Recognizing Your Deliverance
Theme Verse: For I know that as you pray for me and as the Spirit of Jesus Christ helps me, this will all turn out for my deliverance. (Philippians 1:19)
Monday: For I know:
“What Do You Believe”
Tuesday: As you pray for me:
“Jesus Prayed for Me”
Wednesday: As the Spirit of Jesus: “When Jesus Exhales”
Thursday: Christ helps me: “Biting the Hand that Feeds You”
Friday: This will all turn out for my
deliverance.
“Recognizing Your Deliverance”
TEXT: Acts 12:11 And when Peter was come to himself, he said, Now I know of a surety, that the Lord hath sent his angel, and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews. (KJV)
Peter finally realized what had happened. "It’s really true!" he said to himself. "The Lord has sent his angel and saved me from Herod and from what the Jews were hoping to do to me!" (NLT)
Subject: Recognizing Your Deliverance
If we were to stop for just a minute tonight and reflect upon the lives of our grandparents and our great-grandparents, I think that most of us would come to the conclusion that we’ve really got it made. For we know that there were many things that our grandparents and ancestors had to endure that we know nothing about. For some of our older saints here tonight, their grandparents may have been raised in the bondage of slavery. They may not have had the freedoms that we have come to know and expect in today’s day and age. They may not have had the ability to pick and choose whom they would marry and what kind of job they would find to support their family. They may not have had the opportunity to learn how to read or write all because they were designated as the slaves of other men. Have I got a witness?
For those of us who have not been on the battlefield as long, we may not be able to take our grandparents or our great-grandparents as far back as slavery. And yet we know that our grandparents had to come through a time and an era that was torn with racial degradation and segregation. They experienced a time when everything was separate, but no where near equal. They experienced a time when they had to drink from separate water fountains and use separate bathroom facilities. They had to sit at the back of the bus and couldn’t eat in certain sections of certain restaurants, IF they could eat there at all. And on top of this, they had to live for fear of their lives if they were to step out of line, because they knew that it was nothing to find another black man strung up to a tree, and lynched dead just because his skin was a different color. Am I right about it?
Yes, we would have to say today that we who are here tonight have it made when we compare our circumstances and conditions to those of our ancestors. We have things happening in our lives that our grandparents never dreamed would ever happen. Most of us have more than one car in our family. We no longer have to ride a horse and buggy. We have televisions in just about every room of the house. We don’t have to sit around the fireplace, reading and telling stories anymore. We’re able to come and go as we please. We are no longer chained up and locked up like wild beast.
And the list of our advancements goes on. We are able to live where we want to live and go to the bathroom wherever we choose. We are able to eat in any restaurant as long as our money isn’t funny. We are able to send our kids to decent schools and even to college if they make the grades and desire to go. We have air conditioning and gas heat in our houses. We have automatic washers and dryers and no longer have to use that old rugboard and turnknob washing machine. We can use the bathroom on the inside of the house instead of having to go outdoors in the middle of winter.
The point I’m trying to make is that we’ve come a long way from where we used to be. We’ve been delivered from our longstanding position as second class citizens and have been afforded rights under the law that enable us to be all that we can be. Have I got a witness?
And that’s what deliverance is all about: being put in a situation where you can be all that you can be.
If has God delivered us from educational bondage, then it is our responsibility to educate our children and ourselves, and ensure that our deliverance is not wasted. If God has delivered us from emotional and physical degradation, then we should work on getting our emotional and physical states to a level that is pleasing in the eyes of God. If God has provided us with a good job, a good home, a nice car, and all of the other luxuries of life, then it is becomes our duty to give back to God. Not only in tithes and offerings, but also by giving our time and our service to help somebody else reach their deliverance.
We should always be striving to reach the pinnacle of life and not settling for the mediocre. Too many of us reach a certain level and then we start settling for mediocrity instead of continuing to push forward in the work of the Lord. Churches become stagnant because members have reached a certain level, and they’ve become complacent. They no longer work like they used to work. They no longer praise God like they used to praise God. They no longer pray like they used to pray. And they no longer love anybody the way God intends for us to love one another. We have become mediocre. We have become common. There is nothing about us that someone else would want to copy. There’s nothing that we have to offer to the next generation.
And this is the kind of mediocrity that is killing the church. Most of us when we go to our place of employment, we strive to shine. We go up, above, and beyond the call of duty to ensure that we are not only accomplishing the work that’s been laid before us, but we want our work to be noticed. We want our work to be the foundation that’s laid to getting that next promotion. …..that next raise in pay. Have I got a witness?
But when it comes to the church….when it comes to our service with GOD, we have just become down right lazy. We always have something else to do when it’s time to work for the LORD. We don’t want anyone to know where our talent lies, because we don’t want to be bothered with being asked to do something in the church. And what happens is that we slip into mediocrity. And once we become mediocre, then those that are really looking for something are going to leave. Likewise, those that are looking for something, will not see the something that they’re looking for in your church. And then the church begins to go down. The light begins to dimmer. The spirit becomes nonexistent. And the life seems almost drained out of the church.
