I am really excited and trusting God for great things in 2009. When we ask the Lord in faith to build an area wide church reaching hundreds for Jesus that is only something He can do. It is rooted in scripture because lost people matter to God.
That is why in Acts 1:8 Jesus last words were “Acts 1:8 (NIV) “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." That command was for the first Christians and it is still the command today for us. If we lose sight of the fact that one of the primary purpose of our faith community is to reach out we will be going nowhere fast. We need focus.”
Your relatives, friends, husbands, wives, they matter to God. The children and youth God desires to reach matter to God. They matter to others also as we have been blessed with financial contributions to the Youth Fund.
God is not limited to our resources. God is not limited to our faith. God is faithful. Since God is doing a new thing in many areas of the country He is every bit as powerful here in the north. Amen! God is speaking. God is always ready to do a new thing. Are we ready to pray and listen? That is the challenge for 2009.
Well good morning and happy New Year.
One year at the end of January there was a couple who went to a Christian counselor. The counselor asked when did all your problems start?
The couple said they started on January 1, just thirty days ago. The counselor said can you tell me more. The couple said yes. Our problems started when we decided to think up each others New Years resolutions. Not a good way to start the New Year.
So what is a good way to start the New Year? It is recognizing that God is speaking to you about a new thing He wants to do in your lives, in the area churches, and this country. God always speaks to me. He is bringing many blessings into my life. I will share more of those on a different occasion.
The Holy Spirit clearly revealed to me to bring this message to you to start the new year.
This message to Israel is a message to us today. Before God will bless this church and the vision He has given us our hearts must be renewed. Our lives need to be right with God.
When we come together in prayer and repentance God will bless the work. When our prayer summits are full and our homes are places of fervent prayer God will bless the work. King David prayed ‘create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me.’ God faithfully did that for David, and He will do that for you.
During the time of Ezekiel the nation of Israel was in exile. Israel was at a low point in their history. God says they had evil ways and detestable practices. So they shot themselves in the foot and were suffering the consequences. The concept of reaping what we sow is not just a New Testament one. It started in the Garden of Eden. When we look at God’s commands as limitations instead of opportunities we will always reap what we sow.
God had warned them that if they disobeyed Him, God himself would drive them out of their land.
SLIDE: “The LORD will drive you and the king you set over you to a nation unknown to you or your fathers. There you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone. You will become a thing of horror and an object of scorn and ridicule to all the nations where the LORD will drive you (Deuteronomy 28:36-37 NIV).”
It happened. In 587 BC Jerusalem had fallen to the Babylonians. Those in exile said ‘It is not fair. This was our land, they said, and those people took it.” God’s response indicated the land belonged to God, not them. God had told them they would reap what they sow. They ignored his commandments and showed themselves unfit to possess the land. So God allowed them to lose it.
The people of the day ignored the warnings Ezekiel gave to them. They heard the words but they made no difference in their daily lives. They likely said ‘what a wonderful preacher’ but walked away from his messages.”
I never felt called to analyze me preachers of the past. I refuse to get into discussion about them. My prayer has always been ‘Holy Spirit reveal your truths through your Word into my life.” O God change my life. O God teach me your ways. But the people would not listen to the spoken word.
They waited too long. By the time they realized they needed to change Jerusalem and their lives lay in ruins. They became captives in Babylon.
The book of Ezekiel is not a book of theology. It is a message from God to the people. The message is God’s grace is not limited to their actions. Let me say Canada by God’s grace has been spared much. We did not experience fighting on our soil in WW1 or WW2. We have not seen our Prime Ministers assassinated. We have not seen martial law. We have not experienced terrorism. Canada is sill experiencing the divine favor of God. But it will not last. We may yet see God’s wrath if we do not adjust our lives to His plan.
God extends His favor to whomever He pleases. But one day God will close the fountain of blessings if we do not repent.
God’s favor to the church, His people does not depend on our past, our heredity, our location, our present circumstances, or our finances. God kindness and blessings have no restraint. He spoke then and He is speaking now. The question I have for you in 2009 is ‘Are you listening?’ God wants to bless us and bring us back to Himself.
What I want you to know is no matter where you’re at, no matter what you’re going through, that God is there for you. God spoke then and He speaks today.
The most important thing we can learn from this message this week is God’s promises will always come true.
SLIDE:There are several truths I want us to learn from this passage.
1. God personally brought the people back to the land. “Isaiah 45:13 (NIV) I will raise up Cyrus in my righteousness: I will make all his ways straight. He will rebuild my city and set my exiles free, but not for a price or reward, says the LORD Almighty."
