Sermon - The Sinking Soul
- I sat back & reflected on what generally happens before a great revival takes place.
- Usually tragedy, or an unforeseen event takes place first. Then people recognize
God, & return.
- It very much mirrors the feeling you get, right before the emotion of fight or flight,
when it feels like your heart just sank deep into your belly.
- It’s in that moment you realize I need to do something, also known as fight or
flight.
- I know those moments are orchestrated by God, because they demand an answer.
- Let me begin with my example in Genesis 4:3-8.
- While you turn there. Think of the times you watch the news, read the paper, or
cruise the headlines on the internet.
- You come across an article that you are totally against.
Q- What stirs you, or motivates you to be against what you see, or read?
Q- What Do you do after you’re motivated against it?
- Now the example.
- Mankind had fallen, sin entered the world.
- God’s plan during this time was for man to choose to do good, & approach God By
blood sacrifices.
Genesis 4:3-5
3 And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord.
4 And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering:
5 But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.
- Abel gave his sacrifice of a lamb, & God respected it.
- Then Cain gave his sacrifice of the fruit of the ground & God didn’t respect it.
* There’s your headline: God didn’t like your sacrifice!
- Now notice what happens after Cain receives the headline, or bad news.
Genesis 4:6-8
6 And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?
7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.
8 And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.
Q- What was going through Cain’s mind when he chose to kill his brother?
Prayer
- It’s very clear that the impact of God not accepting your sacrifice, however
meaningful it was to Cain, was devastating to him.
- He knew that he had to do something, but listening to God wasn’t what he was
ready to do.
- After The Sacrifices God told Cain to do good. To do bad meant you were
following your master, Satan.
- God was reminding Cain that he belongs to Him. So, do good.
- The emotion of sinking though overcomes a lot of people.
> Even Noah had to overcome thoughts of sinking. There was one animal he really
could have killed because of them. It was the woodpecker!
- Emotions get the better of us, & it’s not until we begin to seek The Lord that we turn
from our wrong.
- Ezra, the scribe who led the Israelites back to Jerusalem, & from their Babylonian
captivity wrote,
2 Chronicles 7:14
14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
- Ezra was close to God, & he knew God would be with them, if they would seek Him.
- The Word translated face means presence.
- If we seek His presence.
- Notice what happens, turn from thy wicked ways.
- That’s Repentance! The result of seeking God.
- You can try to clean yourself up all you want, but you’ll never be clean until you let
Jesus wash you.
- Just like Cain’s fruit of the field. He could bring the whole crop, but it wasn’t
enough, because he wasn’t seeking God.
- For the Israelites, If they really wanted to seek God, it was going to take faith &
work.
- They had to faithfully believe that God would get them there, & keep them
there.
- They had to keep from returning to the sin that sent them into captivity in the
first place.
- Jesus said in Luke 11:23-28
Luke 11:23-28
23 He that is not with me is against me: and he that gathereth not with me scattereth.
24 When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out.
25 And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished.
26 Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first.
27 And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked.
28 But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.
- Jesus is saying that when you try to do it yourself, it only will get worse.
- What’s deceiving though, is the fact that at first we feel like we’re prospering, &
being blessed.
- The demon’s gone, we’re all cleaned up, & doing good.
- Well, then the demon comes back, but with his buddies.
- Once again you’re plagued, & tormented.
Q- Why does it seem like we’re never going to have a real revival in America right now?
- It’s because we’re in the swept out phase, & the demons are on their way back in,
with their friends.
- With so many of our choices, I hear the headlines screaming, “the demons are
coming to take up residence!”.
- I feel the sinking feeling as every bible believing church is being challenged.
- Then I see churches bend to suit the world, not God
- Let me give you one more example,
- Jesus is seen walking on the water, in the middle of the night, & straight towards the
disciples boat.
- When Jesus identifies Himself, & immediately Peter speaks up.
Matthew 14:28-33
28 And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.
29 And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.
30 But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.
31 And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?
32 And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased.
33 Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God.
- As I’ve taught before, this is the first time the disciples are recorded to have bowed,
& worshipped Jesus, recognizing Him as the Son of God.
- Our prime example, however, is Peter.
- Peter boldly wanted to pave the way, both in faith & action, by walking out on the
water to meet Jesus.
- His focus was on his strength.
- Think about what happened,
- He stepped out & walked on water - He’s prospering, for the moment.
- His heart “sank” when he saw the waves.
- Then He began to sink.
- In the middle of the crashing waves you’re sinking, getting ready to
drown.
- Peter’s story could have ended there. Worse than the way it began.
- Immediately he cried out, Lord, save me!
- Jesus saved him.
- There It is, the headline screamed, Peter you’re going to drown, but Jesus had
a better message.
- Revival isn’t the result of calamity, it’s the recognizing of God.
- If we want revival in America, & across this great Earth we live.
- We have to recognize who God is, seek His Face, & follow His leading.
- The more we follow Him, the more He will add His increase.
James 4:8
8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
> Moving Rocks - (Poem by Anisha Sipporah www.poemhunter.com)
A little boy was spending his Saturday morning
playing in his sandbox.
He had with him his box of cars and trucks,
his plastic pail, and a shiny, red plastic shovel.
In the process of creating roads and tunnels in the soft sand,
he discovered a large rock in the middle of the sandbox.
The boy dug around the rock, managing to dislodge it from the dirt.
With a little bit of struggle, he pushed and nudged the large rock
across the sandbox by using his feet.
When the boy got the rock to the edge of the sandbox,
he found that he couldn't roll it up and over the
wall of sandbox.
Determined, the little boy shoved, pushed, and pried,
but every time he thought he had made some progress,
the rock tipped and then fell back into the sandbox.
The little boy grunted, struggled, pushed, & shoved;
But his only reward was to have the rock roll back,
smashing his chubby fingers.
Finally he burst into tears of frustration.
All this time the boy's father watched from his
living room window as the drama unfolded.
At the moment the tears fell, a large shadow fell across
the boy and the sandbox.
It was the boy's father.
Gently but firmly he said, 'Son, why didn't you use
all the strength that you had available? '
Defeated, the boy sobbed back, 'But I did, Daddy, I did!
I used all the strength that I had! '
'No, son, ' corrected the father kindly.
You didn't use all the strength you had.
You didn't ask me.'
With that the father reached down, picked up the rock
and removed it from the sandbox.
- As the Church it seems our struggle is never ending, & we’ll never win, but it’s not us
that’s fighting, it’s God/Jesus.
- Let’s draw neigh to Him, day & night, & let Him do His work.
