I'm so thankful for each of you joining us
in worship today..
Let us pray together,
Heavenly Father,
You bring people into our lives,
some to remind us to enjoy the experiences in life
some to share in their joy, peace;
when we can't seem to find ours
You also bring people into our lives,
to teach us, help us to grow and even let go
We praise You O Lord, for them all
May our eyes be opened,
to know when it's time to let go
May our hearts be opened
to heed Your Word and holy presence that among us
In Jesus' name we ask and pray these things
Amen
Today's message is entitled: God How Do I Let Go?
Dear God,
Today I feel like I have been to hell and back, I feel broken, lonely and hopeless.
I seem to have lost my directions and I need Your help to guide me.
No matter how I try, I can't seem to find my way back to You.
God is there a way You can make a new start?
I don't know what to do anymore.
I try as hard as I can, and nothing works.
My life is literally falling apart before my eyes
I'm ready to just give up.
Is there any way I can find my way back to You?
If You will just help me I will lay aside the sins that have not only captivated me,
but also separated me from not only You but also the ones I love.
God, if You will just show me how to let go of it all,
I will come with an open and obedient heart,
Willing to make the necessary changes in my life.
I follow your instructions and do your will and not mine.
This is my plea for help!
How many of you have ever felt this way?
How many feel this way right now?
Let me just say this...
Nothing we can say will move God to forgiveness..
Because God isn’t interested so much what we say, how much we say or the words we use, God is interested in the conditions of our hearts.
He cares if our hearts are contrite, and broken because of our sins, and that moves God to forgive us.
"These people draw near to Me with their mouth,
And honor Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me.
And in vain they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ”
Matthew 15:8-9
"Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened,
That it cannot save;
Nor His ear heavy,
That it cannot hear.
But your iniquities have separated you from your God;
And your sins have hidden His face from you,
So that He will not hear."
Isaiah 59:1-2
This is was Israel's plea to God “when will we be delivered?”
Four hundred and thirty years without God or a Word from the Lord.
How long has it been since you actually felt his love drawing you?
A time of slavery, Israel was in bondage but never the less God was their Father.
How long will God allow us to reject His forgiveness and His love?
For years Israel sought for a deliverer, but they never expected it would be one of their own tribe to bring deliverance to them.
God will use some man to preach His Word to you.
Beloved, I stand before you this morning and I am going to tell you God is ready to bring you out if you are willing to follow me to the promise land. This is a message of deliverance.
For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness.
1 Corinthians 1:21-23
Let me take you back to the time when Israel was in slavery, a time when they grew so use to being in Egypt, use to the comforts and the wealth that Egypt had given them.
But the comforts of Egypt made it hard for them to let go even though they were in bondage, even though they could see what was happening, they were trapped in a situation that would soon become more than they bargained for.
That’s the problem that many have today. They are too used to the bondage to let God lead them out to freedom.
Used to the drinking, the adultery, and the life that soon become their master.
But there is help. God wants to turn your captivity into freedom and turn your misery to peace. He wants to turn your dead life to a life of love and forgiveness.
When Moses was born his mother hid him as long as she could and finally she had to succumb to the pressure and the will of God even though she didn’t understand at the time what God was doing.
Moses was taken to the house of Pharaoh as a baby, trained and educated as an Egyptian, in his youth. I wonder if it ever crossed his mind that Egypt, the land that fed him, gave him power as a Prince, educated him and gave him worldly knowledge, would be the place that God used him to deliver?
Did it ever cross his mind that one day God would choose him to deliver this multitude of slaves?
Has it crossed your mind this morning that God wants to use you, but the world is training you to be successful, and giving you worldly pleasures tempting you with life’s pleasure, a life with no restrictions?
I want to tell you something today; God does things in a mysterious way. He uses people no one would have ever thought He would use, to do many mighty acts by his mighty hand.
Time was desperate for Israel. They were no longer welcome guests in Egypt as they were when Joseph was second to Pharaoh.
They were given Goshen, the most fertile of all the land of Egypt, by Pharaoh himself because of the mighty wisdom of Joseph.
Let me make something plain:
But Satan will offer you the best and leave you with nothing but despair...
Believe me, I know!
God used Egypt to sustain Israel and to fulfill a prophecy that he had spoken to Abraham, but Egypt was never to be the permanent resting place for God’s people. Never once did God say to them I will give you Egypt as an inheritance.
God’s people are still in bondage as slaves in a land that God never intended on them living in.
With a lifestyle that it not pleasing to God, Israel’s adultery was not only physical but also spiritual and it angered God to the point that God said to Moses “I will destroy them and make a new nation for you.”
Still sold into slavery, the modern day people of God were once delivered by a man sent by a king to rule the world.
