Sunday, May 27, 2007

The LORD's Day May 27, 2007 Pentecost Sunday

The Elements of Our Faith
Psalm 104.1-15

Water, wine, oil, and bread are included in the things that are given to us by the LORD from the earth He created. These could be some random things mentioned by the LORD through this Psalmist. They may not have any more significance than the physical realm of which they are a part. Many view the Bible like that. But similar to people who see flowers and don’t take time to notice the intricacies of the each bloom, they pass over things that are treasures revealed only to those who take time and meditate upon what God is saying.

This Psalm is celebrating God and His Creation. It is exulting Him as the One Who sustains what He has made. It is a wonderful and amazing world that God has made. The whole earth is full of His Glory

In His communication with us He has taken many things He has created to illustrate His power and love towards us. The sparrow is watched over carefully by our Heavenly Father. Not one falls without Him noticing it. We see sparrows and we think of His love.

In the sacraments of the church we have been given certain things by the LORD to illustrate to us His love and his power and work. Four are mentioned here in the verses we just read.

1. Water, the life giving liquid. vs.10-14

You can only go three days without water before you will begin to die of thirst. It is precious

Water is used in baptism. John the Baptist baptized with water for repentance. It symbolized a change in the heart of man.

Paul speaks of it in his letter to the Romans as being symbolic of Jesus’s death and resurrection in our own life. He writes, “ 1What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. (Romans 6.1-4)

Jesus spoke of salvation as the water of life. The Spirit and the bride say, Come And let him who hears say, Come Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life. (Revelation 22.17)

He spoke of the water He gives to the woman at the well. Those who drink of it will never get thirsty again.

Water quenches thirst. In the physical realm we need 8 glasses a day. There is nothing like a cold glass of water. In the spiritual realm the water of life takes away the thirst of life. We have a spring of living water welling up within us when we believe on Jesus. He spoke about this in John 7 If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as[c] the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him. 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified. Today is Pentecost Sunday. On this Day 1,975 years the Holy Spirit was outpoured on the followers of Jesus in Jerusalem and the church was born. About 3,000 men from every nation on earth were there, believed and were baptized that day. People have been getting their spiritual thirst quenched ever since that time. Oh that God would give us another Pentecost

Water refreshes. In his sermon on the day the lame man was healed Peter proclaimed, “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.” Acts 3.19 Times of refreshing come as we walk with the LORD in the light of His Word. As we get into God’s Word and allow His Spirit to work in us, times of refreshing come. As people come to the LORD times of refreshing come. As people break sinful habits and pour that energy and time and money into the kingdom, times of refreshing come. How we need that water of life today in our nation!

Water cleanses. In his letter to the Ephesians5, Paul writes that men are to love their wives as Christ love the church. He tells us that Christ died to make her (the church) holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.

As we get into God’s Word, it cleanses us. We see where we need to grow and what needs to be cleansed within us.

The second element we see in this Psalm is wine.


2. Wine, the drink of joy. v.15

Wine gladdens the heart of man. It is a drink of celebration.

Of course we know it was used by Jesus in the Passover the night He was betrayed. He told us that this is the Blood of the New Covenant shed for many. Wine speaks of the fact that our sins are washed away by Jesus’s blood and that the joy of the Holy Spirit comes into the heart of the forgiven.

There is nothing like being truly forgiven. We need to recapture that joy in the church today. Jesus Christ has forgiven my sins and I am free Hallelujah What a joy to not have the burden of my sins pressing upon me but to be free from it!

Wine comes from grapes. It is made by crushing them. The winepress was located in the vineyard. Hold that thought as we look at the other two things mentioned here in this Psalm as life giving substances for man.

3. Oil, the special fluid.

Oil was obtained from Olives. Olive presses were located in the groves of olive trees. Gethsemane (Matthew 26.36) means “an oil press”. The Garden of Gethsemane was located at the base of the Mount of Olives. The olives were harvested then crushed. There was a little rock trench (hewn out) It would run down that trench and was collected into vessels right in the garden.

Oil, we are told here in the 15th verse of this Psalm, makes the face of man shine. Stephen was full of the Holy Spirit and his face was like that of an angel. Moses spent time with God and the people of Israel told him to cover his face with a napkin- a veil. James Hudson Taylor, the missionary to China, stayed with a family in Australia and the lady of the house said to her husband, “Look at how his face shines ” The presence of the Holy Spirit brings a glow to the countenance of God’s people. What is in your heart will come out on your face. In the Old and New Testament oil is a symbol of the Holy Spirit.

Oil was used for anointing God’s men for service.
Prophets, Priests and Kings were anointed. Samuel anointed David. Aaron and his sons were anointed and Psalm 133 speaks of it as a beautiful thing.

