Sermon Notes 5-22-2016

Does God Care!

Does God care? I here this question asks a lot. Does God care about me?

·      Is God just too big to care about me?

·      Does he just let the world go until we get to heaven?

Sometimes when we can’t see it or touch it we tend think it’s not there. So we are going to take the next few weeks examining does God care!

  

So let’s get the main question out of the way!

Does God care!

1 Peter 5:7 (NLT)

7Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.

·      Yes, God cares about you

·      He cares about everything that goes on in your life

o   Every thought

o   Every action

o   Every move

·      He cares about every aspect of your life

o   The good, the bad, and the ugly

Psalm 139:13 (NLT)

¹³You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb.

·      He formed you

·      He wove you together for a special purpose

·      He knows everything about you

·      He cares more than we can even imagine

·      And it’s time for us to start realizing that

How well does he really know me?

Luke 12:7 (NLT)

⁷And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows.

·      He has numbered every hair on your head

·      He knows you inside and out

·      And he cares, he cares about every one of his children!

So now that we have established that God cares what is he the most concerned with in my life??

Your sin!

Paul contended with the thought that why would God care about my sin??

Romans 6:1–2 (NLT)

¹Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace?

²Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it?

·      So the question here is should we just keep on doing what we’re doing?

·      The answer no!

o   We should not keep on sinning

o   We were paid for at a price

o   We have been given a second chance

o   A new heart

Isaiah 53:5 (ESV)

⁵But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.

·      God did not send Jesus so you could keep on sinning

·      He cared so much that he sent his only son to die in your place

Does God care about our sin?

God has constantly tried to steer us away from our sinful ways

Let’s look at a couple of examples of God trying to turn his people from their sins

God sent 73 prophets in the old testament, 15 books from prophets and everyone was trying to turn gods people from sin!

The prophet Hosea

Hosea 1:2 (NLT)

²When the Lord first began speaking to Israel through Hosea, he said to him, “Go and marry a prostitute, so that some of her children will be conceived in prostitution. This will illustrate how Israel has acted like a prostitute by turning against the Lord and worshiping other gods.”

·      God wanted so badly for his people to see there ways he sent his prophet to show them just how he felt

·      He felt betrayed

·      He felt abandoned

·      He felt used

·      He was angry

·      He was hurt

Does God care?!?

·      Yes it hurts him deeply and knows its consequences on your life

Does this sound familiar?

Hosea 4:1–3 (NLT)

¹Hear the word of the Lord, O people of Israel! The Lord has brought charges against you, saying: “There is no faithfulness, no kindness, no knowledge of God in your land.

²You make vows and break them; you kill and steal and commit adultery. There is violence everywhere— one murder after another.

³That is why your land is in mourning, and everyone is wasting away. Even the wild animals, the birds of the sky, and the fish of the sea are disappearing.

·      We as a people have turned our backs on God

·      We are living in a time just like this

·      And God is grieving for his children

·      God desperately wants His people to turn from our sin

·      And yes God cares!

So I hear you, this is a people God doesn’t lay all the peoples sins on us all anymore!

Let’s read on!

Hosea 4:4–9 (NLT)

⁴“Don’t point your finger at someone else and try to pass the blame! My complaint, you priests, is with you.

⁵So you will stumble in broad daylight, and your false prophets will fall with you in the night. And I will destroy Israel, your mother.

⁶My people are being destroyed because they don’t know me. Since you priests refuse to know me, I refuse to recognize you as my priests. Since you have forgotten the laws of your God, I will forget to bless your children.

⁷The more priests there are, the more they sin against me. They have exchanged the glory of God for the shame of idols.

⁸“When the people bring their sin offerings, the priests get fed. So the priests are glad when the people sin!

⁹‘And what the priests do, the people also do.’ So now I will punish both priests and people for their wicked deeds.

·      Sounds pretty specific

·      And all throughout the Old Testament God points out individual sins and deals with them

·      Kings and princes are named and what sins they were guilty of

·      priests are named and the sins they are guilty of

·      and the people in general are accused of being the silent majority and going along with all the nonsense.

·      God sees and cares about your sins!

  

In the New Testament

Hebrews 10:26–31 (NLT)

²⁶Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice that will cover these sins.

²⁷There is only the terrible expectation of God’s judgment and the raging fire that will consume his enemies.

²⁸For anyone who refused to obey the law of Moses was put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.

²⁹Just think how much worse the punishment will be for those who have trampled on the Son of God, and have treated the blood of the covenant, which made us holy, as if it were common and unholy, and have insulted and disdained the Holy Spirit who brings God’s mercy to us.

³⁰For we know the one who said, “I will take revenge. I will pay them back.” He also said, “The Lord will judge his own people.”

³¹It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

·      If we keep sinning and don’t turn our back to our sinful ways, we are spitting in God face!

·      We need to know that God cares enough to deal with us right now

·      And turn us from from our sin, so he won’t have to punish us later

·      So we all have a choice

o   Turn from them now

o   Or pay the price later

·      And I guarantee we will pay later

When we continually sin we grieve the spirit

Isaiah 59:1–2 (NLT)

¹Listen! The Lord’s arm is not too weak to save you, nor is his ear too deaf to hear you call.

²It’s your sins that have cut you off from God. Because of your sins, he has turned away and will not listen anymore.

·      If we continue down a path of un-repent sin, we grieve the spirit to the point that he will not even listen to us any more

·      We can truly turn gods ear from us a rebellious child

·      Our continual un-repent sin can cut us off from God here and now and steal our joy living this life

·      I have had the pleasure of visiting with a lot of folks in this church that have truly changed, and are experiencing God blessing right here and right now

·      You can too, but God gives you a choice!