The Way To God

First Church of god in Harvey

Sunday Morning April 22nd, 2012

Let us pray

Welcome….…..

This is the day which the Lord hath made, we will rejoice and be glad in it. Some people come to church to see their friends, but I came to praise the Lord. Some people come to church to jump and shout, and that is alright, but I came to praise the Lord. Some people come to church to get away from their problems, but I came to praise the Lord. So, why are you here? I trust you are here to praise the Lord.

It is no accident why you are here today. You might think you had it all planned out, “but long before you were conceived by your parents, you were conceived in the mind of God.” The Great Almighty God ‘planned where you’d be born and where you’d live for his purpose. Your race and nationality are no accident. God left no detail to chance.” God planned it that I would be born in Jamaica, he planned it that I would be in Harvey, Illinois, today. It is said that, “God was thinking of you even before he made the world.” Can you believe that? God was thinking of you before he made the world. Don’t you know that you are important to God. Listen to what David says in the first portion of psalm 139 verse 14, “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made…”

“I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” Despite all that we were faced with last week, today we can still say, this is the day which the Lord hath made, and we will rejoice and be glad in it. Today we will give thanks unto the Lord, because he is good. Not only is the Lord good, but his mercy endureth forever. Last Wednesday night in our prayer meeting, I felt the Spirit of God moving in an extraordinary way, and I want to believe that something good is about to happen. I want to believe that God is about to shower us with his blessings. Maybe you might be seeing gloom and doom, but God does not see things the way we do…elaborate…

A few weeks ago while Bro. Charles Johnson was teaching the Sunday School class, my thought was drawn to St. Johm14, and today I will be using a portion of this scripture for our text. Our scripture reading will be taken from St. John 14: verses 1 through 7. Let’s all stand and read from the screen. Please tell somebody, It is all about Jesus.

My to-pic for today is, “The Way To God.” Number 1….Jesus is the way; Number 2..Jesus is the truth and Number 3…Jesus is the life.

As we listen to the news, as we surf the internet, as we read the paper, it seems all we are hearing is bad news. How much bad news can we take? It seems to me that God’s people are against each other, because somebody does not believe it the way they do. It seems to me that people are searching for something, and anything that seems good or look good, they are willing to accept. Saints of God we are living in perilous times; we are living in the last days. The apostle Paul writes in 2 Timothy 4 verse 3, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears.” In our Bible class last Wednesday night, we were reminded how a man who had turned away from the truth was able to bring about the destruction of thousands who were seeking for something to satisfy. These people had failed to realize, that only Jesus can truly satisfies.

Jesus chose twelve men, the apostles; for a time they were called disciples or learners. They had no jobs, because they had given up the livelihood they were engaged in; their fishing, their tax gathering, their agriculture. So here we had twelve men following Jesus around, going from place to place, apparently having nothing to do. It seems these men were just idle men, but they were disciples or learners, observing what their master was doing. They had to learn before they could teach. Strange enough today, there are so many who want to teach, but who do not want to learn. So here we have the disciples learning from the master teacher.

The disciples were hearing the message, but it seems they were not understanding the message. In Luke 22 verse 24 di-vi-sive-ness (strife, dissension, quarrel, rivalry, jealous dispute) had set in among them, as to which of them would be the greatest. There was a fight going on among God’s people, does that sound familiar? In John 13 verse 18 it was now known that there was going to be “desertion and betrayal by one of them…” In John 13 verse 38 it was now known that one who was close to the master would deny him. The disciples had reasons to be troubled, things were happening that would cause them to be disturbed, troubled.