This is the second sermon I have written for you in which God spoke to me from a sermon I heard elsewhere. Rick Warren preached the other sermon I heard. It was titled, Learn How to Recognize God's voice, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-827QmRDjUA . I highly recommend that you find and listen to this whole sermon. It will free you from demonic strongholds, and comfort you as few things you have ever heard. However, I am only focusing on one of his 7 tests for discerning the voice of God.
There is a terrible story in 2nd Samuel 13. The Bible does not sugar-coat the heart of man. Amnon, one of David's sons was driven by desire for his sister, Tamar. And he had a cousin who influenced him to do evil. Is your life driven by desires? And in the light of that, who influences you?
For many years I have loved James 3:13-18. God has spoken to me again and again in this passage. I have always rightly applied these truths to developing wisdom in my own heart. But recently God has spoken to me about using these verses to measure those whom I should or should not allow to influence me. Can we read this passage with this in mind?
“Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”
The passage begins by asking, “Who is wise and understanding among you?” It goes on to tell us to let them show it in the “meekness of wisdom.”
THE INFLUENCE OF THE WORLDLY
The one question this calls us to ask about those who are seeking to influence us here is, “Are their hearts submissive to God” In this context that is what the word meekness connotes. It is not always easy to determine this. Discerning someone else's heart and mind will require thinking and praying, listening to their words, and watching their behavior. James gives us three hearts signs that will eventually show up in speech and behavior. They are bitterness, jealousy, and selfish ambition.
I have actually known people who were drawn to bitter people because bitterness justified their own self-pity. The devil always wants to plant self-pity in our hearts. And bitter people help him. But of course these same people are swallowed up by it themselves. And they will turn their bitterness on you. They will have obvious or hidden selfish motives. They will not hesitate to manipulate you without any regard to your needs or God's will.
The influence of these people is earthly. It will always see from the point of view of present desires. Their influence is unspiritual. Have you ever known people who couched their selfish ambition as prayerful, spiritual, or even biblical? But their underlying motivations were lies, usually lies they told themselves to effectively manipulate you.
The influence of these people is demonic. Selfishness comes right out of the pit of Hell. And it will produce disorder and every vile practice in their own lives and in yours.
Sometimes these are people that are permanently in your life. And it can be very difficult to sever yourself from their influence, while trying to love them.
One important step when you do recognize worldly influence in your life is to make sure you do not act on what they have been pushing you to do. This is often difficult. They will always give arguments as to why they are right. And they will join your accuser in trying to make you feel guilty.
A more practical application may be to recognize when you have already acted on their advice. Admit that it was sin, and thank God that He has washed you clean from it. At that point He will stretch your faith as you learn to trust Him. God will often use the pain of that circumstance, not as judgment but as discipline, because He loves you and has important things to teach you.
THE INFLUENCE OF THE GODLY
In contrast James shows us the wisdom and grace that comes to us through the influence of those who are godly. The first characteristic of godly influences is pure motives. Ask yourself what they want, what they desire. Do they want something that you believe and the Bible teaches is good? Anything less will do harm in your life and theirs.
The next characteristic James lists is peace. Godly wisdom will always be peaceable. Do the people influencing you bless relationships? Do they want help you love people who are hard to love? Or do they exaggerate, express violence or anger, and degrade others?
Are you being influenced by people who are gentle? Are they open to reason? Can you discuss differences in perspective or understanding with them? I have always loved Isaiah 1:18, that begins, “Come let us reason together says the Lord.” God calls us to reason with Him. Of course, we, like our own children, need God just to tell us some things, simply because we could never understand from our limited perspective. But even in those cases He stretches us so that we might eventually understand His will.
Are the people who are influencing you merciful? Do they call you to be patient with others? Are you being influenced by people who reflect God's mercy in their influence and in their own lives?
James’ climaxes with fruitfulness. Fruit is something only God can produce in you and those around you. You cannot put fruit on a tree in your backyard. You cannot produce in other people's lives what only God can do.
