Freedom. ( Luke 4 v 16-19 )

I have a home mini google,I asked for some information which it gave me,  and just for a joke I said,''Thank you'',and the answer I got back ,was,'' I'm honoured to serve''.Don't worry I know it's was  just a machine talking,I wonder how you feel as regards serving people?. Do you feel it is an honour?, One may think it is an honour to serve a king ,or a Queen,or someone important, but here's the thing ,in God's eyes everyone is important,sad it is that so many people serve the devil,well if you do I can assure you he will not  honour you,but instead he will destroy you,make no mistake about it,he is a hard taskmaster ,and those who are in his employment ,sad to say and there are so many doing his bidding. In 1 John 5 v 19,we read,'That the whole world is under the control of the evil one'.There was a moment in Americas history  a wonderful thing happened.it was during the civil war,and one of  reasons for that war,was slavery,'President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, It read,'That all persons held as slaves' ........''are, and henceforward shall be free.'' What a wonderful thing for those dear people who had been in bondage ,often serving wicked and abusive owners .They had no rights,no say in anything ,  children could be taken of them,so many wrong things,but now they were free.Then let me take you to that moment in history when Jesus died on a cross,that we can be free,from  Satan,and sins power,yes it is true.

                                                        Here that cry from the cross

                                                                    'FREEDOM'

Mercy. ( Luke 18 10 - 14 )

 C.H. Spurgeon wrote the following ,'When Dr .Carey was suffering  from a dangerous illness,the inquiry was made,'' If this sickness should prove fatal, what passage wold you select as the text for your funeral sermon?'' He replied,'' Oh, I feel that such a poor sinful creature is unworthy to have anything said about him; but if a funeral sermon must be preached let it be  from the words,' Have mercy  on me ,O  God , according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.'' In the same spirit of  humility he directed in his will that the following inscription and nothing more should be cut on his gravestone;

                                           'Willian Carey Born August 17th, 1761

                                                                     DIED

                                           '' A wretch, poor, and helpless worm

                                                       On Thy kind arms I fall

God requires. (Micah 6 v 8 )

What do we need ever day in our Christian walk? we need the grace of  God,to live out what it means to be  Christlike. The first sermon I ever preached in England was Micah 6 v 8,it reads,'He has shown you O man, what is good,and what the Lord require of you;But to do justly,To love mercy,and to walk humbly with your God'.We can understand this if we take it in its context,that these qualities were lacking in the nation,oh yes they were religious like the Pharisees in New Testament. Religiosity , they had in plenty,but they lacked the moral qualities that God demanded of His people,the powerful and rich were oppressing the poor and the vulnerable The first thing mentioned relates to being just  in their business dealings (6 v 10-12 ),David Prior writes,'Business is a matter of justice,'. Then Micah stresses, 'To love mercy',Lenin and Stalin's reign could be summed up in one word,'Merciless',but God who is merciful ,challenges His people to not only show mercy but to love mercy.Our Saviour said ,'Blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy'( Matthew 5 v 7 ). The next thing that follows ,is humility, summed up in the following words,'To walk humbly with your God'.  we are all prone to moments of pride,may God enable us by His grace to follow in the footsteps  of  Him who humbled Himself , left the eternal glories,  became a servant ,and became obedient unto death on a cross, yes by His grace we can.

5 Castles. (John 21 v'15 - 21)

 A man called Anton was being baptised, before  he did,he told of his history, and the events that  led  him to Christ. He was successful ,had a very good job,and he went on to describe the things in his life,he called them, his five castles.They were ,his career,finance,a wonderful pension,health,and last of all his family, but over a period of years,each of those castles collapsed but one ,the last one..It began to make him think,so he studied self help books, a couple of books he read,were written by Christian's,so he ended up buying a Bible,and read it continually,now as I said that one castle still stood ,his family,of course he loved his family.Then he read what Jesus said in Luke 14 v26,' If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children,brothers and sisters,yes ,even their own life,such a person cannot be my disciple'.This threw him ,as I said he loved his family,so he sought to understand what Jesus meant,he discovered that it meant,to love Jesus more,Michael Wilcock puts like this,''Love for parents..... is to be far surpassed by love of Him that it will seem in comparison like hatred'.He realised that he should love Him his creator more than anyone else,and so he rose to that last challenge and that last castle came tumbling down.

                                                   'Jesus says to us all,' Do

                                                    you love me more than

                                                    these?' (John 21 v15 )

                                                    

                                                   

Do what you can. ( Matthew 10 v42 )

 Often we are driven people,busy ,busy ,busy, and then we get frustrated, because we are held back,by different things,and we may even feel guilty,that we are not doing enough. It is F W, Faber who wrote the following,

                                                    'When obstacles and trials seem

                                                      Like prison walls to be,

                                                      I do the little I can do,

                                                      And leave the rest to Thee'

I like what our dear Saviour said about a lady who was  criticised for which she didn't do,''Leave her alone........She did what she could.''  (Mark 14 v 3 -9). It was John Milton who experienced blindness  felt discouraged,that his talents were wasted,from that experience he was inspired to write ,''They also serve, who only stand and wait''.

There is hope. ( Genesis 6 v 5 )

 It is amazing and sad the depths of our fallen human and how it manifests itself,one could give so many examples,no sooner had man fallen into sin ,that we  read of a murder taken place.( Genesis 4 v 8) I don't want to depress you about what followed that event,one has said since that day,'the world has become a slaughter house.'Well enough said, that wonderful man of God Jeremiah,was inspired to write the following words ,'The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it ?' (Jer 17 v9)Not only do we not understand our fallen nature, in our blindness we speak of mankind's inherent goodness,whereas the word of God stresses that our nature is sinful and manifests that reality in different degrees.You may say many people do good things,have nice personalities yes I agree, but they are still sinners.At a horizontal level people may manifest a good clean nice life ,but we must look up  to a holy God,who searches our hearts and knows every aspect of our lives,and declares that all have sinned and come short of His glory.( Romans 3 v23 ) We go to the doctor to deal with our physical problems, where do we to go to get help as regards our sinful nature? ,to Gods words.That word of God tells it, as it is,we may not want to hear that,and resent hearing that,that does not change anything,we have a fallen nature,that is capable of extreme evil. But all is not lost ,there is hope,for we read that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

                                                  ' My faith looks up to Thee

                                                   Thou Lamb of Calvary,

                                                   Saviour divine;

                                                   Now hear me while I pray;

                                                   Take all my guilt away;

                                                   O let me from this day

                                                   Be wholly Thine.

                                                    Words Ray Palmer.

                                         

9

He pleased God . ( Romans 15 v 3 )

 I preached a sermon recently,and afterwards a lady spoke to me,and said how she appreciated what I had said ,and I thanked her.Often when one preaches a sermon we don't get much response,A friend of mine  preached a sermon and he said he didn't get any response,I think that discouraged him, I can understand that.Later on in the day I prayed to my loving heavenly Father,and I said, 'Father did that sermon please you?',I hope so.I'm often  challenged when I read about Enoch ,( Genesis 5 v 24 /Hebrews 11 v 5 )we read that he walked with God,and that by faith he didn't die for God translated him to heaven, and he left this testimony, that he pleased God. King David did something absolutely awful,(2 Samuel 11)and so we read ,'The thing David had done displeased the Lord'.I wonder do we ever ask the question,am I pleasing God in what I am doing,in what I am saying,and what I'm thinking. Is man's well done more important than God's well done ?, The word of God challenges us to do everything, to the glory of  God, ( 1 Corinthians 10 v 31)We can only go so far in pleasing people,yes its not wrong to please people,but it is more important to please God and glorify Him in all we do.