The List

The List

Psa 139:16, Dan 7:10, Rev 20:12, John:1,14, Psa 44:2-3,Col 2:13-14, Isa 44:22, Acts 3:19

Psa 103:12, Heb 8:12, Heb:10:17

February 5, 2003

I. It would probably have been better if I had not started keeping the list, and I am sure the building committee would have appreciated it.

A. When we built this building I planned it out in my head for a long time.

B. I tired to talk to different people and gather information and think out all the details and make sure that all the bases were covered.

C. I tired to make sure that everything was done just right, but there are some things that I wish I had done differently, and some things that were not finished when we moved in.

D. I didn’t notice them before we moved in, but once you take up residence in a place you start to notice things that you didn’t notice before.

E. There are some sheet rock nails that can be seen through the texture, the video screen isn’t up yet, some places where the switch covers don’t cover all the holes, Some receptacles don’t work and a few other things.

F. Thinking about the mistakes that were made in building this building, makes me think about my list of mistakes that God has made.

G. I mean after all hasn’t God taken up residence in my heart, and if I can see the flaws in this building just imagine what he can see in me.

1. The hinges to the prayer room have some rust on them from not enough use.

2. The heater called anger overheats at times.

3. The attic floor is weighted down with too many regrets, and the cellar has more past secrets in it than I would like.

4. And the some of the cynical thoughts probably need to be aired out of it too.

H. Actually I don’t imagine that any of us would really like to look at the list of failures that has been compiled by God about our lives.

I. You do know that there is a list being kept don’t you? A list of all of your actions and sin.

Psa 139:16 NIV) your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

(Dan 7:10 NIV) A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before him. Thousands upon thousands attended him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The court was seated, and the books were opened.

(Rev 20:12 NIV) And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.

J. Kinda scary isn’t it? It is scary to think that God knows every thought and action that we have ever committed.

1. How would you like for you list of failures to be made public, and lifted up so high that they could be seen? I think we all have the same answer to that one.

K. Well, there has already been a day when that happened. There is a list of every sin that you have ever committed, and there has already been a time that it was publically displayed.

L. You’ve never seen it, and no other human has ever seen it, but Jesus saw it.

II. Let me say before I go any further that there is no way that I can 100% prove that our list was seen, but I think I can take you to the moment in time when it was seen.

A. Let’s go to a hill called calvary for a minute. Watch as the soldiers shove the carpenter to the ground. He has spit on his face and a crown of thorns on his head.

B. Now, watch as the soldiers stretch out his arm. Watch as one of the soldiers presses his knee against the Jesus’ arm and holds the spike in his hand to his wrist.

C. Watch as Jesus turns his head just as the hammer lifts to strike the nail that will pierce his wrist.

D. Now a question. Couldn’t Jesus have stopped it? With one flex of his muscles or even one thought Jesus could have stopped the whole thing.

E. Wasn’t his hand the same hand that had calmed a storm, and cleansed the temple, and healed a leper, or even brought someone back from the dead.

F. The hand that was laying on that cross beam of wood was the hand of God. Jesus was God in human form.

(John 1:1 NIV) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.