Value The Word God, Work Out Your Faith In Christ, Know The Resurrection
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· 8 viewsThe Value of the Word of God and one's faith in it
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Songs of Worship
Songs of Worship
1. Every Morning Is Resurrection Morning From Now On - The Children's Choir
2. He's Alive- By: David Phelps (GVB)
3. Majesty - By: Bill & Gloria Gaither
4. Alleluia - By: Tennessee Ernie Ford
5. Hail The Day - By: Charles Wesley, Steve & Vikki Cook
6. Crown Him (Majesty) - By: Chris Tomlin (with Kari Jobe)
Child Dedication - John Foster, Sr.
Kevin Josiah Foster
William Kevin McCray Foster
Children's Prayer - John Foster, Jr.
PRELUDE SONG
7. We Will Rise- By: Sovereign Grace Music
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8. The Victory - By: Phil Wickham
BENEDICTION SONG
9. Christ The Lord Is Risen Today - By: Charles Wesley (1739)
10. I Will Rise - Chris Tomlin
Call To Worship Scripture
Call To Worship Scripture
When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.” And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
Sermon Scripture
Sermon Scripture
When the child had grown, he went out one day to his father among the reapers. And he said to his father, “Oh, my head, my head!” The father said to his servant, “Carry him to his mother.” And when he had lifted him and brought him to his mother, the child sat on her lap till noon, and then he died. And she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God and shut the door behind him and went out. Then she called to her husband and said, “Send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys, that I may quickly go to the man of God and come back again.” And he said, “Why will you go to him today? It is neither new moon nor Sabbath.” She said, “All is well.” Then she saddled the donkey, and she said to her servant, “Urge the animal on; do not slacken the pace for me unless I tell you.” So she set out and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel.
When the man of God saw her coming, he said to Gehazi his servant, “Look, there is the Shunammite. Run at once to meet her and say to her, ‘Is all well with you? Is all well with your husband? Is all well with the child?’ ” And she answered, “All is well.” And when she came to the mountain to the man of God, she caught hold of his feet. And Gehazi came to push her away. But the man of God said, “Leave her alone, for she is in bitter distress, and the Lord has hidden it from me and has not told me.” Then she said, “Did I ask my lord for a son? Did I not say, ‘Do not deceive me?’ ” He said to Gehazi, “Tie up your garment and take my staff in your hand and go. If you meet anyone, do not greet him, and if anyone greets you, do not reply. And lay my staff on the face of the child.” Then the mother of the child said, “As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So he arose and followed her. Gehazi went on ahead and laid the staff on the face of the child, but there was no sound or sign of life. Therefore he returned to meet him and told him, “The child has not awakened.”
When Elisha came into the house, he saw the child lying dead on his bed. So he went in and shut the door behind the two of them and prayed to the Lord. Then he went up and lay on the child, putting his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands. And as he stretched himself upon him, the flesh of the child became warm. Then he got up again and walked once back and forth in the house, and went up and stretched himself upon him. The child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes. Then he summoned Gehazi and said, “Call this Shunammite.” So he called her. And when she came to him, he said, “Pick up your son.” She came and fell at his feet, bowing to the ground. Then she picked up her son and went out.
2Kings 8:
This morning we begin with a fitting story of a child who has died. His hands to his head, he has passed beyond conciousness. Heat stroke comes upon someone from being to long exposed to a climate that is not fitting (ie. to hot) and thus effects by raising it’s tempeture beyond that which life can exist at (tepature excedes 104deg.). This combined with dehidration often proves fatal. It is a form of hypotheria. Often it is combined with syptoms of confusion, agitation, disorientation and coma.
My head, O My head proclaims the child…he falls over and eventually is found to be dead.
Now the attention is moved to the Mother. We will observe the mother and note these three things.
The Word of God births faith
Faith in God must work/prove to be alive
Living Faith in the Word of God has power over death.
The observance of the mother here will not so much point us to the mother but to the power of God. As you witness what the mother does, you must remember what the Word of God says about a mothers love and how it compares to God’s love for us.
“Can a woman forget her nursing child,
that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?
