Participants: Lemuel Vega
Series Code: FC
Program Code: FC000405
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00:31 Hello, beautiful day to you there wherever you may
00:35 be. I wanna welcome you to faith chapel 00:37 here at 3ABN and today. My name is Lemuel Vega 00:42 and we are going to be speaking about God. 00:46 For God so love the World that 00:50 he came seeking the lost. So today as you find 00:54 yourself perhaps in some despair, 00:56 perhaps you're lonely, you don't know 00:58 where to go from here. We are gonna speak about 01:01 that there is a hope in this day and time which we live, 01:04 when there is brokenness on every news media station, 01:08 we are gonna speak about how God is providing rest 01:12 for our souls in this turbulent time 01:15 in which we live. We are also going to be speaking 01:17 about how God has shown us 01:21 how to live separate the world. At this day and age 01:25 when the world is integrating us 01:26 with commercials and they want our time 01:28 and our money, they're competing 01:30 for our time with God. There is a way 01:33 and we need to ask him and I invite you to pray 01:37 with us just now. Our dear heavenly Father, 01:40 we thank you for this awesome opportunity 01:42 to share with souls that are finding themselves 01:45 filled with despair and anxiety in this world 01:48 in which we live. Shattered and broken 01:50 at every seem so it seems, but we know 01:53 that you provide stability and grace and hope 01:56 and so with that Lord, we surrender our hearts 01:58 and our wills in to you today. Show us, 02:01 lead us and guide us, in Jesus name we pray 02:05 and ask for the indwelling for your Holy Spirit, 02:07 in Jesus name we pray, Amen. 02:13 With that in mind I would like to start in the very 02:16 beginning of the Bible, in Genesis 1:1, 02:19 if you have your Bible with you today 02:21 I want you to know that you are gonna have to time 02:24 to turn in the scriptures with me and I hope that 02:28 you will do that. In Genesis chapter 1 02:31 the very first chapter in the Bible, 02:33 the very first book, most everybody seems like 02:36 they might know what that says but may be you don't. 02:39 It's says in the beginning God created the heaven 02:44 and the earth. God, he's personal 02:48 and he wants to be a part of our life, 02:50 in this turbulent time in which we live. 02:53 I would like to go from there to Luke 4:16 03:03 through 19, in Luke 4 this is gonna set the stage 03:08 how God lived and showed us, set the example for us 03:12 how we can live in this earth, 03:13 how Jesus did it as a young man. Luke 4 verse 16, 03:20 And he came to Nazareth where he had been 03:23 brought up; and as his custom was, 03:25 he went into the synagogue, the big Churches of the day 03:29 and he stood up to read and there was delivered unto 03:35 him the book of the prophet Isaiah 03:36 and when he had opened the book, 03:38 he found the place where it was written. 03:40 This is now in red letters in my Bible in verse 18 03:45 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, 03:47 because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel, 03:52 to who? To the poor. He has sent me to heal the 03:58 brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, 04:02 and recovering of the sight to the blind, 04:05 to set at liberty them that are bruised, 04:08 to preach the acceptable year of the Lord 04:12 and with that in mind I want you to know that 04:15 this was the, this is what Jesus Christ as a young man 04:18 came to this world to do, is to represent 04:21 the way of truth and to live to heal the brokenhearted, 04:27 to preach deliverance to the captives I don't care 04:31 if you are in prison doing a life sentence behind bars 04:34 or whether you're in a prison of your own 04:36 little world, the devil wants keeps us bound, 04:39 locked up behind bars, till where we can't have 04:43 freedom even though we live in a land of freedom 04:46 for most of us, may be the country in where you live 04:49 you don't have that freedom, 04:51 but I wanted to tell you that God can come in 04:53 and provide that freedom unto your soul 04:55 and unto your heart, I don't care what the government 04:58 says in your land, they cannot stop the love of God 05:01 from setting the captives free, 05:03 from setting at liberty them that are bruised, 05:06 to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. 