Sunday, September 28, 2014

Putting Your House In Order



II Kings 20.1

Time we thought the Spanagels were visiting in Bellmore. 

Pastor Paul Cunningham, "Is Your House Ready?"

In order= command, give charges, appoint, give orders
Basically chose the next king from your sons, prepare  life for your family after you are gone.

One of the most forgotten verses in the Bible today is: Hebrews 9:27 ...it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.

We are going to die one day if Jesus does not return in our lifetime...
We are bombarded with information today on extending our lives through medication, check ups and surgery. Pastor Earl Lee at 80 went to be with the LORD. "He could have still been here if he took care of himself!"
See how this flies against the scripture: 
Philippians 1:21-24 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. 

 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. II Corinthians 5.10

Hezekiah was 39 years old when he received this news from Isaiah.
Jim Elliot, missionary to the Auca Indians, who was martyred at age 29 wrote in his journal a few years before his death, 
"I must not think it strange if God takes in youth those who I would have kept on earth till they were older. God is peopling Eternity, and I must not restrict Him to old men and women." ex/ Oswald Chambers (43), Deitrich Bonhoffer(39) and Keith Green (28) and then there was Jesus Himself.

Isaiah 57:1-2 The righteous perish, and no one takes it to heart; the devout are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil. Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death. 

Put your house in order:

What will be your spiritual legacy?  What will people remember about your spiritual life?  Your legacy in the people your life influenced will far outlast anything you ever achieved. What would those people say?

A sobering song:
After all our hopes and dreams have come and gone
And our children sift through all we've left behind
May the clues that they discover and the memories they uncover
Become the light that leads them to the road we each must find

Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful
May the fire of our devotion light their way
May the footprints that we leave
Lead them to believe
And the lives we live inspire them to obey

4 years ago last month:

My family in Florida was in shock at the death of Christopher. Two weeks ago this morning, in my cousin, Lori's home, I got up early before we were to leave for church and was reading my Bible and journaling. The day before I was on a Southwest Airline flight out of MacArthur. I had been reading Psalm 50-70 while I waited. These are some of David's psalms of difficulty written while Saul was pursuing him and trying it take his life. I encourage people to read these psalms while going through deep grief. I discovered how much they can help from my own experience.

Suddenly Psalm 55.22 jumped out and grabbed my heart there in MacArthur Airport. That is the verse for my family I thought. I took my journal out the next day, on that Sunday morning and wrote down the verse, "Cast all your cares on the LORD and He will sustain you." I had no sooner written it than Lori my cousin, came out and greeted me with a "Good morning". She picked up what had been our Nana's (Rose Biggs) old Promise Box, full of scriptures, Nana had based her life upon.

Then my cousin Lori began to tell me a story about it.

She showed me how she had one card sticking out of it. She said that during a very difficult night in her life, she could not sleep, so she got up to clean. She was dusting and she accidentally knocked Nana's Promise box off. It fell on the floor and one card flew out. She showed it to me. It was Psalm 55.22 and I Peter 5.7. I showed my journal in which I had just written out Psalm 55.22 and how the day before as I began my trek to Florida the LORD had given this to me for my family there. And suddenly we realized we in the Presence of God. We prayed, thanking God for the wonderful gift of our heritage. Our Nana had gone to heaven 22 years ago but the influence of her life lived on and the LORD was showing us that and that those promises were as true today as the day He gave them and the day our Nana read them and the night that card popped out. Our God is an Awesome God.

There are times when we find life's situations to be unbearable. I think of Tiffany, Christopher's fiance. Wedding Invitations all sent out and now he is gone and what was to be three weeks of wonderful expectation has become difficult beyond description. Horatio Spafford and Joseph Scriven knew about this. They wrote, It is Well With My Soul and What a Friend We Have in Jesus. Scriven's fiance drowned the night before they were to be married.

Hezekiah found this news to be unbearable. He had been a very good king, like David. God hd blessed him greatly. This didn't seem fair or right to him. So he asked God to heal him. The LORD did. He would have been far better off and the nation and his descendants if he had simply submitted to God's Word.

Put your house in order!
 
We should pay heed to these words while we are healthy. This could contain repentance, farewells & goodbyes, and a reflection on anything that needs to be paid attention to.

Put your house in order means:

1. Any Unfinished Business With Anyone.
Forgiveness

Debts
*Is there anyone or any group you owe money to? We are to be people of integrity and should obey the admonition by Paul the Apostle to the Church in Rome:  Romans 13:8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. 

Relationships- 
When my brother Mark was diagnosed in October 1997, comment to me, 
"You probably rushed right up here to make things right with him." My response was, "No, there was nothing to make right. I just wanted to be by his side." The lady, "I wish I could say that about my sister and I."

