What is Christmas all about?

Limavady Independent Methodist Church

Sunday 22 November 2020

Luke 2 verses 1 - 7

In recent days we have been told that there will be another lock-down.  The church doors will have to close for a further 2 weeks.  Many are saying Christmas will not be the same.  I want to turn you to what Christmas really means.  It is not about the footfall in the streets although we do recognise the seriousness and importance of the economy.  I am not thinking of the Christmas trees, whether we put one up or don't.  It is not about the presents or the hustle and bustle.  Christmas is about the birth of the Lord Jesus, the Saviour who came into the world.  I want to turn your attention to it.  Maybe you are overwhelmed about why we need Christmas at all.  I am aware of the arguments about it being a pagan festival and the change in calendar dates.  In the midst of the doom and gloom just what is Christmas all about?  The birth of the Lord Jesus Christ.  

We need to reflect on the plan that is unveiled.  Notice what it says in verse 7 "and she brought forth her firstborn son."  Speaking of Mary and the birth of the Lord.  The great plan for this lost world.  The great plan of salvation for you and I.  God took of the very best he had, his own dear son and sent him into the world.  An introduction to that plan is given in Genesis 3 verse 15.  Adam and Eve were placed in the Garden and told they could eat of everything freely but of one tree they could not eat because they would die.  They were separated from God.  God came into the Garden and Adam and Eve hid.  Adam said "I was fearful for I was naked."  God promised Satan "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel."  That is the very first mention of the gospel of saving grace, a Saviour that would come.  It was devised in eternity past, destined and prepared in eternity past.  Peter speaks of our salvation - "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last last times for you."  A plan veiled in the Old Testament scriptures unveiled when Mary came to Bethlehem that night.  Whenever Philip found the Lord in John 1 he went and found Nathaniel and said "we have found him  of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth the son of Joseph."  Isaiah the prophet said "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel."  Micah the prophet also foretold that Jesus would  be born in Bethlehem 500 years before he was.  These prophecies were given to them.  Philip told Nathaniel "we have found him" unveiled in the New Testament.  Genesis 3 man's disobedience and fall didn't take God by surprise.  God knew the events that would happen.  He didn't plan for man to fall into sin but he knew he would disobey.  God made a plan for your salvation and mine in sending his son Jesus Christ.  A plan unveiled.

A purpose that is virtually unthinkable.  Am I going to be disappointed that I cannot get out to the shops or attend the parties?  My mind is not set on these things.  Romans chapter 8 verse 32 "He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things."  Paul writting to the Roman church spoke of God in heaven and the great love he had for each and everyone of us.  God loved you and he gave his only son that you and I might be saved.  You don't have to understand the full degree of God's salvation and the cross of God, just believe.  When I see Mary and Joseph coming to Bethlehem coming to a shut door and having to go to an outhouse and bringing forth her firstborn son, it is virtually unthinkable.  Have we pondered the message of the cross?  We need to recognise once more the Christmas message.

A passion that is unequalled.  When I read the words of John 3 verse 16 and take them word for word - "for God so loved the world".  God looking down into this sin cursed world saw you and I.  We were helpless and hopeless, going out into a lost Christless hell for all eternity.  He loved us.  From that great heart of love he sent his only son.  That night in Bethlehem the great plan of God was being unveiled to a fallen world as Mary and Joseph made their way through the streets.  Will you take God's unequalled love for each of us?  Is Christmas ruined?  Not at all.  Because behind it all is God's great plan for you and me. We were thinking a few weeks ago of those who fought in the wars.  They went away and never came back, to give us our freedom which we have today.  Think of God sending his son.  It wasn't a chance that he came into this world and died on the old rugged cross.  His purpose was to seek and to save that which was lost.  He was born to die.  In the Garden of Gethsemanw he lifted up his voice and said "not my will but thy will be done."  A love in his heart for man that is unequalled.  "Greater love hath no man than a man lay down his life."  Think of Barrabas who was set free while Jesus was crucified - what thoughts did he not have after that day?  This man loved me and gave himself for me.  Can you say this morning as you look on the hill of Golgotha that he is there where you should be?  The soul that sinneth shall die.  Jesus never sinned and could never sin.  He took on himself your sin and my sin.  See the great passion he had for me.  "I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live; yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me." (Galatians 2 verse 20)

A people in unbelief.  When Mary brought forth her son the world was going on.  One young woman giving birth to a child.  There was no room for them in the inn.  A people in unbelief.  He came unto his own and his own believed him not.  To them who believed he gave the power to become sons of God.  The circumstances will be different this Christmas - will that spoil Christmas for you this year?  Look further than the high street and look away to God's great plan.

A plan that was unveiled in Bethlehem

A purpose that was unthinkable

A passion that was unequal

for a people in unbelief.