05:08 That is what Jesus Christ came as a young man 05:11 begin to do in his life ministry 05:13 here upon the earth. I would like to go now 05:17 from the young man Jesus Christ, 05:19 I would like to go as he, he carried his ministry 05:22 through on the earth and I would like to go to 05:24 John 3:16, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, John 3 verse 16. 05:34 Again most people probably know this by heart 05:39 but I tell you that I want to share with you 05:41 meaning and value Jesus said for God 05:46 so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son 05:51 that who so ever believeth in him should not perish, 05:55 there is a way out of this world, it's not death 05:59 and doom and destruction, there's a way out 06:02 that whosoever believeth in him, 06:04 that's you and me brother and sister. 06:07 Whosoever is everybody, I don't care 06:09 what nation you come from, I don't care what denomination 06:13 or what background, you have an opportunity here 06:16 today that whosoever believeth in him 06:18 should not perish but have every lasting life. 06:21 Listen to this now in verse 17 of John 3, verse 17 06:27 for God sent not his son into the world to condemn 06:31 the world, he didn't come here to condemn you 06:35 and I in our sin and in our despair, 06:37 he came here to help us, 06:40 that we could have a way out, but that the world 06:44 through him might be saved. Back up to verse 16, 06:49 that whosoever believeth in him, we make that beginning, 06:55 we have that belief in Jesus Christ, 06:58 that he's provided that way. Perhaps you've never asked 07:02 Jesus Christ in to your life but today 07:04 as you find yourself with a reason that you need help 07:07 in different situations the beginning starts by ask 07:12 and ye shall receive, seek and ye shall find, knock 07:18 and it shall be opened unto you. 07:20 Belief itself is not enough, we come to him 07:24 and we pray, we turn away from our way of life, 07:27 that's call repentance, but it takes in the beginning 07:31 God created the Heaven and the earth, he set the example 07:35 and then in John 6, John 3:16, 07:38 For God so loved the world, 07:39 that He gave His only begotten Son, 07:41 that whoever believeth in Him should not perish, 07:43 but have everlasting life. I would like to turn over 07:46 to John 14, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John 14 07:52 and I would like to look at verses 1 through 4, 07:59 this here is hope, this is awesome hope, I don't care 08:03 what war is reigning in your life, I don't care 08:05 what drug addiction, I don't care the alcoholism, 08:08 I don't care the problems of financial issues here. 08:12 Verse 1 of John chapter 14 it says Jesus 08:16 says in red letters in my Bible, 08:18 let not your heart be troubled, ye believe in God 08:23 believe also in me. Here it is brothers and sisters 08:28 the hope, in my father's house are many mansion 08:34 for who, for whosoever that believeth in him, 08:39 that's you and me. If it were not so 08:42 I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you 08:48 and if I go to prepare a place for you 08:51 I will come again and receive you unto myself 08:55 that where I am there ye may be also 09:01 and whether I go ye know and the way you know, 09:05 God hasn't went secretly unto heaven 09:08 and then wants to trick us that we can't find the way, 09:12 he's made it plain for us and we look at the world 09:16 and in on every turn, they want to entertain us, 09:20 they want to keep us, keep us our thoughts away 09:23 that we don't have time to think about peace 09:26 and joy and love. Yes, they have sex and drugs 09:29 and alcohol and fast cars and movies and races 09:32 and all kind of things that keep us energized, 09:35 but at the end of the day when we go to bed 09:37 and we're empty and we're hopeless, 09:39 and I appeal to you my friend that as you find 09:43 yourselves in these hopeless situations, 09:45 there is a God, a God that has helped me, 09:49 brought me from the depths of despair, drug addiction, 09:52 alcoholism, pornographic material 09:55 and from the prison cell physically. 