Who was this Cyrus and how did God use Him?
Cyrus in the Bible is depicted as the monarch and deliverer of the Jews. In the first year of his reign he was prompted by God to make a law that the temple in Jerusalem be rebuilt. He showed his interest in the project by sending the Jews back with the sacred vessels which had been taken from the temple. He also financed the project and sent building materials. So the temple was rebuilt but not to its original glory.
This was no the end of destruction for the temple. By AD70 the Romans ransacked Israel and the Jews were again out of their homeland for nearly 2,000 years. On Friday May 14, 1948 (the day in which the British Mandate over Palestine expired) the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel was signed by members of the National Council gathered at the Tel Aviv Museum.
This treaty was for Jews worldwide less than ten years after the holocaust.
If you have been watching the news you will know that Israel is threatened again. They are now at war with the Palestinians. Yesterday tanks went into the Gaza strip. We should pray for both sides. You may not be aware that there are more Christians in Palestine than in Israel.
Although the nation has been restored the temple needs to be rebuilt. Christian scholars today are divided about whether the temple will ever be rebuilt, although Orthodox Jews have plans.
Some say the temple just symbolically represents the presence of God among his people. So God brought the people back to the land, but more importantly:
2. SLIDE: God spiritually brought the people back to Himself
SLIDE How does God spiritually bring us to Himself?
a. God cleanses us
I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols.
Notice here the emphasis is on God. He says I will sprinkle clean water on you. I will cleanse you.
SLIDE: Jeremiah 2:13 (NIV) "My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.”
What did God mean when He said “I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean?” The clean water represented the cleansing of God.
When a person says I can save myself they are in deep trouble. When a Christian and a church says I can live anyway I like; don’t meddle in my life, they are in deep trouble. We cannot make ourselves right with God. We cannot live anyway we like and be right with God. That is not the cleansing water of God. That is dirty water. Our own efforts, these broken cisterns, will never stand up in God’s eyes. God wants us right with him. His desire is for us to be cleansed in His eyes. We need to seek His ways.
When Jesus was talking to a religious leader Nicodemus he said John 3:5 SLIDE: "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.”
The water is a symbol of repentance. Jesus was saying your religion is not going to cut it with God. You need repentance. You need to change your ways. Then Jesus said you need to be born of the Spirit. The Spirit is the Holy Spirit that we need in our lives.
Without a Holy Spirit revival in our midst this church is not going to make it. You cannot even make it to heaven without the Holy Spirit.
Jesus was the ultimate fulfillment Ezekiel’s prophecy. Of the Holy Spirit Jesus ‘Whoever believes in Me will, as the scripture has said (referring to Ezekiel) streams of living water will flow from within him.” We need to turn from our brokenness to God. We need to receive the new water, the Holy Spirit, by faith and trust in Jesus Christ. We need a Holy Spirit renewal.
b. SLIDE:God gives us a new heart and a new spirit
In the Old Testament, the heart is not the place of love and sorrow, romance and tenderness, joy and compassion. These meanings come from Hollywood. Hollywood is nothing but lies about what the heart is.
In the Old Testament, the heart is the seat of wisdom, the place of memory. A person thinks with the heart. The scripture says as a man thinks in his heart so he is. In the Bible man makes plans with the heart, and comes to a decision with the heart. Those who are righteous love the Lord with all their hearts; they are upright in heart, pure in heart. Jesus said blessed are the pure in heart.
But the heart is also the place of our downfall.
Jeremiah makes a comment:
SLIDE:"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately corrupt. Who can understand it?"
This is the pattern. As time goes on, often a person loses those things that were once vital to his Christian life. They are replaced with things of the world. He stops studying or reading the Bible and replaces it with entertainment and other interests. He slowly drifts away from the church, and allows other people and things become the excuse to not attend. He usually confronts me about things in the ministry, but there is no reflection in his own life. Sports, the job and work that need to be done around the house begin to take a priority over the things of God. He feels guilty and becomes distant.
Little by little, cell by cell, every part of his life in Christ is replaced by something of the world that makes his heart a little harder.
On the outside, his mold still looks the same. He has every appearance of being a Child of God. He would say he is a Christian and so would many others.
In the mountains we used to go on hikes. If you look closely you could find a piece of petrified wood in the rock. It still looks like wood but in reality it’s only a mold. What became of the heart that was once soft and pliable in the hands of God? It slowly became a stone, hard and untouchable.