Are you going to continue in your own way today or allow the Lord to come into your heart today?

The Lord is my Shepherd

Limavady Independent Methodist Church

Sunday 29 November 2020 pm

Psalm 23

This Psalm is one of the most well known portions of scripture and I am sure we have heard it preached over and over again. In the first 5 words of the opening verse we read David's statement of faith.  This Psalm sets a wonderful challenge to us - can you say "the Lord is my shepherd"?  The most precious statement ever uttered from the lips of man.

A precious statement - "The Lord is my shepherd".  David is not looking to anyone else, the Lord is the one to whom he is responding to.  This is the great creator and sustainer of all things.  There is none above him and none equates to him yet he became flesh and walked among man and died on the cross just to save you and me.   "There was no other good enough to pay the price of sin."  Whenever I sit back read that wonderful verse in 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." I think of a world that is in rebellion and rejection, man has turned fast away from God to go his own way.  He loved you and I so much that he would send his only begotten son into the world - not to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved.  If you haven't come to Christ, to the cross will you come?  Psalm 8 "what is man that thou art mindful of him and the son of man that thou shouldest visit him."  Jesus did something on that day on Calvary no-one else could ever do.  Moses was mighty in word and in deed, the meekest of all men who went in before Pharoah and led the children of Israel out of Egypt.  He was mighty and meek but he could never redeem a soul from sin.  Think of Elijah standing before King Ahab.  He had power and authority.  He went up Mount Carmel and challenged a nation, he asked God to shut up the heavens and later to open them again but he could not redeem a nation.  Think of the archangel who assisted Hezekiah when the King of Syria's forces came against Israel.  The next day 185,000 lay dead.  The archangel could never redeem a soul.  It took the Lord's own son who did no sin, who was sent down into the world to die for our sins - that is "our shepherd."

A personal statement - "the Lord is my shepherd".  The Psalmist could say this of himself.  Not everyone can make this claim.  Moses went into Pharoah and demanded he let the children of Israel go.  Pharoah said "who is this Lord that I should obey him?"  Can you say 'the Lord is my Saviour"?  Pilate was standing in the Judgment Hall with Jesus.  He asked the question "what shall I do with Jesus which is called Christ?"  It all came down to him.  What have you done with the Lord?  We are faced with the same dilemna today.  Jesus came to seek and to save that which is lost.  When I come face to face with the claims of Christ then the same question comes back "what have I done with Jesus?"  What have you done with Jesus up to this point in your life?  Have you been born again?  Agrippa as he listened to Paul and looked into his face said "almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian."  It didn't matter who was sitting there, he realised it came down to him personally.  Is it possible that you are not saved?  That you can come so close to him and again reject the God of heaven?  Almost saved is to be completely and utterly lost.

A positive statement - "the Lord is my shepherd."  The Psalmist knows in whom he has been depending on.  A positive relationship not hope or may be.  When he faced Goliath the giant he knew he could face whatever would come his way.  You and I are going to face the valley of the shadow of death when we will step out to God's eternity but we can do so without fear knowing our judgment was placed on the Lord.

How can you be so sure you are saved?  How can you be sure of eternal life?  A man came to the apostle Paul one day, the Philippian jailer with a burning question "what must I do to be saved?"  The answer was so simple "believe on the Lord and thou shalt be saved."  Believe that Jesus came into the world for sinners and he died for you.  That he rose again the third day and one day he is coming back to take us home to heaven.  The angel told Cornelius "send for Peter and he will give you words by which you will be saved."  Remember the blind man who was healed - his testimony was "once I was blind but now I can see."

A professed statement.  He couldn't keep it to himself.  As the darkness draws in are you trusting the Lord?  Believe is all that is needed, repent and turn to Christ now.

Call unto me and I will answer thee

Limavady Independent Methodist Church

Sunday 29 November 2020

Jeremiah 33 verses 1 - 3

Jeremiah is in the prison house.  These are difficult times for him.  Chaotic times.  Confusing times.  Times of mayhem.  Commentators have their own idea about his prophecy.  It is a marvel indeed of God's grace and mercy that we have this book recorded for us.  At one time the scroll on which Jeremiah wrote his book was taken to Jehoiakim the king.  He took the scroll out of the priests hands and cut it up into little pieces and flung them into the fire.  God told Jeremiah to re-write the words.  Evidence of God preserving his word down through the years.  The amazing thing is that God spoke to Jeremiah.

