, one monetary system and that the Antichrist will appear.  For the child of God faith is found in the finished work of Calvary.  We see so many things happening today.  People are being crushed with so many things happening around them.  Habakkuk saw the spoiling and violence – verse 3 - he speaks of wrong judgment.  The people in Habakkuk’s day were striving to do what was right.  Habakkuk said “the wicked are able to twist things to make things look alright.”  Habakkuk could only take it to the God of heaven.  Romans 13 verse 3 “For rulers are not a terror to good works but to the evil.  Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good and thou shalt have praise of the same.”  “Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.” (Proverbs 14 verse 34)

The prayer of complaint.  Maybe that is where you are today.  Psalm 40 verse 1 “I waited patiently for the Lord and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.”  We need to be those who wait.  God said to Moses “I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters for I know their sorrows.  And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians.” (Exodus 3 verse 7)  We need the Habakkuk’s of our day, not giving in.  Don’t let the devil come down and disturb us.  God is on the throne today.  He rules in eternity today.  The heart of the king is in the hand of God.  God is in control.

The importance of a child for the Kingdom of God

 

LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

SERMON NOTES FROM SUNDAY 4 SEPTEMBER 2022 am

MATTHEW 18 VERSES 1 – 11

I want us to consider this portion we have read together.  As the nights draw in we are reminded again of the change of the seasons from summer to autumn.  That brings changes in the work of God here in our church.  During the summer we were thinking of the outreach in the car park and the mission, being able to go out around the doors with invites and tracts to show people of their great need of salvation.  The greatest work in the church is always the children’s work, to see it prosper, to see children hear the word of God.  Sometimes we read a portion of scripture and it goes over our head.  Jesus is teaching with his disciples around him.  He reaches over and takes up a child in his arms, he then sets the child in the midst of his disciples.  I’m sure this was a lesson they wouldn’t forget in a hurry.  Children are so important to us.  We want to reach them with the word of God.  Every child is a sinner and is separated from God.  That is the reality today.

First of all the priority that is set forth.  This incident is not by sheer accident or coincidence.  He wanted his disciples to realise the lesson he was getting across. They were disputing who was the greatest in the kingdom of God.  He does not look to the learned person, the great academic or the older man or woman as an example.  He lifts a child and wants to teach them the priority of a life won for Christ.  Sometimes we can set the elder or pastor on a pedestal and we are underneath them.  The problem occurs when they fall and we have no-one to look up to.  Jesus rebukes the disciples.  When they visited the villages the people came out with their children.  The disciples moved in and tried to move them away.  They were saying that Jesus has no time for them.  Jesus rebuked them and said “suffer the little children to come unto me for of such is the kingdom of God.”  One of the most vital works in all the church is the programme of reaching the children for Christ.  We do well to do all in our power to reach young children for Christ.  In Deuteronomy 6 we read that the Children of Israel were being instructed as they enter into the land of promise.  They were taught they must treasure up all that God has done for them.  It is good to reflect on all that God has done for us.  That is what God was saying to the Children of Israel.  You are going into the land of promise, here is what I want you to take with you – take your children and teach them diligently all the laws, commandments I have set forth.  I want you to sit down with them and teach them.  Teach the next generation.  That word must be kept alive.  Moses places it first and foremost right into the home.  You cannot leave it to the pastor or Sunday School teachers.  They must hear it first in the home, words whereby they might be saved.  An awful indictment on Moses when we read in Judges 2 “all that generation were gathered unto their fathers.”  Joshua and the elders were gone now, the witness was gone.  Here is what happened “and there arose another generation after them which knew not the Lord nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.”  Moses had asked them to keep alive what God had done for them.  Look at the land of blessing.  Teach your children and your children’s children, tell them what God has done for you, tell them about the blessings of God, don’t let it slip from your mind.  Wouldn’t it be awful to just enjoy all the benefits and blessings God has done for us, to pay for my sins, take them on his own body, died on Calvary to pay the price of sin – wouldn’t it be awful to sit back and not tell the next generation what Christ has done for them?  That is the reality – if we don’t see our children won for Christ, when they close their eyes in death they would be lost and lost for all eternity.  We must make it a priority today.  Moses made it clear to them what God had done for them.  If God hasn’t take away my sins how can I tell others?