The next two things that James mentions relate to trusting God to bear fruit in the lives of other people. Are your influences leading you to be ‘impartial and sincere?” These characteristics are evidence that you trust God to work in people's lives. Do those who Influence you lead you to trust God? I love the wording of verse 18 in the King James Version.
“The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.”
You can rest in God who produces spiritual fruit in the lives of those around you.
Here are the fundamentals from which I have drawn this sermon. I pray that God will use them to give you a message that will transform the lives of people by His power.
CENTRAL IDEA OF THE TEXT : James tells us that those who are wise we will speak in the meekness of wisdom.
FOCUS : The wise influence will speak to us from the meekness of godly wisdom.
PEOPLE : Believers who are under pressure from unwise and ungodly influences.
Felt/Need : Dealing with stress of self centered influences
PURPOSE : Consecrative; I want my hearers to free themselves from selfish influences.
THRUST : We must seek to free ourselves from selfish influences.
PICTURE : Fruit that God must produce on a tree.
STORY: 2 Samuel 13; The passion of Amnon, the influence of Jonadab.
INTRODUCTION: The meekness of godly wisdom
POINTS :
I. The Influence of the Worldly
Bitterness
Jealousy
Selfish ambition
No matter how right these may sound, they are fundamentally lies; earthly, unspiritual, and demonic.
II. The Influence of the Godly
Pure
Peaceful
Gentle
Reasonable
Full of Mercy
Producing fruit
Impartial and Sincere
Depending on God to do what only God can do.
The fruit of righteousness is sown in the Peace of them that make peace.
If you have questions about the fundamentals of sermons, feel free to ask me.
http://theanchorofthesoul.blogspot.com/
http://thinkinginthespirit.blogspot.com/
Unity in the church is a God thing. http://watchinginprayer.blogspot.com/
http://writingprayerfully.blogspot.com/
Website
http://daveswatch.com/
YouTube
https://goo.gl/PyzUz7
Tuesday, August 28, 2018
Friday, August 24, 2018
UNITY AMONG BROTHERS
Last Sunday our pastor preached on Psalm 133. And God spoke to me as he preached. I am reminded of something I once heard from a spellbinding preacher. He said God gave him his best sermons as He spoke to him when he was listening to other preachers preach. Well, in fact, although my preaching is now done with my pen, God still seems to be giving me sermons. And I would like to share this one with you. And my sharing will be most blessed, if at some point in reading this God gives you a sermon to preach to His people.
UNITY AMONG BROTHERS
I once heard a denominational leader say he could tell the spiritual temperature of a church by simply walking into a worship center as people were gathering for the service on a Sunday morning. I think he was absolutely right. You can sense excitement in the people or the lack of it. And most of all you can feel the love and unity binding the church together. Jesus said all men would know we are his disciples by the way we love one another.
One of my favorite Psalms is Psalm 133. The first verse of Psalm 133 calls us to see the goodness of unity in the family of God.
The wording of this reminds me of the creation account in Genesis 1. There the Hebrew word tov, which translates to our English word “good” is first used in the Bible. Again and again as God creates, the scripture says “God saw that it was good.” But after He created man, we have His greater exclamation in verse 31 which begins with the word, “Behold.”
With this call for us to sit up and pay attention, Psalm 133 is calling us to see that in the unity of the family of God, He is restoring the goodness of His creation.
And he says it is good and pleasant. There is a sweetness that is not only enjoyed by our Heavenly Father, but that He shares with us in the unity of the Church of Jesus Christ.
CONSECRATION
Verse 2 of Psalm 133 paints a vivid picture for us.
The Holy Spirit is comparing unity in the family of God with the consecration of the priesthood. What this must have brought to the minds of the Children of Israel is something very similar to some things God did in my early life.
