Sermon Central
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Turning Points
Contributed by Mark Roper on Nov 26, 2007 (message contributor)
Summary: There are turning points in life, turning points, which give a meaning and bring purpose, which redefine us.
Turning Points
There are turning points in life, turning points, which give a meaning and bring purpose, which redefine us.
Several examples:
A man with an unclean spirit, Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains: neither could any man tame him. Always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones
Jesus, found the man, cast the demons out, then sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind:
A Samarian woman drawing water at Jacob’s well. Jesus asked for a drink of water. Jesus offered living water. She accepted, became excited, then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men,
What was the turning point in their lives, Seeing and experiencing God.
God has revealed himself at different times, and different ways.
The word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, "Fear not, Abram: I am thy Shield, and thy exceeding great Reward."
And Abram, by Divine direction, took a heifer, a goat, a ram, a turtle-dove, and a young pigeon, killed them, divided them, and while a horror of great darkness fell upon him, "behold! a smoking furnace and a burning lamp" - symbols of Divine holiness - "passed between the pieces, and the Lord made a covenant with Abram."
A vision was granted to Jacob, from which the whole tone of his life was changed, and he began a covenanted, God-fearing career.
As he lay wearily on his stone pillow, under the clear-shining stars of an eastern sky, "behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father... the land whereon thou liest, to thee and thy seed will I give it."
Moses led the flock of Jethro, one memorable day, to the back side of the desert, and "came to the mount of God, even to Horeb.
And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And God called unto him out of the midst of the bush" - symbol of the holiness that consumes and purifies - "and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I."
In the New Testament records we find similar scenes.
1. Manifestations of angels to shepherds. A wonderful scone of transfiguration for our Lord himself.
2. The descending sheet, and its strange contents, for Peter.
3. The overwhelming light and voice on the road to Damascus, and the elevation into the third heavens, to see the unspeakable, for St. Paul.
4. And the vision for St. John on the Island of patmos.
God reveals overwhelming impressions, he make a difference
1st "We see throughout the Bible that when someone in antiquity encountered God, the experience was almost uniform. To a person they stood quaking in terror, trembling before the Most High God. They were frightened; they were humbled; they were changed.
2nd "Christians have come to a dangerous time. It is a time when we can pat one another on the back, congratulate ourselves and join in the glad refrain, We are rich, and increased in goods, and have need of nothing!
"It certainly is true that hardly anything is missing from our churches these days¡Xexcept the most important thing. We are missing the presence of God, and genuine and sacred offering of ourselves to God.
Scripture Isa 6:1-8 KJV
When Isaiah encountered God he learned a valuable lesson about his worth, usefulness, and value as man before God
6:1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.
6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:
