“The Path of Jesus” By Brother Parrish Lee March 3rd,
2013 The theme for the month, this Easter
season is the path of Jesus. Joel 2:28-32 ...whosoever shall call on the name of the
LORD shall be delivered... Delivered--to escape or release or
rescue; - deliver (self), escape, lay, leap out, let alone, let go, preserve,
save, speedily, surely Romans 10:13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved. The book of Joel is not clearly defined
exactly when it occurred in reference to other books, it doesn’t say clearly
and there are several Joel's, but we do see that Israel was in a state of
destitution, pestilence. And God visited them through the Prophet Joel. And God
gave them a promise of restoration. They were used to this, God does give
promises. He is the God who is able to do exactly what He says. When he said to
Sarah is anything too hard for the Lord she needed to understand He’s not her
husband, her father, or anything even like her. He didn’t care how old she was.
If He said she would bare a child she was going to have a child. When He said
Moses reach forth your hand and divide the sea He meant reach forth thy hand
and divide the sea. Our God doesn’t make mistakes. In the book of Joel chapter 2 and verse
28 through 32, vs28- look at how good this is – it shows that God's Spirit is
poured out on all flesh, not just the sons and daughters. Nobody was going to
be left out of this great gift of God. If you were a servant in the house God
included you. Store clerk- you’re included. Shoe shine boy? You’re included.
CEO? CFO? ADAD? God said all flesh. So if you ever wonder about how someone can
seemingly do so wrong turn around and sing a beautiful praise or speak
eloquently or just something that you know God is in, this is why – God has
poured out his Spirit on all flesh. Which means if anybody ever claims to have
a monopoly on God, He is bigger than that. And that, my brothers and sisters,
is God size love. That doesn’t make us saved by the way; that means God loves
every one of us. So that also means he has poured out his
Spirit on you. So just say that with me, “God has poured out his Spirit on me.” Verse 32- whosoever shall call on the
name of the LORD shall be delivered- which also means shall escape, be
released, rescued. Now this was some kind of promise- they didn’t have to run
down to the temple? Go before the priest or king? Offer ten bulls and five
goats? Pay money? No- just call on his name. Of course you will have to know His
name to call Him, but if one doesn’t know they simply need to ask. The Path of Jesus was set. Of course we
can’t cover all the things our Lord fulfilled in the course of this small
message- it takes a lifetime. So we are going to address a little of it. So
from anything less than a God point of view the cards were already stacked
against Him. Hey, He had to be like Moses and that's everything from receiving
the Commandments written with the finger of God to splitting the Red Sea. He had to fulfill Abraham and he was
willing to sacrifice his son. He had to fulfill Joshua and that
including included knocking down the walls of Jericho without touching them and
being the deliverer. And He had to fulfill the prophet Joel. No wonder on the night He was born the
Angels appeared singing peace on earth and goodwill to man for unto you is born
a Savior, Jesus Christ our Lord. And the enemies were gathered against them. A
lack of understanding on the part of Joseph – no room at the inn – Herod
wanting to kill all the children of the land to by chance catch him up in it.
But the path and the purpose of our Lord was so much higher than that, so much
more beautiful, powerful than all that – so much so that a star in heaven gave
witness to this great Lord of ours. A star in heaven. Luke 2:7-13 ...And suddenly there was with the angel a
multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, It started with just the one angel of
the Lord but this thing was so marvelous that a multitude of the heavenly host
had to join in on this praise to the great God which doeth this. Putting sin on
the run when it had its rule over us, bringing spiritual life where there was
none, the Word of God being made flesh and dwelling with man, born of a virgin.
If there was ever a time to join the angels in praising God that would be it
right there. Luke 2:14-17
...the babe lying in a manger... And if we could go to just one more
scripture in Luke while the Lord was yet a child: Luke
2:46-49 ...all that heard him were
astonished at his understanding and answers... Moses was raised in Pharaoh’s house with
his servants and educators. He was taught in the ways of the wise one’s and
would have had the best teacher’s available- but not the Lord Jesus; and yet at
about twelve years of age those same best educator’s of his day were amazed and
how does it say, “astonished” at His understanding and answers. And when His
family caught up with Him He told them that this was His Father’s business. At
twelve years of age. This was the path of our Lord. Now before I close I’d like to get back
to that promise of the prophet Joel. So
the question is what happens when we call on the Name of the Lord? Oh, I'm not talking about when letters that
form his name trickle out of your mouth, I am talking about when we set
everything else aside, lift your heart towards heaven, knowing in whom you
believe and say “Oh great God above, Savior, creator, maker of all there is,
you woke me up today, given me food to eat, a roof over my head and clothed me
in my right mind, Giver of all good and perfect gifts, the God who is able to
do abundantly above all that we ask and pray, The God who says the stars are
not pure in His sight and charges His angels with folly, the God who does what
He says He will do and who has never gone back on His promise.” Well I’ll tell
you this much when you call on Him
earnestly, you might not know exactly what’s going to happen but you know
something is going to happen for the Bible says He is a rewarder of those that diligently seek Him. And if by
chance you can say you haven’t really needed to seek the Lord like that- I
would just say don’t wait until you need to- for I know of nothing that creates
need like trouble. Now there is a testimony for them that
call on His name. If you ask those that have called on Him
you’ll hear them say, “I was sick and called
on Him and He healed me,” “I was in trouble and called on Him and He saved me”,
“ I was poor, I was lonely, I was discouraged and called on Him- and He heard
my cry.” And you’ll hear a few others
say, “I wasn’t in trouble, I just want
to be closer to Him and I called on Him,” “He’s my Lord and I want everything
to be right between us so I call on Him.” My
point is wherever you are, whatever you face, call on the Lord. Psalms 86:5 For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to
forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.
Sermon notes by Pete Shepherd |
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