Sunday Sermon

SERMON
12-31-06

What a mighty God we serveWhat a mighty God we serveAngels bow before HimHeaven and earth adore HimWhat a mighty God we serve

Ps 33
33:1 The Sovereignty of the LORD in Creation and History

Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous!For praise from the upright is beautiful. 2 Praise the LORD with the harp;Make melody to Him with an instrument of ten strings. 3 Sing to Him a new song;Play skillfully with a shout of joy.
4 For the word of the LORD is right,And all His work is done in truth. 5 He loves righteousness and justice;The earth is full of the goodness of the LORD.
6 By the word of the LORD the heavens were made,And all the host of them by the breath of His mouth. 7 He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap; He lays up the deep in storehouses.
8 Let all the earth fear the LORD;Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him. 9 For He spoke, and it was done;He commanded, and it stood fast.
10 The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing;He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect. 11 The counsel of the LORD stands forever,The plans of His heart to all generations. 12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD,The people He has chosen as His own inheritance.
13 The LORD looks from heaven;He sees all the sons of men. 14 From the place of His dwelling He looks On all the inhabitants of the earth; 15 He fashions their hearts individually;He considers all their works.
16 No king is saved by the multitude of an army;A mighty man is not delivered by great strength. 17 A horse is a vain hope for safety;Neither shall it deliver any by its great strength.
18 Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him,On those who hope in His mercy, 19 To deliver their soul from death,And to keep them alive in famine.
20 Our soul waits for the LORD;He is our help and our shield. 21 For our heart shall rejoice in Him,Because we have trusted in His holy name. 22 Let Your mercy, O LORD, be upon us,Just as we hope in You.
NKJV

Ps 47:1-2
47:1 Praise to God, the Ruler of the Earth

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.

Oh, clap your hands, all you peoples!
Shout to God with the voice of triumph!
2 For the LORD Most High is awesome ;
He is a great King over all the earth.
NKJV

John 12:20-33

20 The Fruitful Grain of Wheat

Now there were certain Greeks among those who came up to worship at the feast. 21 Then they came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus."
22 Philip came and told Andrew, and in turn Andrew and Philip told Jesus.
23 But Jesus answered them, saying, "The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. 24 Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. 25 He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.
27 Jesus Predicts His Death on the Cross

"Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save Me from this hour'? But for this purpose I came to this hour. 28 Father, glorify Your name."
Then a voice came from heaven, saying, "I have both glorified it and will glorify it again."
29 Therefore the people who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered . Others said, "An angel has spoken to Him."
30 Jesus answered and said, "This voice did not come because of Me, but for your sake. 31 Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. 32 And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself." 33 This He said, signifying by what death He would die.
NKJV
I STAND IN AWE OF HIM --- OF HIS CREATION AND HOW HE ANSWERS MY PRAYERS

BUT OF ALL THE AWESOME ACTS OF GOD IN CREATION AND IN EACH ONE OF OUR LIVES --- THE ACT THAT SHOULD CAUSE US TO STAND IN AWE IS MENTIONED IN PHIL CHAPTER 2
Phil 2:3-11
3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself; 4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. 5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
NASB
ALTHOUGH HE WAS STILL GOD HE GAVE UP THE PRIVILIGES OF BEING GOD TO COME TO EARTH

Phil 2:5-8

5 Let this same attitude and purpose and [humble] mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus: [Let Him be your example in humility:]

6 Who, although being essentially one with God and in the form of God [possessing the fullness of the attributes which make God God], did not think this equality with God was a thing to be eagerly grasped or retained,

7 But stripped Himself [of all privileges and rightful dignity], so as to assume the guise of a servant (slave), in that He became like men and was born a human being.
8 And after He had appeared in human form, He abased and humbled Himself [still further] and carried His obedience to the extreme of death, even the death of the cross!
AMP

SOME MISS HIM BECAUSE OF THE FACT THAT HE DID HUMBLE HIMSELF TO COME IN THE FORM OF A MERE MAN
When I was in high school, I worked for a time at an armored-car company, Brinks Armored Co. in San Bernardino, California. My job was to take care of the coin that Brinks handles. We used to get forty tons of coin from Las Vegas. My job was to wrap this coin, and you had to be double-jointed and triple witted to run the huge machine that wrapped coins. And I could wrap $10,000 worth of quarters an hour. A bag of quarters weighs about eighty pounds--a thousand dollars.
One day we got a call from Bank of America in downtown San Bernardino, and they were in a panic: "We've got to have some coin in the hour." Well, all the armored trucks were gone, and so Larry, my manager, backed his '49 Ford pickup into the bay. Now if Brinks ever finds out about this they're going to shoot this guy. We loaded $25,000 worth of coin in a '49 Ford pickup. That thing was dragging. That's over a ton. Larry said, "Hop in. We're going up to B of A."
We hopped. I'm in my T-shirt and blue jeans. We drove up to the front of the Bank of America, parked the truck, and Larry said, "Hang on, I'll go in and get the dolly, and we'll haul this stuff in." I'm whistling, standing against this truck for twenty minutes. I don't have a gun. I thought, If anybody notices what is in this common looking pickup truck, I'm a dead duck! Of course, you can't carry eighty pounds very far. The treasure that people were walking by! But they didn't see it for the commonness of the delivery system.

n Roger Thompson, "Treasure in a Brown Bag,"