Oil is to be used when praying for the sick person to be healed.
James 5 gives the instructions. It was a symbol of the work and gift of the Holy Spirit. The anointing with oil helps keep the focus as this as a gift of God. So many problems arise when these instructions are not followed.

Oil reduces friction.
Your car will not go very far without oil in the engine. In relationships in the church we need the presence of the Holy Spirit. He keeps us cool. He reduces the friction that can arise in differences of opinions. We need Him to fill us and flow among us.

4. Bread, the solid food.

We have been talking about liquids. Now we come to a solid. Bread was made from wheat and barley in the time of the Bible. The wheat was brought int from the harvest, placed on the threshing floor and the ox would tread upon it crushing the good out of what was to be discarded- the chaff which the wind blew away.

Crushing experiences- the wine, olive oil and the wheat were all products of crushing. You know where I am going with this. We look at crushing experiences as the end of something, Gods looks at them as a process and a beginning. Crushing experiences bring good out of people. Painful times produce people of character. They sift out the true believers. They show us what is in our hearts. Job was tested and he and others found out what was in his heart.
People who want to be close to Jesus will experience pain. But oh the fruit that comes out of these times. There is something about the LORD that you cannot experience until you have suffered. Dietrich Bonhoffer wrote that when Jesus calls a man He bids him come and die. He did die but like Abel and that great cloud of witnesses, being dead he still speaks. There is great joy and wonderful fellowship to be found in sharing in the sufferings of Jesus.

Jesus said that He was the Bread of Heaven. He said He was the Bread that came down from heaven and gives life to the world. He was born in Bethlehem, which means the House of Bread. He taught us to pray for daily bread.

This element- the unleavened bread- bread in its purest form-is used by Jesus to have us remember His sufferings that He went through in His Body. We take it and eat it and remember that He said it is His body broken for us. Isaiah 53.5 But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed.

The wine comes from grapes which are grown on a vine, the oil from the olive trees and the bread from wheat which is a plant. The water comes down from above and waters the earth so all these can grow.

As we have seen there is spiritual application here. I don’t think these things were randomly picked out by God. There is rich meaning here. He has written His Word into His creation. Romans 1.20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

For us who know Jesus this Psalm has physical blessings for us- things that God has given for our physical and emotionally well being. These verses also have deep significance spiritually. They are full of benefits for us. My grandmother loved that verse “Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation..” Psalm 68.19

If you are in need of cleansing it is provided for you. Thirsty or hungry Jesus is the answer. In need of healing? He is our healer. In need of forgiveness- the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. He is the great I AM. If you are in need of strength come to Him the Bread of Heaven today. Stop trusting in other things- they will let you down

Let’s worship and serve Him with all our hearts

_____________________________________________

The LORD’s Day
May 27, 2007
Pentecost Sunday- Memorial Day Weekend

We Worship In Singing
We Worship In Prayer
We Worship In Hearing the Word of God
Elements of Our Faith Psalm 104.1-15
*Tithes and Offerings can be placed in the box at the rear of the sanctuary*
Please join us for coffee and bagels downstairs if you are visiting today.
Prayer this evening at 6pm in the backyard of the parsonage

V
This Week
Bible Reading Psalm 107-109
Monday Men’s Prayer Meeting 6:30am in the church basement
Wednesday Bible Study 7:30pm 1312 Pine Acres Blvd.
Thursday Bible Study 10:30am at the church
Next Lord’s Day
Morning Prayer- 10am in the church basement
Morning Worship- 10:30am(Sunday School for Children) The LORD’s Supper will be served
Spanish Service- 4pm

In Your Prayers For All of God’s People
Remember the men serving in the armed forces: Bradley, Julia Bujold’s grandson with Special Forces in Afghanistan, home on leave right now, Ken Brown, Pastor’s friend’s son on his third tour of Iraq. Please pray for the whole family. Billy Knapp, Jr. in Iraq with the Marines (neighbor of the church and Pastor- Billy’s sister graduated from Good Shepherd) One of Billy’s friends (also from the Island) was killed three weeks ago in the fighting in Iraq. Please remember that family in prayer. Matthew Klaus, brother of Good Shepherd parent in Iraq as a firefighter for Haliburton... Pray for them and the others away from their families. Praise God for keeping David Louis, Jake Morgan and Tom Hindelang safe during their times in Iraq. Christine Frankland, Katharina’s daughter continuing to recover from surgery Pray for her as they dela with a complication that arose from the surgery. Kathy, Ziggy and Margot’s daughter-in-law, under the doctor’s care for fibromyalgia. Pray for their son Michael’s friend Andy whose wife died suddenly this week. Pray for Eloise Brooks in Sunrise Manor undergoing rehab. She is coming along well. She is in room 214. Remember Jean Louis as both he and Eloise are on dialysis. Grace Martin, Edie Raevis’ daughter, fibromyalgia. kidney stones and liver inflamation. Edie’s Sister, Grace, recovering from internal bleeding, now home. Edie had an eye examination on Thursday. Reginald Mooney, friend of Terri and John Garry, with a tumor in his kidney. Lisa Siler, a staff member of John’s, is expecting a baby and had three year old named Lauren with scarlet fever. She is home and doing well. Praise the LORD
************************************
A number of nursery school families are going through difficult times. If you would like to sponsor a child presently at Good Shepherd, see Alice or call the school at 666-7503
If you would like to help with the Sunday Morning Bagel ministry see John or Terri Garry.


