El Shaddai ( Ringwood Message 10am service,May4th, 2014)
( this is the transcript of last Sundays message at Ringwood, obvioulsy apart from the ad lib words spoken, for those who wanted to read it or hear it, we didnt podcast last week, happy for my notes to be read)
El Shaddai... our all sufficient God, our almightyGod, He is our Lord, we are His people, we are called here for His purposes, we are His children and He is our Father.
I felt led to start the message today with this beautiful song to help us focus on Him as we open His word today and listen out to what He wants to say to us here at Ringwood today.
And He [the Lord Jesus Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities - all things have been created by Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also the head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the first-born from the dead; so that He Himself might come to HAVE FIRST PLACE IN EVERYTHING. For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.
- Colossians 1:15 - 20
Paul reminds us, as he did in his writing to the Colossian church, that Jesus came to have first place in everything... first place in our church, first place in our lives, in our families, in our choices, ....in everything.
Now I am not assuming for one minute that He doesn't already have first place in your life, and in our church,
but I will say this...
its easy for Him to slip into second place, and even third place in our lifestyle and sadly even in the church.
so what do you do when you realise that He isnt first. ?
what does the church do when He has slipped into second position ?
sometimes when I preach I know I upset some people and I don't try to...really I don't, I don't get up on Sunday morning and think to myself, who can I upset today ?
when I was much younger than what I am today and was a youth pastor at Perth Fortress, another youth pastor (from Camberwell) said to me...your job Gary is to challenge their socks off..
so... have you got socks on today ? those who socks on today, please stand ...
(just a bit of fun)
thats never left me and I am seriously not trying deliberately to upset your personal apple cart , and if things are going well for you, spiritually, well know I am talking to the person sitting next to you....
in fact just say to them, " He is talking to you today".....
seriously... then...
what do you do if Jesus isn't first place in your life ?
it has been said by some in the past and I quote....
" you can tell how popular a pastor/officer, is by the amount of people who come to church,
but you can tell how popular Jesus is by the amount if people who come to the prayer meetings "
this is not some kind of guilt trip in getting you to come to the prayer meeting at 6am tomorrow.... even though its a very powerful meeting, and God is present. :)
but it is a challenge to get El Shaddai back on the throne of your heart to make Jesus number 1 and for that I make no apology whatsoever.
If He already is on the throne of your heart, then celebrate it,
and live it...
but if He isnt,
If He has slipped into second,
if you have become distracted and tired of waiting, bored with church and Christianity, just going through the motions....perhaps too busy with the church work load...
then this challenge is for you.....
the bible tells us ( Isaiah 40 )that strength will come when we wait upon The Lord...
Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, does not faint or grow weary; there is no searching of His understanding. He gives power to the faint and weary, and to him who has no might He increases strength [causing it to multiply and making it to abound]. [II Cor. 12:9.] Even youths shall faint and be weary, and [selected] young men shall feebly stumble and fall exhausted; But those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up [close to God] as eagles [mount up to the sun]; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint or become tired. [Heb. 12:1-3.] (Isaiah 40:28-31 AMP)
I dont know what you want for your life and for our church, but for a few moments this morning as we consider Gods Word to our hearts today lets consider our options..
usually there are 2 choices in every situation, and in church
and in our life there is also...
we can choose to live:
powerless, weak, insipid, gutless,
going through the motions,
living out of duty
coming to church out of habit,
some churches are full of people who have become stuck in religious ruts...
or you can choose to live the opposite:
full of Gods power, strong, courageous,
celebrating each and every week in worship and praise unto God
coming to church out of desire and purpose.
and there are some churches that are also full of people like this as well.
but it is a personal choice in how you will live.
but when a church is full of people choosing to grow closer to Jesus,
to place Him as Lord, in word and action... living it out....
recognising Him as El Shaddai, all sufficient One
almighty God,
everlasting Father,
ever present God, and all powerful one...
when we Wait upon Him, hope in Him, expect Him to do what only He can do.
then something happens and it changes us.
some here will not like this last bit that I need to speak today, but nevertheless I will run that risk this morning.
Jesus is coming back one day, no one knows when...but the bible does give us some clues, and is very clear that, the world as we know it, will not always be like this...
we don't talk about anywhere near enough, for fear of scaring people, but nevertheless it is our hope, that we will be united with our King forever.
recently there has been some signs in the world of His impending arrival.
we get skeptical around about now,
when a preacher starts speaking this stuff,
but we should pay more attention to the events occurring in our world.
I wonder if you have heard of the strange sounds coming from the sky around the world these days ...in various capital cities, musical sounds are being heard without any explanation of where they come from..... try and google it and check it out for yourself, now let's just keep getting freaky...and mention the blood moons and the solar eclipses...
whether its now or another time in history still to occur, lets not misunderstand the truth of our faith and hope.. and know that the bible speaks of these blood moons and solar eclipses and trumpet blasts in the air... as all birth pains of a new world, and the return of Jesus.... I am no expert, and I am not sure there are any other experts either, as it hasn't happened yet, so no one has seen it as yet.. but I beleive the bible.... and what it says about the last days.
will we be ready when that day arrives ?
Jesus will return for His bride... the church. and when He does..... here are a few things we will not be interested in any more....
we will not be interested in criticising the preacher /officer ... haha
neither will we care too much about our job
we wont be worried about what uniform to wear
or what people are saying about us
we wont care about the music style, or the programs we run in a church
neither will we care about what church we come from
but we will be very glad we were a part of His bride.
for when that day comes, and mark my words, it will come, like a thief in the night the Word says....
all we will care about is El Shaddai......
so we might as well start preparing for that day right now.
Let me tell you 2 key things to do, (there are many more) to get yourself ready for that day..
but for today just 2...
write them down...
don't forget them,
let them become habits in your life, not a "once of " event....
1. Start praying..... continue praying.....join with others and pray together.
2. Worship Him and praise Him, here on the earth with total freedom and utter abandonment unto Him. Allow yourself to become Sold out for Jesus.
these 2 things will help you be prepared for El Shaddai when He comes calling for you.
Finally today:
don't put it off, make the change needed in your heart today to step closer to Jesus. No matter who you are, everyone of us here today, whether a Commissoner or a Colonel or Soldier or a Captain or an Adherent or a Major...whether retired or active. we all could be closer yet to Jesus.
could it be possible that by choosing to not step closer to Jesus, actually means you are choosing to step away from Him ?
you will need to work that through for yourself.
so as we pray this morning and listen to that beautiful song again...
you have opportunity to do business with El Shaddai in this place today.
Prayer
( check out the following link and listen in and respond to El Shaddai )
bless you !!!!
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