16. SCRIPTURE
Malachi 3:13-18 (NKJV) [13] "Your words have been harsh against Me," Says the LORD, "Yet you say, 'What have we spoken against You?' [14] You have said, 'It is useless to serve God; What profit is it that we have kept His ordinance, And that we have walked as mourners Before the LORD of hosts? [15] So now we call the proud blessed, For those who do wickedness are raised up; They even tempt God and go free.' " [16] Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, And the LORD listened and heard them; So a book of remembrance was written before Him For those who fear the LORD And who meditate on His name. [17] "They shall be Mine," says the LORD of hosts, "On the day that I make them My jewels. And I will spare them As a man spares his own son who serves him." [18] Then you shall again discern Between the righteous and the wicked, Between one who serves God And one who does not serve Him.
Malachi 4:1-6 (NKJV) [1] "For behold, the day is coming, Burning like an oven, And all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall burn them up," Says the LORD of hosts, "That will leave them neither root nor branch. [2] But to you who fear My name The Sun of Righteousness shall arise With healing in His wings; And you shall go out And grow fat like stall-fed calves. [3] You shall trample the wicked, For they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet On the day that I do this," Says the LORD of hosts. [4] "Remember the Law of Moses, My servant, Which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel, With the statutes and judgments. [5] Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. [6] And he will turn The hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse."
INTRODUCTION
Today's sermon is titled 'Be Mine'...on account of Valentine's Day which is this week...Husbands...now don't forget!
According to 'Yahoo Answers': This day, normally celebrated on Feb 14 is named after two men... Both Christian martyrs... Both named Valentine???
It is a day when lovers typically exchange love notes later called Valentine cards
.
The Greeting Card Manufacturer's Assoc estimate that this year 1 Billion such cards will be mailed and/or exchanged.
In the USA, this day is often called 'Hallmark Day.'
In France, in 1400, a court was established called the Valentine's Court...and those that abused their wives were tried and often sent to prison.
As a side note, the judges were appointed by women!
On the evening before Valentine's execution as a Christian... He passed a note to the jailer's daughter asking...Will you be mine?
In the third century, a blind priest gave his life for a woman who was to be executed and took her execution which was carried out...
15B ILLUSTRATION #1
God wants us all to be His...but not just for Valentines Day
In 1980, around Valentine's Day, the temperatures in Minnesota had dropped to almost 20 below zero. A girl by the name of Jean Hilliard was having car problems during the night and decided to walk to a friends house... rather than freeze to death in her car on a lonely country road.
She made it as far as the driveway of a neighbor of her friend
There she collapsed and lay for six hours until discovered at 7:00am...totally frozen...with her eyes open
The man put her into his car almost diagonally for she was frozen in a pone position with one arm and hand in the air as if reaching for something...Hmmm...who could that have been?
She was so frozen, she could not be moved, she could be given a shot, she could not have her temperature taken, and so the doctor ordered warm cloths to be placed all over her body and replaced hourly until the body was seen as thawing out.
Her doctor told the parents that she was alive...even though her heart rate had dropped to 8 beats per minute....the BAD NEWS...If she lived...she would most likely need her legs and arms amputated.
Forty-Nine days later, Jean walked out of the hospital with her arms and legs in tact. It was a medical miracle...A Valentine's gift from God... Praise God!
16 THREE POINTS
BE MINE
BE HIS
BE LOVED
THE THREE POINTS EXPLAINED
#1
BE MINE
As we read in today's passage...and saw in our Video... God wants nothing more than for you and I to be HIS...Be Mine is what He said...Be Mine is a request...for you and I to love Him As much as He loves us...or some smalll portion of that Love that only He can give...Amen!
We all have an invitation from Him.... sort of a Valentine's card but a card given forever...saying... requesting...that we BE HIS
He speaks to us...but many ignore His voice
BE MINE...He says... BE MINE
But often it falls on deaf ears...
For He once said...they have ears but do not hear and eyes but do not see
You have to want to be His!
What is involved in BEING HIS?
#2
BE HIS
#1 We must give up all of our worldlly possessions...there is to be no other god before Him
Exodus 34:14 (NKJV) (for you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God),
Matthew 6:24 (NKJV) "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
#2 We Must Draw Near Him
When you met your LOVE...Did you not feel the NEED to be near him or her?
You couldn't wait to talk to her on the phone
You couldn't wait to clean up the old wheels and meet her somewhere...often somewhere isolated...somewhere quiet
Where the two of you could be all ALONE
It is NO different...or should be NO different with GOD
Why would you NOT want to be ALONE with the Creator of ALL things...What could you learn?...what might rub off on you?
#3 We Must establish a Close Relationship with Him
How then do we do that?
Is He not invisible?
We just had a sermon about that...No He is visible through all that He has created...and you and I...and His Son Jesus have His image (Read Genesis to learn more).
We must be in His Word...for there...He reveals Himself
It would take one billion years or more.... just to scratch the surface of what our God knows
The only way for us to learn of what He knows is to read and learn what He has said and done...Amen.
Every time you read His Word...something jumps out of the page...something you have never noticed before... something new...something wondrous...something helpful... something healing
#4 We Must Hunger and Thirst for His Righteousness
Matthew 5:6 (NKJV) Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.
John 6:35 (NKJV) And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.
We will never BE HIS...we will NEVER join Him...unless we are HOLY and RIGHTEOUS in His eyes
That's where His Son come in...for ONLY He can make us righteous and holy
A bit of Trivia... RIGHTEOUSNESS is mentioned 319 times in His Word and HOLY or HOLINESS 657 times
Philippians 1:11 (NKJV) being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
Romans 11:16 (NKJV) For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches.
We are the branches... The firstfruit is Jesus Christ... The lump is the Holy Spirit and the root is God the Father
We are made Holy and Righteous through His Son... The First Fruit... The First Resurrected
#3
BE LOVED
We should make LOVEl...His LOVE...the center of our Universe
People should say, "Boy you can really tell HE or SHE LOVES the LORD!" Amen?
I told you last week, that you should walk up to strangers and say, "GOD loves you and so do I!"
Do you think they would throw something at you?
Are you perhaps afraid of what they might be saying about you behind your back?
You know...they talked behind our Lord Jesus's back ALL the time
It made no difference to Him
He was beyond such hypocritical talkings
He would catch them and say some marvelous things, like "Turn the other cheek" or "Follow me!"
God has given us a bounty of His LOVE and is willing to give us more as we pass it our from His abundance
We should never feel as though we will run out... or that there is not enough to go around
But, you know, He said, what good is it that you love someone who loves you?
That is because we are to love our enemies and neighbors as ourselves...which is hard to do...that is for sure.
CLOSING
In summary...in closing...this is the Season for Love
There are loves that need to be re-kindled
Let it start with LOVE for HIM
And FINISH with Your SPOUSE...or your CHILDREN... or your GRAND CHILDREN or your GREAT GC...
Or your neighbor...or your ENEMY of ENEMIES!