Notes on Our Time in the Word of God This Morning:
Elements of Our Faith
Psalm 104.1-15




Pastor’s messages are now available online:
http://thesundaymorningmessage.blogspot.com/
Church e-mail: bayshorenaz@rock.com
Church Phone: 631-969-1730
1314 Pine Acres Boulevard, Bay Shore, Long Island, NY 11706-5436


Whatever you do, in word or deed, do all for the glory of God

Sunday, May 20, 2007

The LORD's Day May 20, 2007

An Important Exhortation
Hebrews 13.1-3
Let brotherly love continue.

The things man think are important and vital to the church often is not what God says in His Word.

God is love. He wants His church to reflect that and demonstrate that and be known by that. Churches are known by many things today- their music, their programs, their size their buildings, their mass media outlets, the personality of their pastor. When was the last time you heard someone say of their church, when they were talking to you about it, “The people love one another deeply,” or “The love of Jesus Christ is spread all over the congregation.”?

Jesus said that this would be the way that all men would know we are His disciples.
This is the proof that you are filled with God’s Spirit. It is proof that you are a follower of Jesus Christ.

The writer to the Hebrews was commending this group of believers that there was love among them. He is exhorting them to let it continue. The LORD would have had him make this exhortation unless there was a possibility of it not continuing.


1. How Does Love Leak Out?

Pride
Love cannot exist where there is no humility. If you want to keep love in a relationship you have to be willing to say a number of things. I was wrong (intentional or not). I am sorry (truly- kids when they are forced to say it). Please forgive me. (From the heart too with sorrow) A relationship based upon love cannot continue without these elements and they all stem from humility.

If you think you are better than someone else it is not possible to truly love them. Philippians 2.3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.

Not bearing with each other
We are different and we have differences of opinions and preferences. If we let these get in the way it can destroy love. We must allow for each other’s differences.

Allowing little foxes to do in the vines. Things nibble at us.

Getting too busy. I used to call this guy up and when he would answer the phone I would ask him how he was. He would answer, “Busy.” I don’t call him anymore. If you are too busy to love and to demonstrate that love then your schedule is overloaded and there needs to be some adjustments.

Not spending time with each other.
There is an old saying: “Distance makes the heart grow fonder.” Someone added this truth: “And it also makes the heart to wander.” We need to be with the ones we love.



2. That Little Word ‘Let’ is a Big Issue.
It involves yielding to God’s Spirit. It is allowing the LORD to do His will in our lives, in our relationships. His will is for us to be holy and for love to flourish in the church, His Body.

It means remaining or abiding in love. John 15

It means to endure. I Corinthians 13.7 Love endures all things (or perseveres).

We are given choices each day whether or not we are going to love. In the church it is vital that we keep love within it because that is the true basis of any fellowship with the LORD and with each other. We have to yield to the Spirit or we will have head on crashes or side swipe one another. Illus- Driving today. You will have daily accidents if you don’t yield- if you say that I have a right to be in this spot.

3. The Essence of Brotherly Love

Philadelphia

love of brothers or sisters, brotherly love

In the NT the love which Christians cherish for each other as brothers.

This love is based on Family, the family of God. God our Father sets the tone for this. He forgives, He loves. He loved so much that He gave His One and Only Son that whoever believes on Him will not perish but have everlasting life.

Believing we are adopted into the family of God. We become children not born of natural descent or a father’s will but born of God, born again, born from above.

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. I John 4.7

A friend of God and God’s people.

A Companion. We walk with each other to heaven. It is not a solo trip. We need one another.




One of the bridegroom's friends who on his behalf asked the hand of the bride and rendered him various services in closing the marriage and celebrating the nuptials.
We are to tell people about the Bridegroom (Jesus Christ), ask them to come to Him and nurture them in the faith.

4. Let it continue

Actually this is the same word as let- if we translated this directly it would be “Continue Brotherly love Continue.”

God repeats things. The Bible is repetitive. We have thick skulls sometimes- most of the time. I cannot believe how long at times it takes me to get some simple truth.

Brotherly love is simple. You either have it or you don’t. Either you are continuing in it by yielding to the Spirit or you are needing to return to your first love this morning.

