The Little Train that Could...
“The Blessing Of a Submissive Spirit”
Isaiah 40:6-8 MSG
6 The voice said, “Cry out!”
And he said, “What shall I cry?”
“All flesh is grass,
And all its loveliness is like the flower of the field.
7 The grass withers, the flower fades,
Because the breath of the Lord blows upon it;
Surely the people are grass.
8 The grass withers, the flower fades,
But the word of our God stands forever.”
In these trying times in which we live, we see things happen around us,
that to someone who doesn't know the Lord, would seem somewhat frightening.
Like the trouble that's going on In the Middle East right now,
like the unrest in the Gaza Strip, the missiles Iran is setting off with
their so Called testing program, the mass genocide in Syria with
Russia's help, and terrorist acts of violence that pop up randomly
everywhere.
And even the things happening in our own backyard on the evening news
with our own public facilities...
And sometimes we wonder, Lord what in the world is going on?
But the word states, no matter what we think...God is in control!
Psalms 91: 1-10 Voice
1 He who takes refuge in the shelter of the Most High
will be safe in the shadow of the Almighty.
2 He will say to the Eternal, “My shelter, my mighty fortress,
my God, I place all my trust in You.”
3 For He will rescue you from the snares set by your enemies who entrap you
and from deadly plagues.
4 Like a bird protecting its young, God will cover you with His feathers,
will protect you under His great wings;
His faithfulness will form a shield around you, a rock-solid wall to protect you.
5 You will not dread the terrors that haunt the night
or enemy arrows that fly in the day
6 Or the plagues that lurk in darkness
or the disasters that wreak havoc at noon.
7 A thousand may fall on your left,
ten thousand may die on your right,
but these horrors won’t come near you.
8 Only your eyes will witness
the punishment that awaits the evil,
but you will not suffer because of it.
9 For you made the Eternal [your][a] refuge,
the Most High your only home.
10 No evil will come to you;
plagues will be turned away at your door.
It seems as though so many things are going on...
that are beyond our control... and if there's one thing
that we like to be in...it is control
Fact of the matter is, when we think we are in control of any situation…
That's exactly what it is...only a thought!
The thought of being in control is something that we think we are.. and we get
comfort from that feeling, even if it's only temporary.
It's easy to get caught up by something that you feel or see, However God
would have me tell you, that your faith is only activated by what you know! Amen!
Truth is, we truly have never been in control of anything...
God is, was and always will be in control!
Remember friends..
The grass withers, the flower fades,
But the word of our God stands forever.”
John 1:1-5 MSG
1 1-2 The Word was first,
the Word present to God,
God present to the Word.
The Word was God,
in readiness for God from day one.
3-5 Everything was created through him;
nothing—not one thing!—
( that includes you and I )
came into being without him.
What came into existence was Life,
and the Life was Light to live by.
The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness;
the darkness couldn’t put it out.
You see, the devil knows the word...
and he more than anyone, knows the Bible to be true and accurate…
However knowing the truth, does not stop him from trying to carry out his plans!
In case you haven't noticed, the kingdom of darkness is marching full steam ahead...day after day in this world in which we live! I am staggered by the number of unknowing individuals, who are daily being the devils mouthpiece.
We see his agenda marching full force, we know his agenda is on the move,
and most of us there's only one thing that we think about,
and that is what can I do about his agenda, I'm only one person...
No, I don't like what's happening all around me...and it makes me angry!
But What difference could I make?
James 1:19-24 MSG
19-21 Post this at all the intersections, dear friends: Lead with your ears, follow up with your tongue, and let anger straggle along in the rear. God’s righteousness doesn’t grow from human anger. So throw all spoiled virtue and cancerous evil in the garbage. In simple humility, let our gardener, God, landscape you with the Word, making a salvation-garden of your life.
22-24 Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! Those who hear and don’t act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like.
If you will trust and let God lead the way..it's not what can I do..it's What can't you do for the Kingdom? A salvation garden, with the fruit cultivated and harvested will produce souls for the Kingdom!
Helen Keller said, “"I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do."
Throughout Scripture, we find example after example of the power of one, hooked up with God’s amazing results proving will!
Joshua 23:9-10 MSG
9-10 “God has driven out superpower nations before you. And up to now, no one has been able to stand up to you. Think of it—one of you, single-handedly, putting a thousand on the run! Because God is God, your God. Because he fights for you, just as he promised you.
With Gods help and His Blessing..impossible odds become, open ended possibilities!
It's true, do you believe that;
One little boys lunch he was willing to give up..fed the 5,000
One young man rose up to slay a giant and become a King!
One man was willing to obey The Lord and say to a valley full of dry bones
‘God, the Master, says, Come from the four winds. Come, breath. Breathe on these slain bodies. Breathe life!’” And an army of dead, dry bones..stood up and lived! Praise God!
If you can believe, what can God accomplish with your willingness to believe? It’s limitless, as to the possibilities!
Illus. Phillip Brewer wrote these words..
"God uses what you have to fill a need, which you never could have filled.
God uses where you are to take you where you never could have gone.
God uses what you can do to accomplish what you never could have done.
God uses who you are to let you become who you never could have been."
Isaiah 6:8 NKJ
8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying:
“Whom shall I send,
And who will go for Us?”
Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”
Its not based on one’s ability but one’s availability...
Far to many fail to heed the call of The Lord!
