Rescue Mission Sermon December 28, 2002
Posted by Brother Freedom
I’m the most likely NOT to succeed! And I guess I’m the kind of person that God speaks about that HE takes the nobodies and does something with them. [See 1st Corinthians 1:27-29] And I have really found a strength in the Lord Jesus Christ. I’ve served the Lord actually [sixty-one years]. I’m seventy years old. All my life I’ve served the Lord.
When I was nine years old I was drowning in Stonycreek. Another fellow named Leonard B_______ saved my life. I was going down. I knew I was gone! When I got up I made a dedication then that I was going to serve God. The next Sunday I gave my heart to Jesus Christ. And I’ve never been sorry. It has been a blessing.
I would like to encourage you here tonight, that God is good. God’s mercy endures forever [Psalm 100:5, Psalm 103:17]. You know, in this world that we see we have things that seem like they have failed. But we have a God that never fails. Oh, God cannot fail!
Father in Heaven we just praise YOU. We thank YOU, wonderful Lord and Saviour. Father we thank you for the good things, for your blessings that you make. And Father we thank you, Lord, that you have filled our cup with overflowing. The joy of the LORD is our strength [See Nehemiah 8:10b]. And Father God we say, “THANK YOU!” We thank YOU that you saved us, and delivered us from a life that was on the wrong road. You set us on that pathway that leads towards Heaven. And Father we want to say, “THANK YOU!” We know that we have failed YOU many times. But Lord, YOU have NEVER failed us, Lord God; that you are FAITHFUL! When we call upon YOU, YOUR Word declares that YOU will hear and answer us and show us great and mighty things that we know not [See Jeremiah 33:3]. And Father God we found out THAT is totally true. And Father we praise YOU for THAT goodness. We thank YOU Lord for thy mercy that endures forever. And Father we thank YOU that there is forgiveness. As we bow and ask forgiveness YOU will forgive us, Father God, of our transgressions and our things where we have failed YOU this day. And Father we want to give you glory and honor. We come to YOU with a heart of thanksgiving, thanking YOU that we still live in a free land. Lord we know there is problems every place…we look. But we realize that we still live in the greatest land in the world, Father God. Father we PRAISE YOU this wonderful day. We thank YOU! And I pray for each man, each woman, each boy, each girl that is in this room, Father God, in the sound of my voice, I pray for. I believe there is many needs here tonight. There is many requests if they were made known. But Father YOU know each one personally. And Father I pray that YOU will meet each need, according to thy will. Father we pray that you would look down from Heaven this night, and YOU would make a way for each one in this room, Father God. And Father, YOUR Word declares that you are not slack concerning YOUR promises as some men count slackness . But YOU are long suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. [See 2nd Peter 3:8-9] And we praise YOU this wonderful day. Lord God we know we look to THEE. Your Word says we look to the hills from whence cometh our help. [See Psalm 121:1] And Father this night we look to YOU where cometh our help. And Father we know that YOU are real! We know that YOU are faithful. And Father we know that YOU never fail. And we praise YOU, wonderful Lord the Saviour. In the wonderful Name of Jesus. Amen and Amen!
If I had a way of making a title for my message tonight, I haven’t really got a message. Hopefully God MAKES a message. I don’t, never really plan. But I believe that I can TRUST God. And that’s what Brother Clint didn’t tell you. I never plan a message. And I don’t really know what is going to go on. But I have enough trust and faith in God that God has, HE says in HIS Word it will not be you that speaks. But I will speak for you, and in you. That is what the Word declares. [See Matthew 10:20]
So I, the last quite a few years, have taken them on that I would never plan a message; that I would try to speak, the Bible talks about the “oracles of God.” [1st Peter 4:11a] Do you understand what I am saying?
We all have places that we have to live to a certain obligation. And I am trying to fulfill an obligation here tonight, because God holds us accountable. I believe that everything that we do there is going to be a Day when HE is going to say, “…Well done, thou good and faithful servant…” [Matthew 25:21a] But there is also going to be a weighing of even the Christians, what we have done for the Lord.
And I want to be faithful here tonight. I want to serve the Lord out of a glad heart. I want the joy of the Lord to be my strength. The Bible says, “…for the joy of the LORD is your strength.” [Nehemiah 8:10b]
And I, here tonight, realize that within myself I am a failure. But as I hide in God HE is my strength. And I cannot fail HIM! Within myself I fail! Do you understand what I am saying? But as I trust and believe that “…he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him,” [Hebrews 11:6] that call upon HIS Name. With that I can have that ASSURANCE in my heart that I can TRUST the living God!