Detecting whether there is love or not is so easy a child can pick up on it.

Our granddaughter was over the other day and she was getting hugs and kisses from her Grandma. While this was going on Emma looked at me with a big smile and said, “She sure loves this kid, doesn’t she? ”

Gospel Annie and Dr. Airhart: We could sure use a lot more of the love of Jesus on this bus.

We can want things done our way (We know that is the “best” way- that is a joke).
We have a way that something is done we like or prefer. Yielding to the Spirit is allowing love to overrule our preferences!

Continue brotherly love continue.

When this happens (and I believe it is happening here) the church is strengthened. When we yield to the Holy Spirit He is not grieved but is able to accomplish His work. Part of that work is bring us into complete love, to have the Spirit produce the whole realm of His fruit in you and I.

Continue brotherly love continue!

His will in you and I, His likeness shining forth in me and you. This is such an important exhortation. We cannot afford the leakage of love. This is the thing Jesus looks for in His church. This is the reflection of His Image in us.

Let brotherly love continue
---------------------------------------------------------------------

The LORD’s Day

May 20, 2007

We Worship In Singing
We Worship In Prayer
We Worship In Hearing the Word of God
An Important Exhortation Hebrews 13.1
*Tithes and Offerings can be placed in the box at the rear of the sanctuary*
Please join us for coffee and bagels downstairs if you are visiting today.

This Week
Bible Reading Psalm 104-106
Monday Men’s Prayer Meeting 6:30am in the church basement
Wednesday Bible Study 7:30pm 1312 Pine Acres Blvd.
Thursday Bible Study 10:30am at the church
Next Lord’s Day
Morning Prayer- 10am in the church basement
Morning Worship- 10:30am(Sunday School for Children) The LORD’s Supper will be served
Spanish Service- 4pm
In Your Prayers For All of God’s People
Remember the men serving in the armed forces: Bradley, Julia Bujold’s grandson with Special Forces in Afghanistan, home on leave right now, Ken Brown, Pastor’s friend’s son on his third tour of Iraq. Please pray for the whole family. Billy Knapp, Jr. in Iraq with the Marines (neighbor of the church and Pastor- Billy’s sister graduated from Good Shepherd) One of Billy’s friends (also from the Island) was killed two weeks ago in the fighting in Iraq. Please remember that family in prayer. Matthew Klaus, brother of Good Shepherd parent in Iraq as a firefighter for Haliburton... Pray for them and the others away from their families. Praise God for keeping David Louis, Jake Morgan and Tom Hindelang safe during their times in Iraq. Christine Frankland, Katharina’s daughter continuing to recover from surgery. Please pray for Monica’s (Katrina’s granddaughter) mother-in-law, Rosemary, with breast cancer doing well. Kathy, Ziggy and Margot’s daughter-in-law, under the doctor’s care for fibromyalgia. Praise God for their son Michael’s recovery from surgery. Pray for Eloise Brooks in Sunrise Manor undergoing rehab. She wanted to be remembered to everyone again. Remember Jean Louis as both he and Eloise are on dialysis. Christopher (Uncle of Good Shepherd Grad) with leukemia. Grace Martin, Edie Raevis’ daughter, fibromyalgia. kidney stones and liver inflamation. Edie’s Sister, Grace, recovering from internal bleeding. She needed 5 pints of blood this week. Reginald Mooney, friend of Terri and John Garry, with a tumor in his kidney. Lisa Siler, a staff member of John’s, is expecting a baby and had three year old named Lauren with scarlet fever. She is home and doing well. Praise the LORD
************************************
A number of nursery school families are going through difficult times. If you would like to sponsor a child presently at Good Shepherd, see Alice or call the school at 666-7503
If you would like to help with the Sunday Morning Bagel ministry see John or Terri Garry.

Notes on Our Time in the Word of God This Morning:
An Important Exhoirtation
Hebrews 13.1






Pastor’s messages are now available online:
http://thesundaymorningmessage.blogspot.com/
Church e-mail: bayshorenaz@rock.com
Church Phone: 631-969-1730
1314 Pine Acres Boulevard, Bay Shore, Long Island, NY 11706-5436



Whatever you do, in word or deed, do all for the glory of God

Sunday, May 13, 2007

The LORD's Day, May 13, 2007 Happy Mother's Day!

The LORD Restores

Psalm 102.12-22

Jerusalem was in ruins. The once beautiful city became a smoldering ash heap. The temple was destroyed and the city once flowing with inhabitants lay desolate.

Jeremiah the prophet wrote Lamentations. In Lamentations 1
1 How deserted lies the city,
once so full of people
How like a widow is she,
who once was great among the nations
She who was queen among the provinces
has now become a slave.

