10/29/2023 Church service

周日礼拜

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SURROUNDED
Psalm 5:12

Watching a church service from Pretoria, SA 2019 (so much has changed)

We couldn’t have even imagines this in 2019

The frustration we feel when we see the world news…

Never before now have I totally felt that some people in charge are clearly working against us – not for us.

Hopelessness comes to people when they feel they are powerless against a circumstance or situation.

“For you, LORD, bless the righteous one; you surround him with favor like a shield.”
“But you’ll welcome us with open arms when we run for cover to you.”

The enemy of our faith want to destroy our peace of mind in this hour

In a time of lies, deception and daily gas lighting of reality – we need the truth

The Truth is not an idea – it is a person

Eph 4: “the truth is in Jesus”

We look at the news and look down… all the time God’s Word says:
Psalm 3:3: But thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.

Part of our frustration comes from the powerless feeling we feel

Anyone with open spiritual eyes should (by now) recognize what is going on – and what is being planned

It’s like watching a bad movie that you can’t turn off

Are we powerless? Do you feel surrounded today?

Psalm 32:10: Many sorrows come to the wicked, but unfailing love surrounds those who trust the LORD.
The daily news broadcasts are full of blatant lies

Psalm 140:9: When those who surround me rise up, may the trouble their lips cause overwhelm them.
“may the trouble their lips cause overwhelm them.”

Our words express what is inside of us – and after we send them out, sooner or later they return (like a boomerang)

The “Echoes of Life”
“If you can’t speak anything positive, learn the power of SILENCE.”

zip it
No Other Name
Acts 4:12
Something that I learned a long time ago – “Never come before management with a problem without also bringing with it a solution.”
Anyone can talk about what’s wrong.
The world is full of complainers and protesters who will do anything rather than accept that they are responsible for their own lives and futures.
My purpose today is not to just tell you how messed up the world is. My MISSION is to point you directly to the solution.
The problem is sin. Rebellion against God.
Sin deteriorates everything that it touches. Almost as soon as sin entered the earth, murder was introduced when Cain killed Abel.
Today, know that sin corrupts everything it touches.
1 John 3:8 – (Jesus came to) destroy the works of the devil
Praise God that we’ve been delivered from it!
We see people every day that have been revealed to have committed heinous crimes against our nation. Sold us out.
…and yet, we recognize it all gets swept under the carpet a day later. Nothing changes. Some people really do seem to be above the law.
People look the other way – not wanting to put their own careers in jeopardy.
Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen: “The refusal to take sides on great moral issues is itself a decision. It is a silent acquiescence to evil.
The Tragedy of our time is that those who still believe in honesty lack fire and conviction, while those who believe in dishonesty are full of passionate conviction.”

Probably one of the biggest breakdowns in our society has come from a simple thing called GREED - and Selfishness.
…and isn’t selfishness the root of most sin, anyway?
This force of selfishness seems to be at the heart of what is tearing our world down.
We need a solution that will save us from ourselves.
? What is the Message that we must bring to a world that is falling apart before our eyes?
What is the Message that will anger and upset some, while bringing so many to salvation and new life?
It is THIS message:
Acts 4:12: Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.
“Only Jesus has the power to save! His name is the only one in all the world that can save anyone.”
The doctrines of grace separate the Christian faith from the works-based religions of men.
Romans 8:22: For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.
The late Pastor John Osteen wrote of his quest to find a healing miracle for his daughter. A quest that ultimately found the Great Healer, and also his being kicked-out of his denomination, even as he was promoted into his role as a minister that would share the gospel with millions instead of just a few hundred.
Osteen writes: “Over the years, especially through what seemed to be a family cycle of constant sickness and disease, I finally got to the place where my supreme heart cry was for deliverance. I could hear the groans and cries and feel my family’s desperation for wellness. My heart cried, my soul sobbed, my spirit wept tears. I wanted help. I did not know enough to call directly on God for it. (Isn’t it a strange thing that we do not have enough sense to call on God for physical difficulties as well as spiritual ones? But I did not.)

