- Jul 1, 2018Independence Day Declared Through Prophesy Sermon
Independence Day Declared Through Prophesy Sermon"Independence Day Declared Through Prophesy Sermon".
- May 27, 2018Memorial Day Sermon 5-27-18
Memorial Day Sermon 5-27-18"Memorial Day Sermon 5-27-18".
- Apr 29, 2018Be Different- Make a Difference Sermon
Be Different- Make a Difference Sermon"Be Different- Make a Difference Sermon".
- Apr 1, 2018Easter Sunday 4-1-18
Easter Sunday 4-1-18
EASTER 2018
John 20
John 20:1-2
“Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”
John 20:10-18
Then the disciples went back to their homes, but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”
At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. “Woman,” he said, “why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ “ Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.
Three Questions This Easter:
- “Why are you crying?” (verse 15)
“Weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.” Psalm 30:5
- “Who/what are you looking for?” (verse 15 )
“There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.” Proverbs 14:12
- Will you fall before Jesus as your Lord? (verse 18)
“So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. ‘Greetings,’ he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped Him.” Matthew 28:8-9
“A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you!’ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.’ Thomas said to him, ‘My Lord and my God!’” John 20:26-28
“If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Romans 10:9
- Apr 1, 2018Easter Sunday 4-1-18
Easter Sunday 4-1-18
EASTER 2018
John 20
John 20:1-2
“Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”
John 20:10-18
Then the disciples went back to their homes, but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”
At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. “Woman,” he said, “why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ “ Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.
Three Questions This Easter:
- “Why are you crying?” (verse 15)
“Weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.” Psalm 30:5
- “Who/what are you looking for?” (verse 15 )
“There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.” Proverbs 14:12
- Will you fall before Jesus as your Lord? (verse 18)
“So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. ‘Greetings,’ he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped Him.” Matthew 28:8-9
“A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you!’ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.’ Thomas said to him, ‘My Lord and my God!’” John 20:26-28
“If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Romans 10:9
- Mar 19, 2018The Facts Demand a Retrial 3-18-18
The Facts Demand a Retrial 3-18-18
THE FACTS DEMAND A RETRIAL
the retrial of Jesus
The more I prepare my heart for Easter 2018 the more the facts demand a retrial!
- An innocent man falsely accused
“He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.” Isaiah 53:7
- A guilty man graciously excused
“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.” 1 Peter 2:24
- A strong man shamefully abused
“There were many who were appalled at him—his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness.” Isaiah 52:14
“He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” Isaiah 53:3
What’s Your Verdict?
“What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called Christ?” Matthew 27:22
- Liar?
- Lunatic?
- Legend?
- Lord?
Jesus said, “If you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins.” John 8:24
- Mar 11, 2018A Crushing Challenge 3-11-18
A Crushing Challenge 3-11-18
A CRUSHING CHALLENGE...GETHSEMANE
What crushing challenge are you facing?
Is it your marriage? Your health? Your job? A temptation? You name it.
Mark 14:32-42
“They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Sit here while I pray.’ He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled.
‘My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,’ he said to them. ‘Stay here and keep watch.’ Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. ‘Abba, Father,’ he said, ‘everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me.
Yet not what I will, but what you will.’ Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. ‘Simon,’ he said to Peter, ‘Are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour? Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.’
Once more he went away and prayed the same thing. When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. They did not know what to say to him.
Returning the third time, he said to them, ‘Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough! The hour has come. Look, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!’”
- JESUS WAS CRUSHED AS AN OLIVE IN A PRESS THE NIGHT BEFORE THE CROSS
Gethsemane in the Aramaic language means “olive oil press”
- JESUS CRINGED AT THE CUP HE FACED
- A cup of isolation
- A cup of physical pain
- A cup of sinful shame
III. JESUS FOUND PEACE BY SURRENDERING TO GOD
What to do when you face a crushing experience:
(1) Pray
(2) Surrender your will to God
(3) Trust God’s perfect plan
- Feb 11, 2018The Confrontation Implored 2-11-18
The Confrontation Implored 2-11-18THE CONFRONTATION IMPLORED 2-11-18
GUILTY AS CHARGED
2 SAM 12:1-25
Often, punishment comes not because of the offence but to stop the offence from being repeated. HUGE LESSON!!!!
“When someone gets something for nothing, someone else gets nothing for something.”
OUR SIN ALWAYS COMES AT A HIGH COST FOR SOMEONE ELSE.
David slipped and failed big time when he allowed success to get to his head.
He didn’t even resemble his former self.
The shepherd boy, the prayer warrior, and the fearless leader had given way to a monster, a whormonger, and a murderer.