6 All the splendor has departed
from the Daughter of Zion.
Her princes are like deer
that find no pasture;
in weakness they have fled
before the pursuer.

The people of Jerusalem had been through quite an ordeal. Similar to the people of Greensburg, Kansas this past week, their city was destroyed. Jerusalem was destroyed by an invading army. This judgement was years in the making: Solomon was warned by his father David: I Chronicles 28.5 Of all my sons—and the LORD has given me many—he has chosen my son Solomon to sit on the throne of the kingdom of the LORD over Israel. 6 He said to me: 'Solomon your son is the one who will build my house and my courts, for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father. 7 I will establish his kingdom forever if he is unswerving in carrying out my commands and laws, as is being done at this time.'

8 So now I charge you in the sight of all Israel and of the assembly of the LORD, and in the hearing of our God: Be careful to follow all the commands of the LORD your God, that you may possess this good land and pass it on as an inheritance to your descendants forever.

9 And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever. 10 Consider now, for the LORD has chosen you to build a temple as a sanctuary. Be strong and do the work. Solomon did complete the work on the temple but he did not listen to the words of David about his personal life. Generations later Jerusalem and this temple he built was destroyed. Guarding our hearts and lives is a work we will have to do until the end.

So that brings us to this Psalm. It was written at the end of the time of judgement when the LORD was getting ready to restore Jerusalem. It was 70 years that the nation was in Babylon. It was a difficult time for the people who remained in the vicinity of Jerusalem.

When the LORD brought the people back it was an experience that was difficult to express. The Psalmist in Psalm 126.1 When the LORD brought back the captives to Zion, we were like men who dreamed. 2 Our mouths were filled with laughter,
our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations , The LORD has done great things for them.

God brought the people back and reestablished the nation. It is a thrilling story. It is told about in Nehemiah, Ezra, the prophets and in the Psalms.

In this portion of the Psalm we read this morning we see the LORD at work in restoring the nation. As we just read they were like men who dreamed. It didn’t like it was happening. They were carried away in wonderful thoughts. They were seeing God’s Hand upon them. It was glorious.

God is the Creator and He is the “Recreator”. He makes things new. In Revelation 21:5 He who was seated on the throne said, I am making everything new Then He said, Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.

Even on earth He does this work, in our age, in our time. As He did with Jerusalem so He can with lives today. That doesn’t change the past, those returning still had to face the consequences of the sins that had been committed in generations before. But they were brought back into their country, they were in their homeland, and they had the privilege of joining in the work with God of seeing the temple restored.

The LORD loves to write final chapters. He loves to put commas where men put periods. He loves to restore souls and families and nations. That is His work.

Now it isn’t all rosy and sweet as we move toward restoration. I wrote in my journal my life’s verse this week, Psalm 16.6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places.” And they have. I have been blessed beyond measure in so many ways. My fellowship with the LORD and others- visiting Eloise this week and before...wonderful Yet Jesus said, “In this world you will have trouble, but be of good cheer I have overcome the world ” But we will have trouble. And there is sometimes difficulty in our very work and worship from enemies.

Daniel had them. He prayed and was arrested and thrown into the lion’s den. Yet God delivered him. But he still went through the experience of brushing with death and facing had the LORD not intervened and shut the mouths of the loins We will not be free from trouble until we are home with the LORD. But while we walk this pilgrim pathway there are some awesome things we get to see the LORD do and one of His marvelous works is restoring, rebuilding, working wonders among us.
One of the illustrations of this work of God came to Jeremiah. The LORD directed him to go down to the Potter’s house.
In Jeremiah 18. 1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD : 2 Go down to the potter's house, and there I will give you my message. 3 So I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 4 But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. 5 Then the word of the LORD came to me: 6 O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does? declares the LORD. Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.

God can remake lives. He does it today.

Psalm 102.12-22

1. He is in Control -v.12

God has always been on His Throne, is now and always will be Things may seem like they have spun out of control but they are under His control. Men think too highly of themselves when they think otherwise.

It may have appeared and probably did to the inhabitants of Jerusalem when it was destroyed in 586 B.C. that God was not in control. Jeremiah and Psalm 102 sets this type of false thinking straight. God is in control. It is futile and foolish to be angry with God. Things may be falling apart around us. God reigns. Events may happen that look like this is not true but He is on His Throne in the heavens and He will be there forever. Wait for Him because...


2. Restoration Comes in His Appointed Time. v.13
It is not for you to know the dates or times the Father has set but when it comes you will know

Jerusalem was rebuilt when God decided and its rebuilding lined up with Jesus coming into the temple on Palm Sunday- dates the Father had set by His own authority. We make dates and appointments but they are nothing compared to God’s. In His Time He makes all things beautiful. He set the order of the seasons. He sets things in order in restorations. Benefits of spiritual destitution... One million dollar lotto winner this week... widow’s mite... No record of Jesus ever having money.

