“The Deliverance of God”

Friday, June 21.

“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21 KJV)

There are times we faced difficulties in our lives. During these times, we get depressed and sad. We doubt whether God is able to deliver us from our sorrows. The problem is not with God. The problem is we do not understand how God deliver us.

When Paul wrote the letter from which our verse above comes from, Paul was in chains in a Roman prison. Bound in chains, he was not discouraged at all. PaulReading this letter to the church at Philippi closely, Paul was able to look beyond his circumstances. He rejoice in Christ. Paul was still in chains, but he rejoice countless number of people were being saved. The prison guards were saved. Other believers saw Paul examples and got the courage to proclaim Christ.

God delivers His people in peculiar ways.

Memory verse: Philippians 1:23.

“Before you ever get your problem, God has already got your deliverance planned” (Joyce Meyer).

“What would Jesus Do?”

Thursday, June 20.

“And he spake a parable unto them, Can the blind lead the blind? shall they both fall into the ditch?) “Luke 6:39-40”

The 90’s was one period of time when the question, What would Jesus do? was very popular. The question still has it relevance in this day and age. The question enables us to consider whether our words, thoughts, and actions are in line with Jesus’ and his principles.

To know whether we are in line with Jesus’ principles, we need to read and understand what he said and did during his life. Most people would want to make Jesus wha they want him to look like. Jesus responded with love and compassion, but he warned people of the danger of sin the its consequences.

Let us learn of Christ saving grace and be able to tell others of the consequences if we reject him.

Memory verse: Romans 13:14.

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me” (Jesus Christ)

“A Craving to Serve”

Wednesday, June 19

“If any man serve me, let him follow me, and where i am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will the Father honor” (John 12:26).

No one can be successful in the kingdom of God except you trust god and do what He says. In this parable about the grain, a farmer approaches two grains informing them that they would be taken out the barn, out their comport zone and be buried in cold soil. The farmer lets them know that the soil would be cold and dark, and they will died. After death, they would multiply. The first grain refused.

A day after the second grain was planted, it grew and flourished. It produced more grains. For the next few decades, that one grain kept producing more grains. The other grain remained in the barn trying to stay comfortable.

What grain are you? Are you like the one grain trying to play it safe? Or are you allowing Jesus Christ to plant you into the world? The only way one can be fruitfully is by abiding in God and trusting that his desire for you is worthwhile.

Memory verse: Isaiah 41:10

“Happiness is when what you think, what you do say, and what you do are in harmony” (Mathatma Gandi). 

“What do we need for Servanthood?”

Tuesday, June 18.

“And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying, He is gone in to lodge with a man that is a sinner” (Luke 19:7).

Jesus coming to earth was not meant for him to be a celebrity or a superstar. Stardom was not part of his ministry. God sent him to come and serve. As disciples of Jesus, we ought to follow the footsteps of Christ in serving a lost and hurting.

In our passage today, the man Zaccheus attempts to demonstrate the qualities he saw in Christ, servanthood. There are three things here for us to take into considerations: awareness, availability, and acceptance. Jesus went about the crowd and noticed Zaccheus and his needs. Zaccheus was despise because he was a tax collector. Though he was rich, his life was empty. There are many people like that today who lives are empty, lonely, and without hope. We are too preoccupied that we do not take time to reach out to them.

Jesus on this occasion was going to perform one of the most important responsibility in the history of humankind, to die for our sins. Jesus stopped and went up to Zaccheus who was a spiritually needy man. What is stopping you from doing the same?

We see Zaccheus was a notorious transgressor, Jesus did not put him away or shamed him, but rather went to his house. Jesus would have said, go clean up your house and I will dined with you. God has called us not to fix people, but to share the life changing gospel of Jesus Christ. What are we doing?

Memory verse: Luke 19:10.

“True leadership is servanthood. Put the interests of others at the center of your decisions” (Daveramsy.com)

“Unity on the Community of Faith”

Monday, June 17, 2019.

“With all lowliness and meekness, with long suffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:2-3).

The community of faith, the body of Christ, is comprised of people from different backgrounds. There are people from different cultures, language, and kindred. Yet, they are all one in Christ. isn’t this wonderful? The Spirit lives in us as believers. We all belong to the family of God and have a relationship with one another. What a good news! We are spiritual brothers and sisters. We are all called by God to live in harmony with none another.

