I simply love messages like today's! I love a good mind challenge where you have to make connections in order to understand things better. Today's message did just that! It is amazing how God's word that was written long ago has a tremendous meaning even in today's world where so much has changed.
Today Bro. Edd Deaton made connections between a very popular story of Moses and the parting of the Red Sea to Revelations. Our main message comes from Revelations 15:2 - 3, but we will be diving into Exodus 15 some as well (since that is where we find the recount of Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt).
Revelations 15:2 - 3 says:
2And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.
3And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.
You know, there will come a day when the devil will copy God and try to fool you. The only way to prepare yourself and keep yourself from falling into his trap is to read and study your Bible. We will be comparing ourselves (Christians) to the Israelites. We all know the story of Moses and how he led the Israelites out of Egypt from Pharoah's grip and led them through prayer to the Red Sea, where God parted the waters and the Israelites crossed one by one to safety and freedom. It is a story we have grown up with in church. Anyone who went to Sunday School as a child has heard this story. Amazingly it connects to us today. For those that have never heard it.....Israelites were under a strong bondage of the Pharoah. They slaved for him and his followers. They were mistreated and overworked. Now, how are you connected to the Israelites??? Israel was a slave to bondage and you are a slave and in bondage until you accept the Lord into your heart. We know that God pulled His people out of Egypt and bondage just like He pulls you out of bondage when you accept Him. You become protected.
Satan can chase you down and threaten you, just like the Pharoah chased the Israelites and tried to capture them, but He can't have you once you belong to God. God parted the troubled waters for the Israelites just like He parts the waters for you. Satan can not touch you. You are a child of God. God that provides everything you need. God that wraps His arms around you and shelters you from all storms. God that shows light at the end of a dark tunnel. God who gives answers when answers seem to be lost. It is easy to forget just how powerful our God is in this busy busy world we live in. Sometimes, even the best Christians need to be reminded to let God be God. We sometimes only see tall mountains and huge roadblocks Satan sets in our paths and we forget to look up. We act as the Israelites did. We begin to panic and fret and complain. We sometimes forget to just let God part those troubled waters. Actually, all too often, we try to part the waters ourselves and get frustrated when we can't do it. And God allows us to do so, because He knows eventually we will drag our stubborn selves to Him and ask for help and forgiveness.
Imagine this scenario: You are running for your life. You are trusting this man named Moses. The Pharoah and his army is close behind you. They are so close you can hear their yells and almost smell their anger. What do you do? You cry out for help and mercy. Now compare this to your life today....what do you do when troubles are on your tail? You cry out for help. Moses heard them and HE prayed for them. The Israelites depended on Moses to pray for help instead of praying themselves. This happens today too. When troubles come knocking on our doorstep, what do we do? We call our deacons, pastors, and church to pray. We all have God's number. It is simply P-R-A-Y-E-R. We have just as much access to God as our deacons, pastors, and church family does. Prayer builds faith. You must talk with God and trust God in order to have that Faith that He will part those troubled waters for you.
Why hasn't God destroyed the Earth yet? We are definately living in a very corrupt world. Maybe, God is parting the waters for His churches right now. God is holding back those waves so our churches can make safe passage through. Remember what happened the very second the last Israelite made it safely across? The Pharoah and his army had begun to cross but the sea engulfed them and they all drowned. God allowed the waves to wash over the evil. The Pharoah and his chariots were caught in the water. When the last church crosses through, God will allow the parted waters to engulf and rage over the earth.
Now, I know what you are thinking. "Wait a minute, I know that the earth will never again be destroyed by flood. I remember hearing that in church." But hold up.....did you read the scripture for the message? Did you read enough into it? Let's backtrack for a minute. Here it is again (and this is so good it will give you goosebumps)....
2And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.
"A sea of glass mingled with fire"....you are right...he won't destroy it again by flood but by fire. The fire will engulf this sinful earth just as the sea engulfed the evil that followed the Israelites.
Now the question is this: You may be crossing this parted sea right now. Look around you. Are you parting it alone. Have you grabbed as many people to go with you? Are you helping others across. Some people on this earth have no clue where the sea is. Are you leading them there? Are you showing them how to get there? How many will you leave behind to be engulfed by the waves of fire that will destroy this earth? It is our job to be like Moses. To pray and lead people to the water. We may get across but in the end, God will ask you who you brought with you. You will have to answer for your actions and decisions.
One final point: EVERY Israelite made it safely across. Not just a couple, not a few....ALL. There will be NO CHRISTIAN left behind.
Exodus 14:30 says: 30Thus the LORD saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore.
When the fires rage, there won't be a SINGLE UNSAVED man get across or through, but EVERY SAVED man will make it. Now is the time to invest in your future. There is no foreclosure on you. God owns you flatout. You are worth it to Him. Make it worth it to you!
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Super Soul Suday!!!!
Today, as all of you know, is the celebration of the Super Bowl. Watching the Super Bowl is exciting for all. It could be a good day to be a witness to someone or be a good Christian role model. However; we all know people who take this game very, very seriously. Some even put money it. This message today is a fitting one. Our message today comes from Isaiah 45:22.
22Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.
The message is a simple one to understand and it doesn't take a philosopher to disect it and read anything into it. It is easy and simple to understand but it is a difficult one to follow. It is about idols.
No, not the little carved men from other countries. The idols we are talking about today are the ones we hate to admit we have.
