The God Promises Part 2

Transcribed from Pastor Melissa Scott's Live Sunday Service.

A Debt We Can Never Repay

There is a funny thing in that passage, if you read it closely, Paul says to Philemon 'whatever he stole, it's an IOU, I'll make good on it.' He also says 'I don't see how it could be an IOU,' because if you look closely you'll see Philemon was a convert of Paul. So in essence he's saying 'I don't know how it could be an IOU because basically you're indebted to me.' By the way, Paul subsequently says to Philemon 'He's profitable for me now. Take him back and don't take him back as a slave, take him back as though you are receiving me.'

We are very much like Onesimus this way. We are slaves to the flesh, we are slaves to the world, but if we can run away and get to the place where we can really hear the Gospel being preached, God's Word and not some gimmickry, there's hope. I'm tired of hearing people talking about seed faith and about the prosperity doctrine. Do you remember the phrase "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country"? How many remember that? Show me your hands. If we put that to God it would be "Ask not what you can do for God, but what God can do for you." That's the society we live in. Instead of being servants of the Living God, we want the Living God to be our servant.

We owe a debt to our Lord and Savior we can never repay, the good news of Jesus Christ. What more did the first Church need? What more do we need? Just preach the Gospel. Just Faith, and "Faith" as the song says "in the promises." That's what I wanted to come talk about today, Faith in the promises.

When it comes to the promises of God, some want to reach into the promises of God like reaching in for a tissue out of a box. The Bible says "All the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen," in Christ, II Corinthians 1:20. Some people go to the promises and there's an element missing. This is why the world out there is preaching to reach in and grab for a promise, they are reaching for a promise without Christ. For you who have been taught in the Word, you know 'Christ is formed in your heart by faith.' How do you get 'in Christ'? By hearing the Word of God. It's always the circle that comes back to the same place, but how do you know if you're not taught?

So I come back to the beginning, I assume that most people know the starting point of our Faith is Christ—preach Christ. Okay, Christ walked the earth, made these claims about Himself, said He would raise on the third day and He did. So guess what? I'm more interested in what He said and what He did, and that He made good on them.
Now I go back to the promises, what He said and what He's going to do. And why the promises of God? The promises of God are given to us, for us to ask intelligently for God's will. Like a Last Will and Testament, God sat down, to be ludicrous, and He wrote these promises out as His Will, "I'll leave this to my children. Aside from Jesus Christ, which is the first thing I gift to you, the rest of these things I write down as a Will" that, for example, "As thy day, so shall thy strength be."

There are those who will take a promise and twist it "As thy day, so shall thy faith be." No. "As thy day, so shall thy strength be." I really have come to terms with this. You can wake up in the morning and not feel your best. It shouldn't affect your Faith. Your Faith should still be strong even though your body feels weak. You go back to the same principle "Whatsoever is not of faith is sin."

I still live in the same flesh that I lived in when I didn't know or understand anything about God. I haven't received new skin (flesh). But I am a new creature in Christ Jesus. By His power I am made whole and He has washed my sins away. That brings us to Romans 7:15, "For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I." Maybe I will help somebody get delivered from the doctrine of 'perfectionism.' I'm still a sinner being saved by God's Grace and I'm not afraid to admit it. Thank God for I Corinthians 15:54 where it says until "this mortal shall put on immortality." No one wants to read that because they want it 'Zap'—right now. Until "this mortal puts on immortality," that tells you it's not going to happen here. I am a work in progress.

The promise of God "As thy day, so shall thy strength be." That's a wonderful promise for us because you know there are days, and today was one of them, I just felt miserable this morning. I really felt bad, but by Faith I'm here. "The steps of a good man or woman are ordered by the LORD." So what happens when you fall? Well, I know you've all been taught 'Get up and point in the right direction.' But if "the steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD" and you take a fall, what then? These are all the principles we've been taught. We can go back to Isaiah 50 and say don't doubt in the dark what God showed you in the light, "Trust in the name of the LORD."

Part 3 by Pastor Melissa Scott.

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