Sermon Central
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Revival, "Let It Begin With Me"
Contributed by Charlie Roberts on Jul 4, 2011 (message contributor)
Summary: We have the opportunity to tell others, To throw them the same life line, to offer them the same life changing experience! We already have in our possession, the answer to the whole worlds dilemma
Revival? Lord Let it begin with me!
Why should I feel discouraged, why should the shadows come,
Why should my heart be lonely, and long for heaven and home,
When Jesus is my portion? My constant Friend is He:
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.
Refrain:
I sing because I’m happy, I sing because I’m free,
For His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.
Civilla D. Martin (1866 - 1948) Penned the song, His Eye is on the Sparrow, this is how it came to be.
"Early in the spring of 1905, my husband and I were sojourning in Elmira, New York.
We contracted a deep friendship for a couple by the name of Mr. and Mrs. Doolittle true saints of God.
Mrs. Doolittle had been bed ridden for almost twenty years.
Her husband was an incurable cripple who had to propel himself to and from his business in a wheel chair.
Despite their afflictions, they lived good Christian lives, bringing inspiration and comfort to all who knew them.
One day while we were visiting with the Doolittles, my husband commented on their bright hopefulness and asked them for the secret of it.
Mrs. Doolittles reply was simple: His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.
The beauty of this simple expression of bound less faith gripped the hearts and fired the imagination of Dr. Martin and me.
The hymn His Eye Is on the Sparrow was the outcome of that experience."
So much joy, from two people who were bedridden and wheelchair bound,
if any one would have ever had the right to be discouraged, it would have been the Doolittles.
Yet their lives brought inspiration and comfort to all who knew them.
I think we have all seen people who have inspired us, that overcame great obstacles and have done amazing things.
It’s those times we realize how little we all do, with what we have and how much more, were all capable of.
Its a sad fact of life today, but there are a lot of discouraged people out there in this world.
But Im telling you today, if you know Jesus, the Son of the Living God, then you have a reason to sing!
And there is truly nothing, to be discouraged about in this life that we live, we are blessed!
Oh sure, things happen, problems come and go, there is nothing though in any of our lives that cant be overcome with the Lords help.
He is an overcoming, death defying, problem solving, grace giving, all forgiving, Amazing Good God!
As Christians, we of all people should be happy about our lot in life.
We should be ecstatic!, we have been forgiven of all sins, we have ever done or will do,
by the precious grace of Jesus, that God sent to us, oh so long ago.
It makes you wonder Why in the world, aren’t more people able to get their hands around this, Life giving, Life changing message, Jesus brought us?
A message, that was so important for God to get to us, that He was willing to give up His one and only Son, so we could have it!
And by doing so, His death on the cross, would forever pay the price for the forgiveness of sin,
Everything that we have, every benefit we enjoy, everything good that’s ever happened in our lives, we owe to the selfless act of Jesus.
We don’t fight for victory today, we fight from victory, Jesus has already been victorious for us, in every situation we will ever encounter.
His eye is on the sparrow was written in 1905, and not many of the wonderful so called necessities we enjoy today,
Like cars, laptops, planes, microwaves, electronic banking, fed ex and I could go on and on, could have even been imagined back then.
Yet we find, we still face many of the same things they encountered back then, discouragement, loneliness and fear.
Discouragement Defined; to make somebody less optimistic: to make somebody feel less motivated, confident, or optimistic.
Discouragement in the world today, is probably almost at an all time high.
So many out of work, so many have lost their homes, so many people numb from what the world and the accuser has done to them.
The answer to all the worlds problems, of course, seems obvious to me, how about you?
When we have problems with the things in our lives, the first thing we do, is to look the manufacturer to fix or correct the problems that we have, don’t we?
God is the maker of everything and everyone, He is the only one who can fix this messed up world in which we live,
