IS THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD ON YOU?

 

by

Rev. Dr. Robert SJ Coutts

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“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the Poor; He has sent Me to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

When Jesus was in the temple one day, He picked up the book of Isaiah and began to read some powerful words. These words were even more powerful because they were emphasized by the very work He was doing on the earth at that time.

There is something very important about having the Spirit of God upon us. I believe God is bringing us to a place where we know the Spirit of the Lord is upon us and if we have not yet gotten to that place it would be good to consider how to get there and make a determination that you are going to do it as soon as you possibly can.

I believe God is drawing our attention to the fact of what Jesus said in John 14: 16; “I will pray the Father, and He will give you another helper [Comforter in the KJV] that He may abide with you forever.” John 14:16

We need to make sure in this lifetime that the same anointing comes upon us. The Spirit of the Lord came upon Him who is our head, so it should be imperative to us that we receive it as well to carry on the work of our Lord. I don’t know about you, but I want that same Spirit on me.

The devil will cause us to lose the victory if we allow ourselves to be defeated by him. But if the Spirit of the Lord is upon us, the devil has no say. He has no way with us. And it is a fact that if we have not the Spirit of the Lord upon us, we have no message at all, and, as for me,

I have no message for anyone apart from that message He gives to me and I also believe that the signs He speaks will follow His message. I believe that Jesus was the One sent forth from God. He was sent to be the propitiation for our sins. He became the scapegoat that you and I might have life. He became the propitiation for the sins of the whole world. I John 2:2; “And He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”  I John 2:2;

We see the manifestation of the Spirit resting upon Him so that His ministry was with power. May God awaken us to the fact that this is the only place there is any ministry of power.

I want to speak to you in such a way today as to stir you up to the fact that the Holy Spirit is here now. He is here and He is here to stay forever. Are you going to let the devil defeat you?  Or, are we going to produce the signs following that Jesus promised once the comforter had come.  The signs must follow because Jesus said so. When we walk in that same Spirit we will not be defeated by the devil and we will produce the signs that Jesus expects of every Spirit filled believer.

Folks, there is absolutely no limit to what we can become if we will only live and dwell in the Spirit. In the Spirit of prayer, we will be immediately transferred from earth to the very presence of God. In the Spirit, the Word of God seems to unfold in a wonderful and powerful way. In the Spirit, the love of God is poured out in us. Romans 5:5; says, “and hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given to us.” Romans 5:5;

As we speak in the Spirit we feel the fire that burned within the hearts of those two men on their way to Emmaus when Jesus walked with them after the resurrection. Luke 24:13-3;2 is the story. I just know, that when you and I walk with Him, it will also come to pass in our lives that our hearts will burn within us.

That same power of the Spirit of God is present to make it happen. The two men on their way to Emmaus could not understand what was happening on the road but a few hours later,  they saw Jesus break the bread, and their eyes were opened.

Folks, I am convinced that as we walk with our Lord, our hearts should always be burning inside us. Burning with a passion for Him and about Him. There is a place where we can live in the anointing and be totally clothed in His spirit. A place where everything we say will come out in the power of the Lord.

Ephesians tells us. . .“Do not be drunk with wine. . .but be filled with the Spirit.” Ephesians 5:18; I tell you the truth,  to be filled with the Spirit is a wonderful privilege. With that privilege come responsibility, like John on the Isle of Patmos that day. He was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day and God used him to pen Revelation and because of the fact he was in the Spirit, God made the Revelation clear to him. you can read about that in Revelation 1:9-10;.

What does it mean to this generation for us to be kept in the spirit? All human reasoning and all human knowledge cannot be compared with the power of the life that is lived in the Spirit. In the Spirit we have the power to loose and we have the power to bind. Matthew 16:19; “And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Matthew 16:19;

There is a place where the Holy Spirit can put us where we cannot be anywhere else but in the Spirit. If we breathe the Holy Spirit’s thoughts into our thoughts, and live in the anointing of the Holy Spirit as Jesus lived, then there will be evidences that we are in the Holy Spirit, and we will do His works. But, it is only in the Spirit!

Now, I read in Matthew 16:19; that Jesus says in essence, “I will give you power to bind, and I will give you power to loose.” This is a power that we have not yet claimed, and we will not be able to claim this manifestation of the Spirit unless we live in the spirit. I believe we are only able to bind and loose when we are living in the Spirit. We cannot bind things in human strength or in the natural mind. This kind of power was never lacking in the life of Jesus but as I give you this word today,

I feel there is a great lack of that power in most Christians today. God help us! Luke 4:18; says, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me.

Friends, there was a great purpose for this Spirit to be upon Jesus and likewise there is a special purpose for each of us to be baptized in the Spirit. We must not forget that we are all members of the same body, His body and by this wonderful baptismal power, we are partakers of His divine nature. 2 Peter 1:4; says. . .“Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises; that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” 2 Peter 1:4

The revelation came this way. I saw Adam and Eve driven out of the garden and a flaming sword at every side to keep them from entering into the garden. But I saw that all around me was a flaming sword keeping me from evil, and it seemed this would be true if I would claim it, and I said, “Lord I will.” The flaming sword was around me, delivering me from the power of Hell. In this way we are preserved from evil. God is like a wall of fire around us Zechariah 2:5;

so why should we fear? What a wonderful salvation! What a wonderful deliverer!