09:58 And he is looking for man and women 10:01 who will say I surrender. You know when you find 10:06 yourself in a shoot out you know you've done, 10:08 you've done rob somebody, you don't want to kill nobody 10:11 and all the bullets are gone and you're hungry 10:13 and you're tired. There is a universal sign in the world 10:18 that says when you wave the flag and you wave it out, 10:24 that means universally I surrender 10:28 or if you're along the highway and you're stranded 10:31 and you're out gas or you got a flat tire, 10:34 you put the flag I surrender, I need help 10:38 and as we're willing to surrender to our Father 10:42 in heaven, the devil, the evilness of society 10:46 is kicked to curb and we no longer are controlled 10:49 by the force that we were powerless over. 10:52 He gives us the power when we are willing to surrender 10:55 our will to him, I don't care what your problem 10:59 in life he empowers you with his Holy Spirit 11:02 when he ascended back unto the father, 11:05 after he was crucified upon the cross of Calvary, 11:09 he said I must go and I will send the comforter 11:13 unto you, that's the Holy Spirit, that's not some 11:18 funny spirit ghost like creature 11:20 that the Halloween stories and the world 11:24 trying to sell us, the Holy Spirit is the comforter 11:28 that lives in us. And dwells and abides with us. 11:32 Give us the guidance and the reasoning, 11:36 so I just tell you that I just appeal to you, 11:40 as we look at John 14, Jesus Christ, 11:46 whatsoever ye shall ask in my name John 14:13, 11:53 John 14 verse 13, and whatsoever 11:57 ye shall ask in my name that will I do. 12:01 This is Jesus Christ saying that whatsoever 12:03 you shall ask in his name he will do. Here's another, 12:08 the other half of that, that the Father 12:12 may be glorified in the Son. 12:15 My friend if you shall ask anything in my name 12:21 I will do it, verse 15 if you love me 12:25 he says keep my commandments, 12:28 oh they thought the commandment 12:29 were done away with, they thought they were nailed 12:31 to cross some people say. That is not true. 12:35 God's commandments are guidelines for us 12:38 that we may serve him, if the commandments 12:41 were nailed to the cross we can steal, 12:43 we can lied we can destroy, we can do whatever we want, 12:46 there be total lawlessness in our land. 12:49 It's says if you love me, keep my commandments 12:52 and I will pray to Father and he shall send you 12:55 another comforter, the Holy Spirit, to give us stability 13:01 in this times of unstability. That he may abide with you 13:08 forever. He is not here today and gone tomorrow, 13:12 he is here today to establish a relationship 13:15 with you and with me, so may we cherish 13:19 that relationship, we wanna be careful 13:21 with that love relationship and I want to tell you 13:24 that there is no way we can be bopping 13:26 with the whole world, going in out of our minds 13:29 and our lives and think that we can have the Holy Spirit. 13:33 The quietness of God, the big screen TV, 13:36 they've got the thin ones now, the LCDs, 13:39 the high definition. Even Christian TV, 13:44 I just saw last week, everybody was singing 13:48 and praising the Lord and then some lady 13:52 she fell down and she got zapped supposedly 13:56 with the Holy Spirit and she's laying 13:58 there emotionless and then they want to pray over her 14:02 and heal her. I am talking about the quietness, 14:06 the love that God builds up, he doesn't knock down, 14:09 he encourages us, he loves us and he wants to help us 14:14 and when you have somebody that loves you and cares 14:16 about you and pulls you from the depths of despair, 14:19 you appreciate that friend. Somebody that comes 14:23 to your aid in a time of need 14:26 you say thank you my friend, and then you begin 14:30 to what to know about this Jesus that created 14:33 the heaven and the earth. This Jesus who set 14:37 the example for you and I in this 21st century, 14:41 this Jesus that came and paid the price upon 14:44 the tree of Calvary for you and for I. 14:49 They want to think about his death upon the cross 14:53 of Calvary as Easter Sunday, 14:56 as the resurrection, praise God that he arose, 15:01 but I want you tell you that what does his resurrection 15:03 have to do with chocolate marshmallow eggs. 15:07 Some little plastic, and some little duckies 15:11 and oh! Yes, they've got the chocolate bunnies. 15:16 What does that have to do with our friend who shed 15:19 his blood upon the cross of the Calvary. 