Magnify the Lord
JCC 01.10.09 am
PP Illustration slide 1: Telescopes, key-hole surgery, binoculars, reading glasses, microscope and the human eye
Object: a magnifying glass and tiny pictures
Activity: Children to use magnifying glass to find out what’s on the paper
A lens brings the object closer only in vision, not reality
Glass curved slightly to form a convex lens, while the glass in our windows are plane glass
The magnifying glass is not projecting an image onto anything; it is merely bending the Light rays from the object so that the object will appear larger
Read Psalm 34:3 O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together.
Praise enlarges God
Too many with strained eyes, trying to see without praising and exalting him
PP illustration slide 2: 2-7 bird 8-12 Jesus’ face
As Christians we are to magnify the Lord
We must be the lens through which the world views God
The problem arises when we don’t see God magnified ourselves
What does this mean?
In his book, William Hendricks, ‘Revealing Stories Why People Are Leaving the Church’, he took a survey asking folks why they no longer attended church. Surprisingly, the most common complaint was not the music, or the facility, or that church was dull. The most common reason given for leaving the church was that the church did not provide them an opportunity to meet with God. E.g., it was not ‘worshipful’ enough!
They came hoping to experience something of God, to be spiritually fed, but many left empty. Hendricks wrote: “Apparently, it doesn’t matter if the service is entertaining. When interaction with God is absent, eventually the church loses its appeal.”
You see, when people do not connect with God is some way, there is frustration, and emptiness and they begin to drift away
We the church must take some responsibility for this
Why?
Our God isn’t big enough, or strong enough
We show them a God who can’t fulfill our needs, let alone theirs
One who isn’t important to us because we fill our lives with other things
They see we don’t have any commitment to church
They watch us squabble and fall out
They can only see the Lord through the projected image we give of Him
If God is small in our eyes, we will nothing happen
Many see God too small:
· Not able to deal with their difficulties
· Not able to save their families
· Not able to do something in the community
Men & women who have great faith in God, and in whom God has given strength, how enormous He becomes!
Have you never studied of the great heroes of the Bible?
The spies saw the enemy as giants and themselves as grasshoppers; how small was God? Num 13-14
Joshua and Caleb saw God bigger than the enemy, they were the grasshoppers, then Josh 2 they entered the land
What was the difference between Caleb, Joshua and the other spies?
Their view of God
God was bigger than anything or anyone
Num 14:24 But My servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it.
This different spirit, is one who sees the greatness of God and the smallness of man
Someone whose eyes and mind magnify the Lord
1 Sam 17 When David went to the battlefield, the army were afraid; they saw Goliath as big and God as small
However, David saw a big God and a small man with a big mouth
When people are against you, how do you see God? As one who curls up and runs away? Or one who stands and sees the magnification of the Lord?
2 Kings 6 Elijah saw what his servant didn’t when the enemy surrounded them
Not only the army of the Lord, but God was magnified in the situation
When circumstances surround you, magnify the Lord
Mary said, ‘my soul magnifies the Lord… Luke 1:46
Here was God beginning to show the first glimpse of His plan of salvation
Mary doesn’t want to be seen before her Lord, but she made her God bigger than herself
As the people of God we never should out-view the Lord
Many times men and women seem bigger than the God they serve
Col 3:3 Paul said, For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
When we see God bigger we will see people, difficulties and even Satan smaller
We are to see God big. ‘In the beginning God’, He is all in all;
The text is our telescope allowing us to see how God worked in the lives of men and women
We must study the scriptures to get the right image of who God is, and who we are
Why?
We don’t wear our spiritual glasses
We know God can do mighty things, we just don’t see it for ourselves
If you can’t see what He want you to see then look deeper
And get focused
The fearful soul has a right view of God in many respects, but the faithful soul has a right view of God in all respects.
Vision is about good focus PP slide 14
We cannot make God any greater or higher than he is, but if our focus is out, then He is obscured
It’s about time the church really focused on the Lord and not themselves
We have services where we never see God at all
The focus is wrong/blurred
He is always greater than we see or imagine, more vast and incomprehendable
If He isn’t the biggest thing to you and this church, then you are blurred in your vision
Like Is 14 lift your eyes up and see……..
Do people say about us? ‘Their God is mighty and He is displayed in their life and their church’
So what can we as mere humans do?
We can do nothing, but magnify Him
Job had a conversation with God about life when God seemed small and far away
God wanted to know who it was that set the stars in place
Who told the sea to go thus far and no more
What was God doing with job?
He was saying, ‘keep your focus on me’
Take your eyes off your friends, off your family, off your situation
Look at me through spiritual glasses and keep focused despite what’s happening
I know in whose hands I am, and I am persuaded that He is able to preserve me, so that when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.
If I go into the fire, I shall not be burned; "I shall come forth." Like the three young men, though the furnace be heated seven times hotter, the Son of man will be with me in the furnace, and "I shall come forth" with not even the smell of fire upon me.
Yes, "I shall come forth," and none can obstruct me because my vision is on Him and I will magnify the Lord
So, what do you see when you look at God?
One who is mighty?
One ready to deliver you from every situation you may find yourself in?
Someone who created all things and holds all things in His hands?
Or
One who is small and cannot possibly deal with your circumstances?
A God who isn’t interested in you as a person?
There’s one more vision I want to bring before I close
Those with no vision, no focus and especially who never magnify the Lord
Slide 15 the blind
The blind not only cannot see God
They cannot experience His presence
And they certainly cannot magnify Him
They don’t focus on the cross and the reason behind it
They have veiled eyes which cannot see the truth
Conclusion:
Are you magnifying the Lord?
· To yourself
· To others
He deserves our highest praise for all He has done
Do you have correct vision?
· Of the Lord
· Of yourself
· Of others
· Of Satan
Is your focus correct? If not:
· Read the word to re-focus
· Pray to re-focus
· Praise and worship to re-focus
Always put the Lord magnified in your life
Say this prayer if you are not magnifying the Lord in your life:
Dear Lord,
I admit that at times I see you smaller than my situations; I allow my vision of you to become obscured and I don’t praise you enough for the things you do. Help me to magnify you in my life. Help me to see you correctly. I want those around me to see you too. To see you magnified through my life. Amen
If you don’t know him and you can’t see him, then say this prayer:
Dear God,
I admit I cannot see you. I never acknowledge you in my life. I only think about myself and I see myself as the most important person.
Open my eyes to see you and what Jesus did for me on the cross.
I want to magnify you and put you at the centre of my life.
Forgive me Lord for neglecting to have you as part of my life.
Forgive me for all the wrong thoughts, the wrong actions and the wrong words I have spoken.
Like Paul, let my life be hidden in Christ that I may walk with a new understanding, a new vision, a new focus and mat I magnify you before everyone I meet. Amen