The next time you read Ezekiel. Read chapter 37;  and notice, the only need of Ezekiel was to be in the Spirit, and while he was in the Spirit, it came to him to prophesy to the dry bones and say, “O dry bones, hear the Word of the Lord.” Ezekiel 37:4

And as he prophesied according to the Word of the Lord and God’s command,  he saw an “exceeding great army.” Ezekiel 37:10;  rising up about him. he prophet obeyed God’s command,  and all we have to do is exactly this: obey God.  “What is impossible with man is possible with God” Luke 18:27;

It is truly my prayer that your body, soul, and spirit may be preserved holy and that you will always be on fire, always ready with the anointing on you. Without it we are out of divine order and we ought to be on our faces before Him crying out to Him until that glory returns to our life and shines on our face for the world to see. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me.” Luke 4:8;

There must have been a reason for the Spirit of the Lord to be upon Him. There is, and the Word gives us our clue. Luke 4:18-19; Because He has anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted [what a Gospel!], to proclaim liberty to the captives [what a wonderful Spirit was upon Him!], and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.

Missionaries who work in many of the foreign countries have an awesome responsibility to deliver the Gospel of Salvation and healing and deliverance. Knowing how missionaries are to work can be found in the life of Paul among the natives on the Island of Malta. When the viper (snake) came out of the fire and fastened on to Pause hand, they watched to see him swell up and die. When he neither swelled up nor died, they said,  “He is a god.” Acts 28:3-6; Missionaries need to be sure that when they go to foreign lands where the devil is having his way and they go there to see the bands of Satan loosed and prisoners of sin set free, they need to be sure they can say, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.”

The Word reminds us that Christ is made unto us not only Salvation, but also wisdom and redemption I Corinthians 1:30. I am under the firm conviction that each of us when we go into our own mission field, must be sure we can say, The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me and that we are filled with God, yes, filled with God, pardoned cleansed and filled with God.

Being filled with God leaves no room for fear or doubting. I am sure we really do not have any idea of what all pertains to being filled with God. I know it means being emptied of ourselves for sure. But, do you know what it means to be filled with God. It means you have no fear. That means you are filled with God because the word specifically says, “perfect love casts out fear.” I John 4:18;

I don’t know about you, but I want to know more about this manifestation of the power of the Holy Spirit so let’s just follow the Apostle Paul for a bit. If you look at the 28^th chapter of Acts, we find that the chief of the Island had a fever and he had dysentery. The minute Paul ministered to him, he was healed, and the people gave Paul things to take with him Acts 28:8-10;

When we think that the church is poor and needy, we forget that the spirit of intersession can unlock every bank in the world. What did God do for the children of Israel? He took them to vineyards and lands flowing with milk and honey, and all they did was walk in and take possession.

If we would only live in the Spirit and the anointing of the Spirit, there would be no lack. The is only lack where faith is not the substance. Hebrews 11:1; says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”  And whatsoever is not of faith is sin. Romans 14:23; “And he that doubteth is dammed if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.”

If we believe this with all our hearts, this will come to pass. You do not need to try and bring Christ down to earth, He is already here according to Romans 10:6-8; “But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is to bring Christ down from above: Or, who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead,) But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;” Romans 10:6-8;

He is here and if we will obey Him, there is nothing He will not give us since He has given us Jesus. The Spirit will have to reveal to us the fact that, because the Lord has given us Jesus, He has given us all things. The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me Luke 4:18; says.

It is absolutely true that we must be filled with the Spirit. We need to ask God to teach us what that means. It is only because Jesus had an understanding of what it meant to be filled with the Spirit that he was able to do mighty works and that He could stand before a demon and say, “Come out!” I wonder today, who is the person that is so willing to lay down everything so they can have all God has for them?

If that is you today, I urge you to begin to seek His face and don’t stop seeking until you get what you are looking for. A closeness with Jesus that can only be explained by the works He will do through you. Don’t stop until you can truthfully say, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me!”

I thank you Father that you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes. Matthew 11:25;

If that is you and you are in the infant class today, the Spirit must have revealed to you, your lack of Him. You need to seek with all your heart and you need to be made a flame of fire for Him. The Spirit of the Lord will come upon you and you will do exploits for Him.

Ask Him today, Spirit of the Lord, Come upon Me.

AWESOME FORGIVENESS AFTER 37 YEARS OF ESTRANGEMENT

Here is an awesome message I preached when I met my dad after 37 years of estrangement. Please take the time to read it and view the pictures. It will change your life. Also, please share it with someone.  Thanks for taking the time to read.

At the end of this article, please click on the words No Comments to access the comment page and please leave a comment or feedback. It will be greatly appreciated. Thank you. 

Sunday October 26th 2008

EXTENDED GRACE & FORGIVENESS 

Matthew 18:21-35

 

Mat 18:21; Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?

Mat 18:22; Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.

Mat 18:23; Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants.

Mat 18:24; And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents.

Mat 18:25; But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.

Mat 18:26; The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.

Mat 18:27;; Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.

