Sermon Central
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Lame At The Gate
Contributed by Pastor/Author: Terry Sisney on Oct 11, 2009 (message contributor)
Summary: Multitudes of People sit outside our church doors dying for what we are enjoying just inside the gate.
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Lame at the Gate
The Bible says Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer.
Hour of prayer:
We cannot expect to offer any measure of profitable service to our fellow man without an established prayer hour in our lives, It is through this prayer connection that the resources of heaven are diffused into the earth.
They met this need on the way to the temple, outside of the temple, before they got to church, on their way to church.
Lame from his mothers womb.
Lame:
1 : having a body part and especially a limb so disabled as to impair freedom of movement marked by stiffness and soreness
2 : lacking needful or desirable substance : weak, ineffectual
Let me first say: It’s one thing to have had your strength, the use of your limbs, to have the needful and desirable substance and then lose it.
At least for that person there is a point of reference to look back to, and remember how good it was.
Or let’s say: you were raised around the church and in your youth you experienced the touch of God at least in some measure, and you felt the presence of God and the peace of God and you had at least some measure of Joy.
( You are a blessed person, because somewhere in your Psyche there is a God consciousness)
Like the person who had their sight and then lost it, or had their hearing and then lost it, at least you have the memory of how good it was, how it used to be..
You remember how beautiful a sunrise can be, or how wonderful to hear the rain or the voice of your loved one.
But what about that person who is lame from birth?
Their life has been one long nightmare.
Rejection, abuse, deception, confusion, No father in the home, one bad relationship after another, from one disappointment to the next.
They have never been raised in church, in fact they were taught that church was for weak people and Jesus was just a crutch.
They have no point of reference.
And here they are just outside the church ( Lame at the Gate).
Gate: A door-like movable barrier in a fence or wall, a portal or entrance a hinged barrier used to close an opening in a wall, fence, or hedge.
So the gate speaks of entrance, acceptance, passage, but it also speaks of restriction, of a barrier, of a movable barrier
Too many times the church has been guilty of putting a wall where God has put a door.
The text says this gate was called beautiful.
Beautiful: The dictionary defines it as: delighting the senses or exciting intellectual or emotional admiration;
But the Strongs exhaustive concordance defines it as:
Belonging to the right hour or season (timely), i.e. (by impl.) flourishing
The most beautiful thing in this world is the church fulfilling her ministry, filling the need of the hour, being what is needed when it’s needed.
But many times we are guilty of Having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof.
What that basically means is that we are called beautiful but not living up to our name.
To one of the 7 churches of Asia the Holy Spirit said: Thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.
It’s a hard question, but are we truly beautiful = (filling the need of the hour) or are we just called beautiful?
I can call myself Holy, but am I ? I can call myself Spiritual but am I ? I can call myself Compassionate but am I ? I can call myself Faithful but am I ? I can call myself Committed but am I ?
Then question number two:
Who calls us beautiful ?, Is it a name we have ascribed to ourselves, Is it because we have a nice church, and great music, and gifted musicians, and a great pastor, is it because we have great programs, and youth ministries, is it because we are prospering financially, Is it because we speak in tongues, and feel the Holy Spirit.
I have come to understand that if we really want know whether we as individual believers and a corporate body are beautiful or not, we have to listen to what the world is saying about us.
They were first called Christians at Antioch,
They were called Christians because they were acting like Christ,
That’s beautiful.
Peter said: In the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth:
In the character, in the authority, In the life and strength of the person of Jesus Christ.
Rise up and walk:
Do what it is impossible to do in your own name, own character, own strength own life.