This isn’t a process that happens suddenly. Few people wake up one morning and just decide not to serve the Lord. They are not on fire one day and suddenly have a hatred for God, the Bible, or the church.
We saw this clearly in the Bait of Satan study. It was insightful to our study group. The pattern is someone becomes offended at another Christian, their spouse or a church leader. They have become a prisoner. Jesus said many will be offended in the last days. Offense leads to withdrawal, betrayal and hatred. The love of many will grow cold. Jesus knew what He was talking about. He had the history of the nation, his own stubborn sinful people, and He knew the future. Jesus also knows our hearts.
When the nation of Israel refused to deal with the root issues they slowly became petrified like that wood in the rock. They failed to deal with their lives until it was too late.
I see people today who are doing the same thing. I met with a couple last week in MB; they had done the same thing. After three days we saw a spiritual breakthrough.
In Ezekiel’s day the people were far from God. Would he prophesy any different if he were here today? God did not restore them to the land so that they could fall back into rebellion and idolatry again. God does not save you so you can slowly seep back into your old ways. Like Israel He saved you to be His representative. He gave you a new heart and a new spirit. But Israel ignored what God had given them and they went into bondage. Like Israel if the churches in the north do not come together and pray – believing God and his promises, and seek the Lord for a new thing they will disappear or become irrelevant to the culture.
You see our response to God comes from our hearts. If you are drifting way from God, His ways, His truths, His people this message is a huge red flag.
Evy and I love you all. There is not one person we have met since coming to Red Lake that were not unwilling to work with. Not one. God knows our hearts.
You say, OK pastor, then what is the real issue? Why do you think our church struggles? Why do we struggle so much in our relationships? Why is our walk with God lukewarm? Here is the answer. Don’t just shrug it off.
Continually exposing ourselves to evil and ungodly influences desensitizes us to God and His word. Sin hardens our hearts. David prayed that God would purify his heart and create a new spirit within him. I pray that prayer for this church.
God’s greatest desire is that we become a church that loves Him with all our hearts. Jesus said we will be blessed if our hearts are pure. The sin of unforgiveness hardens our hearts.
If we continue to resist the promptings of the Holy Spirit this church will become another graveyard. It has happened all over this country. I have passed by many churches that were once a picture of health and strength. Now the doors and windows have been boarded up. All that remains is a graveyard in the back of the building. The once living inside joined the dead at the back.
Is your heart receptive to a fresh visitation of the Holy Spirit? Or has your heart become hard towards God? We cannot continue to resist the promptings of the Holy Spirit without becoming hardened against Him. When we become hardened against Him we become indifferent to sin.
So has your heart become hardened toward God? Do you feel that nothing can soften it? God has a solution. He wants to separate our households from the influences that are destroying our lives and the testimony of this church.
When their lives were right with God blessings flowed. God said I will increase your crops and fruit so that you are no longer ashamed among the nations.
God does not want to bless this ministry for your glory. He wants to bless you to bring glory to His name. “I want you to know that I am not doing this for your sake, declares the Sovereign LORD. Be ashamed and disgraced for your conduct, O house of Israel!” This message is for us today.
Conclusion
Ezekiel and Jeremiah, faithful hearers and accurate speakers of the word of God, proclaimed new life in the midst of the destruction of Jerusalem. Through them, God says, I will give you… a new heart… a new spirit… a new covenant.
God is calling you back to Himself this morning. This is not a new problem. This is not unique to Calvary church. I would preach this message in any church. Jesus had the same concern about the churches in Revelation. Of the Ephesus church in Revelation Jesus wrote ‘Revelation 2:4-5 (NIV) Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lamp stand from its place.”
Now it is one thing, a serious thing, when any pastor stands up to preach the eternal word of God; calling us to make serious changes in our lives. But it is an entirely different thing when the eternal Son of God with His eternal words say “I have this against you. You have forsaken your first love.”
Jesus will remove our hearts of stone and replace them with a tender heart of flesh, tender toward Him and His Word, If your love for God is not what it should be, ask Him this morning to renew your heart and restore your devotion to Him.
What are the signs of a renewed people? They will recognize sin instead of being desensitized to it.
God says when you come back to me “Then you will remember your evil ways and wicked deeds, and you will loathe yourselves for your sins and detestable practices. Ezekiel 36:31 (NIV).”
Like the people in Ezekiel’s day “Jesus wants to cleanse us this morning. He will cleanse us from all filthiness and remove everything that has stolen His rightful first place in our lives.” But the choice is up to you.
Will you, my dear Calvary people ask God to give us a heart of flesh and revive our hearts of stone?