Mat 18:28; But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellow servants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest.

Mat 18:29; And his fellow servant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.

Mat 18:30; And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt.

Mat 18:31; So when his fellow servants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done.

Mat 18:32; Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me:

Mat 18:33; Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow servant, even as I had pity on thee?

Mat 18:34; And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.

Mat 18:35; So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not everyone his brother their trespasses.

 ILLUSTRATION:

 After a long search through her purse, a lady who had just boarded a bus handed the driver a $20 bill.
Noting the driver’s disapproving look, she snapped, Well, I’m sorry, but I don’t have a one dollar bill!

Oh, don’t worry, Lady, said the driver, You’ll have nineteen of them in just a minute.

 ILLUSTRATION:

 I don’t know who said it, but many people have sure adopted a philosophy in life that says, I don’t get mad. I get even.

 ILLUSTRATION:

 I Would like to tell you a story about a man whose name is Kevin Tunell.
Each week Kevin Tunell was required to mail a dollar to a family he’d rather forget.
Why? Because  they sued him for $1.5 million dollars, but they settled for $936 to be paid at one dollar at a time.
The family expected the payment each Friday so that Kevin Tunell would not forget what happened on the first Friday of August in 1982.

That’s the day their daughter was killed. Tunell was convicted of manslaughter and drunken driving. He was 17 years-old at that time. She was 18.
Tunell served a court sentence and he also spent seven years campaigning against drunk driving.
He spent 6 more years than his sentence required campaigning against drunk driving,
But he kept forgetting to send the dollar.

The weekly restitution was supposed to last until Her Birthday in August in the year 2000.
In other words, 18 years.
Tunell was supposed to make the check out to the victim, mail it to her family and it was to be deposited in a scholarship fund.

The girl’s family took Tunell to court four times for failure to comply.
After one court appearance, Tunell spent 30 days in jail. He insisted that he wasn’t defying the order, but that he was haunted by the girl’s death and tormented by the reminders.

He offered the family two boxes of checks covering the payments until the year 2001, one year more than required.
But they refused the checks.
They said, It’s not the money we’re after, but penance.
Probably more like vengeance than penance.
The mother said, We want to receive the check every week on time. He must understand we are going to pursue this until August of the year 2000. We’ll go back to court every month if we have to.

I know that most of us would never question that family’s anger.

But is 936 payments enough?

Is 936 payments enough for that family to demand from Kevin Tunell?

Will that family ever be able to put the matter to rest?

In some ways, no and I realize this.

But will they ever try to forgive?

How much restitution is enough?

If you were that family,  How many payments would you require?

Or better yet,

How many payments do you require of someone right now?

What about the person who has offended you?

What do you require of him or her?

How many payments do you need?

No one makes it through life without being hurt or injured in some form.

No one.

Just like that family, you’ve been a victim as well.

That 18 year-old girl died because someone drank too much.

And perhaps a part of you has died because someone,

spoke too much,

or demanded too much,

or neglected too much,

or rejected too much.

Everyone gets wounded in life. No one is immune.

And when we get hurt or wounded, we must decide:

How many payments will I demand from my offender?

We may not require that our offender write checks to us, but we have other ways of settling the score.

SILENCE is one way. We just ignore them when they speak to us.

DISTANCE is another way to settle the score. When they come your way, you walk the other way or you just move away from them altogether.

NAGGING is another way to get back at people.

Oh, I see you still have fingers on your hand. It’s funny that you never use them to push the buttons on your telephone to call me!

It’s amazing how creative people can be at getting even.

As long as I suffer, you will suffer.

As long as I hurt, you will hurt.

You cut me, and I’ll make you bleed, even if I have to reopen the wound myself.

Anger is a bad addiction.

It may start innocently enough with small doses, but we soon come back for more and more.

And we generally up the dosage.

We not only despise what the person did, but who they are as well. And we even begin to hate anyone like them… You know.

Like All men are jerks.

Every TV preacher is a huckster.

You can’t trust a woman.

All politicians are crooks.

All lawyers are shysters.

We stereotype everyone when we can’t forgive.

Hurt becomes hate.

And hate grows.

Seeking vengeance.

How will the score be settled?

How many payments will I demand from my offender?

Peter had a similar question for Jesus in Matthew 18: that we just read.

Matthew 18:21; he asks, “ Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times”?

Peter is worried about forgiving too much.

The Jewish law required that the wounded person forgive three times.

But Peter is willing to go an extra mile and double the number by throwing in one more forgiveness for good measure.

He probably thinks Jesus will be impressed. But Jesus isn’t impressed.

Matthew 18:22;  Jesus said, “I tell you, not seven times, but 77 times.”

Now, if you’re thinking 77 times is really good, you’re wrong. Jesus is not saying that we are to keep tabs on how many times we forgive others.

If we’re keeping score on our graciousness, or our forgiveness, then we’re not being gracious!

There should never be a point when our grace is exhausted or extinguished!

I Corinthians. 13:5; says that love keeps no record of wrongs.

Nor does it keep a record of how many times we forgive.

God’s grace has never been exhausted and neither should ours be.

In our text, Jesus tells the story about an unforgiving servant who was a debtor, a creditor and a prisoner. Several lessons can be learned from his life.

