If My People will Pray ... 2 Chron 7:14

If My People Will Pray!

October 28, 2012

2 Chron 7:14

Introduction

• Susanville was settled by Isaac Roop, in the early 1800s
• It was originally part of Plumas county, but after a 2 day gun battle with the IRS it became independent and joined the Nevada territories which had split off from California because they didn't want to pay taxes
• At that time it was known as Roop county
• Later on, surveyors determined that Roop County, all the way down to Honey Lake, actually should be part of Californina, so the northen part of Roop County became California, and the southern part joined Washow County in Nevada
• These were turbulent and violent times
• While the settlers came into the area, they drove the Indians out
• There was a bounty placed on the heads of Indians, in an attempt to eradicate the Indian population.
• Thousands of Indians were massacred in this general area.
• Susanville is the govermental seat of Lassen county, and as such carries responsibility for the bloodshed in this area, and the independent and rebellious acts of the past
• This city and county was birthed in bloodshed, rebellion and an independent spirit

Grace Fellowship

• During the last 4 years, there have been a number of times when people have left Grace Fellowship for various reasons
• At this time we have lost a number of members, and our fellowship is not as large as we would like it to be
• God has been pruning our church, so that His glory may be shown in the next phase of what he wants to do
• Recently the Lord spoke very clearly to me, that He wants us to move forward into our church call to be a resource for Susanville as a place for healing and restoration
• He wants us to focus at this time, on bringing healing and recovery to those afflicted by addictions
• There are a number of ways in which people in recovery in Susanville are already being helped
• Crossroads provides shelter for the homeless, Bible studies each weekday morning, and visiting churches host an evening meal and a short message from the Bible, on Saturday evenings  
• Celebrate recovery run by Community EV Free church, provides a weekly opportunity for those in recovery to experience Christian support in a worship setting
• Teen Challenge at present offers a contact office where addicts can go to be interviewed for entry into the Sacramento residential Teen Challenge.  The vision is for Teen Challenge to eventually have its own residential facility, locally in or near Susanville
• But there appears to be no recovery fellowship in Susanville where those in recovery can go as their church, with their own pastor, where the fellowship is focussed on their particular needs
• Grace Fellowship will soon be starting a Sunday evening service, dedicated to the recovery community.
• This will be a regular church service, not necessarily focussed on addiction all the time, but where the needs of those in recovery will be addressed, and they will receive the spiritual food they need
• As time goes on, our vision is that this fellowship will include opportunities for counseling by qualified personnel, small group meetings, etc.
• Before we start this, though, we need to prepare the ground for a new work of God

Reading

• 2 Chron 7:14

Our sins as a nation and a city

• Susanville is in pain
• There is much hurt in this town
• When we obey God, He brings blessings
• Deut 28:1-6
• God sees our hearts and knows if we are obedient to Him
• But the opposite is also true - when we are disobedient to Him, curses will be brought upon us
• Deut 28:15-19
• This nation and this city are under a curse, because we have forsaken God
• We have tried to remove God from our school classrooms
• We have allowed over a million of our unborn children, to be murdered each year, by abortion - over 50 million since 1973 - 22% of all US pregancies are terminated by abortion (http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/fb_induced_abortion.html)
• Historically, Susanville as the governmental seat of Lassen County, has the blood of many Native Americans on its hands
• A bounty of $5 a head was on the heads of the Indian population at the time of the Papoose Massacre near Eagle Lake in 1866
• Susanville was birthed in rebellion against paying taxes, and chose independence, though it later was reincorporated into California
• 2 Chron 7:14 says "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin  and will heal their land"

Prayer time

• We accepted responsibility vicariously for the massacre of thousands of Native Americans in Lassen County
• We asked forgiveness of our Native American neighbors for the injustices that have been done against them, historically and down to the present
• We mourned the lives of the millions of children murdered in our nation
• We asked for forgiveness for blood guiltiness
• We asked for forgiveness for the independence that has marked this town and prayed that this independent spirit would be broken 
• We asked for forgiveness on behalf of our nation for attempting to remove the name of God from our schools and courts and government
• We asked God in his mercy to accept our prayers and heal our land, nationally, our county and  our city
• "Thank you Lord, that you have heard the prayers of your people.  We pray for healing of our land, and for your blessing as we turn to you and are obedient to your call. In Jesus name, amen."

