The first, if you would like some opening music - click on this to hear . . . Come, Now is the time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPWq8eM4lu8
Second, Pastor Stanley has sent us this message, along with a video link of his sermon for today, as well as a document of the sermon notes that I have posted further below. That way you have two ways of viewing his message. We hope these help you as we reflect on our faith in this world of challenge around us. |
Good morning all my dearest friends,
It is Sunday morning, March 22, 2020. This is a day you may long remember. This is the day that some nano-scopic virus, powerful enough to cripple society, could not keep us from worshiping the One True God, His Son Jesus, and their Holy Spirit. Please worship with Sheila and I this fine day. You may, of course, view these at any time, for it would be wonderful if we were all connected at the same time.
Sermon for Narrows Community Church, March 22, 2020 Video
God Bless You
Pastor Stanley
Stanley Mikles - Narrow Community Church - 22 March 2020
Psalm 91
Prayer Time
“And He (Jesus) said unto me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’” 2 Corinthians 12:9 (NIV)
Sufficient: enough to meet a certain need; just enough, no more, than what is required
Grace: unmerited divine assistance given to man for his regeneration or sanctification; a state of sanctification enjoyed through divine grace; a virtue coming from God; a disposition to or an act or instance of kindness or clemency; a sense of propriety or right; the quality or state of being considerate or thoughtful. Grace is what we need. Grace is what we have. Grace is the greatest gift we have from God.
These are momentous times. The chaotic events of late are different from any other time in Earth’s history. There is much that the common person can be afraid of. The current plaque, this Corona-virus, has the potential to reach Biblical proportions. Okay, it is only a virus. The world has survived thousands of emerging viruses, and the human species continues. The human species will continue. Science will defeat this tiny invader. This is not the end of times. Well, at least, this is not the end.
The world is reacting as though the end was here. I am quite sure that, when people look back on this, in time to come, they will realize that panic was the order of the day. The reactionary efforts by governments, and the fear of the people, worldwide, is going to change the world forever. Governmental control of the people, which is always the goal of government, is going to be the new norm. Because of one word many freedoms are going to evaporate. That word is fear.
Fear: an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is a dangerous threat, and likely to cause loss, pain, or death. Fear is a real emotion. It is sometimes unfounded, but it also may well be justified. But, being afraid of natural cataclysms, although often justified, gets in the way of dealing with the threat in logical ways. Winter is a threat to life and property up here in Minnesota.
We do not fear winter up here in the north. We do take precautions. When winter approaches, we lay in a supply of heating fuel, and salt for our walk ways. We make sure the snow shovel is still usable. When the snow and ice begin to build on the edges of our roofs, we get up there and clear it off to prevent ice dams from directing water into our houses. We dress in layers for warmth, and shed some of those layers when we are inside. We sometimes stay at home when the roads become a threat. We do not live in fear over winter. We take precautions. We do not panic.
If you are viewing this on the YouTube, that means we are taking precautions to keep the folks safe. The church is not closed! We simply are not congregating, as a precaution. If you need to talk about anything, please call or text me: 218-820-5365.
2 Timothy 1:7 “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” (KJV) God has given us a sound mind to discern the truth, and because of that sound mind, we need fear nothing on this earth, nor anyone on this earth. Some may be saying that this virus is the work of Satan. I have doubt of that. This virus is the work of nature. This planet is at the mercy of natural forces that wreak havoc on human persons and property. If it were not a virus, it might be a bacterium, or an earthquake, or a flood, or a hurricane, or a tornado, or a polar vortex, or many other possibilities. Humans do cause cataclysmic events to occur, sometimes, like world wars. But we need fear nothing on the planet, except our own failure to trust in God for His care. Each of us is at the mercy of a plethora of dangers that can take our lives. But for us, it is not these lives that we should be fearful of losing. This planet is not Hell, but it is not Heaven either.
Matthew 10:26-28: (the words of Jesus) “Do not be afraid of those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in Hell.”
Who can do that? Who can destroy human souls and bodies in Hell? Only God. God is the One. Now, why on Earth would God do that? The only answer to that question is this: It is only when people turn away from Him that they are in jeopardy of Hell. As long as we are turning to Him, our everlasting souls are safe in His hands. He is the only one who can save us from the eternal fires of Hell. Think about any and all the things, of nature and of mankind that can take your earthly life. Magnify the severity of all of those combined, and it will not be even a fraction of the severity of the fires of Hell.
We who are born again, who have received Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, and have repented of our sins, have no reason to fear Hell. You see, we know, or should know, that when this life ends, the very next thing we will see is the face of Jesus, and on His mighty face will be assurance of the forgiveness that He purchased for us with His blood that was shed on the cross.
It is quite certain that none of us, or anyone else, is worthy to be saved from the great and awful day when the tribulation will begin in earnest. But, if you truly believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of the one and only living God, then you certainly will be saved from that time, when you are taken up into the sky to meet Jesus there. We do not deserve that. We are weak in our faith. We are sinful in our nature. But, we are to be saved from our just reward by one thing. It is the one thing needed, for we are weak.
2 Corinthians 12:9 “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
We need nothing more than God’s grace. It is sufficient. God’s grace brings order out of the chaos that we create for ourselves, and the chaos that is coming into this world.