Wait for the LORD. Be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD

3. He will Come and Rebuild Things During Our Lifetime. v.16
He rebuilds lives.
He is the Potter. We are the clay. He can remake and reshape things.
He rebuilds homes and families.
Some things will never be back the way they were. Reality does not repeat. But He restores the human heart and He repays us for the years the locust have eaten. (Joel 2.25)
He rebuilds cities and nations. (Gulf Coast- Mission Team from Long Island Nazarene Churches this summer). Much of the relief work has been by the church.

He restores broken hearts. Hallelujah
Some things cannot be put back to the way they were. Time has brought great change and we cannot go back. But God can heal the broken hearted. He does that today. He restores my soul

4. Complete and Full Restoration is Heaven v.21-22
That is when He will make everything new

There are certain things that will not be fully restored until they get to heaven and that includes you and me We contend with the world, the flesh and the devil. The world a nd its desires are passing away. One day we will leave this body and be given a new body like Jesus’s glorified body and the tempter, the dragon, the serpent, Satan will be thrown into the lake of fire.

Emma’s words yesterday.

It won’t be long. It could easily happen any time. The war on terror has all the markings of the final war as well as originating in the place where the final war will be fought

What is the LORD saying to you in the broken places of your life these days? Look to Him for restoration and rebuilding. He is the LORD

The LORD’s Day
May 13, 2007
Mother’s Day

We Worship In Singing
We Worship In Prayer
We Worship In Hearing the Word of God
The LORD Restores Psalm 102.12-22
*Tithes and Offerings can be placed in the box at the rear of the sanctuary*
Please join us for coffee and bagels downstairs if you are visiting today.

V
This Week
Bible Reading Psalm 104-106
Monday Men’s Prayer Meeting 6:30am in the church basement
Wednesday Bible Study & Thursday Bible Study will not be held this week.
Pastor will be at District Assembly in New Jersey.
Next Lord’s Day
Morning Prayer- 10am in the church basement
Morning Worship- 10:30am(Sunday School for Children)
Spanish Service- 4pm

In Your Prayers For All of God’s People
Remember the men serving in the armed forces: Bradley, Julia Bujold’s grandson with Special Forces in Afghanistan, home on leave right now, Ken Brown, Pastor’s friend’s son on his third tour of Iraq. Please pray for the whole family. Billy Knapp, Jr. in Iraq with the Marines (neighbor of the church and Pastor- Billy’s sister graduated from Good Shepherd) One of Billy’s friends (also from the Island) was killed this week in the fighting in Iraq. Please remember that family in prayer. Matthew Klaus, brother of Good Shepherd parent in Iraq as a firefighter for Haliburton... Pray for them and the others away from their families. Praise God for keeping David Louis, Jake Morgan and Tom Hindelang safe during their times in Iraq. Christine Frankland, Katharina’s daughter continuing to recover from surgery. Please pray for Monica’s (Katrina’s granddaughter) mother-in-law, Rosemary, with breast cancer doing well. Kathy, Ziggy and Margot’s daughter-in-law, under the doctor’s care for fibromyalgia. Prasie God for their son Michael’s recovery from surgery. Pray for Eloise Brooks in Sunrise Manor undergoing rehab. She wanted to be remembered to everyone. Remember Jean Louis as both he and Eloise are on dialysis. Christopher (Uncle of Good Shepherd Grad) with leukemia. Grace Martin, Edie Raevis’ daughter, fibromyalgia. kidney stones and liver inflamation. Reginald Mooney, friend of Terri and John Garry, with a tumor in his kidney. Lisa Siler, a staff member of John’s, is expecting a baby and had three year old named Lauren with scarlet fever. She is home and doing well. Praise the LORD
************************************
A number of nursery school families are going through difficult times. If you would like to sponsor a child presently at Good Shepherd, see Alice or call the school at 666-7503
If you would like to help with the Sunday Morning Bagel ministry see John or Terri Garry.



Notes on Our Time in the Word of God This Morning:
The LORD Restores
Psalm 102.12-22




Pastor’s messages are now available online:
http://thesundaymorningmessage.blogspot.com/
Church e-mail: bayshorenaz@rock.com
Church Phone: 631-969-1730
1314 Pine Acres Boulevard, Bay Shore, Long Island, NY 11706-5436


Whatever you do, in word or deed, do all for the glory of God

Sunday, May 6, 2007

The LORD's Day, May 6, 2007

Jesus is Seeking Lost Souls
John 3-4, Mark 5

God is no respecter of people. He is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. He loves the world. He loved it so much He sent His One and Only Son to die for us.

This morning we are going to look at three people who had an encounter with Jesus Christ. One was a respected religious leader, another was a woman with a bad reputation and who had been married 5 times and was living with a man who was not her husband and the other was a man who was as close to insanity and self destruction of any that we read about in God’s Word.

