Our Forgetful God
“. . .for I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more.”
Jeremiah 31:34c
If He keeps no record of them (Ps. 32:1-2; 102:11-12), why do we?
Grace and forgiveness.
We speak much of them if we’re a Pilgrim of the Way, but the question is “Do we really understand what they are?” and “Are we resting in them?”
When asked the definition of Grace, the average church member will say “The unmerited favor of God.” Sounds good, but what is that?
“Well,” the somewhat flustered person said, “It’s God’s love that is undeserved and can’t be earned.”
Now we’re getting somewhere.
But, the question now is “How do you know if you’ve received it and are experiencing it?”
The Difficulty of Grace
“And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying ‘Your father did command before he died, saying So shall you say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray you now, the trespass of your brethren and their sin—for they did unto you evil; and, now, we pray you, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of your father.’ And, Joseph wept when they spoke unto him.”
Genesis 50:16-17
Until we realize this, we may be saved by Grace, but we can’t rest in it.
“And Joseph wept when they spoke unto him.”
Five different times in the story of Joseph’s life do we find him weeping (Gen. 42:24; 43:30; 45:1-2, 14-15; 50:17c). Does this mean he was a wimpish cry-baby or does it reveal he still had a tender heart in spite of all that he’d been through?
We know the answer, don’t we?
A weeping heart is a tender heart rooted in a forgiving spirit. A “root of bitterness” (Heb. 12:15) dries out the heart, making it stone-cold and barren; but, Jesus’ Love and Forgiveness enable us to do the same, giving us a heart like His (Lk. 7:47).
Sermon Illustrations About Influencing Others
The collection of illustrations below is all about influencing others as Christians.
It is very important that as Christians, we are to become the salt of the world. We are to influence the world and not us being influenced by the world.
The mere fact that the Bible made an important emphasis in loving our neighbor, it also means that we are to influence them in the way that God loves the world.
The illustrations below can be a good source of good insights about loving our neighbor in the way God wants it to be.
The Right Perspective
“Now, therefore, be not grieved nor angry with yourselves, that you sold me hither—for God did send me before you to preserve life. . .And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God. . .”
Genesis 45:5, 7-8a
Regardless of what’s happening in our lives, we still must say “God is good” (Ps. 73:1a)—and hopefully someone else nearby will add “All the time.”
When we look at our lives through natural eyes and human reasoning, we simply cannot see “the Big Picture.” Oh, we may grow philosophical and wax eloquently “Oh, it’s simply a part of the Grand Scheme of things;” but such stoical analysis and positive thinking do little to comfort a grief-stricken heart and perplexed mind in “the dark night of the soul.”
Joseph couldn’t understand why he was going through what he did (Gen. 37:1-36; 39:1-41:1a). But, later on the pieces began to fall into place when his brothers came to Egypt to buy food and “he remembered his dreams” (42:9a; 37:5-11). How wonderful it is when God allows us to see things from His Perspective and how the seemingly disjointed pieces of our puzzle fit in perfectly together in His Divine Plan.
Sermon About Immorality
The sermon below is all about the truths of immorality and how it affects the church.
Title: About Immorality
Text: 1 Corinthians 5
Introduction
For the past few Sundays, I have talked about the works of a servant of Christ. We have also touched about one of the main problems of the Corinthian Church, the division inside the Church.
Today, we will be talking about another problem, Immorality. Immorality is one of the most common sins that we have in our time. There are lots of forms of immorality. We have incests, adultery, homosexuality, abortion, etc.
Adultery, one of the most common problems of our society. Instead of building up families, because of extra marital relationship, people tend to destroy their wonderful family. Before, most offenders are men, but now women has become equally aggressive when it comes to adultery.
Homosexuality. Before, homosexuality is a form of “disgrace” among the society. Today, it is now becoming a “norm”, a way of life, a choice. This is because of the mass media. Blockbuster hit movies now are about homosexuality. A pretty good example is the upcoming movie, “In My Life” , having a ground breaking record of Php20,000,000 gross sales for just a premier night.
How about abortion? Some other countries now are trying to eliminate the population problem through abortion. And the government itself is implenting this program.
In our passage today, we will be talking about truths about immorality.
Truths About Immorality
Immorality is something to be grieved about (v.1-5)
In the passage, the immorality committed was an incest. Such kind of immorality is completely not acceptable in the society. And such emphasis can be seen in the statement of Paul; “a kind that does not occur even among pagans”. The offense was that, a man has his father’s wife.
The passage is could possibly mean that a man had a relationship with his stepmother instead of the mother. This is because Paul used “father’s wife” instead of “his mother”. In any way, we are assured that it is still a form of incest.
What’s bothering in the situation was that, the audience or the people who knows it seems to be even proud of it. Probably the sinning man is boasting about it and the Corinthian Church is doing nothing to stop such an act. For this, Paul recommends that the Corinthian Church should not be proud of it, instead to grieve for it and that such man should be “put out” of the fellowship.
Then another radical statement that Paul gave. He is instructing the Corinthian Church on the next thing to do, that is if they have assembled together, and that Paul was with them in the spirit (because Paul has already passed judgement on that immorality in v.3), and that the Spirit of the Lord was with them, they are to “hand this man over” to Satan. This is to destroy its sinful nature and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord.
Let us note here that there is a purpose in handing the man over to Satan. That is to destroy the sinful nature, but to save the spirit on the day of the Lord. As I am trying to think about it, this could probably mean the intercessory prayer or something like an imprecatory prayer. And here, we can see some harsh statements of Paul.
Immorality is something that can affect others (v.6-8).