The circumstances into which God spoke.  He was locked up under instructions of the king because the people didn't like his message.  The people wanted to quieten him.  The people followed idols and God brought judgment on the nation.  God told them they would soon have to surrender to the Chaldean people.  The false prophet told the people that God would rescue them but God had prophesied they would be in captivity for 700 years under Babylon rule.  Today we hear people telling us God will never prevent us from getting into heaven, that you can do what you want in this present day.  God says no sin will enter into heaven.  God sent his son into the world to die for our sins and is waiting for people to accept him.  This is the message Jeremiah had to give to the people.  Nothing is said of what would happen to Jeremiah, whether he would be delivered out of the prison house or not.  Think of Daniel in the lions den.  God didn't deliver him from the den but rather delivered him whilst he was in the circumstances.  The devil will tell us that if we are living near to God we wouldn't be in this situation.  It is reassuring to know that God is with us in the middle of the circumstances.  Are you listening for God to speak to you.  We need to be listening for the word of God through people and circumstances.  Our faith depends not on circumstances.  We walk by faith not by sight.  God is there in the middle of the circumstances.  Remember Samuel as he lay his head on the pillow at night - it was then God spoke to him.  It didn`t matter about the circumstances or his age or what he was living in.  Think of Mary's circumstances.  Wherever she was the angel came to her and told her she would conceive and bear a son.  Mary looked at the angel and I am sure for a moment she thought 'how can these things be?'  God wasn't thinking of her circumstances.  He was able to deliver her out of the circumstances.  This son would be the son of God.  God was working through the circumstances.  Think of Gideon threshing corn in secret.  God came right to where he was.  Gideon could see the Midianites as grasshoppers in the valley beneath.  The angel told him God would use him to deliver Israel.  Gideon looked at the angel and said 'you don't know me and my circumstances, I am from the poorest family in Israel, I am the least of my father's house.'  God wasn't worried about the circumstances.  Jeremiah was out on the streets one day and the next day arrested and put in prison.  God wants to speak to you in the midst of your circumstances.  God knows about your circumstances.  He has a message to speak through your circumstances.  Gideon gathered up 32,000 of an army but God reduced them to a few hundred.  Then God said 'go out and I will deliver you.'

The challenge that came to him.  God didn't come in and rescue him from the prison house.  Remember Peter when he was in a similar situation and the angel came in to where he was and led him out though the locked doors of the prison.  God comes in the midst of a difficult circumstance just as he did here for Jeremiah.  The Lord told him "Call upon me" in the loneliness of the place you are in.  Are we listening for God's voice and hearing what he has to say to us today?  God has allowed these circumstances to happen.  He has a word for you in the midst of the circumstance.  Remember Elijah in the cave, God came to him and said to him "what are you doing here?"  Then Elijah heard a strong wind coming up the hill side but God wasn't in that strong wind.  Elijah sees a fire so dramatic and feels a strong earthquake shaking beneath him. God was in neither of these things but instead he was in the still small voice.  God has a message specifically for you.  He loves you and knows your circumstances.  God sent his son to save you and he knows all about you.  It is a challenge to activity.  Jeremiah was called to do the only thing he could do - pray.  If there is one challenge for us today it is to pray, to get back to the state we were in before.  Some times we can find it difficult to pray.  Paul said to the Thessalonians "pray without ceasing."  To Timothy he exhorted him to "pray for all men".  The church is being called back to pray and to seek the face of God.  It is a personal challenge to Jeremiah and no-one else.  This call is a challenge of sacrifice - having to give up something else to get alone with God.  It means giving time and energy.  We are in a battle today against the enemy.

The confidence that comes to the prophet - "I will answer thee".  If God comes with a word from himself then listen to him.  Abraham set aside his own difficulties, his age and his wife's age just to believe they would have a son.  Abraham left his home not knowing where he was going.  He had confidence in God, to get down before him and ask him to reveal himself to him.  Jeremiah was not deterred.  God could overcome the barriers.  Think of Paul's thorn in the flesh.  He prayed to God many times about it but God told him "my grace is sufficient for thee".  Is God asking you to pray?  Is he challenging you today?  We have the confidence that God is there and he will help us to do it.

The claims God gave him - "I will show thee great and mighty things that thou knowest not."  God is asking you to do something and he wants to show you what it is.  In Daniel 2 we read of the king who couldn't sleep because of a dream he had.  He gathered all his wise men and asked them to tell him his dream and the interpretation of it.  They couldn't do it so the king ordered they be put to death.  Daniel stepped up and asked for time.  Daniel went in to the presence of God and God gave him the meaning of the dream.  Daniel went back to the king and told him "there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days ... he that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass. But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living, but for their sakes that shall make known the interpretation to the king and that thou mightest know the thoughts of thy heart."  It was not for any personal glory but God's glory.  What God wants to do with us today is not for our own personal glory - it is for God's glory and honour that he wants to do it.

