Sermon - soaring Soul
- When something amazing happens, or something life changing happens. What do we
do after those moments?
- Let me give you an example, I remember I was given permission to cruise, just like
a toddler is learning to walk & would cruise down the couch. I can’t remember why
I was given permission. Whether it was because I was no longer restricted to no
more than being up at 45 degrees for my back, I got the cast off my right leg, or
the pins out of my left foot toes. I just remember cruising along the side of the
bed.
- That was a life changing moment!
- Amazing miracles happen all the time, but after they’ve come, the amazing has
taken place, we’re once again faced with yet another question that demands
an answer.
Q- The question: Now that things have changed, now that you’re saved, will you soar?
- You’re alive, then choose to live!
- I was allowed to cruise up & down my bed.
Q- Does That mean I Now get back in bed & act like nothing happened?
- Let’s open our Bibles to Isaiah 40:31, & in this one verse we are being tasked to trust
in the miracle that has saved us from death.
Isaiah 40:31
31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
- Christ has saved all that will trust in Him, they are His.
- That is the truth that each person is to wait upon,
Q- but when He has saved you, do you have faith enough to believe that He who has
started this precious work in you is faithful enough to finish it?
Q- So, will you soar/live knowing Jesus has you?
Prayer
> The Bath Tub Senility Test (www.my-pastor.com/christian-jokes.html)
During a visit to a hospital for the mentally infirm, a visitor asked the Director what the criterion was that defined whether or not a patient should be institutionalized.
"Well," said the Director, "we fill up a bathtub; then we offer a teaspoon, a teacup and a bucket to the patient and ask him or her to empty the bathtub."
"Oh, I understand," said the visitor. "A normal person would use the bucket because it's bigger than the spoon or the teacup.
"No," said the Director, "a normal person would pull the plug. Do you want a bed by the wall or near the window?"
- Christ came to give us life, & to have it more abundantly!
- Jesus said that in John 10:10.
Q- Now, did He say that so we would stop in our faith & say, oh I sinned too much for
Christ’s atonement to redeem me?
- Yes, you can take that statement out of context, & think that after you’re saved
you can sin all you want & live like the devil.
- No, that would just prove that you were never saved to begin with.
- Jesus told the Disciples of this life, because He wanted them to experience true
freedom.
Q- What does freedom look like?
- Since the fall of mankind in the garden of Eden, we have been under the power of
sin ever since.
- Sin has been our task master.
- We can look at a drug addict & say, I don’t understand how they were willing to
give up everything for these drugs, but what has happened is, the drug is their
task master.
- The drug is so drawing & beautiful that you have to have it.
- That’s Sin. Sin is beautiful. We often have to have it.
Q- How many people addicted to nicotine turn back to it when they fail at quitting it?
- Let me put it to you this way, Many Do!
- Jesus in Luke 4:18 said,
18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
- Jesus says, I’m not some simple nicotine patch that wears off, & has to be replaced. I
am the atonement,
- The atonement That you are sealed by, by the Holy Spirit, unto the day of
redemption.
- It’s Eternal!
Q- Do you remember in the marriage vows you say, til death do us part?
- In Christ there is no death. Nothing that can separate us, & this Holy Union.
John 5:24
24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
- With that we go back to the task.
Q- Will you soar with Christ?
- A great example of this question is the Israelites after their deliverance from captivity
in Egypt.
- Imagine suffering in Egypt as a slave for 215 years. Then through God’s great hand
you are set free.
- All you have ever known is Egypt.
- Now you are faced with a new task.
Exodus 19:1-6
1 In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai.
2 For they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness; and there Israel camped before the mount.
3 And Moses went up unto God, and the Lord called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel;
4 Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself.
5 Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:
6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.
Q- Will you follow Me?
Q- Will you lean, trust, on Me?
- If you will trust Me, you will be My peculiar treasure!
- That’s a lot to take in!
- You will be Mine. That’s what God is saying.
- We know the history, some of the Israelites didn’t trust God, even though He
just miraculously redeemed them/carried them on eagles wings.
- They’re not ready to soar, because they’re still struggling with the sinking soul!
- The whole idea of our soul soaring comes from where we’ve had a sinking soul, a
satisfied soul, & then a singing Soul, each step leads to the next.
- You make each step not knowing what the next will bring, but you still take the
step.
- This time Christ is saying, “you are already singing with your faith, Now would
you soar to greater heights?”.
Q- You are already redeemed, would you continue to walk away from what has
oppressed you, or would you turn back to it?
Q- Do you really want to go back to that life that had no future?
- Paul wrote to the church of Phillipi saying,
Philippians 3:13
13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
- Paul says, I cannot say I’ve attained perfection, but what I can say is that I do not look
back at what has passed.
- The past is done, & I have been atoned for!
- I will not let the past dictate to who I am now in Christ Jesus!
- There’s our closing thought, I will soar because Christ has removed my heavy load of
sin.
- Christ is the only one who can do that.
Q- Why do you suppose He would do such a thing for us?
- Listen to the cracked pot & you’ll see why.
The Cracked Pot
(Author unknown- http://varietyreading.carlsguides.com/christian-stories/cracked.php)
A water bearer in India had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole that he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it, while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water.
At the end of the long walk from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full. For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water to his house.
Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect for which it was made. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do.
After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream. "I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you. I have been able to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house. Because of my flaws, you have to do all of this work, and you don't get full value from your efforts," the pot said.
The bearer said to the pot, "Did you notice that there were flowers on your side of the path but not on the other pot's side? That's because I have always known about your flaw, and I planted flower seeds on your side of the path. Every day while we walk back, you've watered them. For two years, I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house."
- God says, I can use you all, don’t allow the world, circumstances, or yourself slow you
down.
- Soar with Me, & be the blessing I want.