Now Paul uses here another metaphor here. He used the “yeast” in two sense. The first is that the sinning brother can affect the whole dough, “Get rid of the old yeast that you maybe a new batch without yeast.” To which could mean, to “hand over to Satan” the sinful man. In other words, to disfellowship the sinful man.
By reading the preceeding paragraph and the latter paragraph, Paul deal with his statements corporately, as a body. The first paragraph is an instruction about coming together of the congregation and handing over the sinful man to Satan.
The second interpretation is that the yeast is about the sin. “But just like the bread of the Pass Over, we need to put off the yeast of malice and wickedness so that we can be pure, without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.” Now we are seeing that the sin is referring to sinful things such as malice and wickedness.
This is an opportunity therefore to ask God for forgiveness and guidance. For us to be pure from malice and wickedness.
The Key to It All
“And the Lord was with Joseph. . .”
Genesis 39:2a
When this is a part of our faith’s “hub,” everything else falls into place.
Karl Barth, a famous German theologian of another generation, was once asked by a student, “Dr. Barth, what’s the greatest theological truth you’ve ever learned?” Barth, who’d written numerous books and commentaries on the Bible, smiled, looked at the student, leaned over the top of his lectern as he peered over the top of his half-glasses and said, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”
Beautiful, simple, succinct truth, isn’t it?
Assuredly it is.
But, so is today’s Manna: Simple, but vitally important to “the peace that passes all understanding” (Phil. 4:7). Why is that?
For the simple reason that when we realize our omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient God is also Immanuel (“God with us”—Is. 7:14), we “will fear no evil—for He is with us” (Ps. 23:4b). How wonderful it is to know the same God Who watches over the sparrows (Mt. 6:26; 10:29, 31). . .knows the number of hairs on our head (Mt. 10:30). . .and “catches all of our tears in His bottle” (Ps. 56:8—KJV). . .will “never leave us or forsake us” (Heb. 13:5b). . .and is “the same yesterday, today and forever” (Heb. 13:8; James 1:17). Hallelujah!!
The reason Joseph didn’t get bitter over being sold by his brothers (Gen. 37:1-36), falsely accused of attempted rape by Potiphar’s wife and imprisoned (Gen. 39:1-23) and forgotten “a full two years” by a fellow inmate whom he’d helped (Gen. 40:1-41:1a) was because “the Lord was with him.”
Bread Of Life Illustrations
The collection of illustrations below is all about God as the provider, the Bread of Life.
God is the Jehovah Jireh, the great provider. But there is nothing more than he can give than what He already gave, the Bread of Life, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
During the time that we are in need, help comes from heaven above and is not from our own. Furthermore, many Christians strive hard to become good Christians. But they find it so difficult to stay “on track” because they haven’t really found the real “bread of life” who sustains our spiritual life where we will not grow weary and exhausted.
May the illustrations below be a good examples in your sermons about God as the real “Bread of Life”
His Perfect Plan
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord: Thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”
Jeremiah 29:11
Though the pieces of our puzzle (life) may seem disjointed or disconnected at times, we need not fear, fret or fume when we know He’ll use everything for our good and His Glory (Rom. 8:28).
How long’s it been, Pilgrim, since you pulled up a chair or went out to your favorite nook by the brook in the woods and reflected on your life? That long, huh? Maybe today would be a good time to set aside some time to do so and see how today’s Manna fits in to your personal jigsaw puzzle called life.
We know the Lord God said “It is good” after making every part of creation (Gen. 1:12, 17, 25) and then said “It is very good” when He finished (v.31). We also know how Adam and Eve’s sin messed up everything by opening up Pandora’s Box of suffering, separation, disease and death, which affects us all unto this day (I Cor. 15:21-22).
But, our omniscient Lord knew all of this was going to happen BEFORE it did and He planned accordingly (Eph. 1:3-14). Instead of fig leaves, Adam and Eve were clothed with “coats of skin” when they left the Garden (Gen. 3:21). This was a picture of the coming “Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world” (Jn. 1:29, 36) and how “without the shedding of blood there is no remission (Grk. ‘aphesis’—‘deliverance, pardon, forgiveness, etc.’) of sin” (Heb. 9:22).
The Body of Christ
Title: The Body of Christ
Text: 1 Corinthians 12:12-31
Introduction:
Corinth was a capital of the Roman province of Achaia. In fact the metropolis(major city) of Greece. A place where a mass of gold, silver and bronze were melted. So as you can think it is a very rich country. Corinth was also a commercial port. It is a mixed of different people from the neighboring countries. Some were Jews, Greeks, Slaves, Free & Gentiles. Their church setting was different from ours, instead there is only one man conducting. WITHOUT ORDER/UNORGANIZED. All were free to do their part, though there may be a chairman or a leader but one may rise and lead the company into meditation, or prayer or song, read bibles and others… In the previous verses, Paul tells us that the people in Corinth have different extraordinary gifts. Because some acquire many gifts and some did not this was one that caused a divisions among them.
Paul compares the body of Christ to a human body.
1. One Body Many Parts- (v. 12-13)
12 The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body-whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free-and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
Each Christian is a part of the body, that we are all members or parts of the body of Christ. The church is composed of many types of people from different backgrounds with a multitude of gifts and abilities. These differences can divide people so easily as to what happened to Corinth. But despite the differences, all believers have one thing in common-Faith in Christ-Our Faith unites and binds us. All believers are baptized by one Holy Spirit into one body of believers, the church (v. 13). Here we can see that we have one common denominator which is Christ…Christ that gives us salvation…
And what we aim is to glorify our God…