Sermon Central
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God's Expiry Date Series
Contributed by Antonio Silveira on Feb 24, 2012 (message contributor)
Summary: This is Part 1 of a series of 3 titled "God's Expiry date"
I found a bag of garlic hiding in the refrigerator the other day, but I couldn't recall how long they'd been there. And I couldn't find an expiration date. Now, I know garlic can last a long time but not forever!
We get used to thinking everything has an expiration or "best by" date, and we have been told that God's mercy never expires. Let me tell you that even though His love never ends His mercies expire every night and have to be acquired every new season (every day).
What Does God Say?
Lamentations 3:22-23 explains,
"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness" (ESV).
The secret to access never-ending mercies is to understand that there is a renewal process that has to happen. His mercies never come to an end but you have to seek them every morning.
When Israel was in the desert on the way to the promised Land they had to pick up fresh Mana every morning with the exception of the seventh day. If they tried to store the heavenly food it would be rotten on the next day. God did this to show them how to be dependent on Him but also to reveal the principle of the expiration date and the constant need for renewal.
Have you ever looked into an album of old pictures? The clothes, hair style, objects and even the quality of the picture show that something is out of season. There is an expiry date for almost everything.
Show youtube movie: Expiration Date
Comment the sentence "if you go to my parents house watch out what you eat because they don't believe in expiry dates..."
Today I would like to talk about a few expiry dates. As we understand this principle we will be able to understand how to take advantage of God's promises and drastically change our destiny. If we keep attached to the old we will miss the blessings that God has in store for each one of us.
1. Churches and Worship Style seasons have an expiry date
Consider the way people worshiped God in the Old Testament. Do we worship God today? Do we worship God using the same methods?
The answer is YES we still worship today but the method or liturgy how we approach God is very different. In fact we don't need to go as far as the Old Testament to see a difference. When I was a child my family was Roman Catholic and I still remember attending to mass in Latin. We all know that Latin is a dead language but the Church kept the tradition to an extreme point and the consequence was that only priests and scholars could understand what was being said.
When I started going to the Pentecostal Church liturgy changed and I was able now to understand what was going on and finally the Bible started to make sense. Since then in the last 25 years I've seen the changes happening in the World and how liturgy changed dramatically in growing Churches and how everything stayed the same in dying churches.
Statistics show an unprecedented growth in Bible based Churches all over the World. However there are thousands of Churches closing every year that have something in common, they passed the expiry date. The new generation of Christians will understand that some Churches have past expiry date and will look for something new.
17 Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.
Talking to the Pharisees Jesus explained them that religious systems have an expiry date and that they should be open to be renewed in order to receive fresh revelation from the Lord.
2. Families have an expiry date
Many people like to explore Genealogy and understand who their ancestors where. History shows that some lineages are long lasting but eventually they will come to an end. Think about your family and your house. Those of you that have children and grandchildren know that one day a kid will go West or South. Some kids will get married and forget about their parents. Others will die or disappear some will divorce and build two families at the same time. I don't want to depress you but just make you understand that even families have an expiry date.
3. Your Life has an expiry date
Life as you know it will come to an end as one day you will get to the limit of your days here on Earth.
27 You put my feet in the stocks and watch all my paths; you set a limit for the soles of my feet. 28 Man wastes away like a rotten thing, like a garment that is moth-eaten.