How do we obtained unity in the body of Christ? Unity in the body of Christ happens when the children of God live in submission to the Holy Spirit. We let the Holy Spirit control our attitudes, emotions, actions, words and actions. As the Holy Spirit lives in us, we have one goal: to please him in our interactions with each other, instead of demanding our own way.

Sometimes, Christian in the body of Christ tries to live independently of others. This happens because they do not want to live in humility, gentleness, and patience with other believers. But we need each other. Unity among believers is a part of God’s design for the spiritual growth of the church. Let us be united in Christ Jesus.

Memory verse: Colossians 3:4

“Harmony makes small things grow, lack of it makes great things decay” (Sallust).

“Seeking God in Times of Needs”

Wednesday, June 12.

Therefore I say unto you, Be not anxious for your life, what ye eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than the food, and the body than the raiment?” (Matthew 6:25 ASV).

God has granted us direct access to Him. We can ask for whatever we want as long as it is in the will and purpose of the Lord. God is not mean to us but One that really loves us and cares about our lives.

Sometimes we question God’s ability to provide for us when things get pretty hard. Jesus, in the passage in Matthew 6 assures us that we can pray to the Lord and he will give it to us.

All we have to do is trust in His care, believe in His promise, and seek His Kingdom and righteousness. When we do this, God will add everything else to us. God’s dealing with us is different. As humans, we often ask when we need. But the thing to do is to seek God, and God will provide.

Memory verse: Matthew 6: 26

“God’s works done in God’s way will never lack God’s provision” (Hudson Taylor).

“Healing Inferiority”

Tuesday, June 11.

“For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father, from whom every in heaven and on earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, that ye may be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the award man;…” (Ephesians 3:14-16).

The world makes us to be inferior because they want us to ride the latest cars, live in a beautiful house. If we do not have some of these things, the world makes us look inferior. If we conform ourselves to the standards of this world, it will drive us from the truth of God. We will go after value and adequacy.

Quite often, we look to the external to prove to ourselves and others that we are important. It is not a good thing to look to others to form opinions of ourselves. It is wise to look to the One who loves us enough to die for us.

Paul tells his audience in Ephesus that true worth comes from knowing and understanding the full scope of God’s love for us. Let us value ourselves today in light how much God loves us, and that we are created in his image.

Memory verse: 1 peter 2:9

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts” (Winston Churchill).

SERMON BY THE REVEREND AMOS MCCARTHY

PENTECOST SUNDAY, JUNE 9, 2019

Title: “The Vicar of Christ”

Text: “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you” (John 14:26).

Scripture Reading: John 14:16-26.

What is a vicar? A vicar is someone who serves as the agent or messenger of another.  Our word is vicarious is an extension of the word vicar. The death of Christ on the cross was a “vicarious sacrifice,” that is, Christ though he never sinned, entered into humanity’s sinful situation to become a divine substitute, God’s agent in providing the once for all payment for our sins.  As Jesus was God’s agent in redemption, the Holy Spirit is God’s representative in residence on the earth, the “Vicar of Christ.” Furthermore, the Holy Spirit did not come to bear witness of himself, but to draw people to Christ.

The Holy Spirit has an identity.  Even though Jesus has ascended back to the Father and is no longer visible among us, there is a divine person on earth dwelling in and with the children of God.  He is the third person of the triune Godhead. A body was not prepared for him, as was true with Jesus. Rather, the Holy Spirit dwells in the bodies of Christians.  According to Paul, our bodies are the temple in which and through which the Holy Spirit manifests himself.

We must understand that the Holy Spirit is a person just as Christ is a person.  We cannot see him, but his personality and presence are equally as real as Christ’s.

In John 16:13-12, Jesus revealed seven things about the Holy Spirit that prove him to be a real person: the Holy Spirit comes, guides, hears, speaks, glorifies, receives, and shows. Moreover, Paul said in Ephesians 4:30 that the Holy Spirit can be “grieved.”  Can a power or an influence be grieved? Hardly! Jesus spoke of the Holy Spirit as “he” in John 16. We do not speak of an influence as “he.”

The Scriptures concerning the Holy Spirit indicate that he undertook to be obedient to the Father and the Son.  The problem we have is that in the human realm, “Obedience” often suggests inferiority. We conceive obedience to be part of the servant-master relationship.  This is why some consider the Holy Spirit of less importance or lower station than God and Jesus. But not so: the Holy Spirit’s obedience to the Father and to the Son is a willing subordination in keeping with the unity of purpose of the Godhead.  As it was proper for Christ to be “obedient unto death,” so it is fitting for the Holy Spirit to be God’s unseen, obedient servant, speaking of Christ rather than himself and glorifying the Father rather than his own person directly.