15:21 Our world wants to keep us moving in all different kinds 15:25 of ways that we can't think about the solemn thought, 15:29 that is because of me, it's because I have sinned. 15:35 We all have fallen short of the glory of God. 15:39 I, in the one, the reason that 15:43 he hung upon the cross. He loves us my friend 15:47 and he's come to save us from ourselves 15:50 because we all have fallen short, we all the Bible says 15:56 have sinned and we have an advocate with the Father. 16:01 And as we're willing to surrender our lives 16:03 and our will unto him. He will take that. 16:07 The gift, the offering that we bring. Blind, wretched 16:11 and naked, poor and hungry, not knowing where to turn, 16:15 he will take that surrender and he will come in 16:19 and the Bible says, he will create in us a new heart. 16:22 He wants to do that for you and for me. 16:26 I would like to go to Luke 19, I want to go back to 16:33 John chapter 14, "Let not your heart be troubled. 16:39 You believe in God; believe also in me." 16:41 So let not your heart be troubled today, 16:44 I don't care what your problems are. 16:46 He will help you, he will do for you 16:48 what we can't do for ourselves, in Luke 19:10, 16:52 Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, 16:57 I just want to go, it's just a quick verse here 17:00 but it's very important 19:10, "For the Son of Man 17:07 For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save 17:11 that which was lost." 17:12 That's right from the Bible. In red letters, 17:15 he's come seeking those who are lost. 17:18 And I found myself in many, many, many lost conditions 17:23 and he has been true and faithful through everyone. 17:26 I thank you, I pray that you'll give him 17:29 a chance with your life also. In Matthew 11, 17:33 I would like to go to Matthew 11 17:35 and look at verse 28 through 30, 17:40 these are Jesus word again and I just pray 17:44 that they will be a blessing to you 17:45 as they have been to me. It says, "Come unto Me, 17:49 all ye that labor and are heavy laden." 17:57 The cares of the world, they just knocks us down 18:00 we some days feel so crippled 18:02 that we can't even walk. "Come unto me, 18:05 all ye that labor and are heavy laden 18:07 and I will give you rest," the creators says, 18:11 he give us a Sabbath rest, for one day a week 18:15 we can set everything aside and come 18:17 and be with him a special day. 18:19 Yes, that's the part of the commandments too. 18:22 That's not been nailed to the cross. 18:25 Take my yoke upon you and learn of me. 18:30 In the world we don't learn about 18:32 the love of Jesus Christ, the indwelling 18:34 of the Holy Spirit. It says, take my yoke upon you 18:39 and learn of me. I am meek he says, and lowly in heart, 18:45 humble and kind, compassionate and loving, 18:49 that's our Lord and that's our Savior 18:51 and here's the key and ye shall find 18:55 rest unto you weary souls. 18:59 It doesn't say weary in the Bible, 19:01 it says ye shall find rest unto your souls, 19:04 but for me in the condition I found myself so weary, 19:08 so weary. In verse 30, "For my yoke is easy 19:14 and my burden is light." So Jesus is calling us 19:19 to walk with him. Let me share 19:21 something with you friend. In this great controversy 19:24 in which we live, the war is ragging on both sides 19:28 of us, and that war is not between you and evil, 19:34 between me and evil. That war is between 19:38 good and evil. Jesus Christ and the destroyer, 19:43 and the liar, the war that's going on. 19:47 We have a choice of who will serve, 19:50 of whose side we will be on, but that war 19:53 that is not our battle to fight. 19:55 God will fight it for you. He fought it for me 19:59 and continually, daily, as I turn my life over to him 20:02 and surrender to him. He takes a new each 20:05 and every day and gives us the strength to carry on 20:08 in this world of despair. He's done it in my life 20:11 and I can promise you my friend. 20:13 He will do it for you, I don't care 20:15 how many liquor bottles you got, 20:17 got around your table today. 