In today’s scripture, Jacob says something which is soul-searching for every Christian – “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” I wonder if some of us would have to say that about church yesterday? Did we go to church and leave unmoved, unchanged, and not hungering more for God? Did we come to church, go through church, and leave church having never encountered the Lord Jesus? What I am referring to as encounters with the Living Christ are two things which always occur when we meet God.
Pleasing God, Making Disciples of Jesus Christ
Pleasing God, Making Disciples of Jesus Christ
Old Testament
In this sermon, Pastor Jim continues the exposition on the conclusion of Ecclesiastes. After a brief review of the previous week he launches into how the fear of God should influence and guide the life of the believer. Pastor Jim follows that up with a discourse on where a healthy fear of God originates from, its definition, and its evidences. He wraps up warning about the primary opponent to a true, healthy fear of God; pride.
The Christian life from start to finish is all of grace. God saves us by His grace. He grows us by His grace. He makes us like His Son by grace. He will bring us to heaven by grace. Yes, everything we have and are is all of God’s amazing grace. Every day we should be a people humming along the grand hymn of the faith written by John Newton – “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.” There is another aspect of grace we may not think of much; “The Preventing Grace of God.”
It may seem like a “no brainer” question – “Why walk with God?”, but the only people who would see this question as obvious are those in the minority who do strive to walk with Him. Look around the world, even our own little worlds. Most people don’t walk with Him. In fact, most people don’t even think about God. Now before we are tempted to think the answers are so obvious as to why walk with God, let’s allow a little humility to settle into our hearts and minds.
Ecclesiastes 12:13 – The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. The Fear of God A. Its lack is the cause of the world’s misery/humanity’s selfishness Romans 3:18 B. Its dominant place in God’s Word Where there is a fear of God, there is a love of…
I like going through cemeteries. My calling as a pastor takes me into them often but I go there regardless. It is an interesting and helpful place for me to visit for two reasons. First, it reminds me of the brevity of life. Unless Christ returns, I, too, will soon occupy a place in the ground in a cemetery. Walking through one awakens me to reality that I am going to die and such awareness should move me to live each day to its fullest as if it were my last. It could be.