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I John 5:7, II Corinthians 13:14
Exordium: This morning let’s start with the benediction: Often we use what is called the Apostolic Benediction.
“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
The Love of God the Father,
And the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all forever.”
The suggestion is here that each person of the Triune God has a particular kind of blessing to impart to us. There is one God, but the whole deity has within Himself three persons or distinctions, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
The question we want to ask this morning is “How does the fact of the Trinity assist us in our daily walk with God?”
Explication: These two texts will help us:
“There are three that bear witness: the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit and these three are one.” (1 John 5:7)
These words reinforce the words of the benediction for us- in expressing that the persons of the Trinity have a special connection, a communion, with the believer in ways particular to each member of the Triune God.
The other text is: “In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you-for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God.” (John 16:26-27) This text teaches us that the particular kind of communication which the Father has with us is love.
In these three Sundays, I hope to show how the members of the Trinity each in His own way, assist you in walking with God.
July 8, 2008
Exodus 11:10
Exordium: The line between good and evil seems to be getting more and more blurred all the time. That fulfills the prediction of the Bible “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil.” (Isaiah 5:20A)
Yet it is not easy for us to make distinctions between good and evil. We may feel arrogant or proud or even be accused of those attitudes when they are not true of us at all. Yes, it has become hard to draw lines in this culture and still remain loving and kind. Yet somehow we need to recover that grace and that determination.
Explication: But in this Scripture before us God draws a line in the sand. The sand is the sand of Egypt. He says (in Exodus 11: 7) “…that you may know that the Lord does make a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.” Not an imaginary line like what might mark a border between two places, but a real line deep into human life.
He is saying that on one side there will be a great cry-in the land of Egypt such as has not been heard and never again will such a lament be heard. It is the loudest wail that any nation has ever known.
But among the people of Israel, not one dog will bark or even move its tongue on the way to growing and barking. In the East every town and village has its pack of dogs who roam the streets at night looking for something to eat, and barking at any thing that disturbs the night.
But on this night all will be utter tranquility because of God’s hand upon His own people. It is not that everyone is asleep; they are rather very busy scurrying around with their belongings ready to make a huge transition out of Egypt and across the desert to the land that God will show them.
Psalm 119:9-16
June 29, 2008
This passage is talking about a make-over in the life of a person-even a young person. But who would think that a youth would need a make-over?
It comes from an Old Testament Book the book of Psalms. After giving the picture of a good man’s life, it asks the big question. How can a young man makeover his way of life. How can anyone do that? In a way, that might be life’s greatest question. It may be the very question you are wrestling with this morning.
I. BUT WHY SHOULD A MAKEOVER EVEN BE NECESSARY?
Because of the world we live in-it is beautiful the handiwork of God, but it is a marred world. Sin has entered it and with it the human spirit is defiled in some measure. There are areas of greatness in the human personality, but it is like a castle that once was sturdy and gallant and is now only a ruin of what it was. It is no longer a friend to righteousness or to a holy way of life. Instead it offers alternatives and holds them out as exciting, popular and satisfying to the soul.
Likewise all the creatures that God has put in the world have the same defect/disease which they have inherited from those who have gone before-sin. Not a one has missed it, except the Son of God who walked perfectly among us. And that is the problem-everyone needs a makeover, even if they are young and handsome and very promising.
The sins one has are on the way to becoming habits. Habits are made in youth and grow stronger and become our patterns. Habits are hard to break and for some impossible it seems. What is needed is a new beginning-an extreme makeover, a new birth!
II. HOW IMPORTANT IS IT THAT THIS MAKEOVER TAKE PLACE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE?
In youth one has the opportunity to shape his or her future. So much depends on what you do with your youth. The boy is the father of the man. The girl is the precursor of the woman. Not all of us still have the opportunity of shaping the future, but many do!
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