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 deathUnless 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.