Stay the Course - Heb 12:1-3

Stay the Course!

October 21, 2012

Heb 12:1-3

Introduction

• In my younger days I used to be a cross country runner
• I made the fastest time in our school, and I was number 26 in the NSW state championships
• In training for the state race, I would run miles each day, building my stamina and endurance
• Running long distance is not about how fast you leap forward from the starting blocks
• It is not about getting ahead of the pack, and then staying there
• Long distance running is done in your head
• It is about never saying die, never quitting
• No matter what the obstacles you keep on going
• Once you stop, even briefly, it is so hard to get going again
• I remember when I ran for my school in the zone championship
• I ran through brambles, I ran across fields and through woods
• But the last stretch was the hardest
• It was uphill, through sand
• The temptation to quit, or to take a shortcut was so inviting
• As I stomped one foot in front of the other I did not know if I would be able to make it. But I crested the hill, and came in second in our school zone
• It came to be mind over matter, my head kept me going

The Christian race

• As Christians we are in a race
• We are in competition not with other athletes, but with our sinful nature that wants us to give up and take the easy way
• Each Christian has a calling
• That calling is outlined for us in Mark 8:34
• That calling is that we take up our cross and follow Jesus
• This calling says that we are taking on something that is painful and hard, something that is not easy
• The Christian walk involves facing opposition, not only from other people, but also from spiritual forces which would like us to quit, to give up, when the going gets tough
• And the enemy does try to make it tough for us
• Eph 6:12
• When things get tough, our role is to stay standing
• It's like a battle to the death
• Gladiators in Rome, would fight to the death, not accepting defeat
• Its the last one standing who wins
• So one aspect of our job is to never surrender

The nature of a calling

• A calling is where someone calls you for a purpose
• God has called each of us to be his children, to have a special relationship with Him
• So we each have this calling
• Paul talks about this in 1 Cor
• 1 Cor 1:26-27
• None of us are any great shakes in the eyes of the world
• Some of us may have had a good education and done well in life, but generally, we are not the most educated, most intelligent, most successful of this world
• Yet God wants to use us, to show the greatness of His love and grace, to others
• It is not easy to go against the crowd, when the majority of people around us are not yet Christians
• Tuesday I looked at demographics for Susanville compared to the nation.
• The united States is a Christian nation of sorts. 52% in the 2010 census were affliliated with a church
• The stats for Susanville in that same census, were 15.9%
• In other words we are way below the national average regarding church affiliation, let alone being practicing Christians
• So the chances are that the people around us at work, school, or wherever are not Christians.
• It can be hard to pursue our calling being just a small minority
• But it isn't up to our own strength
• We are told, fear not little flock, it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom - Luke 12:32
• Our job is to remain standing, to persevere, to endure to the end
• Mark 13:13 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

A calling requires perseverance

• Callings are not easy
• They stretch us, they make us look outside our comfort zone, they may involve hardship or persecution
• Each of us is called, and has a calling
• But it is so easy to be distracted from our calling
• One distraction is people
• People may encourage us to quit
• Our God-given need to belong may be twisted so we want to go back to belong to the group out of which we have been called
• When we give in to that it is described graphically by Peter
• 2 Pet 2:22
• so people can draw us away so we give up
• But our own busyness can also get us to give up on our relationship with God
• We can be so busy we ignore or neglect spending time in connection with our Maker
• He called us, He initiated this relationship with us, but if we start putting the things of this life as being more important than prayer and Bible study, our relationship with Jesus will suffer
• Paul tells us to keep our eye on the goal
• Heb 12:1-3
• Don't get distracted by trinkets

Conclusion

• Jesus is coming
• He is returning for his bride, a group of people who follow Him
• When he returns he will be looking for those who are doing that which he has called us to do
• We all want to be in that group!