Sent to bless his family, to give to them the best of the land, but sin not only captured them but also made them slaves...
Jesus of Nazareth was the deliverer for mankind, in His day they were no different than today.
Joseph suffering imprisonment became the salvation for his entire family and those that followed.
Jesus’ life was a ransom for all mankind.
Many have asked me, do you think there is still hope for me, does Jesus still love me even though I have denied him and turned him away so many times?
My answer is yes, If you are hearing this message, there IS hope!
But I also want to read this scripture to you today.
"The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
The Day of the Lord
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells."2 Peter 3:9-13
If Jesus was standing in this pulpit today He would be doing exactly what I am doing, giving everyone an opportunity to come and repent to turn your life toward eternity.
Let me ask you something, but first, let's look at verse 10 again..
"But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up."
2 Peter 3:10
Are you willing to take that chance?
"Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30
God is merciful!
"I have blotted out, like a thick cloud, your transgressions,
And like a cloud, your sins.
Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.”
Isaiah 44:22
Here God is making a plea for repentance. Come to Me.
God made this promise unto Israel:
"If you will return, O Israel,” says the Lord,
“Return to Me;
And if you will put away your abominations out of My sight,
Then you shall not be moved"
Jeremiah 4:1
You can’t come to God wanting to hold on to sin, you must come willing to forsake it all in true heartfelt repentance, willing to lay aside all the sins and abominations that have kept you in captivity and separated you from Him.
God says in Jeremiah 24:7,
"Then I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the Lord; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart."
Israel’s only hold back from serving God was they couldn’t let go of their slavery. They had become so used to slavery they couldn’t accept the very thing they had desired for four hundred years and that was deliverance.
When deliverance came, the excitement was high, but as they began their journey to the promise land, they kept looking back and refused the counsel of Moses and God grew weary with their backsliding and they died by the thousands in the wilderness.
They even got so far as the promise land. They saw the milk and the honey and the land that God had promised to give them and they turned back to the wilderness, back to wandering in darkness.
Many have started this journey to the Promised Land, the place that John described as heaven, only to get close enough to feel it and then look back.
They died in that wilderness, that close to glory, that close to the promise of God, that close to complete deliverance and they turned back.
But I have good news, all you have to do is start your journey again and not look back, not worry about what will I have to give up? But think on this, just ahead there is a promise that God will give you your inheritance.
Israel knew the commandments of God. If they were to come back they would have to come back willing to follow God and not their own way. They had to keep the commandments of the Lord and walk in his statues.
But when we come to God, we cannot make the rules, we cannot bribe Him with vain promises;
We have to surrender and follow God.
Beloved, only they that followed Moses and Joshua made it.
And only they that follow Jesus will make it.
If you aren’t willing to give him all it will never work.
God is loving, merciful and kind.
God wants you saved even more than you want to be saved!
Moses had the laws of God to guide them.
I have the Bible, the written Word of God, to guide each of us.
The people of Jesus’ day decided they didn’t like the rules of God. They didn’t want things to change so they chose Barabbas, a thief, over Jesus.
The whole chapter of Matthew 23 is a rebuke to Israel and especially the leaders because of their rejection of Christ.
They desired a thief instead of a Savior!
The cry of Jesus as He stood and looked out over the beloved city of Jerusalem in Matthew 23:37
Beloved, it is no different than today, as He looks out over the world He created. He still makes His plea to mankind and reminds them that He is the only hope for this dying sinful world and for us.
O America, America, you that kill the prophets and stone and disobey them which are sent unto you, how often would I have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and you would not!
Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
For I say unto you, you shall not see me no more, until you say, Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord.
In Closing....
And the Scripture leaves us with this:
then they crucified Him....
Has the political correctness of our country and obeying the laws of corrupt and disobedient men, become more important than obeying the laws of God?
Is the vocal minority through lobbying and pressure intimidating and now controlling the silent majority?
Beloved, if we are ever going to be truly great again and rise as a nation,we must abandon the current gps, the immoral compass of corrupt men and return to the moral compass of the Holy Bible and the Word of God.
We have forsaken the basic sacred principals our nation was founded upon and traded them in for a corrupt system that no longer allows freedom of speech or religion.
This is the practice that has removed prayer from our schools, without examination or the responsibility of showing any evidence, that we're any better for have done it.
And can we now, honestly say, that we are?
We've trade getting out of our seats, throwing paper wads, using curse words for sexually abused students, by the adults in positions of authority, that they're supposed to trust. And school shootings, killing one another as a way to express our feelings that have been suppressed by the decay of a morally inferior, and corruptible society.
O America, America, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve! The Lord or Satan?
But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!
And now
may the Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
Brian Monzon Ministries