SOME SAID IT THUNDERED ---- THEY DIDN’T HEAR GOD --- BECAUSE OF THE COMMONNESS OF THE DELIVERY SYSTEM MANY MISS HIM

TO HEAR GOD RATHER THAN THE THUNDER WE MUST BE GOD CONSCIOUS AND ACCEPT THAT HE DID COME IN THE FORM OF A CHILD THAT BECAME THE MAN AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST

BECAUSE HE DID COME TO EARTH AND HE WAS WILLING TO STRIP HIMSELF, REDEMPTION AND FORGIVENESS IS POSSIBLE FOR YOU AND I
Eph 1:7-12

7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, 9 having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, 10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth — in Him. 11 In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, 12 that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.
NKJV

The Indians of Central America often resisted the Spanish occupation, sometimes with moderate though temporary success. One group was led by Agostino Aquinas. He declared war on the Spanish by dashing into the El Pilar church in San Vicente, El Salvador. There he snatched the crown from the statue of St. Joseph and put it on his own head. Christ did just the opposite. He declared war on evil by taking off his crown and coming to earth as a man.
THAT HE MIGHT FEEL OUR PAIN
John 11:32-44

32 Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him,"Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died."
33 Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled. 34 And He said, "Where have you laid him?"
They said to Him, "Lord, come and see."
35 Jesus wept . 36 Then the Jews said, "See how He loved him!"
37 And some of them said, "Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?"
38 Lazarus Raised from the Dead

Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 39 Jesus said, "Take away the stone."
Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, "Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days."
40 Jesus said to her, "Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?" 41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me." 43 Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth!" 44 And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Loose him, and let him go."
NKJV

"It was reported of Alanus, that he promised his audience to discourse the next Sunday more clearly of the Trinity, and to make plain that mystery. While he was studying the point by the seaside, he spied a boy very busy with a little spoon trudging often between the sea and a small hole he had dug in the ground. Alanus asked him what he was doing.
"The boy answered, 'I intend to bring all the sea into this pit.'
"Alanus replied, 'Why do you attempt such impossibilities, and waste your time?'
"The boy answered, 'So do you, Alanus. I will as likely bring all the sea into this hole as you bring all the knowledge of the Trinity into your head. They are equally possible. We have begun together, we shall finish together. But of the two endeavors, mine is more hopeful.'"
-- Thomas Adams

n Charles Haddon Spurgeon

People grow up with all sorts of notions of what God is like. They may see God as an Enemy, or a Policeman, or even an Abusive Parent. Or perhaps they do not see God at all and only hear his silence. Because of Jesus, however, we no longer have to wonder how God feels or what he is like. When in doubt, we can look at Jesus to correct our blurry vision.
Philip Yancey (1949- )

Luke 7:11-17

11 Jesus Raises the Son of the Widow of Nain


Now it happened, the day after, that He went into a city called Nain ; and many of His disciples went with Him, and a large crowd. 12 And when He came near the gate of the city, behold, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother; and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the city was with her. 13 When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said to her, "Do not weep." 14 Then He came and touched the open coffin, and those who carried him stood still. And He said, "Young man, I say to you, arise." 15 So he who was dead sat up and began to speak. And He presented him to his mother.

16 Then fear came upon all, and they glorified God, saying,"A great prophet has risen up among us"; and,"God has visited His people." 17 And this report about Him went throughout all Judea and all the surrounding region.
NKJV

Heb 4:14-16

14 Our Compassionate High Priest


Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
NKJV
HE UNDERSTANDS WHAT YOU ARE GOING THROUGH --- YOU CAN GO TO HIM --- STAND IN AWE OF HIS CREATION AND HIS WILLINGNESS TO STOOP TO UNDERSTAND AND HAVE COMPASSION ON YOU THIS YEAR 2007

12-30-06

2006 is winding down and it is a good time to reflect upon the ups and the downs. Elizabeth is back from the Philippines visiting our daughter Georgia, missionary midwife to the Northern Tribes. We were lying in bed a few mornings ago reflecting on how good God has been to us when we see a pick up across the wheat field headed our way. He was bringing us good news. Chesapeake staked a well location a stones throw from the Lodge. Lorene told us to get our plans ready for the conference center. This year we moved into the lodge and converted the home we were living in, to a bunkhouse. We had many horses and cows born to us this year. We fenced the East side of the river for summer pasture for the cows --- They appreciated it!! Leroy, David, and John Mark helped us to get a fence around the swimming pool. Best of all we drew ever closer to Jesus and his children. To our children, grandchildren, friends and neighbors we thank you all for the opportunity to be a part of your refreshing this past year. We are planning on adding a bedroom suite on to "Grace Cabin" beginning after the New Year holidays. Jerry and Rick are going to do the work. I am working on a cattle guard and fencing around the Bed and Breakfast Lodge so we can keep the horses and cows out. We can then begin in earnest to landscape. This week we had two lovely ladies from the Oklahoma Agri-Tourism bureau come and take a tour and give us some ideas and suggestions. We are planning on getting a low ropes course completed as soon as Sarah Thiessen is out of college for the year. She is going to complete her practicum here working on the course. Of course I think her real motivation is that fellow (John Mark Phelps). I want to get a rifle range and trap house set up and was looking at the equipment for a zip line on internet last night. If you have suggestions for 2007 please let us hear them. God Bless you each one (Ridge & Elizabeth)

Ps 33:8
8 Let all the earth fear the LORD;
Let all the inhabitants of the world stand
in awe of Him. NKJV