Our neighbor John Mehler and his brother


2. Last Will and Testament
 Not just a legal document but journals, Bible, Mark's letter
McDivitts Note
Dad's video tapes/ my video tapes- DVDs
Our lives
Our check books

We are building our lives with what we do. We can change things.


3.Gifts To Be Given.

Jack Benny
Jack loved his wife and was devoted to her. As Benny's widow reported to McCall's magazine shortly after her husband died in December 1974, the entertainer's will specified that one red rose be delivered to her for as long as she lived. 

"Every day since Jack has gone the florist has delivered one long-stemmed red rose to my home. I learned that Jack actually had included a provision for the flowers in his will. One red rose to be delivered to me every day for the rest of my life." 


Giving to a ministry

Giving to people- pastors' libraries.

This sentence of death which will come to all of us gives us a proper evaluation of material things.  It separates life from death and shows us what is ultimately important. We need that today.  Our possessions are on loan from God. 
Like the Hymn Until Then says: 
The things of earth will dim and lose their value
If we recall they're borrowed for awhile;
And things of earth that cause the heart to tremble,
Remembered there will only bring a smile. 

Hezekiah's request was answered but it was in those 15 additional years that he sinned and made terrible mistakes.

 The Apostle Paul's Reaction to His Imminent Death 2 Timothy 4:6-8

1. I am ready to be offered

2. The time of his departure was at hand

3. He fought a good fight

4. Finished his course

5. Kept the faith

6. Knew that rewards were waiting

Finishing well

Acts 20:24 However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.

For the audio version of this message go to:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/167379759957148/permalink/886428818052235/

Sunday, September 21, 2014

A Heart for God



II Kings 18.1-8


In a time of national decay, Hezekiah came to the throne. His father was very wicked but he was not. I have hope today for the kids who come from wicked situations. I pray for the LORD to change their hearts. I pray for them to hear God's Word and obey it, for them to follow the LORD even growing up with a bad influence of a wicked father.  The LORD  did that with Hezekiah.

Hezekiah was a good king. He served the LORD just like his father David did.

David was a man after God's own heart. The LORD is seeking people like that today.

2 Chronicles 16:9 For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him. 

John 4.23-24 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.

The LORD is looking at our hearts today. He is interested in our motives, our love for Him, our love for others. He is looking at what we aim at.

When Goliath, the Champion of the Philistines from Gath came against Israel, David stood for God's honor.

1 Samuel 17:26,  David asked the men standing near him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the Armies of the Living God?”
 45-47 David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the Armies of Israel, Whom you have defied. This day the LORD will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD's, and He will give all of you into our hands.” 

David's heart was concerned for God's glory. He was concerned about God's honor. When Saul was killed He taught the people a lament. It included:
“Your glory, O Israel, lies slain on your heights.How the mighty have fallen! “Tell it not in Gath, proclaim it not in the streets of Ashkelon, lest the daughters of the Philistines be glad, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised rejoice."
 II Samuel 1.19-20
At the death of his arch enemy he could have rejoiced and let the nation mourn alone. Bu he really could not because he was a man after God's own heart.

They brought the ark of the Lord and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and David sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before the Lord. After he had finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD Almighty. II Samuel 6.17-18

With our hearts for God this effects every thing we do, why we do it and how we do it.

Hezekiah had a heart like his father, David. He had a heart for God. A good prayer to pray, Psalm 86:11 Teach me Your way, O LORD, that I may rely on Your faithfulness; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear Your Name. 
David prayed this prayer.

There are so many benefits in having a pure heart! A heart for God, concerned for His honor and glory.


1. The LORD Grants Success to Those People As They Serve Him. vs.6-7

He held fast to the Lord and did not cease to follow Him; he kept the commands the LORD had given Moses. And the LORD  was with him; he was successful in whatever he undertook.

God delights in giving success to those who serve Him in His time. 

He blessed Hezekiah.
He blessed his work as king and  and he blessed his life. 
It is a wonderful thing to live under God's blessings.
Proverbs 10:22 The blessing of the LORD makes one rich, 
And He adds no sorrow with it. 

God delights when we take on projects He gives us in His Name.
He blesses us.
He blesses others through us. 
We discover the joy of serving.

Being in the flow of His Spirit where He works through us is a wonderful thing.


2. The LORD Uses Those People To Bring Correction To  A Nation Gone Astray.  vs.3-4
He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father David had done. He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was called Nehushtan.)

He  removed the high places. This was a huge step on his part. This meant that as the people came to Jerusalem to worship the LORD at the feasts and they came over the mountains that surround it, they had a clear view of the beauty of God's creation and no idols. They came to Jerusalem with their hearts and minds clear from evil distractions. They came and saw the temple unobstructed by the worship of false gods.