I grew up in Oklahoma going to Falls Creek Baptist Assembly. You do not have to be from Oklahoma to have herd of the largest Youth Camp in the world. But I remember going as a young person with thousands of other young people and listening to the word of God preached. At the end of each evening service hundreds of young people would go forward in the altarcall to commit their lives to Christ. When they would finally bring that invitation to a close they would lead those young people to the chapel where where there was counseling space. And as they marched away we would all sing, I have decided to follow Jesus. I seldom sing that hymn without chills rising up on my neck and the the backs of my arms as I remember seeing those crowds of young people, and myself being one of those committing our lives to Christ.
The psalmist here is saying our unity is a God thing. He brings it about. And it is an expression of consecration to him.
But I said this reminds me of two things in my early life. The other is when I first sensed God calling me to preach. I struggled with His calling for an entire semester in college. And when I became convinced that God was indeed calling me, that became the driving force of my life. It is that to this day. You may not be called to preach. But as you sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ you have been given a calling by God. And like Aaron and all the priest who followed him you have a special anointing, a purpose that is to be the driving force of your life. This picture says the unity of the church is an expression of our
II. PURPOSE AND THE GOSPEL.
The next picture given in verse 3 is very different but quite as vivid.
III. BLESSING
Mount Hermon is a snow capped-mountain, part of a snow-capped range just north of Israel. We lived for 30 years in the Pacific Northwest surrounded by glorious snowy mountains. And the rain fall was a continual mist of blessing. We had a 90 foot Douglas Fir in our backyard. There was a hundred fifty foot tree in the park two blocks from our house. And our library had in a glass case a cutting of the largest Douglas Fir ever removed from the forest. The base of that tree was over 12 feet in diameter. In this picture God is saying unity the church grows from his continual blessing upon us. And it ends by saying this blessing is itself eternal life.
IV. ETERNAL LIFE
When we see and enjoy unity in the family of God we ought to immediately think of John 3:16. Let's say that verse together in the version we have projected.
The sermon that God gave me is different from the sermon our pastor preached. And I suspect if God speaks to you through this brief, the sermon you preach to your people will be much different than mine. However, I suspect any sermon preached on Psalm 133 would depend upon similar fundamentals. In the days when I was preaching week by week I always began with the basics listed below. With these basics in my mind I would usually take a walk. As I walked my sermon I would preach everything that came into my mind on these basic points. And so I actually composed my sermons out loud.
THE CENTRAL IDEA OF THE TEXT : The psalmist exclaims over the God given goodness of unity among brothers.
PEOPLE : believers who make up this church
Felt/Need : unity in the church
PURPOSE : Doctrinal; I want my hearers to know unity in the church is a work of God.
THRUST : Unity in the church is a God thing.
PICTURE : The Dew from Mt. Hermon
STORY : Oil on, Aaron's beard
POINTS :
Introduction : Good and Pleasant
I. Consecration
II. Purpose, Gospel
III. Blessing
IV. Eternal life
http://theanchorofthesoul.blogspot.com/
http://thinkinginthespirit.blogspot.com/
http://watchinginprayer.blogspot.com/
http://writingprayerfully.blogspot.com/
Website
http://daveswatch.com/
YouTube
https://goo.gl/PyzUz7
UNITY AMONG BROTHERS
I once heard a denominational leader say he could tell the spiritual temperature of a church by simply walking into a worship center as people were gathering for the service on a Sunday morning. I think he was absolutely right. You can sense excitement in the people or the lack of it. And most of all you can feel the love and unity binding the church together. Jesus said all men would know we are his disciples by the way we love one another.
One of my favorite Psalms is Psalm 133. The first verse of Psalm 133 calls us to see the goodness of unity in the family of God.
“Behold, how good and pleasant it is
when brothers dwell in unity!”
The wording of this reminds me of the creation account in Genesis 1. There the Hebrew word tov, which translates to our English word “good” is first used in the Bible. Again and again as God creates, the scripture says “God saw that it was good.” But after He created man, we have His greater exclamation in verse 31 which begins with the word, “Behold.”
“And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.”
With this call for us to sit up and pay attention, Psalm 133 is calling us to see that in the unity of the family of God, He is restoring the goodness of His creation.