His moral courage, able leadership and godly principles were gone, and he paid dearly for failing to uphold truth, justice, and mercy.
- VICTIMS MAY BE SILENT BUT GOD BREAKS THE SILENCE
12:1 The LORD sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, 3 but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him. 4 “Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.”
After Davids sin everything changed... truth was compromised, rumors were circulating, heads were shaking, but for many months, no one dared to confront the king, no one pulled him aside, and questioned his defiance of God’s commandments, his decision to execute Uriah, or his determination to marry Bathsheba,
until Nathan’s unexpected visit.
As Nathan tells this story to David; verse 5 records David’s reaction.
5 David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this deserves to die! 6 He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.”
- WE MAY HAVE SECRETS, BUT GOD EXPOSES WHATS REALLY IN OUR HEART
David judged himself. David dug his own grave, and hanged himself on his own rope when he took the words right out of Nathan’s mouth and said, “The man who did this deserves to die! He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity” (vs 5-6).
David was rebuked had no grace or compassion.
Nathan indirectly accused David of having no sympathy, sorrow, or shame in his heart.
David felt nothing.
He had developed a heart of a stone, the skin of an ox, and the venom of a snake.
***Uriah died of premeditated murder, far from home, and without a fight, a burial, or a clue.
Through it all, he did not feel a thing, blink an eye, or lose any sleep.
David thought only of himself.
He thought that people would forget eventually, that the “thing” was already done, and that Uriah was collateral damage.
God couldn’t stand David’s act.
When David was told this story he blew up!
At the moment when David blew his top, he was exposed as the world’s biggest hypocrite, playing God with much drama...an Oscar winning performance.
- GOD IS STERN IN JUDGMENT BUT FAST TO OFFER FORGIVENESS
7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ’I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8 I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. 9 Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 10 Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’ 11 “This is what the LORD says: ’Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity upon you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight. 12 You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’“ 13 Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” Nathan replied, “The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. 14 But because by doing this you have made the enemies of the LORD show utter contempt, the son born to you will die.”
People may treat David with kid’s gloves and regard his behavior as child’s play or kingly perks; but not God.
God slapped David with the worst possible charge
To “despise the word of the Lord.” Worse than Murder or Adultery
God wasn’t going to let David get away with what he did.
He charged David with despising the Lord’s word (v 9).
David’s sin was against Uriah and Bathsheba, but ultimately his actions and attitude were nothing short of despising the Lord and His word.
DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT SIN IS...
a slap to and a spit in the face of God, and a slur to and a stain to the name of God, a scandal and a shock among God’s people.
David’s sin was intentional, willful, and defiant and he should be executed!
GOD didn’t sentence David to death, He gave him what was worse than experiencing his own death, which was to see some of his loved ones suffer and die.
Deceit, denial and destruction would consume, characterize, and collapse the king, his children, and his throne.
History repeated itself, lie would beget lies, and children imitated parents.
David deserved death, but the Lord had mercy on him.
Divine judgment is redemptive, not repulsive; it is compassionate, not cruel; and it is unpleasant, but not unbearable.
It is not nice, but it is not ugly.
God was more interested to make David a better person and king than a powerful or popular person and king.
God does not care if you are rich or poor, for your track record and past history, or for your superiority or success in people’s eyes.
He observes, searches and judges the heart.
God disciplines us, not demeans us. Man’s discipline can be vindictive. Man’s judgment may be condemning and destructive, but
God’s judgment is corrective and constructive.
- Feb 4, 2018The Crashes Impact 2-4-18 AM
The Crashes Impact 2-4-18 AM
THE CRASH’S IMPACT
There is Pleasure in Sin, then what?
2 Samuel 11
David’s nose dive and ultimate Crash began when he had nothing better to do with his time. At the time when kings were off to war, David was hanging out.
The king and his men’s struggles were so different.
The same two struggles are represented here today.
His men’s struggle was whether they could get out alive...
David’s struggle was whether he should get out of bed...
The soldiers wondered how long they could go on fighting...
The king wondered how long he could go on sleeping...
The men fought against fierce defenders
The king flirted with beautiful women.
Why did David nose dive when he was in his prime and at his peak?
- LOSING YOUR SELF-CONTROL LEADS TO DISTORTED PERCEPTION
11:1 In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem. 2 One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, 3 and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, “Isn’t this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” 4 Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (She had purified herself from her uncleanliness.) Then she went back home. 5 The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.”
Lust... a... restless heart, untamed passions, and loose morals.
“lust with attraction; it turns quickly to dissatisfaction; it results in fixation.”
Lust is “to use another person for my excitement.”