Save The Storks

You have a heart for God today. You are praying for America. We have talked about our heritage. Girl Scouts leaders meeting. Pledge- One nation under God. Pledge to serve God and my country and others.

Pray God will make you an influence in your family for righteousness. 

3. The LORD delights in spritual leaders who depend upon Him in prayer.
Nehemiah
David
Hezekiah v.5 Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him.
Moses
Paul
Jesus Mark 1.35

He answers those prayers of a humble heart.
James 4:6 “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” 

How we need to pray!

How people with hearts for God are needed today!

Hymn #327 O For Heart To Praise My God

Sunday, September 14, 2014

Repair On the House of The LORD



Nehemiah 1-2

What we saw in Haiti on the LORD's Day was beyond description. The church I was invited to speak in was in ruins. It got hit hard by the earthquake in January 2013. The roof caved in. There is little left of the walls. A tarp keeps the sun off most of the people. It was hot by the middle of the service, unbearably hot by the end,  in the sun. One side has no wall at all. New cinder blocks have been brought in for reconstruction. 

Adly and I arrived first behind Pastor Joes. When things got underway there was not a seat left. The pews had been destroyed and they brought in  school desks for the people to sit in.

The worship was outstanding. No instruments, except for some tambourines and a bass drum, but the voices of the Haitian people singing from their hearts went up the heavens.

 Had it rained, like it did that afternoon, they would have all been soaked for the tarp has holes in it.

Adly's testimony - feelings and thoughts of what he saw at that church last Sunday morning.

Adly said to me a number of times that it hurt him to see the House of the LORD in such a predicament.

We sit here very comfortably this morning. We are in padded pews. We are protected from the elements. Yet there is work that needs to be done on this physical structure. The north side of our roof needs to be repaired as does our parking lot. This can be done relatively easily. It needs to be done this fall. After that we will turn our attention to Haiti and the church there. 


Look at the scripture we just read:

1. Any Work, Even Physical Labor, Begins With A Prayer Burden- 
Chapter One

We hear the news.
Nehemiah inquired.
I took an exploratory trip to Haiti.

Our hearts are touched.

I see the spirit of Moses in Nehemiah.  We are told (Hebrews 11.24-26).
By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, for he looked to the reward."

Nehemiah could have gone on in a  very comfortable position in another land while his brothers suffered but his heart and his conscience would not allow it.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer could have left Germany under Hitler and come to America permanently but he said that if he did not share in its suffering he would have no right to share in its rebuilding. 

Some discouraged and mocked Nehemiah. Several spoke of concern of me going to Haiti. My own mother asked, "Why do you have to go?" I had an answer for that. Because Jesus wants me to. Then she asked, "Why does He want you to?" I didn't have an answer for that until last Sunday. Now I know. 

Nehemiah got so distraught it showed up on his face. King Artaterxes noticed it.

We call upon God for help, believing He will help us.
Te first thing to do is pray. Pray to the LORD. Confess your sins, ask for help.
Pray for our church, pray for the The Evangelical Church of God in Belle Vue, Haiti, pray for the work of the LORD around the world. He is at work.


2. We Wait and then Work

Nehemiah could not just take off, although he wanted to. 

He needed permission and provision from the King.
We need the same from our King.
Plans and praying precede work.


God will supply for us and them. 
II Corinthians 9. 10 Now May He Who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food  supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness while you are enriched in every thing for all liberality which cause thanksgiving through us to God. 

Waiting is:
preparing our hearts
getting into God's time frame
Letting Him get things in order for us
Good
Right

John 4:38 The words of Jesus, "I sent you to reap for that which you have not labored; others have labored and you have entered into their labors."

We have a church here which was built mostly by people now in heaven, with the exception of a few folks. We are reaping the benefits of their labor, wonderful benefits. To build what we have been given would be astronomical. We have a gift today from heaven through those folks who gave and watched God do some miracles. 

There is a church in Haiti which we did not build. It has a good foundation. It need to be rebuilt. We are going to enter into the labors who did the hard work. Whether you stay here and pray or get on the plane and fly with us or give gifts for us to bring we are all in this together. We need prayer more than anything else for this endeavor.

The three most important things to do right now is pray,  pray and pray.


3. The LORD will lead us and Grant us Success! 
He was with Nehemiah. 

He is with us as He puts desires in our heart concerning His work on the earth.
We are His Hands and His feet.
He commands us to go then tells us to wait for His Spirit.

Being led by His Spirit is most exciting. 
It is not without its challenges.
It can bring us into some hard times but blessed at the same times.

There are sometimes battles within our own minds. 

Adly's testimony of the school his brother, Loll runs.

Let us begin this good work. Let's get our building and grounds up to par and then head to Haiti and help them.