Fresh Speaking
(Nancy's notes from Lord's Day, July 4, 2010)
We are here to celebrate our God! Hallelujah! We know who we are celebrating because we experience Him!
Years ago, I was a biology teacher. The students would look in a microscope and see micro-creatures so tiny you could not see them with the human eye. At the end of the day, they would be dumped down the drain. They were insignificant to me. Many think this is how God looks at us. He created, and then just sits back and watches us, like a big game, laughing at our situations.
We have sent cameras into space, searching for life forms. One day, someone decided to turn the camera around and take a photo of us. This photo became so famous. Somewhere, in the very center of the universe, was a very tiny dot. This was our sun. Even tinier was our planet - invisible. And even tinier - you! How insignificant are we? Looking at the stars in the night sky we have such a feeling of finiteness. How could God care about one so insignificant? This is the good news. He does care! He cares for us individually.
I Peter 5:7 "Casting all your anxiety on Him because it matters to Him concerning you." Does He care that you have bills to pay? Does He care that you have teenagers? Does He care that you are a teenager? Does God care about the oil spill in the gulf? Does He care that you are suffering because your best friend looked at you funny? HE DOES CARE! We don't think that He does, but He does.
The good shepherd had 100 sheep. That is a lot of sheep. But He lost one. If Bob Brenneman took an inventory at his store and lost 1%, he would probably just write it off. 99% is pretty good. But to Jesus that 1% was so important. He went and found that one sheep, and He rejoiced over finding it. We so often slip away. We are a lost one. As a teenager, I was so rebellious. That was the thing to do. Anti-war, etc. Rebellion is in every teen, it is what they do. As parents, we don't just say one of my kids is rebelling, Oh well, I still have the other 99%. Rebellion could cause you to be a lost sheep. As parents, you could be at your wits end. Some may be unemployed. Cast all your cares upon Him. He cares for you!
John 10:2-4 "But he who enters through the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he puts forth all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice." He calls each sheep by name. He knows your name! You feel a tugging within because He is calling you. He calls you by name, and we recognize His voice. God wants you and knows you. We know His voice and follow Him.
Acts 2:5-12 "Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together and was confounded because each one heard them speak in his own dialect. And they were amazed and marveled, saying, Behold, are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we each hear them in our own dialect in which we were born? Partheans and Medes and Elamites and those dwelling in Mesopotamia, both in Judea and Cappadocia, in Pontus and Asia. Both in Phrygia and Pamphylia, in Egypt and the parts of Libya around Cyrene, and the sojourning of Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians, we hear them speaking in our tongues the magnificent works of God? And they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, What does this mean?"
This was the beginning of the church age. At Penticost the church was born, created. Do you realize that God speaks your language? Not a gift of hearing rather than tongues. God caused them to speak in their languages. God is for you. He knows your name and He speaks your language! He will take care of you. He does not insist that you come to Him - He comes to you in many portions and in many ways. Each situation is different. He came to Moses as a burning bush! He came to Jonah as a great fish! How is He speaking to you today?
Do you young people like to sing the old hymn "How great thou art"? Today, you like to sing "Our God is an awsome God". God wants to reach man today, in your language! He calls your name! He will do this in any way that He can. Methods change. He is still talking to different ones in different ways. How is He talking to you? He cares individually for you!