The lesson from the girdle

LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

SUNDAY 15 NOVEMBER 2020 am

JEREMIAH 13 VERSES 1 - 11

Whenever we turn to chapter 13 we find that God seems to be giving a strange instruction to this young preacher.  He is to get a linen girdle, to wear it at his waist for a time.  He was to wear it then remove it and take it to the Euphrates river which was 250 miles from where Jeremiah was living.  He was to dig a hole and bury the girdle.  Then the Lord comes to him again and tells him to go and retrieve the girdle.  It would be a journey of 1000 miles.  When God asks us to do something today there might be difficulty.  When God speaks to us may we be prepared to do what he asks.  The lesson to be learned here is about the relationship of God's people to God himself.  The relationship had fallen away from God to become useless and fruitless.  Verse 11 "For as the girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave unto me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, saith the LORD; that they might be unto me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise and for a glory: but they would not hear."   God wants his people to cling to him for a very specific purpose, for praise and glory unto the name of the living God.  The words "a people" in other translations interpret it "for my people"  We find that God is speaking directly to his own people.  We were thinking last week of the words "if my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." (2 Chronicles 7 verse 14)  A relationship with the eternal God that we want to look at through the girdle.  

Significance of this girdle in its identity.  The girdle signifies an official relationship to the one who wore it  We identify with our Saviour, the one who came into the world to seek and to save that whch was lost.  You give your identity to him.  You bear his name in your life and in your actions.  John 13 verse 35 "by this shall all men know you are my disciples if ye love one another."  The relationship we have with the Lord  The people are looking on a love that comes from our heart for one another.  Think of Elijah the prophet in 2 Kings chapter 1. King Ahaziah, the son of Ahab was a very wicked king.  He would hear what God had to say but did not listen to it.  He walked in the ways of his father Ahab and his grandfather Jeroboam.  He had an accident one day when he fell through the lattice in his home.  From this time he became very ill indeed.  He sent his advisers to his false god of Ekron, Baalzebub to ask the question would he live or not.  God intervened by speaking to Elijah and told him about the transaction.  He had a different interpretation on the life of Ahaziah.  The advisers began to tell the king the message Elijah had given them.  Ahaziah asked them what Elijah was like.  2 Kings 1 verse 8 "He was an hairy man and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins."  The king sat up in his bed and said "it is Elijah the Tishbite."  The leather girdle gave his identity.  This was a man of God, a prophet.  When the high priest walked about he wore a colourful girdle but when he went into the presence of God he put on a plain white girdle.  The significance of his position.  The soldier's girdle held the instruments of war.  When Jesus went to wash his disciples feet he took a towel thus identifying himself as a slave.  When you take on Christ as your Saviour you take on his identity.  He asks us to cleave unto him.  In our work we demonstrate our ownership,, those who look on us identify us with Christ. 

The girdle is significant in its importance.  The Lord told Jeremiah to wear it for a while then hide it by the river.  After some time he was told to dig it up again.  When he did so it was marred, good for nothing.  Those who would hear this parable would get the meaning right away.  The girdle was one of servantship.  The significance of it is only seen when it is in its proper place - around the loins of a man, not buried in the hole beside the river.  We are only useful to God when we are in the place God would have us to be in that we might be of use, of value in these days we are living in.  We are living in days of fear.  God wants us to be in the place that we might be able to deal with people.  We can only do that when we cleave to the Lord.  God didn't want the nation to run after false gods but to cleave unto God himself.  I think of Saul of Tarsus who was saved on the road to Damascus.  God sent Ananias to speak to him.  Acts 9 verse 15 "go thy way for he is a chosen vessel unto me to bear God's name before the Gentiles and kings and the nation of Israel."  He could only be useful when he was in the centre of God's plan.  In Galatians chapter 1 Paul is giving his testimony when he reminds them that the news of his conversion filtered back to the little churches.  Verse 22 "I was unknown by face unto the churches of Judaea which were in Christ.  But they had heard only that he which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed.  And they glorified God in me."  Paul was the vessel, being used by God to bring glory unto God through his life  Is that what our lives are today?  Serving the Lord, walking closely to the Lord?  Are we bringing great glory and praise to his name?  John 13 verse 31 "whatsoever ye shall ask in my name that will I do but that the father may be glorified in the son."  God is glorified in your asking and pleading.  In Ephesians 6 there is great emphasis placed on the girdle in the life of the soldier.  He would gird up his gown into the girdle before going into battle.  Paul referred to the girdle as the girdle of truth.