Road to Revival - Matt 16:18

Road to Revival
October 14, 2012
Matthew 16:18

Introduction

• The word revival means bringing back to life
• When I trained as a lifesaver in Australia, I leaned how to swim using sidestroke so I could bring a drowned person in to shore
• But once this person was on dry land, he had to be resuscitated, so he could once again breathe on his own power.
• A part of this was performing mouth to mouth resuscitation. This essentially consisted of blowing air into the person's lungs, so they would continue receiving oxygen into their body
• The important point here is that someone who was lifeless was unable to bring himself back to life, new life had to be breathed into them
• Down through the ages the church has gone through good times and bad times
• There were times when the church was growing, as in the early chapters of Acts
• But there were also times of persecution, for example during the 10-year reign of Diocletian, when the church became scattered and many lost their lives
• When necessary, God has stepped into the affairs of the church, supernaturally, and brought new life to something that was not doing too well
• Today we are going to look at some of the times this happened

Reading

• Matt 16:18

Pentecost

• Acts 2:1-4 - The disciples were gathered together, waiting for the promised Holy Spirit to come in power
• Suddenly the first church revival happens
• They had been praying for the Spirit to come, for 10 days.
• This is where the practice of "tarry meetings" started  
• The Holy Spirit comes when God says it is time, which may be different from our idea of when this should happen
• But God is true to his word
• The Spirit comes accompanied by supernatural activity
• There is the sound of a mighty wind, and what looks like individual flames that came to rest on each of them
• When the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit, they started speaking in other tongues
• There was nothing prophesied that would prepare them for these supernatural activities. Though miracles happened in the old testament, nothing was prophesied about exactly what would happen when the Holy Spirit came
• The Holy Spirit is as much an individual and personality, as Jesus and the Father
• He is able to express himself and do as he wills
• We cannot put the Holy Spirit in a box, and allow him to do only those things we approve of. He will do what He wants to do

First Great Awakening 1730 - 1750

• Revival history in the United States
• The First Great Awakening was a wave of religious enthusiasm among Protestants that swept the American colonies in the 1730s and 1740s
• It left a permanent impact on American religion.
• It resulted from powerful preaching that deeply affected listeners (who were already church members) with a deep sense of personal guilt and salvation by Christ.
• Pulling away from ritual and ceremony, the Great Awakening made religion intensely personal to the average person by creating a deep sense of spiritual guilt and redemption.
• It caused a "great international Protestant upheaval" which also created Pietism in Germany, and the Evangelical Revival and Methodism in England.
• It brought Christianity to the slaves and it incited rancor and division between the old traditionalists who insisted on ritual and doctrine and the new revivalists.
• It had a major impact in reshaping the Congregational, Presbyterian, Dutch Reformed, and German Reformed denominations, and strengthened the small Baptist and Methodist denominations.
• Unlike the Second Great Awakening that began about 1800 and which reached out to the unchurched, the First Great Awakening focused on people who were already church members.
• It changed their rituals, their piety, and their self awareness.
• The new style of sermons and the way people practiced their faith breathed new life into religion in America.
• People became passionately and emotionally involved in their religion, rather than passively listening to intellectual discourse in a detached manner.
• Ministers who used this new style of preaching were generally called "new lights", while the preachers of old were called "old lights".
• People began to study the Bible at home, which effectively decentralized the means of informing the public on religious matters.
• The Holy Spirit taught people as they grew in grace and in knowledge
   