Ephesians 2:1 “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins….” Sin is death.
Dead: separated from God by our sins. This is spiritual death. All people are born with a death sentence hanging over them. We were born as sinful people. All people are. No one is exempt from the death sentence.
Ephesians 2:2 “…in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.”
Notice the past tense: “were dead” “used to be” We were dead and we used to live lives that were pleasing to Satan, and it is he who whispers into the ear of those who still live in his ways.
If you have come to believe in Jesus, then you are a child of God, adopted into His family, and as such do not live in sin any longer. But before we came to believe in Jesus, we not only sinned, we lived in a life of sin, and we lived following the ways of Satan, the ruler of this world. It is Satan who we followed.
Ephesians 2:3 “All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.” That is God’s wrath. Now, one thing I surely do not want to be is an “object of God’s wrath”.
Ephesians 2:4-5 “But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions….” “…it is by grace you have been saved.”
Ephesians 2:6-7 “And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus….” Now notice the present tense. We have been, we are, raised up with Jesus. Our hearts are communing with Him. “…in order that in the coming age He might show the incomparable riches of His grace, expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus.”
And here we see the future tense. “The coming age” when Jesus will return to Earth to destroy Satan and all those who belong to him. When He, Jesus, returns to take us to our true home, His grace will be to its ultimate. Incomparable, un-measurable, rich as chocolate puddin’.
The grace of God is the expression of His goodness toward the undeserving. How was God’s kindness expressed in us? It was expressed in the suffering of Jesus on the cross. God’s kindness to us was made evident with every insult Jesus received. God’s kindness to us was made clear with every strike of the whip, with every slap of Jesus’ face, with every bit of spittle hurled at Him that ran down His face, with every thorn in the thorny crown that was shoved down on His head, with each and every nail that was driven through His flesh into the cross, with every insult He received while He hung on that cross from those He had come to save, and with His very death on that cross. Grace is unmerited favor, and it cannot be earned. This grace is the basis of our salvation.
But it was not just all that suffering and death. If Jesus death on the cross was the end of the story, then Satan would have won and all of humanity would be lost. God’s kindness was so clearly made evident when, on that third day, He lifted Jesus out of death and set Him once again on Earth fully alive. The evidence remained as Jesus once again walked on the Earth and showed Himself to many people. It was the wounds from the nails that were the evidence of God’s love and kindness.
Grace is free…. Something else is needed. Faith—we must have faith in Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 2:8 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith….”
Saving faith is a part of humanity’s response to God in the salvation experience. Saving faith is as simple as a drowning man reaching for a rope. Sounds easy, but it is not easy. No one can have faith, unless one receives faith. One cannot have something he has never received. It is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast.”Having faith is simple, all one must do is to believe, and God supplies the faith. But, for some people, that is too simple, and they find it difficult to believe that it is just from simple belief. So….
Ephesians 2:9 “…not by works, so that no one can boast.”
Here is that age old debate. Can we be saved by our work in the church and in the kingdom? Humans by our very nature are boasters, braggarts, tooters of our own horns. Toota-toota-toot! Look at me and all I have done! It really is a bit funny—for us to think that God, the creator of all things, really might need us to do something for Him. There really is nothing we can do for God, unless He creates in us the ability to do it. It is not the intensity of one’s faith that is important; it is the object of that faith that is important. It is Jesus that is important. Nothing we can do. Here is what Jesus said about the work we can do for God:
John 6:29 “Jesus answered, ‘The work of God is this: to believe in the one He has sent.’”
Sounds awfully simple! Just believe.
Ephesians 2:10 “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
So, we are saved, not because of anything we could possibly do, then God gives us faith in Him, then God gives us work to do in His kingdom, and He gives us the ability to do that work. It is work that He, God, planned for us from the beginning of time. We do it because we love Him and His people, because He first loved us. He showed us His love when He sent Jesus, His only begotten Son to die on a cross as the sacrifice to once and for all atone for all of our many sins.
Ephesians 1:13-14 “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel (good news) of your salvation. Having believed you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of His glory.”
The gift given us through God’s grace is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, whom God sent to die for us and be raised from that death to take all our sins upon Him-self that we might be forgiven of all our sins and receive eternal life. So, is there truly anything that we need fear if we belong to Jesus? No. Do we sometimes have fear? Yes! What is lacking if we do fear? Faith. Where does faith come from? God. How do we get it? We ask. Does He always give it? Only if we believe. So if we believe, truly believe, then we should have no fear. NO fear. Yes, there are things on this earth that can hurt us and kill us, but nothing can keep us from eternal life in Heaven. And, is there anything more important than that?
Romans 8:38-39 “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither the present not the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Do you know my Jesus today? He knows you. He is God and we are not. We are not God now, and we never will be God. There is only one God. You need Jesus. That is just the truth. You need Jesus today, for life is uncertain. You need not fear, just lift up your eyes to Heaven.
Psalm 121 [states] “I lift up my eyes to the hills—Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of Heaven and Earth. He will not let your foot slip—He who watches over you will not slumber; Indeed, He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord watches over you—the Lord is your shade at your right hand; The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all harm—he will watch over your life; The Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.
Amen!