But my brothers and sisters, I want you to know tonight that deliverance is and can be on the way. As a matter of fact, deliverance is already present, all we have to do is recognize it.
When God told Moses to send some men over to look at the land of Canaan, He also told Moses that the land had already been given to them. But when the twelve spies came back, they could not see or recognize their deliverance. So they told Moses that it was impossible for them to overtake the inhabitants of the land. And it was this disobedience, this unrecognition of the deliverance that God had provided for them, that led to their 40 year wilderness experience. The deliverance was there, but they refused to see it and could not recognize it.
Just like the children of Israel, many of our churches today are facing wilderness experiences because they cannot recognize their deliverance. When God tells us that we should pay our tithes and our offering, then we should do what God tells us to do. When God tells us that we should love one another as we love ourselves. Then we should do like God tells us to do. When God tells us that we should receive a prophet in the name of a prophet, and we don’t do what He’s telling us to do, then we shouldn’t even begin to look for a prophet’s reward.
It is our disobedience to the Word of God that has us stuck out in the wilderness. It is our uncaring and nonchalant attitudes that have us stumbling along in mediocrity. It is our unbelief and our lack of faith that have us in a position where we can never reach our deliverance.
But I dropped by to tell you tonight, that deliverance is just around the corner.
The first thing that you must do is recognize that GOD will deliver. He’s shown us time and time again that He will come through. If you don’t believe me, then you can ask the children of Israel. You know the story. When the children of Israel had been released from the bonds of slavery down in Egypt, they followed a course that led them straight to the Red Sea. And with this vast sea in front of them, there was no where else that they could go. Have I got a witness?
But to make matters worse, Pharaoh’s army was in heavy pursuit, and just about knocking on their back door. But the Bible tells us that just in a nick of time, GOD parted the Red Sea. He made a highway out of no way. And allowed all of his people to cross over on dry land. Ain’t the Lord Alright?
When Shadrach, Meeshack, and Abednego, were thrown into the fiery furnace, all because they would not bow down and worship the king. The Bible tells us that the king prepared a fiery furnace and he made it so hot that it was killing folk before they could even get close to it. But when the king threw these little Hebrew boys into this fiery furnace, instead of there being three lifeless, charred up bodies in the middle of the furnace. There were instead 4 bodies, walking around untouched by the flames. And the fourth one was declared to look like the Son of God. Ain’t the Lord Alright?
When Paul and Silas were thrown in a Philippian jail. They didn’t know whether they were going to live or die. But the Bible tells us that they just starting singing and praising God. And all of sudden, Elvis Presley should have been playing jail house rock, because the jail started rocking and reeling. And all of their chains fell off, allowing them to be free. Am I right about it?
But looked at how the LORD worked that thing. Not only did their chains fall off. But the chains of all the prisoners around them came off. You see sometimes the prayers and praise of somebody else can get you delivered even if you’re just standing around. That’s why if you want to quack like a duck you just need to hang around ducks. But if you want to fly like an eagle, you need to get around some eagles to learn how to fly. Have I got a witness in here?
My brothers and my sisters. The next thing that we need to recognize tonight is that God will sustain us. Sometimes we need a little extra pep to keep us on this Christian journey. The author of Hebrews tells us in the 12th chapter to run with endurance this race that God has set before us. If we know and recognize that all of the races that we run in this life, have been set before us by God, then we should also know and understand that if GOD puts us in a race, He’ll be right there by our side until the end. Have I got a witness?
Because even though Job went through all of the pain and suffering that he had to go through, the Bible tells us that he refused to curse God and die. Instead, Job stayed right there in the race, recognizing that the Lord gives and the Lord takes away, but even so, His name is still blessed. His name is still righteous. His name is still holy. Ain’t the Lord Alright.
And we know how the story of Job ended. He kept on waiting on the LORD and the Lord gave him what? Double for his touble. Aint the LORD Alright.
The last thing that we need to know tonight church is that GOD will bear us up. He will be our strong tower. He will bear us up even when our enemies are trying to tear us down. For I can here David saying over in the 18th division of Psalm, that “GOD reached down from heaven and rescued me; he drew me out of deep waters. He delivered me from my powerful enemies, from those who hated me and were too strong for me. They attacked me at a moment when I was weakest, but the LORD upheld me.”
How many of you know tonight, that when God is on your side, no devil in hell can bring any harm to you. Am I right about it?
And what I like about our text tonight is that it tells us that when Peter came to himself he knew for himself that GOD had delivered him out of the hands of his enemies. It didn’t matter what anybody else wanted to happen, GOD’s will still prevailed. Ain’t the Lord Alright.
And Just like Peter tonight, I want you to know that it was nobody, nobody but the LORD that delivered you down through the years. IT was nobody, nobody but the LORD, that washed all of your sins away. IT was nobody, nobody but the LORD that fed you when you were hungry. Clothed you when you were naked. Healed your body when you were sick. Nobody but Jesus. Jesus. Oh Jesus. He came down through 42 generations……..
