Sunday, January 31, 2016

Become a Vessel God Can Use


 
Pastor Allan remarked there are a lot of new people here today, and I must tell you, “What you see is what you get.”  I took notes as he ministered and present his sermon edited.
 
God is on the move and we are daily changing into His image.  I am thankful that I am not what I was yesterday or yester-year.

It is not so much as hearing His voice but doing what His voice tells us.  At times we get so caught up in the need, that we don’t pay attention to His voice.  Be more aware of his voice and become a doer. 
 
It doesn’t matter our speed, just as long as we move forward.  We pray, Lord send your fire – come Lord and visit me, then His voice gives us a message, but do we obey?

I encourage you to get wrapped up in God’s Word, and then not to fail to listen and obey.

Backing up, I am reminded of a sermon I preached about Peter and John walking in the temple and they saw a lame man.  Peter and John stepped into a realm they had never been before, and there was no turning back.  Many times they had passed by that man, not paying him any attention.  He was a piece of garbage, not worth looking at.  Suddenly they noticed him.

As we preach this, we begin to see the power of the Holy Spirit.  Healing reports of cancers taken away, and rotator cuffs that refused to move, now are active.

We have seen a bunch of knot heads come in and get delivered from addiction, and I am expecting God to continue to move in power.

I must admit that I stepped away from that power for a time, but today I am moving forward.  We don’t want to stifle the Holy Spirit, but we can become discouraged when we have real needs, and nothing happens when we pray.

We ask, “Are we fasting and praying enough? Where are the miracles?”

We haven’t been doing anything wrong, but are our expectations high?

Pastor explained his absence last week saying, "I attended a Healing Conference with Randy Clark as the speaker.  I confess that the first session went over my head, but each session was building line upon line.  What hit me most, was it is not our faith, but it is the Power of God working through us.  We must be available.  Once you are aware that you need Jesus, it is time to repent and begin to live your life with Him.  Jesus desires to heal and deliver, but He is looking for vessels to use." 

It is easy to get caught up in the nonsense of the world, and it is not always popular to be a Man or Woman of God. 

The Prophet Jeremiah said in 2:15,  “Therefore thus says the Lord, If you return, then I will bring you again, and you shall stand before me: and if you take forth the precious from the vile, you shall be as my mouth: let them return unto you; but return not you unto them.”

That day, Peter and John took out the preciousness of the vile.  Their eyes were open to see the need and to see the man as a precious person needing a miracle. 
 
We too must lift our eyes not to see garbage, and filth but taking the precious from the vile, we become God’s mouth.  It is our responsibility to have a relationship with Jesus.  Our church is growing and it is our responsibility to nurture the new ones.

God wants to first take out the trash in us and separate the rubbish from the precious.

I can appreciate a good car show,  We view a beautiful car that has been restored, and are amazed at the before photos showing it was once rusty and disgusting.   The owner saw something in that car that others could not see. 

It is that way with those who seem cast aside, but God sees in them potential. 
 
Here at our church, our job is to show up to worship, and to become equipped to minister.  During the prayer time, go ahead and pray with and encourage those who come forward.

In the game of football, what happens if you go out in the field without your helmet and proper equipment?  We know you will get beat up, so the answer is we must be prepared, rooted and grounded and established. 
 
We don’t want to become a creature of habit but to walk in the Spirit and allow God to make us a vessel fit for His service.
 
 
 

2 comments:

caryjo said...

Focusing on and serving the Lord is all we can do from here to Heaven. I count on that, even though we are sometimes spread into other places to share re: Him. Thank you.

Unknown said...

Good sermon. Love his analogies.