The girdle is significant in its insufficiency.  Now we see the girdle in a useless state.  The prophet wore the girdle for a time then takes it to the river Euphrates, dug a hole and hid the girdle.  After a while God says to him to go back and get the girdle out.  The girdle is no longer complete, just in a pile of ashes, threads - what had happened - the water had destroyed the girdle by continual washing and drying out.  It was not where it should have been, of no use to anyone.  You and I are useless to God if we are not in the place where he would have us to be.  It was not to be hidden in a hole but worn by Jeremiah.  The people were useful to God when they were clinging to God, not when they were wandering afar off.  John 15 "I am the vine ye are the branches."  Jesus points to the vine growing the grapes.  The grapes grew because of the union with the branches.  The branches were there because of the union to the vine.  Have we that union with the Lord himself today?  John 15 "without me ye can do nothing."  Are we relying on the Lord today?  We live in a very self sufficient time without Jesus.  We can do nothing.  What if everything was taken from us?  What would happen then?  Paul to the Corinthian believers spoke of the fruit he had.  He was careful to acknowledge he was sufficient of himself.  2 Corinthians 3 verse 5 "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God."  God said to Paul "my grace is sufficient for thee."  We can only follow the master who died on the cross.  He is sufficient as we draw closer to him.

The girdle is significant in its implication.  What is the lesson God is speaking of here?  It was about a people who were departing from him, very soon they would turn their backs completely.  This very people would be carried away into captivity, into the land of Babylon.  John 15 verse 6 "if a man abide not in me he is cast forth as a branch and is withered and men gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned."  Are we walking afar off from God today?  Are we just going through the rituals?  Has something come in that means you are not where you once were?  Come afresh to God today. 

A timely reminder

LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

SUNDAY 8 NOVEMBER 2020 pm

GALATIANS 1 VERSES 1 - 5

Reading through the book of Galatians one thought came to me - Paul was leaving with the churches a set of reminders.  He wants to bring these churches into remembrance of who they were, what they were and what they had in the Lord.  Paul is writing to correct the false teaching that had come in.  Paul had preached the unsearchable riches of Christ.  He preached God's salvation, showing men and women their need of salvation, revealing through the cross that they could have their sins forgiven, could be saved by the grace of God.  Men and women were coming and turning from sin, repenting of their sin, taking Christ in childlike faith, inviting Christ into their lives.  Then something happened.  When Paul moved away false teachers came in, took up the gospel but it was not the gospel of faith but of works  He called it a perverted gospel.  "I marvel that you are so soon removed" verse 6.  Then in verse 7 he says "which is not another."  These men were saying that although they were saved they had to keep to the Jewish religion.  Paul brought them back to a reminder verse 4 "who gave himself for our sins."  He was lifting up Jesus and remember what Jesus said "if I be lifted up I will draw all men unto me." (John 12 verse 32) 

Paul is reminding them of what they were - prisoners.  He talks about the prison house of sin.  The plight of men and the problem that men has.  The greatest problem we have is the problem of the heart.  We are told in the bible that "the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked" (Jeremiah 17 verse 9).  The bible also tells us the heart is full of sin.  Paul speaks here of the battle that is going on for the souls of men and women.  We are all born into the world as sinners.  We have rejected Christ.  We live in a world that has fallen into the clutches of Satan.  We live in a world where the fool mocks at sin, laughs at sin.  Whenever we see the seriousness of sin - Genesis 1, 2 and 3 - we find that God made a perfect creation. God made man in his own image.  He presented a woman of great beauty to help him in this life.  He took them into the Garden and said "of every tree you may eat freely but there is one tree you cannot eat.  It was the tree of knowledge of good and evil  In that day you eat of it you will die." (Genesis 2 verses 16 and 17)  Whenever Adam broke and disobeyed God's commnd something happened.  He took the very title deeds of this earth and handed them into Satan's hands.  Satan became the ruler of this world.  In Ephesians 2 verse 2 Paul was talking of past days, days before he was saved.  "Wherein time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience."  Some tonight are ensnared by sin, chained to habits that they cannot break free from.  Ensnared by the sins of religiousity and good works, good character, feel no danger.  In Revelation 12 verse 9 we see a fourfold description of Satan.  The devil is a real person.  He is strong and mighty.  He is that great dragon.  He is "that old servant called the devil and Satan which deceiveth the whole world."  The characteristics of him which deceiveth the whole world.  That is why he can keep people blinded to the gospel of grace.  His subtelty.  His scope - "he deceiveth the whole world."  Paul reminds the church here they were in the prison house of sin.  We are prisoners of Satan and we need to be delivered.