God has been teaching man this lesson since the beginning of time. God has always taught and continues to teach today, "Look unto me and be saved." If our church was a house for saints we wouldn't go to church. If you are waiting for the perfect time to go to church, if you are waiting to clean up your act first, you will never go. The point is we are all sinners. We all have issues within our own lives and demons we are all dealing with. We all have our idols (though we hate to admit that we consider them idols). As I said, idols don't have to be those little green men made of jade or hand carved pieces of wood. Idols come in all forms. Your idol may be a fixation on a sport, or an infatuation with your job, or howabout your appearance? Idols could also be in name brands, sports cars, a hobby, a habit, anything that you put above God. Idols are built from ego and pride. We are all guilty of that.
Let's look at some of the instances where God taught lessons against having idols. Look at the Pharoah. He thought of himself as a God or an idol. In 1 Samuel 5:1 we read about the Philistines who worshipped a fish god. They failed to see that God was the one that provided them with their riches from the sea and they gave credit to the fish god. God tried showing the Philistines that there should be no other Gods or idols before Him. God knocked over that erected idol they built of their fish god 2 times. The third time they picked it up and made sacrifices to it, God turned it to dust. God says, "There shalt be no other idols before me."
God will not allow you to continue to follow idols. This teaching is not new to God. Only our idols have changed. How many times do you think God has tried getting you to stop worshipping your own idols. Think of the events in your life where maybe God was trying to talk to you or get your attention. There are others from the Bible that God had to put in their place. The list is long but to name a few: Naaman, Jonah, Nebuchadnezzar, the Philistines and list goes on.
Look at our country. Do you think our country has the same morals and values as we did 100 years ago? Knowledge and Power have become our idols. We have so many things at our fingertips. Information is all around us. We live in a high tech world. We live in a society with everything offerd to us and it is readily available.
Anyone wonder why our country is in the mess it is in? God is knocking down our idols. We spend too much time looking to the wrong places for guidance. How many times did God knock down that fish god idol before turning it to dust? God is knocking down our idols. God tells us to look upon Him for salvation. But our nation and people in our nation are looking in other spots for excitement, peace, and happiness. Here are a few we tend to look to for those things: Our Presidents, Senetors, Democrats, Republicans, Facebook, Actors and Actresses, Music stars, Television, the News, the Superbowl or other Sports, Hot Cars, Those Shoes and Purses you have in your closet. Some even look up to the Preacher and view them as idols. Where are you hiding your idols? It is time to stop looking up to anyone or anything other than God Himself.
The scripture says, "Look unto me for salvation!" Take your eyes off yourself and your idols and turn your eyes on Jesus. Instead of celebrating the Super Bowl, let's celebrate something worth celebrating.....making your life a Super Soul!!! Accept God as your Savior and look only to Him for happiness and salvation in your life. Only God being on your team allows you the chance at winning this game called LIFE!
22Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.
The message is a simple one to understand and it doesn't take a philosopher to disect it and read anything into it. It is easy and simple to understand but it is a difficult one to follow. It is about idols.
No, not the little carved men from other countries. The idols we are talking about today are the ones we hate to admit we have.
God has been teaching man this lesson since the beginning of time. God has always taught and continues to teach today, "Look unto me and be saved." If our church was a house for saints we wouldn't go to church. If you are waiting for the perfect time to go to church, if you are waiting to clean up your act first, you will never go. The point is we are all sinners. We all have issues within our own lives and demons we are all dealing with. We all have our idols (though we hate to admit that we consider them idols). As I said, idols don't have to be those little green men made of jade or hand carved pieces of wood. Idols come in all forms. Your idol may be a fixation on a sport, or an infatuation with your job, or howabout your appearance? Idols could also be in name brands, sports cars, a hobby, a habit, anything that you put above God. Idols are built from ego and pride. We are all guilty of that.
Let's look at some of the instances where God taught lessons against having idols. Look at the Pharoah. He thought of himself as a God or an idol. In 1 Samuel 5:1 we read about the Philistines who worshipped a fish god. They failed to see that God was the one that provided them with their riches from the sea and they gave credit to the fish god. God tried showing the Philistines that there should be no other Gods or idols before Him. God knocked over that erected idol they built of their fish god 2 times. The third time they picked it up and made sacrifices to it, God turned it to dust. God says, "There shalt be no other idols before me."
God will not allow you to continue to follow idols. This teaching is not new to God. Only our idols have changed. How many times do you think God has tried getting you to stop worshipping your own idols. Think of the events in your life where maybe God was trying to talk to you or get your attention. There are others from the Bible that God had to put in their place. The list is long but to name a few: Naaman, Jonah, Nebuchadnezzar, the Philistines and list goes on.
Look at our country. Do you think our country has the same morals and values as we did 100 years ago? Knowledge and Power have become our idols. We have so many things at our fingertips. Information is all around us. We live in a high tech world. We live in a society with everything offerd to us and it is readily available.
Anyone wonder why our country is in the mess it is in? God is knocking down our idols. We spend too much time looking to the wrong places for guidance. How many times did God knock down that fish god idol before turning it to dust? God is knocking down our idols. God tells us to look upon Him for salvation. But our nation and people in our nation are looking in other spots for excitement, peace, and happiness. Here are a few we tend to look to for those things: Our Presidents, Senetors, Democrats, Republicans, Facebook, Actors and Actresses, Music stars, Television, the News, the Superbowl or other Sports, Hot Cars, Those Shoes and Purses you have in your closet. Some even look up to the Preacher and view them as idols. Where are you hiding your idols? It is time to stop looking up to anyone or anything other than God Himself.
The scripture says, "Look unto me for salvation!" Take your eyes off yourself and your idols and turn your eyes on Jesus. Instead of celebrating the Super Bowl, let's celebrate something worth celebrating.....making your life a Super Soul!!! Accept God as your Savior and look only to Him for happiness and salvation in your life. Only God being on your team allows you the chance at winning this game called LIFE!
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