Second Great Awakening 1800-1830s

• The Second Great Awakening (1800–30s) was the second great religious revival in United States history
• It consisted of renewed personal salvation experienced in revival meetings.
• Major leaders included Asahel Nettleton, James Brainerd Taylor, Charles Grandison Finney, Lyman Beecher, Barton Stone, Alexander Campbell, Peter Cartwright and James B. Finley.
• Charles Finney (1792–1875) was a key leader of the evangelical revival movement in America.
•  From 1821 onwards he conducted revival meetings across many north-eastern states and won many converts.
• For him, a revival was not a miracle but a change of mindset that was ultimately a matter for the individual's free will.
• His revival meetings created anxiety in a penitent's mind that one could only save his or her soul by submission to the will of God
• Finney also conducted revival meetings in England, first in 1849 and later to England and Scotland in 1858–59.
• In New England, the renewed interest in religion inspired a wave of social activism, including abolitionism (abolishing slavery).
• In western New York, the spirit of revival encouraged the emergence of other Christian denominations and movements such as the Holiness Movement.
• At Cane Ridge, Kentucky and in Tennessee, the revival strengthened the Methodists and Baptists.
• It also introduced into America a new form of religious expression—the Scottish camp meeting.(Information from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revivalism#17th_century)

Conclusion

• In past weeks we have taken a look at personal revival
• We each need new life, the freshness of the Holy Spirit, inside of us, so that He can do his work through us, through our mouth, hands and feet
• The work he does in us as individuals, is reflected in the life of the church, which is the sum total of all the indiviual people which make it up
• The church is a living body, it is the body of Christ of which he is the head
• Next week we will take a closer look at this second awakening, and how it got started.
• As we go through this, we will ultimately be looking at our own pentecostal roots

New Life! - 2 Kings 22

New Life!
October 7, 2012
2 Kings 22

Introduction

• How many of us have gone through dry spells in our walk with God?
• This nation once was a nation founded upon God's Word
• The Puritans came here because of a lack of freedom of religion in England at that time
• As the years have progressed this nation has lost sight of God
• Today, there are restrictions on prayer, restrictions on where the Bible may be mentioned, we have forgotten our roots as a nation
• It is time to go back to where we came from
• It is time to turn back to God
• Today we are going to look at the story of King Josiah of Judah
• This is a strory of revival

Reading

• 2 Kings 23:25
• How would you like this as your epitaph!

Josiah's history

• Josiah's dad was Amon
• Amon was a wicked king
• He set up idols and worshipped Baal, and worshipped the stars
• Today many of us may feel it is nothing to look at our horoscopes, but people who do this are  saying that the zodiac stars have power over our lives, and it is an abomination to God to worship the stars
• Anyway, Amon died, at the hand of assassins, and Josiah became king
• Josiah was 8 years old when he became king.
• His mother was Jedidah and must have had a big religious influence on him
• She would have been the regent during Josiah';s early years
• When Josiah turned 18, he takes up his responsibilities as king
• He first of all starts to work on God's house v.3-7
• This then leads to the high priest discovering the Book of the Law
• Up till this time, they did not know God';s will, they did not know his laws
• The scribe Shaphan reads the book of the Law to Josiah
• He reads about the covenenant this people had made with God
• He reads about the special relationship they have, as Gods chosen people
• He reads about the blessings God promises for obedience, but he also reads the consequences of turning against God and being disobedient to God's law
• Josiah repents
• Verse 11
• He seeks to know God's words for them, as a nation and as individuals, at this juncture of their history
• And he is repentant

Revival

• Revival starts with repentance
• We sometimes say it starts with prayer, because so many moves of God started with a group that was praying.  But at the heart of these prayer movements, was repentance
• Ultimately, revival starts with repentance
• Individual, church-wide and national repentance
• The repentance means that we change our ways and turn to God
• This nation needs God, we know that
• We desire this nation to turn its heart back to its Maker, from the president on down
• But ultimately, revival starts at home
• Revival starts inside of ourselves
• When our nation is not experiencing a close walk with God, it is because it is living in disobedience to God
• When our church is not being fruitful, it is because it is not right with God in some way. We have been sent out to bear much fruit, God's purpose is that we have an impact on our community.  If we are not, there is a problem.
• And when we seem to be harvesting punishment in our personal life, it is because we need to repent and turn to God with all our heart. 
• God disciplines those he loves (Hebrews 12).  Not out of vindictiveness, but as an encoragement to us, to get back into line
 