Paul speaks of the plan God has made.  "according to the will of God." verse 4  Paul makes it clear when he came to preach it was not a gospel that he invented.  Verse 11 this was "according to the will of God."  Your salvation is the great plan of God.  He sent his son into the world to die upon the cross of Calvary.  No other plan could do it.  The plan was born in the heart of God.  It was no philosophy of man.  This was the will of God.  John 3 verse 16.  He loved us and did not want anyone to perish.  The only way to save us was to take his son and send him into the world.  On the cross of Calvary he would bear our sin, die and gave himself a ransom for our sin.  Have you claimed that, have you come to the cross tonight?  We see this great plan laid out in the Garden of Eden.  When Adam had broken God's laws, man had fallen into sin, broken the laws of God.  The only way to make amends was to come into the Garden, put the animals to death to make the coverings for Adam's sins.  He didn't walk away then.  Nor did he walk away in the Garden of Gethsemane when he prayed "let this cup pass from me, nevertheless not my will but thy will be done."  People say "I am trying my best, doing my best, say my prayers, what more could God ask."  God gave his only son, his best for you.  The plan that really worked out.  God's plan doesn't change.  He knows where you are.  He shows you what he has done for you.  Onesimus worked for Philemon.  One day he ran away from his master after he stole something.  He ran to Rome and again got into trouble.  He found himself in a prison cell with Paul who pointed him to Christ.  The Lord knew all about him, his sin, what he was trying to cover up.  God knows all about you and me.

Paul reminds us of a passion beyond all understanding - verse 4 "who gave himself for our sins."  Jesus, the one who knew no sin, who could do no sin gave himself for our sins.  He was willing to take our sins on his body at Calvary.  Paul takes the church back to the cross of Calvary.  Jesus dying on the cross for mankind takes us back into Genesis when he took the animals to make coverings for Adam and Eve.  He died to cover your sins and mine.  We have to accept that there was an innocent animal in Genesis.  Pilate could say "I find no fault in him."  His wife said to him "have nothing to do with this just man."  Judas said "I have betrayed innocent blood" when he threw the coins down.  When God saw the Lord on the cross he was satisfied.  Out of his love he sent his son into the world.  Warren Wiersbe tells the story from Martin Luther.  He and his wife were reading in Genesis 22 of Abraham offering up his son.  Martin talked about how the Lord died and his wife said "I cannot believe God would have treated his son like that."  Martin Luther said "he did and we may not understand but we don't have to."

Paul talks here about a power that is mighty - "who gave himself for our sins that he might deliver us from this present evil world according to the will of God and our Father."  Only Christ could come down into the world, unlock this prison house and deliver us from our sins.  The devil is mighty but the Lord is almighty.  The death and resurrection offers power like no other to deliver us from our sins.  God sets the prisoner free.  He comes to deliver us from this prison house we are in.  Saul of Tarsus remembered a day when he was so full of religiousity and good works.  He had letters in his hand to go to Damascus and if he found anyone who believed in Christ, had the power to arrest and put them in prison.  On that road to Damascus the Lord came down and he broke the power of sin and set him free.  The testimony of Paul - once persecuted the churches but now preaches the faith.  Such was the change in his life.  You can know his salvation that works and changes your life and sets you free.  Salvation that will take you to heaven and home. 

If my people ... shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face...

Limavady Independent Methodist Church

Sunday 8 November 2020

1 Peter 2 verses 6 - 10

Text: "If my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7 verse 14

This is a mighty challenge to the politicians, the medical service, the British Army but most importantly to you and to me as God's people.  This verse comes in the context of a response to Solomon's plea.  He had built a house for God, he dedicated it with sacrifices then he lifted up his voice to God and asked "if the people turn against you, turn into sin and if they call out to you will you hear and answer them?"  The challenge comes back from God with the little word as a start - "if".  God's people are a varied people.  God has a confidence in his people.  Peter described them as a "peculiar" people.  They are a special redeemed people.  God calls them 'my people'.  That includes you if you have accepted Christ as your own and personal Saviour.  Was there a day when you realised Christ died for you sins and you were forgiven by God himself?  What a privileged people we are.  We are so diverse - young, old, rich and poor, some born into famour families, dignatories and monarchs.  When Jesus sent out the 70 he gave them power over demons and spirits.  They came back rejoicing.  The Lord said to them "rejoice not ... but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven." (Luke 10 verse 20)  Think of the city of Philippi.  Lydia, a seller of purple who set everything aside to come to the place of prayer on the Sabbath day.  On the other side we see the cold hearted jailer who beat Paul and Silas and then threw them into the darkest cell in the prison.  When the earthquake came that man changed.  He became a child of God.  He washed and bathed their wounds, brought them into his house and set food before them.  Or think of Nicodemus the ruler of the Pharisees or Joseph of Arimathea.  When the challenge came they all stepped up to the mark.  Lydia said to Paul and Silas "if you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and abide there." (Acts 16 verse 15)  The Philippian jailer did not take Paul and Silas to the authorities but rather brought them into his own home.  Nicodemus didn't care about his religious leaders at the end of Jesus' life when he used his own ointments on Jesus' body.  Joseph of Arimathea was a faithful disciples but didn't take his stand to the last day when Jesus' own disciples had deserted him.  He went in and asked Pilate for the body of Jesus and buried it in his own tomb.  The challenge came to them and they all stepped up to the mark.  Are we going to do the same today?  Will we nail our colours to the mast today?  "If my people".  King George VI called for a national day of prayer when the battle was going against the allied forces.  Dunkirk looked like ending in disaster.  The people flocked to their churches to pray on that particular occasion in response to the cry from the King.  3 mighty miracles happened as a result.  There was the miracle on the ground - Hitler stopped the advance on the ground forces that day.  There was a miracle in the air - a storm came up that prevented Hitler's airforce getting off the ground.  There was a miracle on the sea around Dunkirk.  Further out there was a storm in the waters but around Dunkirk it was like a lake.  Such a mighty miracle happened that Dunkirk became the turning point in the war.  King George faced up to the challenge and called on the name of the Lord.  Are we going to be challenged today?  Will we allow the Lord to challenge us?  Will we ask for a miracle for ourselves today?