David’s glance became a gaze, his gaze became a gamble.
David staked and risked all he had on a short fling, a sexual encounter, or a one-night stand with a married woman. He went up, looked down, and sought out.
He already had 6 wives and multiple concubines but lust desires more.
Bathsheba was attractive, cute, striking, shapely and stunning, but her beauty was in the eye of the beholder, while Abigail was truly the fairest of her era. If that was not enough, David could summon any sweet young thing from near and far to be his wife or concubine.
God gave David everything and more except one, because Bathsheba was married to Uriah.
David’s disobedience was compared to man’s disobedience in the garden when he picked from the one forbidden tree. In fact, the only other time the two words for Bathsheba’s beauty – “good” and “looking” – appear together in the Bible matched the description of the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that God had made that were pleasing to the eye and good for food (Gen 2:9)
Stagnation, boredom, and listlessness were dangerous to David.
David should be somewhere else, somewhere far, somewhere needed.
The battlefield was not as dangerous as the palace, the roof, or the bed.
It’s been said, “Idle hands are the devil’s playthings.”
David forcibly took Bathsheba although she was no angel or blameless herself.
- LOSING YOUR SANITY LEADS TO DEVIOUS PRACTICES
6 So David sent this word to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent him to David. 7 When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab was, how the soldiers were and how the war was going. 8 Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” So Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king was sent after him. 9 But Uriah slept at the entrance to the palace with all his master’s servants and did not go down to his house. 10 When David was told, “Uriah did not go home,” he asked him, “Haven’t you just come from a distance? Why didn’t you go home?” 11 Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my master Joab and my lord’s men are camped in the open fields. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and lie with my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!” 12 Then David said to him, “Stay here one more day, and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. 13 At David’s invitation, he ate and drank with him, and David made him drunk. But in the evening Uriah went out to sleep on his mat among his master’s servants; he did not go home.
David was blinded in his eyes, cruel in his heart and ruthless in his actions to cover his tracks.
Uriah’s passion was for king and country, but David’s passion was for women and sex.
David had lost his mind, head, and marbles.
He was cold, calculated, and cunning.
David slept with another man’s wife (v 4), but Uriah slept at the entrance to the palace with all his master’s servants (v 9), turned down sleeping or lying with his wife (v 11) in such times, and slept on his mat among his master’s servants (v 13).
Finally comes the crash. The crash always comes.
- LOSING YOUR SOUL LEADS TO DUE PUNISHMENT
14 In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. 15 In it he wrote, “Put Uriah in the front line where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die.” 16 So while Joab had the city under siege, he put Uriah at a place where he knew the strongest defenders were. 17 When the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of the men in David’s army fell; moreover, Uriah the Hittite died. 18 Joab sent David a full account of the battle. 19 He instructed the messenger: “When you have finished giving the king this account of the battle, 20 the king’s anger may flare up, and he may ask you, ’Why did you get so close to the city to fight? Didn’t you know they would shoot arrows from the wall? 21 Who killed Abimelech son of Jerub-Besheth? Didn’t a woman throw an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you get so close to the wall?’ If he asks you this, then say to him, ’Also, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.’“ 22 The messenger set out, and when he arrived he told David everything Joab had sent him to say. 23 The messenger said to David, “The men overpowered us and came out against us in the open, but we drove them back to the entrance to the city gate. 24 Then the archers shot arrows at your servants from the wall, and some of the king’s men died. Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.” 25 David told the messenger, “Say this to Joab: ’Don’t let this upset you; the sword devours one as well as another. Press the attack against the city and destroy it.’ Say this to encourage Joab.” 26 When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. 27 After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing David had done displeased the LORD. (2 Sam 11:1-27)
True Love is a tricky emotion!
Thomas Fuller (1608-1661) said, “Lord, before I commit a sin, it seems to me so shallow that I may wade through it dry-shod from any guiltiness; but when I have committed it, it often seems so deep that I cannot escape without drowning.”
The last sentence of the chapter and the first word of the sentence in Hebrew sought justice for Uriah: “But evil the thing David had done in the eyes of the Lord.”
Oliver Stone observed at the height of the O.J trial: “The line between thinking murder and doing murder isn’t that major.” (8/2/94)
Do not satisfy your passions, silence your conscience, or sell your soul.
1 John 2:16 “For everything in the world-the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does-comes not from the Father but from the world,”
James 1:13-14 says, “When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.”
God is not looking for perfection in a man, but He cannot tolerate pretension and perversion.
- Dec 17, 2017Cultivate #6 12-17-17
Cultivate #6 12-17-17"Cultivate #6 12-17-17".
