(This sermon and sermon notes are from Sunday, October 6th. I wasn't able to post it until today, Saturday, October 12th. I'll post tomorrow's sermon tomorrow. The following sermon was a really good sermon. I hope you get a chance to listen to it.)
"The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake." Psalm 23:1-3
God is constantly trying to restore us. Always. He's the God of restoration.
The whole world awaits restoration.
"For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that[a] the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time." Romans 8:19-22
Why do we need restoring?
1. Willful neglect. It will fall apart. Our souls get the same way. If we don't do the regular maintenance our souls need they will fall apart. Do we expose it to the world?
Temptation -- the devil and his demons constantly looking to tear us down. Can steal our fruit and testimony.
"We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all." Isaiah 53:6
Sheep are the most frustrating animals. They will stray. They fight their own best interests.We humans do the same thing. We will do things we know will damage us. God knows this. He knows sin would pull us from Him. David kept coming back to God (that is what we need to do). He accepted his sin and repented and came back to God. Surrender to temptation is a choice.
2. Restoration from Complacency. Complacent until loss occurs (physical, emotional or spiritual). Shock of loss will do great damage to us if we aren't close to God.
"Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy." John 16:20
The world will go on partying even when you have great loss. The difference is coping or hoping.
No one can restore something better than the original creator. Going back to the Creator for our restoration makes sense. There is no restoration without God.
The world tells us to cope. God tells us to hope.
Everyday we are one day closer to death.
Don't hold onto decay.
"What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?" Mark 8:36
You can't buy salvation. God didn't heal Jesus on the cross. He resurrected Him.
You can't fake the work.
3. Restoration from ourselves.
"The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing." Psalm 23:1
We take God's beauty and destroy it. We are taking blessings from God and distort them. A constant walking away from God when we insist, "Me, me, me!"
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:[a] The old has gone, the new is here!"
2 Corinthians 5:17
Restoration is a process. We will always need His grace.
Be a mirror for God's joy. The world neeeds to see God's joy. Pleasure fades. It never lasts. Without God we have no security in the future. We were created for unification with God.
Joy comes from God. If we don't share our joy why would the world want what we have?
Every single promise from the world has a bill in the end.
"Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me." Psalm 51:12
"The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake." Psalm 23:1-3
God is constantly trying to restore us. Always. He's the God of restoration.
The whole world awaits restoration.
"For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that[a] the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time." Romans 8:19-22
Why do we need restoring?
1. Willful neglect. It will fall apart. Our souls get the same way. If we don't do the regular maintenance our souls need they will fall apart. Do we expose it to the world?
Temptation -- the devil and his demons constantly looking to tear us down. Can steal our fruit and testimony.
"We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all." Isaiah 53:6
Sheep are the most frustrating animals. They will stray. They fight their own best interests.We humans do the same thing. We will do things we know will damage us. God knows this. He knows sin would pull us from Him. David kept coming back to God (that is what we need to do). He accepted his sin and repented and came back to God. Surrender to temptation is a choice.
2. Restoration from Complacency. Complacent until loss occurs (physical, emotional or spiritual). Shock of loss will do great damage to us if we aren't close to God.
"Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy." John 16:20
The world will go on partying even when you have great loss. The difference is coping or hoping.
No one can restore something better than the original creator. Going back to the Creator for our restoration makes sense. There is no restoration without God.
The world tells us to cope. God tells us to hope.
Everyday we are one day closer to death.
Don't hold onto decay.
"What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?" Mark 8:36
You can't buy salvation. God didn't heal Jesus on the cross. He resurrected Him.
You can't fake the work.
3. Restoration from ourselves.
"The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing." Psalm 23:1
We take God's beauty and destroy it. We are taking blessings from God and distort them. A constant walking away from God when we insist, "Me, me, me!"
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:[a] The old has gone, the new is here!"
2 Corinthians 5:17
Restoration is a process. We will always need His grace.
Be a mirror for God's joy. The world neeeds to see God's joy. Pleasure fades. It never lasts. Without God we have no security in the future. We were created for unification with God.
Joy comes from God. If we don't share our joy why would the world want what we have?
Every single promise from the world has a bill in the end.
"Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me." Psalm 51:12
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