Even though I don’t see HIM in a visible sense, I know HE is real! Because HE is closer than anyone. I believe that availability is God. And I don’t know how God does it. But HE is WONDERFUL!
And I would like to read in Deuteronomy the Thirty-First Chapter, and the sixth and the eighth verse. And this is when the Israelites were going in. God is telling the Israelites to go into the Promised Land.
And he says, “Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, HE it is that doth go with thee; HE will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.” [Deuteronomy 31:6] That word “will NOT fail,” I would like to instill it in our hearts here tonight.
Going down to the eighth verse, it says almost the same but it repeats itself. “And the LORD, HE it is that doth go before thee; HE will be with thee, HE will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.” Back up. It says, “…HE will not fail thee…”
In the World that we live in, [all of us] are around equipment. You have seen parts that fail, equipment fails, appliances fail. Sooner or later everything that is new grows old. And through this process of “TIME” things get to where they just don’t work. They fail!
You can buy a brand new car. I can remember back in the 1930s when a car was a new car, but most of them failed, unless they have been restored. They are failures! And that is the way: the process of life. I have seen refrigerators that were brand new refrigerators. We have had some. Pretty soon my wife tells me they won’t work. They’re failed!
And we hear of heart failure. That is one of the causes of problems with men and women, it’s heart failure. It literally stops. That is a failure of being able to function.
It talks about power failures. We have just been in a shortage of power here last year, I think it was. There was times when there was outages, failure of power.
And I want this [message] to get into the failure that is upon this World. Sometimes hospitals fail, that all people who come into that hospital sometimes are not all healed. Do you understand how there is some that go [and] they are not healed. That is a failure because anytime we fail we have an expectancy to do something that we can’t fulfill what we are supposed to do. That becomes a failure.
If I buy a ranch, or buy a business, and that business after awhile won’t balance, and I don’t have enough money to keep on going, it becomes a failure. Right? [Some in the audience answer, “That’s right!”]
If I buy a truck out here, you buy a truck, and you make your payments, pretty soon as it goes on, it seems like you get in worse condition and worse condition. And pretty soon it [the truck] won’t buy itself back! It won’t pay for itself. And it becomes a failure. You become a failure sometimes in responsibilities that might be hooked to that [truck].
Understand what I am trying to say? Failures are things that happen beyond our [ability]. We have nothing to do with it [the failure]. Things just fail!
Properties fail. Cattle fail. I remember here a few years back this whole herd [of cattle] got infected with a bad disease. And they had to destroy the whole herd. Those cattle were failures, not because they weren’t a good cow. But something got in them and caused those bodies of the cows to fail.
Here tonight we have a purpose in this World. And I believe that God seen a special blessing, that HE made a World so special that HE included man. The Bible says that HE made us in HIS image and HIS likeness. [See Genesis 1:26] And HE made us that we might live with HIM forever. And HE makes a way that we can come to HIM, and through that effort we can live with HIM, or we can miss HIM. It is up to us to choose.
Going back in the Word of God it talks about a family of God that had twelve sons. Jacob was the father and he has twelve sons. And one of them was Joseph. And you know God seen that there was going to be a failure, a drought that was going to come on the land, in Egypt. And God is faithful. GOD IS FAITHFUL.
So HE arranged everything that Joseph, as the two mothers, one was Leah and Rachel. And Joseph’s mother was Rachel. And so Joseph has a coat of many colors and the father [Jacob] preferred Joseph. How many of you are familiar with the story?
Joseph got envied by the other brothers because they thought that Joseph was getting the best end of everything. You know how it is when people, someone gets all the brakes? They felt this about Joseph. But God had a reason that Joseph would go this way.
The brothers actually took Joseph and sold him. They wanted to kill him. But they sold him. And he ended up down in Egypt. And he went to Egypt. They put him at Potiphar’s house. And he works for Potiphar. Potiphar leaves and Potiphar’s wife makes an advance on Joseph. And Joseph told her, “I don’t want no part of you.” And so she lied about him. And anyway, through her lie he was put in prison.
So he goes down to prison, but he still believes that God is faithful. He didn’t lose his faith in God. He had also a faithful belief that God was going to be with him. And God has his hand on Joseph, all this time. Here Joseph went down in the deepest despair. He has been put in prison. And he was down there. And it wasn’t easy. It was a good prison he was in.
Finally there are dreams given to a baker and a butler [fellow prisoners that Pharaoh has locked up]. And Joseph interprets the dreams; the butler would be received and the baker’s head would come off. And truly it came to pass as Joseph said.