It's like when the phone rings with caller ID and it's someone you don't
want to talk too! In our minds we reason out things and say,
"Not right now God, I'm too busy right now, maybe later Lord.."
Or it's...well if everything else works out okay and if I have time, you know Lord
If you would've created two Saturday's on the weekend, then I would be glad
to do that for you!
All of the heroes that we read about the Bible had one thing in common,
when the Lord spoke to them and ask them to do something for Him
they said ok… They said yes, it wasn't let me think about the odds!
God uses those who make themselves available to Him. He will use you, in a mighty way, if you make yourself available to him...
It's time to stand up and be counted, while the Lord is still counting,
we can't stand Idly by for one more minute..
TBS. (The Bible says) that Jesus is coming back for a glorious church!
And it's up to everyone of us to help do our part… To make it that way! Amen?
Illus. There was a professor of philosophy there who was a deeply committed atheist. His primary goal for one required class was to spend the entire semester attempting to prove that God could not exist.
His students were always afraid to argue with him because of his impeccable logic.
For twenty years he had taught this class and no one had ever had the courage to go against him. Sure, some had argued in class at times, but no one had ever really gone against him
Nobody would go against him because he had a reputation. At the end of every semester, on the last day, he would say to the class of 300 students, "If there is anyone here who still believes in God, stand up!"
In twenty years, nobody ever stood up. They knew what he was going to do next. He would say, "Because anyone who believes in God is a fool.
If God existed, he could stop this piece of chalk from hitting the ground and breaking. Such a simple task to prove he is God, and yet he can’t do it."
And every year he would drop the chalk onto the tile floor of the classroom and it would shatter into a hundred pieces. All of the students could do nothing but stop and stare.
Most of the students were convinced that God could not exist. Certainly, a number of Christians had slipped through; but for 20 years, they had been too afraid to stand up.
A few years ago, there was a freshman who happened to get enrolled in the class. He was a Christian, and had heard the stories about this professor.
He had to take the class because it was one of the required classes for his major. And he was afraid. But for three months that semester, he prayed every morning that he would have the courage to stand up no matter what the professor said or what the class thought. Nothing they said or did could ever shatter his faith, he hoped.
Finally, the day came. The professor said, "if there is anyone here who still believes in God, stand up!" The professor and the class of three hundred people looked at him, shocked, as he stood up at the back of the room.
The professor shouted, "YOU FOOL! If nothing I have said all semester has convinced you that God does not exist, then you are a fool!
If God existed, he could keep this piece of chalk from breaking when it hit the ground!"
He proceeded to drop the chalk, but as he did, it slipped out of his fingers, off his shirt cuff, onto the pleats of his pants, down his leg, and off his shoe. And as it hit the ground, it simply rolled away, unbroken.
The professor’s jaw dropped as he stared at the chalk. He looked up at the young man and then ran out of the lecture hall.
The young man who had stood up proceeded to walk to the front of the room and share his faith in Jesus for the next half hour. Three hundred students stayed and listened as he told of God’s love for them and of his power through Jesus.
Impossible things become possible, when someone is willing
to make a stand for God! How many times each day do we have the option
to speak up for the Kingdom of God! These are divine opportunities to be taken advantage of!
Luke 12:8 “"Also I say to you, whoever confesses Me before men, him the Son of Man also will confess before the angels of God.”
It's time the church started telling more people about the truth and the life and the way! Amen?
Who cares about what anyone else thinks… Its time to be concerned and consumed with only what God thinks!
If you have a desire to tell others about God..He will make a way
and what a way He will make..He is willing to part the waters,
if you will trust Him and let Him!
Illus.
In 1922,a woman named Rhea F. Miller wrote a poem. In 1932, a copy of that poem was placed on the top of an organ in a family home in New York. Seated at the organ was a 23-year-old musician named George Beverly Shea.
Miller's poem caught young George's attention. The words on the paper rang true to the cry of his heart. And so, he said yes and set them to music. Upon hearing her son singing this testimony of commitment, George's mother came in from the kitchen, with tears in her eyes, and encouraged him to sing the new song in church the following Sunday.
As the congregants listened to George's deep voice sing out I'd Rather Have Jesus, than silver and gold, little did they know that the song was destined to become one of the most well-known of all contemporary Christian songs.
.
A few years later, George joined forces with another young man who also said yes to God's call- Evangelist Billy Graham. Together they traveled the world. Billy would preach and George would sing. His two favorite songs were How Great Thou Art, and his signature song, I'd Rather Have Jesus.
According to statistics...more than 3.2 million people have responded to the invitation at Billy Graham Crusades to "accept Jesus Christ as their personal savior". As of 2008, Graham's estimated lifetime audience, including radio and television broadcasts, topped 2.2 billion.
So..what could you do for The Lord? God is a God of New, He is waiting
for someone to say yes, like those two men did! History stands ready to record
the endeavors of the next faithful servant of God, who is willing to say ok Lord!
Could you be willing to just let Him lead you wherever He needs you?
Yes but I have...no this is not the time for objections, this is the time to listen
to what God is calling you to do. This is the time for submission!
Because if you are willing to submit to God's desire for you...
He will lead and take you to places you can't even imagine!
Let's all pray and ask God what He has in store for us
Each and every day..and be willing to attempt to complete the task
And Let Him do the rest!
Amen? Amen!
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