In and through this story I want to tell you what happened between my father and I last week.

You were all gracious to me in that you prayed for something to happen, perhaps even a miracle.

Well. Through this message on forgiveness today, I want to show you in a moment or two, a few pictures that will tell you a story about forgiveness.

The pictures say it better than I am capable of doing so bear with me if you will.

From this text this morning in Mathew 18:21-35; I found two important lessons that relate to you and I.

FIRST: All people are debtors.

SECOND: All people can become prisoners

So, let’s look at it briefly so I can get to what happened with my own father.

The first thing I found was that…

 ALL PEOPLE ARE DEBTORS

 The man in our story had a great debt. You do too.

Wouldn’t it be great to be out of debt?  Many said AMEN!

It would be nice to be out of financial indebtedness.

But that will never happen for most of us because we have children.

But I do wish you great financial success. And if you succeed, remember me!

But, if you do succeed in getting out of debt, you will still be in debt!

We have a wonderful admonition in Romans 13:8; Owe no one anything, except to love one another.

Love is a debt that we all owe and that debt will never be paid off!

We should never stop loving people!

We must love others until we die!

That is a debt that we all owe one another.

Never stop loving people. Never.

The man in our Bible  story today also had a debt which he could never pay!

One day a king decided to call in his officials and ask them to give an account of what they owed him.

As he was doing this, one official was brought in who owed him 50 million silver coins.

But he didn’t have any money to pay what he owed.

The king ordered him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all he owned, in order to pay the debt.

That servant or official had a serious problem, a serious financial debt!

Somehow or other he got carried away with his MasterCard, Visa and Discover cards and racked up millions of dollars worth of debt.

If he could pay a thousand dollars a day it would still take years for him to pay off his debt.

Fat chance of that. He didn’t make a thousand dollars a day. His debt was far greater than his ability to pay!

But the point of the story is not about money, it’s about sin!

Romans 3:23;  “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”

 ILLUSTRATION:

 One time the famous American evangelist, Billy Sunday, was preparing for a revival meeting in a large city. He wrote a letter to the mayor of that city asking him for names of people who had spiritual problems and needed help.

Billy Sunday was somewhat surprised when he received a city telephone directory from that Mayor!

All of us have a serious spiritual problem and it’s called sin.

All of us have a deep indebtedness because of our sin!

All of us are in a deep, dark hole because of our sin!

Our debt to God is far greater than we can pay!

 ILLUSTRATION:

 One writer put it this way:
Our pockets are empty while our debt is millions.
We don’t need a salary; we need a gift!
We don’t need swimming lessons; we need a lifeguard!
We don’t need a place to work; we need someone to work in our place!
And that someone is Jesus Christ!

I Peter 2:24;  He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds (his death) you have healed (or forgiven).

II Corinthians 5:21; God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Jesus traded places with us! He became sin and we became righteous!

Our Master has forgiven us an insurmountable debt of sin through Jesus Christ!

Does God demand that we reimburse Him?

When our feet took the wrong road, does God demand that we cut off our feet?

When our eyes look where they should not look, does God blind us?

When we use our tongue for profanity or gossip instead of prayer and praise, does God cut it out?

No, God does not demand payment from us.

The payment was made through His Son Jesus Christ!

So from this story I learned that All People Are Debtors.

The second Thing I found was that…

 ALL PEOPLE CAN BECOME PRISONERS

 The man in our story was a prisoner because he had an unforgiving heart and soul.

Someone said, The world’s worst prison is the prison of an unforgiving heart.

When we do not forgive others we put ourselves in a prison of hatred, misery and sorrow.

Even though this man was shown abundant grace, he did not extend it to others!

In Matthew 18: 27; and the verses following the King felt sorry for him and let him go free.

He even told the official that he did not have to pay back the money.

As the official was leaving, he happened to meet another official who owed him a hundred silver coins.

So he grabbed the man by the throat.

He started choking him and said, Pay me what you owe!

The man got down on his knees and began begging, Have pity on me, and I will pay you back.

But the first official refused to have pity. Instead, he went and had the other official put in jail until he could pay what he owed.

This story is almost unbelievable.

How could that official do such a thing?

Something is terribly wrong!

Are these the actions of a man who was forgiven millions of dollars?

Choking another man just because he owed him a few bucks!

Are these the words of a man who has been set free? Pay the money you owe me!

This official demands that his debtor be put in jail until he pay the debt.

Not only is this official ungrateful, he is also stupid!

How can he expect the man to earn money while he is in prison?

If he has no money out of jail, how is he supposed to get money in jail?

Hatred never makes sense.

It is blind.

It is blind stupidity.

It is an addiction that dulls the brain and blinds the soul!

How can a person who is forgiven not forgive others?

How can a person who is shown mercy not show it to others?

How can a person who is shown kindness not show it to others?

How can a person who is extended grace not extend it to others?

Luke 7:47; Jesus said, He who has been forgiven little, loves little.

If we believe that we have only been forgiven a little, we will only forgive a little!

God is willing to wipe away all our sins.

He guides us to a pool of mercy and invites us to bathe.

Some people plunge in, but others just touch the surface!

Perhaps that was the problem of the unforgiving servant or official.

