Song: tell out my soul
Prayer to prepare for the sermon
Bible reading: daniel to do?
…
1 Corinthians 6:19–20 (NIV)
“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.”
-tell story of King Manessah
-few kings more evil
-set up idol worship for false Gods
-consulted mediums and demons for advice
-sacrificed the children of Judah to moloch through fire
-he was later captured by the assyrians when they invaded
-imprisoned, he found God and repented
Now I bow down before you
from deep within my heart,
begging for your kindness.
I have sinned, Lord, I have sinned,
and I know the laws I’ve broken.
I’m praying, begging you:
Forgive me, Lord, forgive me.
Don’t destroy me along with my sins.
Don’t keep my bad deeds
in your memory forever.
Don’t sentence me to the earth’s depths,
for you, Lord, are the God
of those who turn from their sins.
In me you’ll show how kind you are.
Although I’m not worthy,
you’ll save me according
to your great mercy.
I will praise you continuously
all the days of my life,
because all of heaven’s forces praise you,
and the glory is yours
forever and always. Amen.
-God had mercy on him and he was released from prison and restored to his throne.
-he changed his ways; ending child sacrifice and idol worship, changing the hearts of his people
-Manessah is a very divisive biblical character
-king Manessah is one of most complex
-also most human
…
-like Manessah, Paul, one of the most important Christian’s to live, once discriminated against Christian’s.
-talk about Paul before becoming Christian
-how many of us as Christian’s recognise ourselves as perfect and free of sin?
- total depravity; sin has infected every part of us!
…
Jeremiah:
The heart is deceitful above all things
and beyond cure.
Who can understand it?
-We must realise our human, tainted hearts are incapable of finding God alone.
-we need God to first reach out and invite us personally.
…
Paul/Romans: As it is written: ‘There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.
-think for a moment, how did I become Christian?
-what did God put in my life that made it all make sense to me?
-what brought me to church today?
-was it my doing or something greater?
-it is incredibly common to wonder “why me?” Why did God reach out to me?
-this is the most chrisitan response we can have!
-this shows we recognise that our faith is a gift and is undeserved.
-our faith is a gift, it is not conditional on our works.
…
Ephesians: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.”
-our lack of belief or faith often causes us to question God
-remember Gideon; called by God to free the Israelites of midianites. Keep asking God is it really you? Why me??
-it can be difficult to accept this gift when we struggle with the sins of our past of the present
-sin is bad but not a write off. Sin means to miss the mark
-we all sin. we should never question christs decision to forgive us though.
-let us not forget that Jesus was crucified next to a thief, who asked Jesus to “remember me in your kingdom”.
-Jesus did not condemn or threaten the thief.
-Jesus’s response: “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
-we each have a role to play in his mission, even if we did have lifestyle’s like King Manessah or Paul did.
-in being purchased by Christ, in having our eyes and ears opened, we ought to pledge our lives to him and the good news regardless of our past lives.
-closing;
-lesser known character in Bible called Nehemiah.
-called by God to lead the rebuild Israel after it was sacked by the assyrians and all Israel was enslaved.
-Nehemiah and his team struggled;
-unbelieving people would mock his rebuilding efforts,
-threats of violence were thrown at him and his builders,
-the Israelites would not heed his instructions.
-despite being called by God for this mission, even he acted sinfully and lost his way in his determination at times.
-he was prone to frustration and anger and hoplessness.
-when his building project was complete, most Israelites were disappointed. The temple didn’t seem as impressive as the last. Even Nehemiah didn’t seem happy with how it ended.
-Despite that though he made one quiet plea to God during this unremarkable project which stuck with me.
-“Remember me, my God, for good, according to all that I have done for these people.”
-even if we don’t feel worthy to be called to God’s mission, I hope that each of us can make this desperate plea in earnest:
-even if our earthly efforts were unremarkable in the grand scheme of things, we can at least tell God to remember how hard we tried.
-“I Hope you will remember what I tried to do”.
-a lot of figures in the Bible like Nehemiah and Gideon play small roles and struggle with their calling throughout their lives.
-nonetheless their names are still spoken about thousands of years later, when they probably thought they’d be forgotten fast.
-we should never doubt our calling to God’s mission or underestimate our contribution to his plans.
Prayer:
Thank God for calling a sinner like me.
Guide us to our calling.
Give us the ability to be proud of all we’ve done in your name.
Collect the offering: Esther and Timothy
Prayer 2: thank you for the donations.
Song 3: amazing grace.
End with Lord’s Prayer.
Our father
Who art in heaven
Hallowed be thy name
Thy kingdom come
Thy will be done
On Earth
As it is in heaven
Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us our debts
As we forgive our debtors
Lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from evil
For thyne is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever.
Amen.
