“God's Continuing Pursuit”
By Brother Kennth Ray
April 24th,
2011
Click here to download printable sermon
notes in pdf format.
NOTE: Due to circumstances
beyond our control, our
Easter Sunday morning service was very brief, and did not include a
sermon. The
following notes are from the
sermon that Brother Kenneth had intended to preach.
Last
week we
talked about ‘Pursue Through You.’
Matthew
10:1-2
…He had called unto Him
His twelve disciples, He gave
them power…
Luke
6:13
…He chose twelve, whom
also He named apostles…
Luke
22:14
…He sat down, and the
twelve apostles with Him.
These
show that
Jesus was still here when the disciples were made Apostles.
Today
we close
out our Pursue It theme.
As
we take time,
or make time, to reflect and celebrate the victory of Christ over the
grave and
death, I would like to point out to you that it was part of a much
bigger
design. A plan was
set into action that,
to this date, is still in motion and is being carried out. God is not a slacker
(well, the Scripture
says, “God is not slack…”). My
hope and
prayer is that God will give the understanding to us of how it affects
us, and
out part to help fulfill His plan.
Like any
plan,
it had a beginning, it has a middle, and it has an end.
Let’s take a look, shall we?
In the
beginning, in the book of Genesis we read that God made the Heavens and
the
Earth, and all that is in it (in six days, and He rested on the
seventh). Man,
woman, places in Eden, the fall
of man; this created a need,
and here we find the beginning of God’s plan.
Isaiah
9:6
For unto us a child is
born, unto us a son is given…
Matthew
1:21 …thou
shalt call His name JESUS:
for He shall save His people from their sins.
This
plan is a
restoration; a rehab project. The
flood
cleansed the world of sin, but did nothing to restore what was lost in
the
garden so long ago, our relationship with the Creator.
Jesus’
Pursuit of Fulfillment
Luke
2:49
…wist
ye not that I must be about My Father’s business?
At
this point,
Jesus is twelve years old. For
approximately the next twenty-one years in the flesh, Jesus will be
about this
business.
John
6:48
I
am that bread of life.
John
6:51
I
am the living bread which
came down from heaven…
He
taught us the
ways of God so that we would know how resurrection would come. It would come by Jesus
dying on a cross,
bearing the sins of the world, so sin could be taken away and access to
heaven
be made available to us.
John
1:29
…Behold the Lamb of God
which taketh away the sin of the world.
Receive
of the Holy Ghost
Matthew
9:6
…the
Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins…
Now
He was dead,
buried, and on the third day rose again.
That is all great, but how will it be restored now?
This is why
the
title, “God’s Continued Pursuit.”
We
have the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost (the Spirit of God), still
teaching
us. Baptism in
Jesus’ name PLUS
repentance PLUS faith PLUS believing…
Jesus still has power to forgive sin, now through
baptism.
Acts
2:38
…Repent, and be baptized
every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sin
and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Simply
put,
God’s Spirit will dwell in you.
Romans
6:4-5 …we
are buried with Him by
baptism into death…
In
Heaven, when
Saints are called home from every nation, what was meant to be shall
be, once
more and forever: A
restored
relationship with God, with all the perks and no expiration date.
Sermon
notes by Pete Shepherd
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