Even these may forget,
yet I will not forget you.
As one whom his mother comforts,
so I will comfort you;
you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.
In the scriptures you have more than one account of the unyielding love and desperate faith of mothers and the resurrection of their child. What really must grasp us however is not the glory of a mothers love, but that the love of God surpasses that of a mother who would stop at nothing to resurrect her child.
As he drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her.
If we are to understand the passion, the compassion and the vigor of purssuit that God has displayed towards us - one angle that we must see is a mothers love in conection with her child - the child which has been born from her.
How outrages it is to think of a mother forgetting her nursing child,
How unateral it is to witness a mother having no compassion for her son.
As rare and shocking as these things are - proving that it is against the very nature of a mother, even more so with God - He will never forget, never fail in compassion, and never cease to comfort His people.
___________________________
Write this down:
The Word of God
Such a faith is not a mysterious faith with not grounding. It is not a faith of human decision. It is a faith of root, a faith of abiding. A faith in God. Not a faith in the mere existance of God, but a faith in the Word of God. A faith in the Word which God has spoken. A faith in the Word which has become flesh. A faith such as this is not a faith that can exist and be complacent. It is a faith which must act, and must work, for it is a living faith, a grounded and spoken faith, a declaired belief.
Living Faith
Resurrected life
, the great chapter on faith states this with the precursor being… “By faith...”:
Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life.
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?
Christian faith is not of self. It is not in what we have done nor is it in what we can do. It is in what God has spoken, what God has done, is doing and will do.
No matter where you are in life, if you are to have true life, then you must have Christian Faith.
You see here that faith is never absent from test, from working, from trial, from endurance, from trust, from victory, from resurrection, from a better life.
This is Christian faith displayed throughout time and history. The same faith which walks us through the valley is that faith which navigates us to the glorious land of a better life.
Such faith as that which gives opportunity for a woman, for a mother, to receive back her dead by resurrection is displayed in .
A prominent Shunammite women with a beloved child.
A prominent women with a beloved child.
Wealthy, of good faith and strong character.
Yet, even those with much, must live by faith, and that faith must be proven when tested by despair.
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?
And so we see...
A woman with a beloved child.
O my head, O my head cries the child.
Heat stroke, (perhaps) had settled in.
Confussion, delussion, coma…the panic begins
A woman losing a beloved child.
She had been faithful.
She had been hospitable to the prophet of God Elisha.
She had made a room for the man of God to stay upon his travel.
How then had this come upon her on this day?
The prophet Elisha in return for kindness acquired what might be done to repay, the kindess the Shuminite woman to him had displayed.
In finding that she had no son and her husband was advanced in years:
He said, “Call her.” And when he had called her, she stood in the doorway. And he said, “At this season, about this time next year, you shall embrace a son.” And she said, “No, my lord, O man of God; do not lie to your servant.” But the woman conceived, and she bore a son about that time the following spring, as Elisha had said to her.
2 Kings 4:15-
A woman with a spoken word from God through His servant Elisha
A woman with a son, now and older child.
O my head, O my head cries the child.
A woman now losing a beloved child promised to her by the Word of God. (by a prophet of God, Elisha)
She held the child until noon on her lap.
Then upon her lap, her child died.
A woman holds what seems as a dead promise in a dead child.
But God cannot lie.
She arises and lays her beloved child upon the bed of the room that had been furnished for the man of God.
She shut the door.
She went out.
She quickly went to the man of God.
A woman in bitter distress.
-O man of God who speaks the word of God - Do not deceive me!
What God speaks must be true, so in this distress what am I to do?
O man of God, I will not leave thee
What you have spoken on behalf of God, I have believed.
Come and help me.-
A woman in bitter distress, Clings to the word of God spoken
Elisha the man of God arises to attend to the child who has not awaken.