Conclusion

• God's blessing is there, waiting for us
• It does not mean that we won't go through hard times, but God is watching over us and he desires a close walk with him
• God will bless us with peace, and we will bear fruit, if we are right with God, in the place he wants us to be
• Jesus says, my peace I give to you. If we live in anxiety, there is a reason for it. 
• The fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control
• God's intention is that these fruits be evident in our church, and in every aspect of our lives
• These fruits will be visible in our relationships with each other, within our families, with others in our community
• The way to revival starts with repentance
• Next week we will continue to study the subject of revival
• My heart is that we be a church of on-fire, Spirit-filled Christians who are bringing in the lost as part of the great harvest before Jesus returns
• During this next week, let's do some soul-searching and see where we need to repent and change in our personal life.

A cup of water - Mat 25:31-46

A cup of water!

September 30, 2012

Matt 25:31-46

Introduction

• During the last weeks we have been looking at God's love for us, and his compassion
• God loves us so much more than we can imagine!
• He watches over us, he takes care of us
• He leads us, shows us the way to go
• He gives us opportunities to make choices, to strengthen our character and our walk with Him
• When we fall down and we turn back to him, he extends mercy, he forgives us, and helps us back up
• What is important to God, is that we allow Jesus to live in us and work through us
• Today we are going to examine an aspect of our lives that is crucial to our eternity

Background

• Right near the end of Jesus' ministry, the messages he gave his disciples were increasingly sober and serious
• He knew his time was short, and there were things they needed to hear
• In Matthew 25 he speaks the parable of the 10 virgins, a warning to the church that we need to be alive and allowing the Holy Spirit to work through us, not letting him lie dormant
• He gives us the parable of the talents, where we are told to exercise the giftings God has given us, once again, don't allow these things to be inactive, but use them for the Kingdom
• And now he teaches the disciples about the last judgment, in the parable of the sheep and the goats

Reading

• Matthew 25:31-46

A chronology

• Time is short. As I have warned, war is imminent in the Middle East
• There are many signs that Jesus' return is nearby.
• When Jesus returns as the reigning Messiah, the dead in Christ, and the saints who are alive, will receive their spirit body and rise to meet him in the clouds
• This is commonly known as the rapture
• At this point, Christians will receive their reward for their walk with God, and the fruits borne in their lives
• 1Peter 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
• 2 Cor 5:10 When Jesus returns, we receive a reward for how we have conducted our Christian walk, and we will be invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb
• Rev 19:6-10 - the wedding supper
• This marks the beginning of 1000 years of Jesus' reign - Rev 20:4
• At the end of this time, known as the Milenneum, we have what is known as the Last Judgment
• Rev 20:11-15
• Our lives are recorded in books, and it is on the basis of the actions in our lives that judgment will be given

The sheep and the goats

• Matthew 25
• Jesus in this parable is not giving a chronology of the various judgments we just looked at
• In this passage he is telling his disciples what he will be looking at, when looking at the deeds that have been done
• He is telling his disciples, that our actions toward others are important
• He is saying we need to be looking out for each others needs
• Last week I told a little about the need for prison ministry
• People in prison need the gospel. They need it, they are open to it, all they need is someone to take it to them
• Luke 10:2 Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.
• But there are other prisoners who are not behind bars but they might as well be
• Here I am talking about those in slavery to addiction
• This too is a prison
• Jesus is telling us in this passage, that we ought to be feeding the hungry, giving something to drink for the thirsty, if they are homeless that we invite them in, if they lack clothing that we provide for them, and in short that we answer them at their point of need.
• Jesus did exactly this.
• He dealt with people in compassion, he healed the sick at their point of need, and he set the prisoners free - those in prison to the enemy's clutches
• As Christians, we are being judged as to how well we are being a channel for Jesus continuing his work of setting the prisoners free.
• This is why God has given Dianne and me a call to help the broken of this society find freedom, so they can rise to the call God has on their lives