Notice there is the position of the child.  In the second verse Jesus calls a little child unto him and set him in the midst of them.  This little child came and did as Jesus instructed.  There was no opposition to the call of God.  We need to tell children while they are still young.  Moses on his mothers knee was taught the things of God.  Joseph was taught in the things of God.  His life was turned upside down but with God’s help he was able to negotiate the trials of life.  Children are susceptible at this age.  They are not hardened with anything of the world.  All we want to do is plant the seed of God’s word in their hearts.  He sets the child in their midst.  David Livingstone reflected back on his life and thanked God for those who instructed him in the great truths of the word of God, namely his father and mother.  Wouldn’t it be an awful indictment if someone could not thank God for his father and mother’s influence?  Timothy had a mother and grandmother who taught him the things of God.  They were faithful in their instruction.  God could have his hand on one child today for some great task and he gives us the responsibility of teaching that child.  We need to be careful that we don’t frown on the little children.  God has brought them in and he has asked us to proclaim the truths of God.  In Jeremiah we read “before I formed thee in the belly I knew you and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.”  (Jeremiah 1 verse 5)  God gives him protection.  “Be not afraid of their faces for I am with thee to deliver thee saith the Lord.”  God had a purpose for Jeremiah.  Only eternity will reveal the testimony of our work with children.  Daniel was taken and placed in Babylon because God had great things planned for him.  Maybe the Lord will take a child from our midst and plant him somewhere because God has a great job for him to do.  When Daniel was brought to Babylon the best of the meat from the king was set on the table before him.  They recognised something special in these children.  As Daniel sat at the table he realised that if he was to take of that food he would defile himself before God because the meat had already been offered to idols.  What we are instilling into the hearts and lives of boys and girls, yes it will give them something for later years they will not forget.  When the rough and difficult times come they will be able to make up their minds for God.  In the house of Naaman God used a maid to bring healing to that great soldier.

The purpose – to teach the disciples who was the greatest in the kingdom of heaven – “except ye become as a little child.”  Until you become humble in heart you cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven.  You cannot be saved unless you take the Lord as a little child.  You need to accept what Christ has done on Calvary in simple childlike faith.  It is important we recognise the potential and importance of the child for God.  God has a specific purpose for them.  Imagine the lesson we learn from the maid in Naaman’s house and Daniel in the king’s palace.  Daniel grew up in the wisdom of God.  Joseph at 17 years of age was sold as a slave down to Egypt.  God was placing him in a position to save a nation in the days to come.  Joseph remembered his God.  We have the privilege of teaching children and they will remember that.  It is our prayer that when they come to Sunday School and hear the word of God they will turn to Christ and will be saved for all eternity.

Disappointments in life

 

LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

SERMON NOTES FROM SUNDAY 28 AUGUST 2022

ACTS 18 VERSES 1 TO 11

 

The experience Paul had at Corinth.  He meets with opposition in verse 6.  We see something of his attitude.  First he was in Athens then he came to Corinth. Disappointing was the word that came to my mind when I read this chapter.  Disappointments comes in many different ways.  We have known that word this past summer for many holiday makers who have had flights cancelled.  People have had to make other arrangements and choices.  In recent days we have see many young people receive examination results and there have been disappointments.  How do we handle disappointments?

