Sermon Central
-
God Is Right Around The Corner
Contributed by Robert Parker on Oct 8, 2001 (message contributor)
Summary: God has a divine appointment for his people. He will set the crooked road straight, hold our hand in times of trouble and lead us toward a path of righteousness.
(45:1) "Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the shall not be shut;"
(45:2) I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight;
PT. I YOUR APPOINTMENT IS DIVINELY SELECTED
Saints, today the Lord has taken us to this 45th chapter of Isaiah, and to be frank with you, when I began putting my notes together for this message, I was in total amazement when I started seeing what the Lord was saying in just about (8) eight short sentences.
Here the text has told us that the Lord has identified to the prophet Isaiah, that he is a sovergn creator, who alone controls the events of history. And it is here that he announces to the prophet that he would use Cyrus the Persian to restore His people to the land of promise.
God had great plans for his people in exile…
He had wonderful expectations for them…
He had a magnificent purpose for them…
But as it was, the people were not patient with God, They grumbled about their condition, they questioned God’s ways, they even quarreled with God because they were walking down block of captivity… Little did they know that:
"God Was Right Around the Corner"
Lets look closely at this first verse… because there are several important points that we can learn from God here…
(45:1) First the scripture says, Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, (everybody say anointed)…
To his anointed Cyrus, whose right hand have holden,
The Webster dictionary defines the word anointed as someone chosen by divine selection…
When God said his anointed …
He was telling you that this is a divine selection…
That this was not just something out of the blue the prophet had dreamed up…
This has nothing to do with the worldly appointments, governing bodies, kings or leaders…
No, God had told us that I have specifically selected one of my saints to carry out my will…
That this is a mission that must be accomplished by this individual…
That this assignment is going forth to the man Cyrus… And it will be he that glorifies my name…
It will be he that will phrase me…
It will be he that will glorify me…
God is calling someone out there to be like Cyrus…
He has called you to take on an assignment for Him…
To fulfill and objective for Him…
To take on a challenge or duty in the church….
To be the one that will glorify him when the job is done…
But to many times we are like the children of Israel…
We grumble at Gods assignment…
We quarrel with God over the task…
We say why me?
I not ready for this… I can’t do that stuff… I don’t want to do this work…
We question whether this revelation is truly from God…
We question whether this is a divine selection…
We question whether we are worthy to do this work…
Then (just like the children of Israel) we are at odds with God…
And God has to send an anointed one…
God has to send someone to shake things up…
God has to send someone of divine selection to walk into your life…
Do you know what the text says about this…?
It says that to challenge God’s purpose in your life "is as absurd as a piece of pottery criticizing the potter who formed it".
Because it is the Potter that molded you…
It is the Potter that poured grace and mercy upon you…
It is the Potter that is fine tuning every spiritual channel on your dial
So that the reception of the word of God comes in clearer and clearer every Sunday…
It is the Potter that is moving you to the next level of your purpose for God…
It is the Potter that is telling you that this is a divine selection…
It is the Potter who is pointing you in the direction that he has ordained, purposed and desires for you…
You’ve have been walking down the street of self-doubt…. But saints, God is right around the corner…
Give God some praise.
PT. II GOD WILL HOLD YOUR HAND THROUGH THE PLAN
My second point is that God will hold your hand, through the plan.
You see, God told Cyrus, not only that he was his selection but that he would hold his right hand and subdue nations before him…
I know what you’re thinking…
What does that mean to me?
Well, let me try to speak to the last issue first and the first issues last…
First of all, everybody say, subdue…
When you subdue something it means you have conquered something…
More than that it means you have brought whatever your situation is into Subjection…