When Elisha came into the house, he saw the child lying dead on his bed. So he went in and shut the door behind the two of them and prayed to the Lord. Then he went up and lay on the child, putting his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands. And as he stretched himself upon him, the flesh of the child became warm. Then he got up again and walked once back and forth in the house, and went up and stretched himself upon him. The child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes. Then he summoned Gehazi and said, “Call this Shunammite.” So he called her. And when she came to him, he said, “Pick up your son.” She came and fell at his feet, bowing to the ground. Then she picked up her son and went out.
2 Kings 4:32
Faith must be tested & found.
Well to do and morally sound will save no one if faith is not found. “without faith it is impossible to please God.”
Faith must values the Word of God.
It is worthy of our sacrifice and devotion just the Shunamminite woman sacrificed to support the ministry of the prophet.
Faith must be active.
In fear she remained with her child on her lap, trusting in the Word which had been spoken to her. In distress she went to the representative of God who had spoken the Word to her.
Faith gives immediate pursuit.
The pursuit of God was immediate, as one on a mission.
Faiths security overcomes it vulnerability
The Life of faith is vulnerable and secure. We walk in the vulnerability of what lay before our eyes, of the circumstances we remain in and yet the security of the promise which we cannot see, but ultimatley will be fulfilled in.
How often have we walked in this vulnerable security of faith.
How often have we walked vulnerable without faith’s security?
In despair are we found clinging to the Word of God, to guide us to the victory that is to come, trusting in the better life before us.
In remembrance of the resurrection let us beat the marching drum:
The Word of God which has been spoken remains secure
The faith which proves working gives stregnth to endure.
Faith in Jesus Christ, the Word Spoken, the Word become flesh gives life forevermore.
Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life.
But what when all hope seems lost,
What to make of things when your last life hope is seen dead upon a cross.
O, how Mary, the Mother of Jesus must have wept in despair.
O, how Mary must have wept.
To see her son so brutally face death as she helplessly there.
O, the hope that must have wrestled the grief.
Once she fell before angels and now before a cross.
Opposite spectrums where faith battles disbelief.
How could she forget the son whom she nursed.
The promised Messiah to whom she miraculously gave birth.
But the breath was no longer within Him,
And His body no longer before her.
He was burried, layed in a tomb.
In death the Word of God proves more valuable than our sight.
In death the Word of God proves stronger than our despair.
In death the Word of God is more lasting that our grief.
In death the Word of God is more powerful than the grave.
Mary could not forget the son given to her.
She came to the tomb to anoint the body.
When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him.
There were also women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome.
In life and in death a mother cares for her son,
A beautiful picture of devotion, when all others hide in fear.
Yet the picture goes deeper than a Mothers devotion.
The devotion of God is the message here.
“Can a woman forget her nursing child,
that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?
Even these may forget,
yet I will not forget you.
As one whom his mother comforts,
so I will comfort you;
you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.
Isahiah 66:13
Just as with the Shumminite woman,
Though the love of a mother can display great devotion,
The devotion of
Mary came to care for her Son, but her Son cares for her.
She came to anoint the body, But the Son will cover her.
Behold, this is how God cares for us,
In the Word He has spoke, in the faith He has given, in the resurrection He has promised.
Jesus has founded our faith in the Word of God spoken.
Jesus has perfected our faith in the Word of God made flesh.
Every weight, every sin which clings to us, every despair and vulnerability now laid aside we can run, rejoicing in every season for what lays before us is the promise of everlasting life. The promise that every test, and every trial which proves our faith alive, proves also the Word of God true. The mother to receive back her son as the Heavenly Father calls all of His children home.
So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
What is the Resurrection Celebration?
What is it that we then value as we rejoice?
It is the Word of God
It is the faith (in the Word of God- and the Lord Jesus Christ) given by God
It is the resurrection of life found in Christ & promised to all who belong to Him.
If you are to truly celebrate today, then you must know those three things, you must believe them, you must value them above all else.
Such they are, more precious to me than anything this life can offer. As such, towards them I will run with more devotion and vigor.
More than oxygen I need Thee God,
More than food I need Thy Word O God,
More than death which swallows up all about us, I believe in the life purchased by Christ and given to us.
Praise God, by the blood of Christ, adopted as Sons and daughters of God -
Praise God, by the resurrection made alive, victorious over death!