The people of God should be a vigilant people.  In these days of pandemic we are called to wash our hands, wear a mask and keep our distance.  As children of God we are called to be 'sober and vigilant'.  Why?  "because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour."  Spiritually speaking God is asking us to be watchful today.  we have an adversary today, he wants to bring us down.  The Galatian church had false teachers who came in after Paul left.  They taught the people that they had to become a Jew to be a follower of Christ.  Paul said he was amazed that they so quickly fell away.  Paul told them what they had been listening to was a 'perverted gospel'.  They needed vigilance.  David was not vigilant when he saw Bathsheba.  He had to have her then he put her husband to death.  Demas was not vigilant when he preached with Paul as a fellow worker but when he got his eyes on the world around him he departed from the faith.  You and I need to be vigilant today as the people of God.  Ephesians 6 tells us to "put on the whole armour of God'.  

We should be a visionary people.  We should see the need of people around us.  "If you turn from your wicked ways then I will hear."  Remember the disciples and multitudes who gathered on the hillside one day.  The day began to wear away and the people had a long journey back to their own homes.  The disciples also realised the people needed food to take them back to their villages.  They felt they would faint on the way.  They worked out that even 200 pennies would not be sufficient to feed every one of the people gathered that day.  They brought the Lord into the situation.  Is there a need in your home that perhaps needs the Lord to be brought into it?  "Where there is no vision the people perish."  Wouldn't it be awful if the people around us were lost for all eternity because we didn't step up?  The Roman Centurion in scripture had a servant who lay at the point of death.  He spoke to the Lord about it.  He wanted the Lord to speak the word and he would be healed.  The Lord said he would go and see the servant but the centurion said "I am not worthy that you should come under my roof."  It is one thing to come to church but another thing to get a vision, to see men and women going out into a lost eternity for ever.  Do we ever pray about the situations we are facing every day?  That is our responsibility today.  We cannot stay in the shadows anymore.  

We should also be a vocal people.  God wants to hear your voice today.  Perhaps he is challenging you to accept Christ for salvation.  Will you trust him?  He has paid the debt of your sins, opened up the door of heaven for you.  "sanctify the Lord in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekeness and fear." (1 Peter 3 verse 15)

We can also be a victorious people.  The battle is over, the victory is ours.  Will you allow God to challenge you today?  Lydia had only opened her door and allowed the 2 men to come into her home.  The Philippian jailer could only wash the wounds of God's servant.  Mary took her alabaster box to anoint Jesus' body.  She took the opportunity given to her.  There is an opportunity to serve the Lord just for you - will you take it?  

Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them

 SERMON NOTES FROM LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

SUNDAY 25 OCTOBER 2020 am

Acts 13 verses 1 - 5

This is Reformation Sunday when Martin Luther nailed the thesis to the cathedral door.  That man changed the face of Christendom.  Thank God for the man who stepped out, took the word of God into a lost and darkened empire.  The thought of Acts 13 is the various movements of the church of Jesus.  The disciples who gathered in the Upper Room were filled with Holy Spirit, they then went out onto the streets of Jerusalem and preached the gospel.  Persecution began and the church began to spread out.  The commission of the Lord was to go out into all the world and preach the gospel.  They were not to go using their own ability or intellect, it was not of what they would do but what Christ would do through them.  The church is still the same today - that we can do something for him through the Holy Spirit.  "not by might nor by power but by my Spirit saith the Lord of hosts." (Zechariah 4 verse 6)  Luke 24 verse 49 "And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you, but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high."  Before they took the commission into the world the Lord told them to tarry in Jerusalem.  Why were they to tarry?  Until they would "be endued with power."  Then we read in Acts 1 verse 8 "But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." That was the great commission and the power to carry that commission.  "without me ye can do nothing" (John 15 verse 5)  