I’m bringing this forth. It is in the Bible, but this is God’s faithfulness. And at the time Joseph didn’t know anything that was going about. And Joseph, he is down here by himself, separated from his family, in a country that he doesn’t even know anything about. And he knows that God is God, but yet he is there by himself. He is treated very poorly. We might say, at the very least, they were not treating him well.
But Pharaoh had a dream. And he had this dream. It troubled him. So they asked can anyone in the Land interpret that dream? God had a reason for Joseph to be where he was at. God is faithful. God NEVER fails! God never fails, and that is why Joseph had to believe that God wouldn’t fail in his life.
So pretty soon Pharaoh calls for him, for his dream. So Joseph gives the interpretation. He says, “What you are going to have, Pharaoh, is seven years of real good crops, abundance of crops. But after that there is going to be seven lean years that is going to have a failure of crops. That is a drought.”
But God seen this and knew it was going to take place, because God is forever faithful. HE never fails. HE has made a way! The Bible clearly reads it out! In the Bible it says that all, from all over the World, came there because Joseph told them that they must have a treasury, basically. All the corn would be stored for when the time of need came.
And it came into the store house, all these bins, that were FULL of corn. God provided because of the obedience of Joseph. God was actually the ONE in command. God seen this failure was going to take place. And God NEVER fails. And God, for that reason, HE had Joseph in the right place at the right time, that God through that, being HE was God, was going to meet the need [as to] what is going to take place.
So we see that [from] all of the World, people came. It says they came from all over the World because there was no food in other places. What would happen if California was the only place that had food? I guarantee you the World would start coming down. They would say, “We want part of your food.” They might get a little forceful if we didn’t give them some food.
What I am saying [is] when you come down to necessity and you haven’t got anything: livelihood wants to keep going! It is not in man to [die]. It is in man to survive! Understand what I am saying? They would not have survived unless there had been some special planning BY GOD!
God planned it all out! God made Joseph there at the right time. At the right time the right things would be done. And through that there would be a saving of souls, of homes. But even Joseph’s home would be saved.
And here they go back and Joseph’s brothers finally come down there and stand before Joseph. And they don’t know Joseph. They are the ones who actually sold Joseph [into Egypt]. But God had a plan, because God is faithful.
So God allowed those boys, brothers, to appear before Joseph. And Joseph had to go in [away, alone] to contain himself many times and cry. He would get his love and affection toward his brothers. He literally cried! He couldn’t contain himself. He would cover up and he would go out and present himself. And he treated them sort of roughly at times to see what was going to take place.
And it says that he wanted to keep Benjamin [his closest brother, in Egypt until they should return]. And they said, “No, no don’t keep Benjamin because our Father lost his other son (referring to Joseph whom they sold). And we don’t want Benjamin to be lost also.” God is faithful! God never fails! God seen this!
And so then, finally Joseph gives in and says, “Hey, I’m your brother. I forgive you.” And it says in Genesis for this was done for the good. I would like to read that because God is real special! God never, never fails!
That was not the end of what God wanted. There is also another family that we see that had a son and his name was Samson. The Spirit of God just stayed upon Samson. It was REAL! Samson lived a life and God’s Spirit would bless him and move upon him in a mighty way. But God was faithful as long as Samson never cut that hair. God was faithful. God kept HIS word with Sampson. Have any of you heard the story of Sampson?
He bound 250 foxes, tied their tails together. Put torches between their tails and set them out to burn the Philistines corn. I tell you what, that was quite a story. There were some real stories in the Bible that are pretty thrilling. He literally caught the foxes! Hallelujah! He was quite a man!
But he got deceived. And I thought about this the other day. How Samson must have felt. He set before Delilah. She fooled him and tricked him. He layed asleep in her lap. He told her finally that “If you cut my hair off I will have no power.” And truly God had to keep HIS Word. God doesn’t fail. God didn’t want Sampson to fail! But God had to be faithful of what HE spoke. It is real!
Sampson said, “I wish I hadn’t done it.” God said, “I wish you hadn’t either! I didn’t really want you to cut your hair! You let that woman. But now I gave MY Word, and I AM faithful. And I will not fail. It is going to go forth as it was to be!” Samson failed to take heed to the Word of God!
As we go on through the story it says Samson’s hair grew back. God restored that strength, back into Samson. But yet it cost Samson something. It cost him his eye sight, the humility that he was going through.