Perhaps he never felt like he was forgiven!

The King or Master forgave his debt, but the servant never really accepted His grace!

Hebrews 12:15;  See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.

When the grace of God is missed, bitterness is born.

But when the grace of God is received and embraced, forgiveness abounds!

The longer we walk in the garden, the more likely we are to smell the flowers!

The more we immerse ourselves in God’s grace, the more likely we are to extend grace to others!

Could this be the secret to overcoming anger and hatred?

I think so.

Hatred is too heavy for any of us to handle.

The mountains before us are steep enough to climb without the heaviness of hatred on our backs.

The only wise thing to do is to drop anger, hatred and unforgiveness before they drop us!

Job 21:23-25; Some men stay healthy till the day they die. Others have no happiness at all; they live and die with bitter hearts.

Please don’t let that be said of you.

 CONCLUSION:

 Extending grace to others.

This is what we all need to do.

But, first you have to accept God’s gracious forgiveness before you can extend it to others.

But those who have been touched by grace will give it to others!

They cannot do otherwise!

That brings me to the reason I have spoken on forgiveness today.

Last week I told you that after 37 years of no contact with my father, I received an e-mail which was forwarded to me from someone else. My sister whom I have not had contact with in nearly 15 years as well, felt I should be made aware that my father was not in the best of health and if I were interested I could contact her for more information.

Interested? Do birds fly. Yes I was interested. I made contact within minutes and also within minutes a reply came which set the wheels in motion. My sister and I hooked up by telephone and within minutes we had corrected years of misunderstanding and estrangement.

Her name is Mary and Mary made contact with my father to see if he would be willing to see me if I made my way to Vancouver Island which is on the west coast of Canada.

Many things needed to fall into place before I could go. Air fare had to be right. Time away from here needed approval. Speakers needed to be lined up. And most of all, my father needed to say yes he would see me.

Within hours Mary had been to see my father and he said yes I would like to see Bob.

I made the arraignments’ to go and you prayed for me before I went for which I will be eternally grateful.

Now, before I go any further I want you to know, forgiveness has always been in my heart for what my father had done to me as I grew up. I dealt with it years ago when Jesus dealt with me about my forgiveness and His extended grace to me.

If you will give me a couple of more minutes I will share with you what has happened after 37 years of estrangement from my father.

The best way I can do this so you will see the grace of God at work is to show you 8 pictures that will help me explain to you what the Lord has done.


Picture#1:  

This picture of my father was taken in 1956.  I was 8 years old and it was probably the most awful time of my life.

My father was heavily into alcohol. He abused me in every way imaginable, physically, mentally and sexually and all because of the booze. This picture to me represents anger.

And this man took his anger out on me in those early years.

But something happened to me when I turned eleven.

I accepted Jesus and in a vision at the young age of eleven, Jesus came to me (spiritually speaking of course) and He told me (“Bob, everything will be alright”). He was right.

I finally left home at thirteen and lived with my Grandparents.

Then in the seventies God called me to the ministry and that was the last time my father and I had any contact with each other, at his request.

That was 37 years ago.

Now fast forward to last week.

 Picture #2 

Last week after a culmination of circumstances put together by God, I walked into the hospital where my father is being cared for and he was standing in the doorway of his room.

When we saw each other, all he said was, “Bob, What took you so long to get here?”


Picture #3

I walked over to him and my father put his hand on my shoulder and I put mine on his and I said to him,

“Dad, I came out here in fear and trepidation not knowing how you would receive me.”

He said, “Bob, I was in fear and trepidation not knowing if you would even come and if you did, how you would even receive me.”

 
Picture #4 
 

At that point we both embraced and Dad said,  “I hope yesterday is gone Bob. It should not have taken this long for us to come to this.”

Slide #5:  

I agreed with him and as you can see from this picture there was a release for the both of us.

But that was not the best part!

This next picture I am going to show you is a completely different father than I remember.

I remember the severe alcoholism that caused the horrible temper to be lashed out on me.

I remember the abuse.

I remember the aloneness.

I remember the rejection, BUT! 

But now something was different, not because he is older but because his facial expression was so completely different from the day when He told me to leave.

When I became a Christian and told my father I was going to be a minister.

He told me I needed to denounce my faith and become a mason in his Masonic lodge or I was to get out.

He wanted me to join his Masonic lodge and become a mason like he was and to him masons and my calling to ministry were diametrically opposed.

My father was very high up in the Masonic order so he needed to distance himself from me unless I joined, hence the decision he asked me to make. I chose Jesus.

Dad was the head of all British Columbia and it made him very irate that I would not denounce Jesus and become a mason like he was.

But now, there was something different about my father and I needed to ask him what it was.

Picture #6
 

 
So here is Dad sitting and talking to me.

I had just asked him a question about what was going on with him and why did he look so different because I was mesmerized by his countenance.

And in this picture my father gave me a one word answer that literally took my breath away and left me speechless.

My question to him was this, “Dad, what is so different about you because you look different.”

He simply said, “JESUS”

And like a fool, I said “What?”

My father said, “Jesus changed me. I was a drunk, and a fool. I have asked Jesus to forgive me and to help me right all the wrong I did to my family. I have been asking him every night for almost two years to help me.”