If God’s power becomes the supreme cry of your life, it is going to come!
But one thing matured in my heart—a real hunger. And the hunger of a man’s soul must be satisfied.”
Matthew 5:6 : “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled”
Osteen continues: “It is a law of God that is in the depths of the Spirit. God will answer the heart that cries; God will answer the soul that asks. Christ Jesus comes to us with divine assurance and invites us when we are hungry, to pray, to believe, to take from the Lord that for which our soul desires and our heart yearns. One day the Lord of heaven came our way, and in a little while the cloud of darkness, that curse of death, was lifted. The light of God shone into our lives and into our home, just the same as it existed in other men’s lives and other men’s homes. We learned the truth of Jesus and were able to apply the divine power of God. We were healed of the Lord.”
Pastor John said: “God created a supernatural hunger and a thirst in my heart for more of Him. I began to feel a divine restlessness. There was a divine dissatisfaction in my spirit. I said, “Oh, God, I do not want to die without having had a more fruitful ministry. I want to see more than I have ever seen in all of my life.”
Rejoice if there has been an awakening in your heart for the same! Be glad that there is a hunger and thirst in your heart. Be glad that God smiled upon you to give you a desire to come to Him.” Jesus said,

Matt 7:11: “If you then, being evil, KNOW HOW TO GIVE GOOD GIFTS to your children, how much more will your Father Who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!”


“… I closed my office and went alone day after day with the Word of God.
I read the four Gospels until I began to see Jesus. There emerged from those pages a mighty compassionate miracle worker.
He was not the person I had been taught.
Is the Real Jesus the same Jesus you were taught to believe in?”
What price will we pay to find more of Jesus in our lives? Our churches?
Romans 3:3: What then? If some did not believe, their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it?
Osteen continues: “He was not the person I had been taught.
He was the Son of the Living God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever! I beheld Him as One greater than all our concepts of Him! I saw Him as One great and loving enough to encompass all people everywhere in His mighty arms! We read His promises to us over and over.”

“Looking ONLY to JESUS…”
Jesus Paid It All
Spurgeon: “ …the sum and substance of the gospel lies in that word, Substitution, Christ standing in the stead of man.”
“The Cross alone is our theology.”

Purposefully Redundant: Jesus says, “Apart from ME you can do nothing.”

This also applies to our overcoming ourselves – our flesh – our sin.

How can we overcome ourselves using only ourselves?

You can’t fix you.

Sin is the real bottom-line problem in this world
It is going against God’s plan – and only Christ is the answer.

The world is a mess
The world needs a savior
The Savior is here
2 Cor 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
NLV: Christ never sinned but God put our sin on Him. Then we are made right with God because of what Christ has done for us.
The problem we see on a global scale is also the problem we see on a personal level
As believers – we have a solution to our own personal crisis:
Romans 6:14: For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.

1 Peter 1:18,19: For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.

Col 1:20: and through him to reconcile everything to himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
NLV: “Christ’s blood has made peace.”
Today’s lead scripture says THIS: “Only Jesus has the power to save!
His name is the only one in all the world that can save anyone.”

2 Cor 5:19: For God was in Christ, restoring the world to himself, no longer counting men’s sins against them but blotting them out. This is the wonderful message he has given us to tell others.
You can’t fix you.

Paul wrote in Romans 7: “In my mind I am God’s willing servant, but in my own nature I am bound fast, as I say, to the law of sin and death. It is an agonizing situation, and who on earth can set me free from the clutches of my sinful nature? I thank God there is a way out through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Give up.
Give it all (now) to the Savior. Jesus.

The only way to deal with sin is to repent from it and to be cleansed by the Blood of Christ
Repentance means taking sides with God against our own carnal nature.

Jesus has done for us what we could never do for ourselves.

O glorious day
Living He loved me dying He saved me
Buried He carried my sins far away
Rising He justified freely forever
One day He's coming
O glorious day
God, I thank You because there has never been a time where You failed me.
You delivered me from the power of sin. I am alive in Jesus!
Thank You for saving me from sin and its consequences.
I’m forever grateful and I will always give You praise. In Jesus’ name, Amen!

Hillside United Methodist Church
3739 US 80
Phenix City  AL  36870
United States
Pastor: Mike J Koger

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