Whether a person is successful and accomplished in this life, or whether they are people who have severely broken God’s law of marriage or whether they are people whom society has banished, they all have one common need. They all need the saving power of Jesus Christ. They are multitudes of people like them all around us today. Jesus has left us with the supreme privilege of telling them about Him. He wants us to join Him is this desire I Timothy 2.3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4 Who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

We are to be prepared. I Peter 3.15 But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,

We become prepared by reading God’s Word and hiding it in our hearts. The Word of God is living and active and sharing it cuts to the heart of a person. Tell people when they inquire why you have hope that is because of Jesus Christ.

I love the examples Jesus gave us and they are recorded here for us to read and learn. Notice that in every one of these encounters the subject is Jesus Christ Himself. I get concerned in this day of the Christian Celebrity that people are focusing on a personality other than Jesus Christ. He is the only One that is worthy to be called Wonderful. No one else should have that title. His name should be mentioned often. His name is above all others. He is the LORD God Almighty.

Let’s look at how Jesus shared His love with people.

1. Nicodemus, the man who came to Jesus at night. John 3

Nicodemus was a secret disciple. He started out that way. I think many are like that We keep our faith hidden from others for a vast array of reasons. Nicodemus kept his secret for fear of the Jews- his own brothers. Perhaps he was afraid he would lose his standing or even his position. It is interesting that he began this way. Coming to Jesus at night.


There are many things about the Old City of Jerusalem today which are very similar to Jesus’ time- one them is that the city sleeps at sundown. You can move around at night and very few people if any will see you. In the daylight hours Jerusalem is a beehive of activity but at night, shops close, people go to their homes and the streets are empty. Only a few gate remain open. This meeting could have taken place in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus often went there with His disciples.

Nicodemus came seeking and Jesus said (John 6:37) All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. God is patient with those in the struggle that Nicodemus and Jospeh of Armithea were in but there comes a time when secret disciples must come out of the woodwork and stand up and be public about their faith.

Is this where you are at this morning? The power of the Holy Spirit makes you a witness for Jesus. Let Jesus baptize you with the Holy Spirit and give you a holy boldness. Perhaps you need a fresh infilling of His Spirit. This is God’s work, it is a gift of God.

The conversation Jesus had with Nicodemus forms a great deal of our understanding of what it means to experience the New Birth. Being born again is first mentioned here.

As we look at the conversation with the woman at the well and this one with Nicodemus, we see that both lack spiritual understanding. Their lack was in great part centered around Who Jesus really was. Nicodemus had Him down as a teacher (sent from God) and the woman a the well in Samaria had Jesus down as prophet. He is the Master Teacher and He fulfilled the office of the prophet. As the woman said He was the prophet that (Moses told about) that was to come into the world. But He is the Son of God He came to bring us into God’s family.

We can learn a lesson here from Nicodemus’s encounter with Jesus. He needed to be born again. He had considered who Jesus was but had not come to faith in Him yet. Many people today are one hit wonders. They are like the multitudes in Jesus’ time. They brush up against things that are spiritual and they hold onto that experience but they never believe on Him to forgive their sins. They never follow. They never embrace the gospel. They need the Savior but they think He is just a good teacher or a prophet. They miss the time of God’s coming to them.

Now Nicodemus did go on to faith and following Jesus. But it was not until after Jesus died that he came forward.

There are very religious people around today. Their need, like Nicodemus, is for faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior. When you encounter them, do what Jesus did. Tell them they must be born again.


Let’s head over to Samaria...

2. The Woman from Samaria Who Came to Jesus in the Day John 4

Probably for the same reasons as Nicodemus coming at night- she didn’t want to be seen. Day time in the West Bank between 11 and 3 the sun is hot and it is dangerous to travel back. I found this out my last time in Israel not very far from where this exchange took place between Jesus and the woman at the well.

I love this verse in the KJV 4 And he must needs go through Samaria. Necessary lying in the nature of the case, necessary in what is required to attain some end.

The Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans. They avoided Samaria. Jesus was breaking down the prejudicial nature of the disciples against the Samaritan’s and against women. He was also on his way to appointment He had to go there.

This appointment with Jesus the woman had no idea was coming She didn’t know that this afternoon her life was going to be completely changed So often when God works in us we are just going about our routines. He uses every day life to meet with His people. He doesn’t always tell us He is going to show up. So was the case with this lady.

This woman’s life was totally changed by Jesus Christ that day. He took away her shame, sin and sorrow. He revealed Himself to her. A while later a revival broke out in Samaria (Acts 8.4-8) We are to be like those early followers- witnesses of Jesus Christ.

As the Spirit directs us and we follow we will be witnesses.