And he says it is good and pleasant. There is a sweetness that is not only enjoyed by our Heavenly Father, but that He shares with us in the unity of the Church of Jesus Christ.
CONSECRATION
Verse 2 of Psalm 133 paints a vivid picture for us.
“It is like the precious oil on the head,
running down on the beard,
on the beard of Aaron,
running down on the collar of his robes!”
The Holy Spirit is comparing unity in the family of God with the consecration of the priesthood. What this must have brought to the minds of the Children of Israel is something very similar to some things God did in my early life.
I grew up in Oklahoma going to Falls Creek Baptist Assembly. You do not have to be from Oklahoma to have herd of the largest Youth Camp in the world. But I remember going as a young person with thousands of other young people and listening to the word of God preached. At the end of each evening service hundreds of young people would go forward in the altarcall to commit their lives to Christ. When they would finally bring that invitation to a close they would lead those young people to the chapel where where there was counseling space. And as they marched away we would all sing, I have decided to follow Jesus. I seldom sing that hymn without chills rising up on my neck and the the backs of my arms as I remember seeing those crowds of young people, and myself being one of those committing our lives to Christ.
The psalmist here is saying our unity is a God thing. He brings it about. And it is an expression of consecration to him.
But I said this reminds me of two things in my early life. The other is when I first sensed God calling me to preach. I struggled with His calling for an entire semester in college. And when I became convinced that God was indeed calling me, that became the driving force of my life. It is that to this day. You may not be called to preach. But as you sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ you have been given a calling by God. And like Aaron and all the priest who followed him you have a special anointing, a purpose that is to be the driving force of your life. This picture says the unity of the church is an expression of our
II. PURPOSE AND THE GOSPEL.
The next picture given in verse 3 is very different but quite as vivid.
“It is like the dew of Hermon,
which falls on the mountains of Zion!
For there the Lord has commanded the blessing,
life forevermore.”
This is a picture of rich blessing from God.III. BLESSING
Mount Hermon is a snow capped-mountain, part of a snow-capped range just north of Israel. We lived for 30 years in the Pacific Northwest surrounded by glorious snowy mountains. And the rain fall was a continual mist of blessing. We had a 90 foot Douglas Fir in our backyard. There was a hundred fifty foot tree in the park two blocks from our house. And our library had in a glass case a cutting of the largest Douglas Fir ever removed from the forest. The base of that tree was over 12 feet in diameter. In this picture God is saying unity the church grows from his continual blessing upon us. And it ends by saying this blessing is itself eternal life.
IV. ETERNAL LIFE
When we see and enjoy unity in the family of God we ought to immediately think of John 3:16. Let's say that verse together in the version we have projected.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
Do you have a longing in your heart to be part of the unity of God's family?The sermon that God gave me is different from the sermon our pastor preached. And I suspect if God speaks to you through this brief, the sermon you preach to your people will be much different than mine. However, I suspect any sermon preached on Psalm 133 would depend upon similar fundamentals. In the days when I was preaching week by week I always began with the basics listed below. With these basics in my mind I would usually take a walk. As I walked my sermon I would preach everything that came into my mind on these basic points. And so I actually composed my sermons out loud.
THE CENTRAL IDEA OF THE TEXT : The psalmist exclaims over the God given goodness of unity among brothers.
PEOPLE : believers who make up this church
Felt/Need : unity in the church
PURPOSE : Doctrinal; I want my hearers to know unity in the church is a work of God.
THRUST : Unity in the church is a God thing.
PICTURE : The Dew from Mt. Hermon
STORY : Oil on, Aaron's beard
POINTS :
Introduction : Good and Pleasant
I. Consecration
II. Purpose, Gospel
III. Blessing
IV. Eternal life
http://theanchorofthesoul.blogspot.com/
http://thinkinginthespirit.blogspot.com/
http://watchinginprayer.blogspot.com/
http://writingprayerfully.blogspot.com/
Website
http://daveswatch.com/
YouTube
https://goo.gl/PyzUz7
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