Jesus Christ introduced the Holy spirit to us.  “And Jesus said, “But when the Comforter is come” (John 15:26), and again, “When he, the Son of truth is come” (John 16:13).  These words were obviously used of one who was expected to come but who had not yet arrived. But isn’t the Holy Spirit referred to in the Old Testament, long before the day of Pentecost?  Of course, but Jesus had something entirely different in mind. Prior to Pentecost, the Holy Spirit had been on earth only as a visitor. He had “come upon” certain people and empowered them to perform miracles to declare God’s Word.  But now, according to Jesus, he was coming as a resident to abide forever within those to whom he was given.

Jesus said that the Spirit “shall be in you” (John 14:17). Paul wrote to the believers at Corinth of “Holy Spirit which is in you” (1 Corinthians 6:19).  What is the difference between the Holy Spirit coming upon a person and dwelling within a person? To illustrate, think of the contrast between an old-fashioned sailing vessels and a modern steamship.  The sailing vessel is dependent for its movement on an outside power coming upon it. When the wind fills its sails, movement takes place. On the other hand, a steamship is propelled by a power within, a power that is constant, not intermittent like the sailing vessel.  Today Christians are like the steamship. Our progress, if we have the Holy Spirit living within us, is depending on the power within, not without.

The Holy Spirit has intentions.  The Holy Spirit plays a very significant role in the imparting of eternal life to believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.  The Bible teaches that all three persons of the trinity are related to the plan of redemption. The first person becomes the Father of a Christian.  Paul described him as “one God and the Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all” (Ephesians 4:6). The life of the second person, Jesus, becomes the possession of a Christian.  Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh to the Father, but by me” (John 14:16) The third person, the Holy Spirit, brings about the regeneration, the change that comes when a person is born again.  In his letter to Titus, Paul explained salvation, saying, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost” (3:5).

It is the Holy Spirit who reveals God to humankind.  The Holy Spirit is involved in three phases of revelation.  He makes known the will of God (which he did in the form of oral prophecy through the prophets of old); he inspired the written Word (the infallible revelation of

God to humanity); and he illuminates the Word (makes it meaningful and intelligible to Christians as they read and study it).

The Holy Spirit enables Christians.  He is the One who empowers their Christians lives.  Because of sin, people in themselves cannot please God or serve him acceptably.  But the presence and power of the Holy Spirit within Christians makes it possible for them to please God.  Sometimes this is referred to as the “filling” of the Holy Spirit. Paul exhorted believers to “be not drunk with wine but be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18).

The Holy Spirit sanctifies Christians.  Sanctification runs in the two directions: first, it is instantaneous.  The moment a person is born into the family of God, he or she is “set apart” to live and exist for a different purpose.  Sanctification is also progressive. When people are born again, they begin to grow and daily become more and more like their Lord.  Just as Children grow and take on more and more of their parent’s physical and dispositional characteristics, so Christains should come to resemble their Lord more each day.

We have seen the blessed significance and importance of the Holy Spirit in God’s plan and purpose for humanity.  The Holy Spirit operates in the lives of believers so that day by day they may be conformed to the image of God’s Son.  This is not completed at the moment of salvation; it is the beginning of a long work of grace. Are you allowing the Holy Spirit to do his assigned work in your life?  Accept the holy Spirit today, and you will grow in the grace of God. God bless you all this Pentecost morning!

“Are You Feeling Inferior?”

Monday, June 10.

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10)

Growing up, there were moments in my life when I felt that I was of a lower status than others. The reason being that I struggled with not having enough to eat, not having good clothes to wear, and the list goes on. My parents were not rich, and my mom and dad work hard to make sure we were comfortable. At school, friends wore better clothes and had money most of the time. And so, it made you feel inferior.

It is never God’s desire for anyone to have such feelings. This feeling comes out of comparison. It can be found in the young heart that desires to be everything. It is not a good feeling. As Christians, we want to walk in the light of God’s Word. We were created to do good works. Therefore, let us continue in the good works of Christ.

Memory verse: Ephesians 2:8

It takes courage to grow up and be who you really are” (E. E. Cummings).