He went on to say,

“I left the Masons two years ago and I have not had a drop of alcohol in those  two years. Jesus is helping me and forgiving me. I let booze come between us Bob, will you forgive me”?

I said “yes I forgive you and will you forgive me?” He said yes.

There was a time of rejoicing like I never imagined. After all those years, 37 to be exact, I never dreamed I would see my father again even,  let alone see him with Jesus in his life.

I asked Dad if I could hear him confess Jesus myself by saying the sinners prayer together and he agreed and so we did.

God is amazing. But, that was not all.

In the next picture I am going to show you, Dad blew me away again. He said, “Bob, you know that Jacob and Esau thing in the Bible where the father passed on the blessing”?

I said I know the story.

He said,

“When you went away, I vowed never to lay eyes on you again.

As far as I was concerned, you were dead.

As I look at it now, I realize that was a curse and not a blessing.

Would you mind if I passed on a belated father’s blessing to you now”?

I was speechless. He put his hand on my shoulder and said,

“Son, I am proud of what you have become and I would like to bless you in your life and work in the name of Jesus. Go in peace!”

I received my father’s blessing. This from a man who vowed to have nothing ever to do with me again. A man who said as far as he was concerned, I was dead, and now he is passing on a father’s blessing to me. God Is Awesome!

After my father passed on a blessing to me, he grabbed my hand and said, 

“never again will I allow myself  to be separated from you or the rest of the family except by death and I know that will only be for a while.”

God Is Amazing!

And as if that were not enough, here is one more miracle.

When I left last week my father said goodbye in four words.

They are the four words I have waited all my life to hear.

And I am serious when I tell you that in 60 years these words have never crossed my father’s lips toward me.

He said, “I love you Bob”.

And we parted.

Picture #9    This picture sums up this message. I hope you got it!

Folks can I ask you to do something this morning.

Stand with me.

In a moment we are going to sing, He paid a debt he did not owe, I owe a debt I could not pay.

But first, listen to me.

God is amazing. He forgave us. All he asks is that we forgive one another.

Forgiving one another is the love of God in us.

God forgave my father, My father asked me to forgive him.

God forgave me, and said if I don’t forgive I do not love God. I love God so I forgive my father.

Let me ask you a pointed question today.

Is there someone that you have  ought with. Someone you need to forgive?

A son or daughter, mother or father, brother or sister aunt or uncle a friend, anyone?

Will you go to them today instead of letting the days, months and years stack up against you and allow bitterness to take hold so you can never forgive.

Is there someone in this church today that you need to go to and forgive.

Is there any  unforgiveness in your heart today?

Before we close this morning, will you go to them, even right now and make peace with them and love on them.

If you have to go home and make a phone call to do it or visit someone or whatever, will you do it today, even if you think you are in the right. If they are here, why not do it now.

Our amazing God will do the rest.

37 years but God did it for me.

Pray with me and then let’s sing He paid a Debt…

Father, thank you for your hand of forgiveness extended to us today. Thank you that that forgiveness is free and all we need do is ask for it.

Thank you for my father and the forgiveness that is now in place between us. I pray that the message conveyed today to these your people will be, forgiveness is because of Jesus, Just like my own father said.

Lord, bless each restitution that happens today and maybe even a revival that will start because of it. We ask in Jesus name, AMEN

He Paid A Debt He Did Not Owe

I Owe  A Debt I Could Not Pay

I Needed Someone To Wash My Sin Away

And Now I Sing A Brand New Song, Amazing Grace,

Christ Jesus Paid A Debt That I Could Never Pay.

AMEN

WHY BELIEVERS LACK FAITH

 

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Perhaps the most needed area in church ministries today is Bible training. Paul instructed young Pastor Timothy to preach the Word, not preach about the Word. The lack of biblical knowledge among today's believers is astonishing. And, at the same time, it appears, at least to this pastor, that there is a great "want-to" to learn the Word by parishioners. Why do I say that?

Wednesday nights, when I had a solid hour to teach the Word, the attendance was good but could have been better. Still, I believe people do want to learn the Bible and that’s why the faithful came.

The responsibility is clearly on church leadership to provide the training, the responsibility on receiving it is on the congregation.

Why is such training important? Because according to Hebrews 11:6; we cannot please God without faith. Where does faith come from? Romans 10:17; "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." The more of scripture a person truly knows, the more faith is generated in his or her heart. So much of today's church world is geared to music and worship.

Certainly those are positive virtues, but we also must have solid expository preaching and strong, strong teaching of the Word.

I suspect if pastors would spring a surprise test on biblical knowledge in a Sunday morning service, they just might be shocked to see how few of their congregants could truly pass it. Such a showing might be a clear reason why some of those dear people have a problem with their faith.

Make yourself available to the teaching God is providing and your faith will build.

 Pastor Coutts

WHAT ARE THE RESULTS OF SEEING THE KING?

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Isaiah 6:1-8;

1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. 2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. 3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. 4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. 6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: 7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. 8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.