And men, there is none of you out here that want to fail. I know that NONE of us want to fail. But God spoke to me this message here a couple of weeks ago. I preached this for my church. But failing is such a thing that it is not in a man’s vocabulary to fail. There is something about men that they don’t want to fail, women probably too. There is something within you that doesn’t want to fail. But God wants to bless us.
Going back to Joseph: this is what Joseph tells his brothers, “And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God? But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.” [Genesis 50:19-20] God meant it for God!
Hallelujah! Oh, Praise God! God wants to bless these hearts here today!
You know, we see all of this brought up a special [truth]. Joseph was “a type” of a saviour. But God through HIS great love, God seeing that mankind had failed to be able to keep the old law that God had given to the Israelites. HE sent forth HIS Son, Jesus. HE sent Jesus, that Jesus would be that Saviour of the World, a ONE without sin. And it took this because God said that God could not look upon sin.
We see many stories in the Bible how Abraham told Isaac, when Isaac was going to be layed on the altar [of sacrifice]. And Abraham tried to tell his son, Isaac. And Isaac says, “Where is the sacrifice?” And Abraham said, “GOD WILL PROVIDE.” [See Genesis 22:8]
God will provide! But yet Abraham was willing to give his son as that sacrifice to God. God did not demand of him, oh hallelujah. God did not demand the sacrifice of Abraham. But HE was going to do it HIMSELF, that GOD was going to give HIS best, that HE was going to, as Jacob you might say, gave his son [Joseph] because he did not see his son. Jacob thought his son was dead.
Joseph went down into a far country. And when he was sold Jacob thought he was gone. But God made a way! Oh praise ye the Lord! God has a beautiful end. And sometimes we go through “the valley of the shadow of death. I will fear no evil”
The Bible says, “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.” [Psalm 23]
It says, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” [John 14:1-3]
God will keep HIS word! He says, “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?” [Numbers 23:19] Oh, God will keep HIS word! God is FOREVER faithful! God will NOT fail!
And I will tell you, brothers and sisters here tonight, God has something BETTER for us! The Bible says, “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.” [1 Corinthians 2:9-10]
Hallelujah, Glory to God!! Let’s give God a clap offering! [The audience joins in hearty applause.] Praise God! Hallelujah! God is worthy of ALL praise!
The Bible says, “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,” [Ephesians 3:20] God gave “US”, as HIS children.
The Bible says, “He that believeth…” on the Lord Jesus Christ “…shall be saved.” [Mark 16:16a] “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” [John 3:16] “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” [Proverbs 14:12] “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” [Matthew 6:33] Oh praise ye the Lord! “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.” [Jeremiah 33:3] “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.” [Psalms 1:1-2]
I’m trying to get a little fast because we don’t have much time. Oh hallelujah! “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.” [Psalms 19:14]
The Bible says, “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.” [Luke 6:45] “…for the joy of the LORD is your strength.” [Nehemiah 8:10b]
When we get JESUS into our heart there becomes something, there becomes a part of God that HE transfers. The Bible says in the Second Chapter of Ephesians, in the first verse, “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:” [Ephesians 2:1-2]
In the next verse [it speaks of] in times past in our conversation. The Bible says, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” [Ephesians 2:8-9]
[At this point in the message the Holy Spirit began to move in an increasing manner.]
God gives us FAITH! And HE loves us so much. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not PERISH, but have everlasting life.” [John 3:16]
God does not want us to fail! God doesn’t want us to perish! God LOVES you here tonight! God wants to bless you here tonight! God wants to strengthen you here tonight! God wants to give you a good blessing! God wants to touch you from the very crown of your head to the very soul of your feet, that the joy of the Lord can be your strength! It can be your blessing. HE will bless them forevermore. Hallelujah!
It says, “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.” [2 Chronicles 16:9a] It says, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” [2 Chronicles 7:14]
What a BLESSING! God takes away our problems we have. It says HE puts our failures in the sea of HIS forgetfulness, never to be remembered no more. [See Psalm 103:12, Hebrews 8:12 and Hebrews 10:17]
I would like to read a little bit [from] Psalms 103. “Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.” Praise the Lord! “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:..” I am here tonight [because] God has benefits! God wants to bless you. HE wants to TOUCH you, that PEACE, like the joy of the Lord is our strength. The Bible says, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.” [Isaiah 26:3]
I guess my time is up. But praise God! Glory to God. HE is REAL! I’m not finished, but I’m going to keep my word and let you go. God bless you. Maybe I can finish it next time. Hallelujah! If God be for us who can be against us [Romans 8:31] Hallelujah! Glory to God! [There was much applause for the Lord from the congregation.]
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