Conclusion

• God is working in this church
• At the start of the year, His message to us was just one word, change
• Change is coming, on an individual level and at a church level
• Remember the message from this sermon, that Jesus lives in you and he wants to continue his work through you, reaching others
• It is like Jesus said in John 7, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him"
• Here he is referring to the Holy Spirit who was yet to come on the day of Pentecost, accompanied by the sound of a mighty wind, and the appearance of cloven tongues of flame, and showed his presence by people speaking in tongues
• If we would like to be filled with the Holy Spirit, or if we would like to be prayed for to be filled again, please raise your hands and come forward at the end of the service
• If anyone has not yet received Jesus as their personal savior, and would like this awesome, incredible relationship, and would like to be forgiven of their past, please come forward
• Rev 22:17 "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!

Me, an Ambassador? - 2 Cor 5:20

Me, An Ambassador?
September 23, 2012
2 Corinthians 5:20

Introduction

• A couple of weeks ago, an ambassador was in the news
• Ambassador Christopher Stevens, US ambassador to Libya
• There was a mortar attack on his vehicle, and then his body was dragged through the streets of Benghazi, apparently orchestrated by Al Quaeda
• Not all ambassadors have this kind of experience.
• I once knew the US Vice Consul to the Cameroon, he had a relatively peaceful time, and later served this country, in the Canadian Consulate
• Today we will take a look at what it means to be an ambassador, and how relevant this is to us, as Christians

Reading

• 2 Cor 5:17-21

What does an ambassador look like?

• Am ambassador is a citizen of the country he represents
• Phil 3:20
• Being a citizen of another country means that there are activities he cannot engage in, in his host country
• For example, he cannot fight in the host country's army, or vote in its elections
• In the same way, we, as citizens of a heavenly Kingdom, cannot become enmeshed in this society's way of doing things
• We stand ready to fight the Lord's battles in spiritual warfare, we don't fight with the enemy's tactics
• Am ambassador represents his country
• 2 Cor 5:20
• As God's represenatives on earth, we must be aware of how God feels about things, what he would have us do in situations
• We must be able to answer questions about our native country, encouraging people to find out more
• At an embassy or consulate there is usually a person whose brief is to present the nation's positive trade advantages to enquirers from the host country, encouraging the building of relationships
• In the same way, we stand ready to give our testimony, and show the benefits of relationship with the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit
• An ambassador has to be trustworthy and reliable
• Proverbs 13:17
• If an ambassador were untrustworthy, he would soon be recalled. 
• A person in such a position must be absolutely trusted to present an accurate picture of what his nation belives, does, and is like
• God trusts us to be good representatives of his Kingdom
• He expects us to be examples to those around us
• They should see the difference just by looking at us, the same as light is different from darkness
• The words that come out of our mouth should reflect God's look on things, not what seems right to our carnal mind.
• Am ambassador obeys the laws of the country he represents
• Acts 5:19-20
• Luke 20:25
• As ambassador, one is answerable ultimately to the nation he represents.  He should obey the laws of his host country as far as that is possible, but if there is a conflict in what to do, the ambassador's home country laws take precedence
• In our everyday lives, we live among people of a different alleigance.
• We obey the laws of our physical country
• But where there is a difference between what the world expects and what God would have us do, God rules!
• An ambassador's foreign residency is temporary
• 2 Cor 5:2
• Heb 11:8-10
• The ambassador's stay in his host country is temporary, though it could last many years
• Ultimately, he will be called home
• In the same way, our stay in this present evil world, is only temporary
• There will come a day when we will be called home, to be with Jesus, forever
• We will put off this physical body and will be clothed afresh with our spiritual body, eternal, incorruptible, spititual and glorious
• This is how it is described in 1 Cor 15:35-44

Conclusion

• As Christians, people who follow Christ, we are his ambassadors
• We are his ambassadors to the people around us
• We are a city set on a hill which cannot be hidden
• An ambassador is true to his government's policies, and he faithfully presents this to the people around him, in a foreign country
• He is a faithful representative, and one day he will be recalled to the country of his citizenship, where he will hear, Well done, thou faithful servant.

