Sermon Central
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A Wonder
Contributed by Sylvester Fergusson on Aug 13, 2006 (message contributor)
Summary: God wants us to be people that amaze the world. Our behaviour should be such that the world is astonished by us. We can be a wonder for Jesus as many are wonders for Satan.
The Seven Wonders of World
Opening song Closing Song
Scipture Reading: Ps. 71:1-8
Introduction
The Great Pyramid of Giza,
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon,
The statute of Zeus at Olympia,
The temple of Artemeus at Ephesus,
The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus,
The Colossus of Rhodes and
The Lighthouse of Alexandria.
These are “The seven great wonders of the world.”
Structures which dominated the landscape of their time.
Structures which caused men to stop, wonder and stare in awe.
Structures which fascinated;
Which seem to defy the logic of the men of that time.
These are indeed the Seven Wonders of the World.
These objects fascinated the men of their time and the men after but they have no effect on God or his angels. They are insignificant to them. What amazes God and excites the angels are men who stride through this earth and chart a path for themselves not by might nor by the sword but by spirit of the Living God. God is not fascinated by men who build lofty structures, or by men who acquired great wealth . God is fascinated by men who take the time to carve out for themselves characters of righteousness. Had they to choose the Seven Wonders of the World it would not be made up of edifices built by man but by the men who built characters by their obedience to God!
Prayer..
[Gen. 6:5-8] And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually
And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart
And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man and beast and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.
But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.
God took a look around the world and he saw two things:
He saw the physical manifestation of men’s wickedness which is visible to all men. He saw men cheating and stealing; He saw murders, fornication, adultery witchcraft. You name it, he saw it. He saw men calling evil good and good evil. He saw men being glamorized not because of the good they do but because they were more evil than others were. These men were placed on a pedestal and were well respected. All because of their evil characters.
Not only did he see the result of men action but he saw what others can not see. He saw their imagination, their thoughts and he described them as being evil continually. There were no plans for good but all their plans for success were based on evil schemes. Injustice reigned and fairness was forgotten. There was no place for the weak and compassion was not to be considered. Yet amidst all this wickedness, amidst all this evil, amidst all these thorns a beautiful flower bloomed-Noah. The bible tells us that Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD!!!
What a marvelous statement! After God had look around and examined every man, woman and child and concluded that every imagination of the thoughts of men’s heart was evil he came upon one man who was different. (If he were to examine your neighbourhood, your work place, your school, would you be the one to stand out?)
This man no doubt was not one admired by society; he was not one of the in-crowd. Someone the men of his time would have invited to their social gatherings or parties but He found grace in the eyes of the LORD. Noah, the great grandson of Enoch may not have found favour with men but he certainly found favour with God. He is indeed one of God’s great Wonders
He did not allow the society or the community he was living in detract him from the values he had learnt as a boy at the feet of his great grandfather Enoch. He did not find excuses to fit into the crowd so that he would not stand out as being weird or different. He stood up for what he believed in and when God went searching there he was.
Brothers and sisters there is no excuse for evil. We must never allow ourselves to give into the pressures of society. All around us we witness churches giving in to the pressures of society to sanction homosexuality. We witness homosexuals being ordained as priest and serving in the house of the LORD but we my people must be a Wonder for God. We must say thus far and no further.
We witness Christians finding reasons to be part and parcel of the revelers at Kadooment but we my friends must say thus far and no further. We must be a Wonder for Jesus Christ.
