“Pursue Through”
By Brother Kennth Ray
April 17th,
2011
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notes in pdf format.
How many of
you
know that God speaks to the church?
To
those that know God, and understand how He works in people’s lives,
this is not
a new idea. We know
that He can do this
in many different ways: through
the Word
of God, through dreams, through visions, and through the small, still
voice. Do you know why He speaks to us?
God
speaks to you so that He can speak through you.
One of my co-workers likes to watch this one
evangelist on television,
and then tell me about it; not because he agrees with or believes the
evangelist, just for entertainment value.
But, whether my co-worker realizes it or not, each
time he tells me what
this televangelist says, he is allowing the evangelist speak through
him. Jesus told us,
“ye
shall be witnesses unto me
both in Jerusalem,
and in all Judaea, and in Samaria,
and unto the uttermost part
of the earth.” How
do you do that if God only flows to you,
and doesn’t flow through you? You
don’t
want to be a roadblock, or a dam.
If the
light bulb is burned out, that just leaves everybody in the dark.
The
promises of
God are there for you to pursue after for yourself, but you are what
God uses
for others to pursue Him through.
The
promises of God are there in the areas in which we need them; they are
not
there for others to take from you.
If
you make a carrot cake, are you going to eat the whole thing? Of course not, you would
share it with other
people. What’s the
point of making it if
you aren’t going to share? You’re
just
going to get heavy. It’s
like a college
professor that doesn’t teach, or that can’t teach so that people
understand.
I have a
flow
chart here: God
worked through the dust
to make man. God
worked through man to
make woman. God
worked through woman to
make Jesus. God
worked through John the
Baptist to prepare the way for Jesus.
God worked through Jesus to preach to the Jews. God worked through Peter
to reach the
gentiles. Jesus
worked through the
twelve to reach the world. The
twelve
worked through Christ to reach the world.
Matthew
16:18-19
…whatsoever
thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven:
…
This
was in reply to verses 13through 17.
Jesus asked (paraphrasing here), “Who do men say
that I am?” and the disciples said, John the Baptist, or
Isaiah, or
Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.
In
other words, the people really didn’t have a clue.
Then Jesus asked, “Who
do you say that I am?” and Peter said, “Thou art the
Christ, the Son of
the living God.” Jesus
said, “Blessed art thou, Simon
Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not
revealed in unto thee, but My Father, which is in Heaven.” Verse 17 shows that God
had spoken to Peter
and he had both heard, and understood.
Now Jesus is telling Peter that He is going to speak
through him. I
realize it doesn’t really spell that out,
but Jesus is telling Peter that ‘whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth,
shall be
bound in Heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be
loosed in Heaven.’ So
Jesus is basically telling Peter that He
going to work through him. Others
will
be able, through Peter, to seek God’s kingdom and blessings.
Acts
10:1-5
…send men to Joppa, and
call for one Simon, whose
surname is Peter:
Acts
10:9-14
…What
God hath cleansed, that call
not thou common…
We
decide whether we can relate to people or not.
A lot of times we look at the way a person is
dressed, or we look at the
age difference, and we decide that they can’t relate to us. Drop your perception; get
off your high
horse, just let God do His work.
Remember very clearly: you don’t do the work. You are just a tool, and
when God tries to
use you, He may find lots of rust.
Acts
10:33-34 …God
is no respecter of
persons.
It’s
not my opinion. We
determine who we
share with. Sometimes
we forget who’s
doing the talking; if we just share what we know (or think we know) we
aren’t
really doing any good at all.
Acts
10:35
…in every nation he that
feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.
There
are no quotas; whosoever will, let him come.
Acts
10:48
…he commanded them to be
baptized in the name of the Lord…
Moses
tried to tell God that he couldn’t go to talk to Pharaoh, because he
had a slow
tongue, and slow speech. God
sent Aaron
to be Moses’ spokesman. God
will meet your
excuses. Paul was
gangster before it was
cool to be gangster. God
saved Paul
through Ananias.
Acts
9:15
…he
is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and
kings,
…
Ananias
knew of Saul the Pharisee, and didn’t want to go to him. God gave him some insight
into what was going
on, and Ananias did what God asked of him.
Faith is having a lack of details and then doing it
anyway.
Acts
9:16
For
I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake.
Paul’s
heart was
pursued after by God. God
had a lot for
him to do. Paul
ended up writing most of
the New Testament. God
has a lot that
needs to get done today, too. Who’s
it
going to be? Us. It’s
a lot of work for
one person; it’s even a lot of work for two people; but if all of us
get
involved, it won’t be but a little bit of work for each of us.
God worked
through John the Baptist to prepare the way for Christ.
God worked through Jesus to save the whole
world. Jesus worked
through the disciples,
He told them in Matthew
28:19, “Go, teach all
nations, baptizing them…” In
the Book of acts, we find example
after example of God using the Apostles, so that others could pursue
through
the work that they did unto God. Maybe
you will be like Moses, whom God spoke through to set his people free. Maybe you will work
through the military and
continue that work that God has given into our hand.
When God works through you, then you’re a
leader. Think about
Mary and Ruth in the
Bible who were willing to do whatever it took, or Jephthah, who
sacrificed his
own daughter. Do
what’s right in God’s
eyes, because He’s going to be the judge.
Whether it is by letting your light shine before
men, doing unto others
as you would have them do unto you, speaking sound doctrine, or praying
without
ceasing; consider allowing God to flow through you.
Sermon
notes by Pete Shepherd
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