The acknowledgement God makes - God accepts this fellowship.  Brings it to our attention because he is going to stir up this fellowship for the furtherance of the gospel of saving grace.  How is he going to do that today?  He stirred up the heart of the early disciples to go forth with the gospel.  God hadn't to be told about this little church.  God had knowledge of this fellowship.  God sees and knows, he is not someone who sits afar off and sees nothing.  It is God who looks into the heart of man.  "Man looketh on the outward appearance but the Lord looketh on the heart." (1 Samuel 16 verse 7)  He knows every name in the fellowship, he has intimate knowledge of everyone.  God knows them - "separate unto me Saul and Barnabas for the work whereunto I have called them."  God knows our heart today.  He knows all that is going on in your life right at this moment in time.  Sometimes we like to take a back seat and God knows that.  Think of Acts 16 and the story of the Ethiopian eunuch.  Philip was told to go to a certain place.  God knew all about this eunuch, that he had been in Jerusalem and was now travelling home.  He needed help.  Philip knew nothing about him.  The God of heaven knew where he was and the position he was in.  He sends Philip down to where he was.  Cornelius in Acts 10 was sitting praying and pleading with God.  God came to him.  God sent his angel down to where he was with a message for Cornelius "send for Peter."  Cornelius didn't have to ask where Peter was.  God knew exactly where Peter was - in Joppa.  God knows everything about me.  God has such wonderful knowledge - Psalm 139 "thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off ... such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it."  God knows what we are thinking at this very moment in time.  God knew the heart of Martin Luther back in the 1500's.  He saw a man seeking after God, a relationship with God.  He could not find it in the monastery he lived in.  He prayed on his knees until they were calloused.  He fasted and whipped himself but he still could not find a relationship with God.  It was only found in God himself.  God saved that man, set him apart, sent him into the world to change it at that time.  He wrote a commentary on the book of Romans, a preface to the book of Romans based on the phrase "The just shall live by faith."  John Wesley was reached by that commentary.  Jesus stood one day in the midst of a man with a withered hand.  Jesus asked "is it right to do good or is it right to do evil on the sabbath day, is it right to heal him on the sabbath day or leave him alone."  The Lord looked on everyone that was there.  He was 'grieved at everyone of them because he saw the hardness of their hearts." (Mark 3 verses 1 - 5)  

The assessment that God makes.  As God goes into the fellowship what does God see?  He sees the disciples that are willing to exercise their gifts of ministry.  Acts 13 verse 1 thy were gathered together and serving the Lord.  God sees a people using their gifts that the Holy Spirit had given them.  Are you using the gift God has given to you?  Have you found how and what that gift is?  In this church there were prophets and teachers, they were showing the people the scriptures.  Wouldn't it be awful to stand before Christ one day and have empty hands?  Simply because we never discovered what our talents are.  Service for God should be all we have.  Think of the man with one talent.  He hid his talent - why "I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown and gathering where thou hast not strawed.  And I was afraid ..." (Matthew 25 verse 24)  Paul of Timothy 1 Timothy 4 verse 14 "neglect not the gift that is in thee."  Paul knew there was a danger of leaving his gift to one side and not using it.  Maybe you have been frightened, scared of being laughed at.  

The access God has.  God speaks here to the fellowship.  It is the Holy Spirit speaking.  The Holy Spirit actually does speak.  The third person of the Trinity.  Have we an ear to hear what he has to say to us?  In Revelation 3 Jesus spoke to the little church of Laodicea in Asia Minor.  This church was doing really well, they stood in need of nothing.  In Revelation 3 verse 20 the Lord is seeking access in to the church but the door was firmly closed.  They didn't want to listen to the Lord.  Can it be said of us that we don't want to hear what the Holy Spirit has to say to us.  We need to seek God for his work, pray that we might be better used to use the opening he gives to us.  Are we prepared to serve the Lord?  The Lord had 2 disciples in mind and he names them.  He didn't just say "separate unto me 2 disciples", he had 2 distinct characters for the task he had in mind.  He wanted Barnabas and Saul to do the work.  God knows your name, your heart, whether you are saved or not saved today.  He is speaking directly to you today.  He calls out your name today as he did Samuel of old.  Maybe God is challenging you today.

Notice the answer God receives - "then sent them away."  God had access to this fellowship, spoke to the fellowship, they took it seriously and set about doing what he wanted them to do.  Sometimes we feel if God is calling someone out into the work, we are nearly afraid to send them forth, afraid to let them go.  Let's be serious today.  Pray for one another in the fellowship.  First for yourself that God would revive your heart before he speaks to anyone else.