A Compassionate God! - John 3:16

A Compassionate God!
September 9, 2012
John 3:16
 
Introduction

-          A couple of weeks ago, we were talking about the Father’s love for us

-          I was asking the Lord what he would have me speak about today, and the answer was love.  As I continued speaking and listening the focus came to be particularly on God’s compassion
-          So this morning we are speaking about God’s revelation of himself as a compassionate God!
-          Today we will look at just a few examples of God’s compassion

God’s compassion as humanity’s Savior

-          His love for us as sinful people, to give us a chance to get back to Him

-          When Adam and Eve sinned they set in motion a train of events they had no idea of
-          Their nature was changed, so that their natural tendency was to hate God and rebel against him
-          They saw it worked out in their firstborn son Cain, who murdered his brother in a fit of anger
-          All humanity has inherited this nature which Paul describes to us
-          Romans 8:7
-          This is why it is so hard for us to be obedient, why distractions pull us away, time and time again
-          It is what theologians call the Depravity of Man, our inability to bring ourselves into a relationship with God
-          Paul talks of the battle he endures day by day in Romans 6
-          Romans 6:21-25
-          It is through Jesus that we can be saved from destruction
-          It was through God’s compassion that he sent Jesus to be a sacrifice for us
-          John 3:16 God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whomever believes in his should not perish but have everlasting life
-          Eph 2:8-9 God’s compassion gives us His mercy, not what we deserve

God’s compassion as Israel’s Husband

-          Ezekiel 16:1-34

-          Israel searches for love in all the places it can’t find it, only God can satisfy this hunger
-          He loves Israel, washed her, cleaned her, married her, waited for her, allows her to experience the results of her sins, but finally he reconciles with her (verse 60)
-          He waits for his chosen people to repent and turn to him, just as he allows us to make choices and experience the results of our ways
-          But when we turn to him he cleanses us and reconciles us to him
-          Isa 1:18
-          We need to be praying for Israel during these critical times
-          Iran has developed its nuclear program to a critical level
-          It is constantly telling the Arab world how it hates Israel and wants to wipe it off the map
-          Israel is at the point where they will have to initiate a strike against Iran, in order to protect themselves from a nuclear armed Iran
-          We need to pray for Israel in this time of their distress
-          Psalm 122:6
-          These are critical times
-          Time to make sure we are right with God, and doing the work he called us to (Luke 12:43)

God’s compassion as our personal Comforter

-          John 14:15-16

-          His love in showing himself as our comforter
-          He provides the Holy Spirit as another Comforter
-          Jesus was the first comforter
-          He and the Father are one, and as we read in the gospels how Jesus looks and the crowds and is moved by compassion, he is showing what God is like
-          The Holy Spirit too is moved with compassion for us
-          We so often stray from the narrow way and he is moved with a longing to draw us back
-          This compassion is so much deeper than anything we know
-          The Bible often speaks of bowels of mercy, it is speaking of the same quality of God
-          The bowels signify a deepset feeling of compassion, you feel it in your stomack, deep down, a yearning to intervene and help
-          God also shows his compassion for us through providing for healing in the atonement
-          1 Pet 2:24, Isa 53:5
-          He showed his compassion in loving us even before we turned to him
-          1 Jn 4:19
-          His love in never walking away from us, though we walk away from him
-          Mat 28:19-20, Heb 13:5, Josh 1:5
-          He sent the Holy Spirit to live in us, and to be our friend, just as Jesus is our friend

Conclusion

-          So God shows himself to be a God of compassion for us

-          How do we respond to this? 
-          In a couple of weeks we will examine how we respond to a God of compassion
-          But if you have not yet experienced this God of compassion, and you want to make sure that you are right with him, please come forward after the offering has been taken up and make sure that you will be going to the right place, when you die.