 

We are told here in the 6th Chapter of Isaiah that he saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up! How we as Christians need to recognize the authority, the majesty and the power of the God we serve! We do not serve a god we have created with our hands but we serve the God that created us with His hands! We are to serve the Creator and Sustainer of the universe! The Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End. It is unfortunate that many today, even Christians, do not see God as Isaiah did. Isaiah 6:1:

Many do not see Him on the throne. It is unfortunate that many see themselves on the throne! To many their plans and their goals are all that matter. However our view of God should be the correct view of God. A view that gets us and our plans off the throne and puts Him where He rightfully deserves to be and already is!

Many do not see Him high and lifted up. To many God is on some list that they have made. God is a great guy who should be thought about, prayed to and served if we can scrounge up the time. Listen folks God doesn’t need to be on our list, ‘God needs to be the list’! What right do we have to call the shots in our lives, He has bought us with a price, the precious blood of His Son has redeemed us!

What will happen if we see the Lord as Isaiah did? Isaiah 6:5-8;

We will see our sin! The closer we get to God, not only does the bigger God become, but the bigger our sins become! Sin will become exceedingly sinful!

When we see the Lord on the throne, high and lifted up we will realize that sin is not a trivial matter, but a matter so revolting that it cost our precious Savior His life and blood to pay for it! Isaiah cried out ‘woe is me’!

We will see the sin of others around us! Notice however, Isaiah dealt with his own sin first! We can’t help folks get specks out of their eyes until we first get the beam out of our own. When we see God the way we should we will not only be broken over our own sins but also the sins of others!

We will be cleansed. When Isaiah confessed his sins God did something about them. God will do something about yours as well if you will confess your sins to Him (I John 1:9).

We will surrender. When we get a correct view of God surrender will not be a chore but an honor! We will be standing in line saying, “Lord here I am, just let me know where to report!" "I’m ready for duty, what can I do to bring honor and glory to your name?"

Let us see the King today! How do we do that you may ask? Just pick up the Word of God and begin to read! Cry out as the Psalmist did and say, "Show me if there be any wicked way within me" and when He shows you confess it to Him and be cleansed and then obey the Word of God! Your view of God will affect your view of your sin, your view of other saints & sinners, your view of service

Let’s see the King today!    Pastor Coutts

YET A LITTLE WHILE!

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     We Have All Asked, "When Lord"?

 

     How many times did the hearts of the Israelites get excited as they found a new leader who they felt may be the coming Messiah. When it was found out that person was not Him, excitement disappeared and disappointment set in. But in spite of the long wait and many speculations, the Messiah finally did come, and as human nature is, He was rejected.

     For thousands of years what was an elusive promise became a reality only to be rejected. Today, we too look for many to be Him and we look for many to be the Antichrist as well.

     How many false Antichrist’s have we had? Napoleon? Mussolini? Stalin? Adolf Hitler? Henry Kissinger to name a few, but that does not mean that the Man of Sin will not finally come.

     The prophecy teachers told us that Israel would become a nation again and in 1948 on May 14^th, it happened. David Ben Gurion told the whole world “The name of our Jewish state will be Israel.”  At that point many Bible Scholars minds raced.. Now, They said, “The Second Coming Is Surely Near.” But, true to form, every thing returned to normal. The fanfare died and people went about their business.

     Then came the six day war in 1967. That’s when the prophecy students got on the bandwagon. “If Israel reunifies the city of Jerusalem, the rapture will take place”  they said.  Days later, Israel crossed the barbed wire fence and raised the Israeli flag over the Temple Mount for the first time in 2000 years. But, The rapture did not happen! And things returned to normal once again.

     The next event was Yassar Arafat shaking hands with Yitzhak Rabin on the lawn of the White House confirming the Oslo Accords. Do you suppose this was a confirmation of the covenant, have the final seven years of Tribulation begun?  NO! Not yet!

     Now, they are putting computer chips under the skin. There is even what is called a ‘sub dermal chip’ which is voluntarily (for now) placed under the skin and you can use it to down load cash into the chip and buy stuff at a store by swiping your hand across the store card reader just like a debit card.

     The Temple Institute in Israel has recreated all the furniture and the utensils needed for the resumption of temple worship. The ashes of the Red Heifer have been refined and are ready. The Sanhedrin has been reestablished after 1600 years. Back in February 2005 the Temple Institute held discussions about the proposed location of the prophesied Third Temple. Jews the world over were being asked to send in a portion of their earnings to help pay for the rebuilding of the Temple.

     2013 is here and still, no rapture! Why hasn’t He come back yet? It’s simple! “It’s just not quite time yet!

     But know this for sure: The One who promised to come the first time kept His Word. The same Messiah promised to come a second time and again, He will keep His word.

     “For yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry.” Hebrews 10:37;

POISONED BY OUR OWN TONGUES

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 “So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell. Fore every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by the human race. But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison.” James 3:5-8

      Two snakes were crawling along when one snake asked the other, “Are we poisonous?” The other replied, “You bet we are! We’re rattlesnakes. Why do you ask?” To which the first snake replied, “Because I just bit my tongue.”

     That little joke has more truth in it than you might think. It’s good for a laugh, but whether or not a snake can poison itself by biting it’s tongue is just a reminder that you and I can certainly poison ourselves with the bite of our own words.

