As a preacher, I’ve seen what happens sometimes while preaching about something and a person will get upset with me about it. They’ll decide I’m wrong and go off in a huff—and first thing you know, their in trouble.
Mark 4:17 tells us the devil uses those kinds of offenses to steal the Word from our hearts. He causes us to get crosswise with each other. Then he’s able to pull the plug right out of us and drain the Word like water from a bucket.
Don’t ever let that happen to you. If you hear a preacher or another person saying something that rubs you the wrong way and you catch yourself getting offended say, “Oh no you don’t. You’re not stealing the Word out of me, you lying Devil.” Then get right down on your knees and repent before God.
PRAYER - "Call a Prayer Meeting"
The Philistines captured the Ark of the Covenant, but it was a curse to them. They sent it back on a cart towed by two cows headed straight to Beth-shemesh. Sinfully, the men of Beth-shemesh looked into the Ark and sorely angered the Lord. God slew many Israelites in anger. Samuel called a nation-wide prayer meeting at Mizpeh. They repented, God heard them, and smote the Philistines in their behalf.
1 Samuel 7:5 - "...Samuel said, Gather all Israel to Mizpeh, and I will pray for you unto the LORD."
PRINCIPALS -"First War"
Lot pitched his tents toward Sodom. It was well-watered like the Garden of Eden, in the green plains of the Jordan River (Genesis 13:10-11). The local cities were under tribute twelve years to Persians (modern Iran) and Chaldeans (modern Iraq). The cities revolted against tribute, but the revolt failed. Sodom was ransacked. Lot was carried away captive. Abraham, with 318 warriors from his household, chased them to near Damascus.
Genesis 14:16 - "And he brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people."
PRINCIPLES - "Divine Protection 24/7"
The eternal spirit of God is forever conscious. He is wide-awake, aware, in-touch, on-the-job. If we could comprehend the awesome magnitude of His omnipotence and omniscience, we would never doubt His ability to care for us in infinite detail. He knows the number of hairs on our head, and He discerns not only our thoughts, but our intentions. From the farthest reaches of the universe, to the infinite depths of our heart and soul, God is aware of it all.
Psalm 121:3 - "...he that keepeth thee will not slumber."
PROPHECIES - "Horror of Great Darkness"
Abraham spread a sacrificial offering before the Lord - a goat, lamb, turtledove and pigeon. At sundown, deep sleep and a horror of great darkness fell on him. God revealed a great plan foretelling Egyptian bondage and the birth of a nation.
Genesis 15:13,14 - "Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance."
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The Father's Heart
But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.
– Luke 15:20
How much love do you have for sinners?
That may sound like a strange question, but it’s one I want you to think about today. All too often, once we get saved and get our lives cleaned up a little bit, we lose our compassion for those who are still lost. We look at the drunk stumbling down the street or the guy at the office who lies to the boss and tells dirty jokes and turn up our spiritual noses.
But if we ever truly understood the heart of our heavenly Father, we’d never do that again. Jesus told a story that can give us a glimpse of that heart. It’s the story we call the prodigal son.
You’ve probably heard it many times, how the son rebelled and dishonored his father, and how the father, in spite of it all, received him home with joy when he repented. But there’s one phrase in it I want to draw your attention to today. It’s this one: “But when [the prodigal son] was yet a great way off, his father saw him.”
That phrase gives such a moving glimpse of the heart of that loving father. It tells us that even before his boy had repented, even during those long days when he was up to his eyebrows in sin, that father was watching for him, longing for him to come home.
Every morning he scanned the horizon, hoping to see the silhouette of his returning son. And the last thing every night, he’d look again...straining his eyes in hope. His son was constantly on his mind, and his heart was always full of love for him. The kind of gut-wrenching love that, on the day his son came home, drove that father to run to him and kiss him.
That’s the kind of heart our heavenly Father has for those who are lost. It’s the kind of heart He had for you while you were still wandering in the world. It’s the kind of heart that embraced you with open arms even when you were still covered with the grime of sin.
There’s a whole world full of weary people out there who haven’t yet found that embrace. They’re more than just “sinners,” they’re our potential brothers...lost ones in desperate need of a loving heavenly Father. God forbid we should ever turn up our noses at them. May He help us instead to start bringing them home.
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