The concerns - God knew about the disappointments Paul was facing.  He came to Paul after hearing what Paul said in his own heart – verses 9 and 10.  Basically he was told to stick at it.  Paul didn’t give up.  Paul stays there for a year and a half.  He was handling his disappointment – how – because God knew all about his disappointment.  He had left Athens and travelled to Corinth.  Corinth was a rich, prosperous city, a sea faring city, a busy port.  It was a very immoral place.  There was a temple to Aphrodite the goddess of love.  Paul came with the gospel of saving grace.  We should never be ashamed to take the gospel with us and present it to those who are so hard, callous, those who don’t want to hear it.  Paul said “I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is power of God unto salvation.”  This gospel will change lives.  To be called a Corinthian was to be known as a drunkard and immoral man.  In Athens he met a very academic situation.  They accused him of being a babbler, a setter forth of strange ideas. Paul knew these people were intellectual philosophers, he could see the evidence of their idolatry.  Paul saw an altar one day to the unknown god.  He told the people they were too superstitious.  They needed to put their trust in the Lord as their own and personal Saviour.  The bible tells us we all have sinned, we have come short of what God requires, heaven will never be our home.  God has sent his son into the world.  “For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life.”  Is that your gift today?  Do you realise that you are saved by God’s grace.  Paul had to leave Athens because the people laughed at him, scoffed, mocked him when he began to preach of the resurrection.  He left a people sitting on the fence saying “we will hear you again of this message.”  They knew they were not saved, they didn’t want the message applied to their lives.  There were others who believed and were gloriously saved.  On the whole he put it down as a place where he didn’t get a great success.  Now he is in Corinth and the people turned against him and rejected his word.  Imagine what is going through Paul’s mind as he shakes his coat before them and says “your blood be on you, I am off to the Gentiles.”  God comes to him and tells him to stick at it.  Verse 9 God knows all about Paul’s disappointments.  The Lord knew all about his concerns and came to him.  Solomon put his head on the bed, he was stepping into the shoes of his father and becoming king of Israel.  He was weary.  All those thoughts were going through his head.  The Lord comes to him “what shall I do for you Solomon?”  He asked for a heart of wisdom to guide the people.  The Lord will come to you if we allow him to do that.  Maybe you are disappointed.  The Lord knows all about it.  The Lord says to us “don’t give up, stick at it.”

The comfort that Paul receives.  Whenever you lay your head on the pillow at night that is when your mind is most busy and active.  Can you imagine the comfort Paul got to hear the word of God.  Just at that point.  His mind was made up.  He was turning everything over in his mind.  Sleep doesn’t come.  He was listening and waiting.  It didn’t come with thunder but rather a still small voice “be not afraid”.  Remember Jacob running from his father’s house out in the wilderness.  He made a stone for his pillow.  He realises that God was with him there that night.  He said the next day “God is in this place and I knew it not.”  Are we caught up with things going on around us that we cannot hear God?

The challenge that God sets forth.  Paul is defeated.  In the stillness of the night God came to Paul and said “be not afraid.”  He came with encouraging words but also a challenging word.  The people had refused to listen to what Paul said.  He goes into the synagogue verse 4 every Sabbath and preached faithfully the word of God.  Verse 6 Paul said that is enough.  In the time of quietness God comes with great challenge.  “Do not be afraid, hold not thy peace.”  He was considering his failings rather than having his eyes on God.  They are on his failures.  God has to come and change that.  God came with challenge.  Paul gets his eyes of the failures and disappointments and get them on the eyes of God.  What the devil will do.  Take failures and make them gigantic.  When we get our eyes on the promises of God then we will get the victory.  Jezebel had put the prophets to death.  Elijah defeated the false prophets on Mount Carmel.  Jezebel sends word that she is determined to kill Elijah.  Fear gripped his heart and he ran away.  He got his eyes off God.  Maybe there will be disappointments for you – get your eyes on the promises of God.

The company that God promises.  God gives him a challenge – verse 10.  “For I am with thee”  Whenever the child of God hears those words we know God is with us.  Paul is in danger of making a wrong decision.  God comes exactly when we need him.  Sometimes it is a verse through which God speaks.  God is concerned about his child.  He was with him in the darkness of the night.  Are you God’s child today?  He is with you.  Maybe at that precise moment he felt so disappointed but God came with the assurance that he was him.  “I have set the Lord always before me.”

The care God gives – verse 10 “I have much people in this city.”  God didn’t say “I will make sure you have no opposition.”  God says instead the opposition will come but none will hurt you.  In Acts 4 we read of a prayer meeting when the disciples came together.  Peter and John were arrested, threatened and told not to preach unto the people.  They came to their own people and told them what had happened.  They got down to prayer.  They didn’t pray for the threat to be lifted but simply prayed for strength to preach the word.

The confidence God shares.  He had many people in that city.  He wanted to use Paul to see them saved.  Our God does not change today.  Lets not put God down because of the small numbers.  God is God and there is no change with him.