Mary Sat and Listened to Jesus

Sermon July 21, 2013   Mary Sat and Listened

Old Testament Amos 8:1-12

The time is surely coming says the Lord God, when I will send a famine on the land; not a famine of bread, or a thirst for water, but of hearing the WORDS of the Lord.  They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, seeking the Word of the Lord, but they shall not find it.

This of course was given to Israel but has an application to us today.

I hear it constantly that people are not hearing the Word of God in their churches. There are nice stories and such but people across this nation are starving for good old fashioned preaching of the Word of God.

The Word of God Saves, Heals, and Sets Free.

The Bible says if we will humble ourselves and pray God will forgive us.

Psalm 51

A prayer that we could pray daily comes from this text in Psalm 51 :10-12

¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
¹¹ Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.
¹² Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.
I see repentance in this prayer. Something of which we should do daily.

Epistle- Colossians 1:15-28

v.25-26  I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of His body, that, the Church. I became its servant according to God’s commission that was given to me for you, to make the Word of God fully known.

Paul asserts that the love shared within the Christian community includes bearing affliction for the sake of the gospel. Paul uses himself as an example of this suffering.  While the Christ hymn indicates that God has reconciled to himself all things through the blood of Jesus Christ, Paul identifies  the activity of the church as completing this mission in Christ for the entire world.  This pushes the Church beyond its doors and embraces the suffering that Christians experience in proclaiming the gospel as the fruit of the faith, hope; and love of their community.  The struggle itself is not an individuated experience.  Instead, it is the completion of the very suffering of Christ through which redemption occurred.

He that listens to the Word of God or the Words of Christ will follow the commands of God.

Just as the great commission that Jesus gave to us in Matthews Gospel saying….

¹⁸ And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
¹⁹ Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
²⁰ Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Gospel Reading ( Please Stand if Able)  Luke 10: 38-42

Mary Sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying.

Turn in your bibles to Deuteronomy 30:19-20

¹⁹ 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:
²⁰ That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.

Proverbs 18: 20 and 21

 A man's belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; and with the increase of his lips shall he be filled.
²¹ Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.

God has placed authority in us by the power of our tongue.

Think for just a moment how much power God has placed in your tongue.

Authority over life and death. Same authority to speak words to command life and death.

God Gave us his Words to place in our mouth and it carries his authority coming out of our mouth.

Prov. 21: 23 Whoso keepeth his mouth, and his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles.

If you find that you are speaking on the side of sin and death then change your confessions or words coming from your mouth.

Romans 8: 2

² For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death
 Unless one accepts Christ the bible says in Romans 6:23 ²³ For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord

The law that was set in motion when Adam and Eve fell was sin and death. To supercede that law one must accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

How does that happen?  With the confession of their mouth.

Romans 10:9-10

⁹ That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
¹⁰ For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Certain laws are set in motion and  unless they are negated by a higher law they will continue until they accomplish what they are designed to do.

One law superceding another one…..

For example :  The law of Gravity.  We understand how it works. And that law can be superceded by the Law of Lift.

In an airplane there is the law of lift

In operation thrust (power)  overcoming drag creates lift and the thing will fly. It is superceding the law of Gravity….the law of gravity is still there.

Shut the power of the engine off….law is still there but you have to put the nose down and keep the speed going so now no thrust. Gliding but still flying.

Where sin does abound Grace does much more abound. We live in a world of sin.

The law of sin and death is in motion but the Law of Grace supercedes that law when applied.

Life & death blessing & cursing. When you  Choose life  you have to choose words.

The scriptures tell us that The authority of life and death are in the power of the tongue.

You have to choose Christ Jesus Words….because that law is based on Words.

Proverbs 4:24 Put away from thee a forward mouth and perverse lips put far from thee.

Forward mouth is a disobedient mouth. A mouth yielded to sin and death words.

 

Proverbs 12: 17-18

¹⁷ He that speaketh truth sheweth forth righteousness: but a false witness deceit.
¹⁸ There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword: but the tongue of the wise is health.

Words are containers- spiritual containers : faith comes by hearing….

Gods words are filled with his faith.

Words can carry fear, love, hate.

One Can say a phrase that affects a persons life for the rest of their life.

Put the word in your mind ,heart and mouth.

Folks we are living in a time that the bible has spoken of since we have had the word of God.

Today we are living in perilous times according to 2 Timothy 3:7 where it says: ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Jesus said He is the Truth.

And then in 2 Timothy 4: 3-4 says:  For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away  their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

We have so many bible translations today people are confused and it is as scriptures say -----they have made the Word of God of none effect.

This is serious….because most preachers coming out of Seminary Do Not Believe that the Bible is the Infallible Word of God.

The Word of God is Life. If they do not believe the Bible their preaching is not producing Life.

God is not the author of Confusion.

Mary was listening intently at the feet of Jesus because she knew that he was speaking words of Life.

We can learn from this lesson today that we must once again sit at the feet of Jesus and listen to what He is saying. After all HE IS THE WORD.