This Week's Sermon/Outline

Gripped by Worship that Grips God

Gripped by the Greatness of God — Part 9

Isaiah 58:1-11, NIV-1984

Pastor John Mulligan

    

     1Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their rebellion and to the house of Jacob their sins. 2For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them. 3Why have we fasted, they say, and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed? Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. 4Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high. 5Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD?

     6Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? 7Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? 8Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. 9Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, 10and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. 11The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.

 

When God ignores worship:

     When the worshippers' lifestyle is selfish.

     When the worshippers' lifestyle is strife-filled.

     When the worshippers' lifestyle is surface-y.

 

When God ignites worship:

     As one initiates peace in all relationships.

     As one intentionally walks in compassion.

     As one intertwines life and faith w/family

  

Steps to Peace with God

1. God's Purpose: Peace & Life

God loves you and wants you to

experience peace and life.

 

"We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."  Romans 5:1

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"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16

 

2. The Problem: Our Separation

We chose to disobey God and go our own way. This results in separation from God.

 

"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."  Romans 6:23

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"But your iniquities have separated you from God; your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear."  Isaiah 59:2

 

3. God's Solution: The Cross

Jesus died for sin and rose from the grave, bridging the gap between God & man.

 

"For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus."  1 Timothy 2:5

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"For Christ died for sins once for all,

the righteous for the unrighteous

to bring you to God."  1 Peter 3:18

 

4. Our Response: Receive Christ

We must trust Jesus as Lord and Savior and receive Him by personal invitation.

 

"Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God."  John 1:12

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Excerpts taken from the booklet

"Steps to Peace with God "

by Billy Graham