     A lot of people seem to think their words will produce no consequences. I guess they believe they can say whatever they want to say, and nothing bad or negative will ever happen. That just is not so! Most of the time,  if we really discuss this issue honestly, we will admit that words can hurt others badly. It’s more than just hurting someone’s feelings. Words often damage lives, mangle reputations, and words will often create all sorts of ill will. But, the one thing we often do not discuss is how damaging our own words are to ‘ourselves!’

     When you lie or say things that are shadowed so as to deceive someone, you may have just destroyed your own reputation. You may have lost the trust of the person to whom you spoke, or the person you spoke about. When you brag or make yourself appear important by your words, you may well lose the respect of the very people you are trying to impress. When you play political games by making promises, creating conflicts, or toying with agendas in order to get your way, you are nothing but a verbal prostitute, selling yourself for the sake of gain. Your words betray you as a person with  selfish and evil motives. The poisonous bite of your words may do far more damage to yourself than to everyone else.

     Even today, the truth James wrote about is an important lesson for us all. Jesus said in Matthew 12:34, “You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart.” Whenever you hear evil things come from a person’s mouth, it is evidence of evil in the heart. Evil is a poison we cannot afford. Just as the bite of a rattlesnake can kill, so the bite of evil, poisonous words can kill. The unlikely person at risk is quite often, the very person speaking these words.

     James knew that Christians must do better. He said this about the inconsistency of the tongue that both cursed and blessed. “With it ( it being the tongue), we bless our Lord and Father, and with it ( again, it being the tongue), we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way.” James 3:9-10

     This gives a whole new meaning to the phrase, “Bite your tongue.”

     All I can say is that you might want to be very careful. You may find poison in those fangs of yours, and you may find that your bite may just well be deadly to yourself!

     Here's a bit of advice from my own daughter. When she was 12, she said to me, "Dad, you need to keep your words sweet, because some day you may need to eat them!" Smart Kid. I don't want to be poisoned by my own tongue. Do you want to be poisoned by yours?

 

YOU ARE ALTOGETHER LOVELY!

“Wherefore God hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name

(Philippians 2:9).

 

HE IS ALTOGETHER LOVELY

To many people, Jesus is just another person who is the subject of a painting, a poem a statue or a song. But those who have heard His voice, who have felt His pardon for their sins, or who have received His benediction, to them He is music, warmth, light, joy, hope and salvation.

      

He is a friend who never forsakes, a friend who lifts us up when others try to push us down. We cannot wear Him out as we pile on our grief’s and troubles. He is always ready to lift us up and help us out. He addresses with the same love ; He beams the same smile and shows us compassion.

There is no name like His. It is more inspiring than Caesar’s name, more musical than Beethoven’s name and more conquering the Napoleon’s name. It is more eloquent than Demosthenes’ name and more patient than Lincoln’s name.

The name of Jesus pulsates with life. It weeps with pathos, groans with all pains, stoops with all love and the breath of His name is far better than any perfumes.

There is no one who can pity like Jesus or who can welcome a prodigal home like Jesus, or make a drunk sober instantly or turn a street woman into a queen for Jesus.

Who like Jesus can catch the tears of human sorrow in a bowl and save them for a time of need and wipe them away in an instant?

I struggle with trying to find a metaphor that would suit Jesus. He is not like an orchestra making all that wonderful music, that would be too loud and it could be out of tune. I don’t think He is like a sea or the waves crashing into the shore in all their fury because that would be too  boisterous. He is not like some far off mountain with all the lightening flashing around it or the snow capping it’s top. I would think that would be too solitary and remote.

No, I picture Him as the.....

 

“Lilly of the Valley"

"The Rose of Sharon"

"The Bright and Morning Star"

"The Altogether Lovely One.”

 But more to the point.....  I picture Him as THE SON OF GOD!

 

I hope you took the time to listen to the song in the video and that it touched your heart. My goal is to encourage you to get closer to the Lord.

 

Let me know.  Pastor Bob Coutts

Wit's End Corner

Wit’s End Corner

 

“At their wits end, they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he bringeth them out.”

Psalm 107:27-28

 

Are you standing at “Wit’s End Corner,”

Christian, with troubled brow?

Are you thinking of what is before you,

And all you are bearing now?

Does all the world seem against you,

And you in the battle alone?

Remember, at “Wit’s End Corner.”

Is just where God’s power is shown.

 

Are you standing at “Wit’s End Corner,”

Blinded with wearying pain?

Feeling you cannot endue it,

You cannot bear the strain?

Bruised through the constant suffering,

Dizzy, and dazed, and numb?

Remember, at “Wit’s End Corner”

Is where Jesus loves to come.

 

Are you standing at “Wits End Corner”

Your work before you spread?

All lying begun, unfinished,

And pressing on heart and head?

Longing for strength to do it,

Stretching out trembling hands?

Remember, at “Wit’s End Corner”

The Burden Bearer stands.

 

Are you standing at “Wit’s End Corner”?

Then you’re just in the very spot.

To learn the wondrous resources,

Of Him who faileth not.

No doubt to a brighter pathway,

Your footsteps will soon be moved.

But only at “Wit’s End Corner”

Is the “God who is able” proved.

Antoinette Wilson