Thankful In All Things Part 3- Deliverance Series

Thankful in all things

Part 2

“Deliverance”

November 2018

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

16 Always be joyful. 17 Never stop praying. 18 Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.

Today we are going to continue our short series on thankfulness

The first week we covered God’s mercy, Grace and Love and saw how we as believers should be thankful for the eternal mercy and Grace that God has poured out upon us

And how even the unbelievers in this world are receiving God’s temporary Mercy and Grace simply because they are still alive and still have the opportunity to receive eternal life

It is only by his grace that when we sin

That God does not discipline us eternally the first time

Last week we took a hard look at Salvation

What that means

How we should respond to the salvation that has been given to us as a free gift

And once again

How God has made salvation available to all who will

But

We all must make a choice

God’s mercy

God’s grace

God’s love

And the Salvation he has provided

Though his precocious Son Jesus Christ

Is truly something to be thankful for

Today I want to look at the topic of Deliverance

In order to paint a picture

I asked Monty Johnson to pray about sharing his testimony with you this morning

And the Holy Spirit has guided him to do it

In Monty’s own words

Parts of his story are dark

And his story is an extreme example of deliverance

So

Please give him your full attention

And also, realize that we are al in need of deliverance

Monty Johnson Testimony

I asked Monty to share with you this morning

So that we could see the power of our God

He created us

He loves us

He showed us with Love and Mercy

And Grace

And through that grace he gave his son to die for us

So that none would be lost if they accepted the gift

That is our first deliverance

We

Once we know Jesus

Have been delivered from the penalty of sin

We have been delivered from the power of death

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:55-58

55 O death, where is your victory?

O death, where is your sting?[a]”

56 For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. 57 But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.

58 So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.

What Paul tells us once again

Is something that we know and understand

When we accept Jesus

We have been rescued from an eternity in hell

We have been delivered eternally from the penalty of sin

Put back into proper relationship with God

This deliverance is amazing

This deliverance would be enough to do back flips over

And this deliverance is enough

But God

Does so much more

As you heard from Monty

And as some of you have first had experience with

And as we taught for months from 1 Peter

Believers are not immune from troubles of this life

And if not focused

If not diligent in keeping our eyes on Jesus

Even believers can fall back into sin

And can even become slaves once again to sin

I am not talking about slaves in an eternal sense

I f you are saved

Then you are saved

And your eternity is secured

But life on this planet

Can become hell on earth when we surrender to the sin that comes from our hearts

And begin to let it control us

This is the deliverance that I want to discuss today

Make no mistake

If you are here today and you don’t know Jesus

You need eternal deliverance in the form of salvation

And I plead with you not to delay, time is short

But it is deliverance from the things in our lives that I desire to share today

My text for today comes for the book of Lamentations

Not a book we preach from often

The Prophet Jeremiah served as God’s voice to the Nation of Judah for 40 years

His message was true and just

But like Isaiah’s message it was not popular

Both Isaiah and Jeremiah preached God’s judgement for disobedience

And in the case of Jeremiah

The people wanted to shut him up

So

They threw in hm in a cistern

With a muddy bottom

And dropped rocks on him

Hoping he would die

They were certain that either Jeremiah would sink into the mud over his head and drown

Or that the stones would kill him