In The Fullness Of Time

"In the fullness of time"

Isaiah 50:1-4

(Prayerful Praise)

There are moments that come in every human life and within every gathering of the Body of Christ that drip with power as God reveals himself to us in a real and personal way. These are moments that transcend the normal passing of time because they are encounters with the Most High God as we experience him in the fullness of His timing. From the text verse of Isaiah 50 we can quickly see that in the 4th verse "due season to a weary soul" is used in such a way to describe a message from one heart to another that is anointed with the Holy Spirit FOR A PURPOSE! The purpose is to impact a heart that is weary and tired altering, changing forever, the condition of weariness to make that heart vibrant and alive again. Because the Word of the Lord came in "due season for a purpose" there is a renewed energy and refreshing vigor that replaces the dry, thirsty soul to change the former condition of that man, woman, boy or girl.

God’s timing isn’t something that’s unfamiliar to us if we have a relationship with Christ that’s real and personal. Corrie Tenboom talked of her experiences during WW2 and of how in all her years of trusting God she had never known God to show early but she had also never known God to be late because God is always right on time. There have been some times in my own life that God absolutely scared me to death!

If you’ve been born into the family of God by being washed in the blood of Christ Jesus, you know a little about the timing of God because at the right moment of time in your life God sent the Holy Spirit to stir your heart. It was in God’s timing that Jesus came to live and die on Calvary’s hill so it’s also in God’s timing that Jesus is revealed to us as able to save us from your sins. Let me say this to you beloved, YOU DON’T GET SAVED WHEN YOU THINK IT’S A GOOD IDEA NO MATTER HOW OFTEN YOU MAY HAVE BEEN TOLD THAT IN THE PAST. Jesus said that no man can come unto him unless God the Father draw them, pull them, coax them through his drawing agent the blessed Holy Spirit. Jesus said I am the way, the truth and the life! No man comes unto the Father but by me! In due season, in God’s timing, He draws us to Jesus by the Holy Ghost through the blood of Jesus unto himself.

(1) Don’t play with your soul

- what will it profit a man…?

(1) Seasons in our lives of God’s timing

- seasons of personal growth

- seasons of kingdom service

- seasons of oppurtunity to respond to God’s call

Ecclesiastes 3:1, " A time to every purpose under heaven"

Psalm 32:6, " seek the Lord in a time when he may be found"

Luke 19:44, "thou knewest not the time of your visitation"

Romans 13:11, " Behold it is high time to awake you that sleep"

Since this is the beginning of our new church year, I felt the need to speak specifically to the lay leadership of Pleasant Hill Baptist Church by encouraging you to seek the high calling of being led by the Holy Spirit in all that you do. Can I tell you that this community is full of people that we’re suppose to reach for the kingdom of God in this coming year? You already know that but can I go a step further with you this morning. You as an individual have been appointed by God for such a time as this to shine your light in such a way that the glory of God cannot be hidden from a watching world. If you teach a Sunday School class, you’ll be a better teacher if you are filled with the Holy Spirit! You’ll be a better Discipleship training teacher or Youth leader or Childrens leader if everything you do has been covered in prayer and study. It doesn’t matter what you do, you’ll do it better if you’ve spent time in prayer with God listening to His voice.

You won’t see men, women, boys and girls transformed through your work on this earth if the only preparation you’ve done to teach is try to read your lesson on the way to the church Sunday. Are you praying for the people under your area of influence that God would impact their lives? You can make a difference beloved!

There is a true story from many years ago of an elementary teacher whose name was Mrs. Thompson. Like she had done so many times before, she stood in the front of her 5th grade class on the first day of school and told them a lie. Like most teachers she looked at her students and said that she loved them all the same but that wasn’t the truth. It wasn’t true because slumped in the front row of desks was a little boy named Teddy Stoddard and she had been watching him from the year before. She noticed that he didn’t play well with other children and that his clothes were always messy and wrinkled and that he seemed to constantly need to take a bath. Teddy could also be unpleasant to be around and over time Mrs. Thompson would actually take some enjoyment from marking his papers with a broad stroke of her red pen and then putting a big F at the top of his papers.