The woman at the well and the Nicodemus had individual meetings with Jesus that transformed them. They show us it doesn’t matter how religious a person is they need Christ and it doesn’t matter how wicked a person is they are nor beyond His Grace



3. The Demoniac Whom Jesus Came To Mark 5

Some people can’t make appointments to see Jesus. They are beyond the ability to move themselves. The demoniac was like this. The man who was lowered to Jesus through the roof was like that. His friends had to help them. The demoniac had no friends. He had a lot of silent enemies.

People were afraid of him. They tried to bind him. No one could. He would break the chains.

Back in the late 60's after Israel took control of the Golan Heights, they put in a highway around the Sea of Galilee. As they worked this area with the machinery, something happened that occurs there frequently when digging goes on- they discovered or should I say uncovered history.
It turned out that years after healing of the demoniac took place, a church was built by the shore and up on the cliff a chapel was erected. For hundreds and hundreds of year it lay buried in the ground, now it has been rebuilt in commemoration of the miracle.

We understand this man was absolutely helpless. There are some like that today. So Jesus went to him, cast the demons out and sent him home.

Frustration - Fulton J. Sheen

1. What Sin Had Done To Him
It divided him.
It defiled him.

2. What Society had Done to Him.
It bound him.
It banished him.

3. What the Savior did for Him
He cleaned him up.
He sent him home.

There are people around and we may know some of them who are like this man
divided, being defiled, bound, banished. They need Jesus. He can do what no other can do


Nicodemus, the woman at the well, this man among the tombs all had one single need. They needed Christ Jesus.

In our lives these days we come in contact with people like this all the time. May the LORD open our eyes so we can see the harvest field next door, across the street and around the block.



Remember Jesus’ Words to the disciples that day with the woman at the well.

Don’t say 4 months and then the harvest Look to the fields they are ripe for harvest now

-------------------------------
The LORD’s Day
May 3, 2007

We Worship In Singing
We Worship In Receiving the LORD’s Supper
We Worship In Hearing the Word of God
Jesus in Seeking Lost Souls
John 3-4, Mark 5

*Tithes and Offerings can be placed in the box at the rear of the sanctuary*
Please join us for coffee and bagels downstairs if you are visiting today.

V
This Week
Bible Reading Psalm 101-103
Monday Men’s Prayer Meeting 6:30am in the church basement
Wednesday Bible Study - 7:30pm 1312 Pine Acres Blvd.
Thursday Bible Study - 10:30am at the church
Next Lord’s Day
Morning Prayer- 10am in the church basement
Morning Worship- 10:30am(Sunday School for Children)
Spanish Service- 4pm

In Your Prayers For All of God’s People
Remember the men serving in the armed forces: Bradley, Julia Bujold’s grandson with Special Forces in Afghanistan, home on leave right now, Ken Brown, Pastor’s friend’s son on his third tour of Iraq. Please pray for the whole family. Billy Knapp, Jr. in Iraq with the Marines (neighbor of the church and Pastor- Billy’s sister graduated from Good Shepherd). Matthew Klaus, brother of Good Shepherd parent in Iraq as a firefighter for Haliburton... Pray for them and the others away from their families. Praise God for keeping David Louis, Jake Morgan and Tom Hindelang safe during their times in Iraq. Christine Frankland, Katharina’s daughter continuing to recover from surgery, still having pain. Please pray for Monica’s (Katrina’s granddaughter) mother-in-law, Rosemary, with breast cancer doing well. Kathy, Ziggy and Margot’s daughter-in-law, under the doctor’s care for fibromyalgia. Their son Michael is recovering from surgery from last week . Pray for Eloise Brooks in Southside undergoing rehab. Remember Jean Louis as both he and Eloise are on dialysis. Christopher (Uncle of Good Shepherd Grad) with leukemia. Grace Martin, Edie Raevis’ daughter, fibromyalgia. kidney stones and liver inflamation. Reginald Mooney, friend of Terri and John Garry, with a tumor in his kidney. Also Lisa Siler, a staff member of John’s, is expecting a baby and has three year old named Lauren with scarlet fever.
************************************
A number of nursery school families are going through difficult times. If you would like to sponsor a child presently at Good Shepherd, see Alice or call the school at 666-7503
If you would like to help with the Sunday Morning Bagel ministry see John or Terri Garry.

Notes on Our Time in the Word of God This Morning:
Jesus in Seeking Lost Souls
John 3-4, Mark 5








Pastor’s messages are now available online:
http://thesundaymorningmessage.blogspot.com/
Church e-mail: bayshorenaz@rock.com
(Church Phone: 631-969-1730
*1314 Pine Acres Boulevard, Bay Shore, Long Island, NY 11706-5436


Whatever you do, in word or deed, do all for the glory of God