20:19 I don't care how much drugs you got powered 20:21 in your trunk today. God will take 20:24 those desires of you; he will create in you 20:26 a new heart. As you are willing to surrender to him, 20:31 he will make a way all that money 20:34 that you're used to getting, 20:35 he will make a way, he will provide hope and joy 20:38 and happiness in your life. 20:41 In Matthew 11:28 through 30, Come unto me, 20:46 all ye that labor and are heavy laden, 20:48 and he promises us that he will give you rest. 20:51 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, 20:53 for I am meek and lonely and heart; 20:55 and you shall find rest unto your souls. 20:58 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. 21:01 God is promising us those things, 21:04 I'd like to go back a couple of pages 21:07 to Matthew 6, excuse me Matthew 6:24. 21:12 Here is the appeal to you and to I. 21:16 Let's look again Matthew 6:24 through 26. 21:21 Matthew 6:24 to 26, the Bible says, 21:25 "No man can serve two masters." 21:28 We can't serve the good and the evil 21:30 that's going on in our world today. 21:32 "No man can serve two masters: 21:35 for either he will hate the one, and love the other; 21:38 or else he will hold to the one, 21:40 and despise the other." You cannot serve God 21:43 and Mammon. "Therefore I say unto you, 21:47 the Bible says, "Take no thought for your life, 21:49 what ye shall eat; or what ye shall drink 21:52 nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. 21:55 Is not life more than meat, and the body than raiment. 22:00 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, 22:03 the birds don't go and sow and then they don't plant 22:06 and then go and look for the harvest 22:08 neither do they reap, nor gather into barns 22:11 to store up for the winter months, 22:13 yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. 22:16 Are ye not much better than they?" You have a soul, 22:22 you have a being, God created us to be 22:25 and reunited with him in the Kingdom of heaven. 22:30 Matthew 6:32 to 33, "For all these things 22:36 do the Gentiles seek: for your heavenly Father 22:41 knoweth that ye have need of all these things." 22:43 Jesus has not left us; he knows what you need 22:45 for today and for tomorrow. Look in your path 22:50 has he not taken care of you yesterday 22:52 and brought you to where you are today. 22:54 Look back on your life, perhaps 22:56 that tragic car accident that they said 22:58 that nobody could walk away from. 23:00 I know there's been times in your life 23:03 where you saw God leading. 23:05 I don't care whether you've surrendered your will 23:07 yet today unto him or not. I do care, 23:10 but perhaps you've not made that decision for him 23:13 yet today, but as you look back in your life, 23:15 you can certainly see how you've been blessed by God. 23:18 The sunshine and the beauty, and the flowers, 23:21 sure there's been problems in our lives, 23:23 but he that's why he came to provide a way out. 23:25 To provide hope, verse 33 Matthew 6 verse 33. 23:33 "But seek ye first the Kingdom of God, 23:36 and his righteousness; and all these things, 23:40 the Bible says, shall be added unto you." 23:46 Take therefore no thought for tomorrow: 23:49 for tomorrow shall take thought 23:50 for the things of itself. When I say, 23:54 all these things you may not have 23:55 that fancy Cadillac or that Lincoln or you may not have 23:58 that extra donkey or that extra camel 24:01 that maybe you felt you should have, 24:03 but God will provide for you, what is sufficient. 24:06 Someone may have stole your bicycle or your motorcycle, 24:10 your mode of transportation, 24:12 but God will provide a way for you 24:15 because he knows what you need. I guarantee it 24:18 or I would not be standing here today. 24:20 I would not be standing here today to offer 24:23 some words of hope of what he's done in my life 24:26 for you my friend. He is true and faithful. 24:29 Matthew 7:7, Matthew 7:7, a very beautiful promise. 24:36 Ask and it shall be given to you my friend. 24:39 Seek and ye shall find my friend. 24:43 Knock and it shall be open unto you my friend. 24:50 For everyone that asketh receiveth, 24:54 and he that seeketh, findeth and to him 24:59 that knocketh, it shall be opened. 25:02 Jesus Christ has said, in this equation here. 25:07 "Ask and it shall be given you, 25:10 seek and ye shall find." God is promising to you 25:15 my friend that as you ask for stability in your life 25:19 that seem so unmanageable. As you ask for forgiveness, 25:23 for the things that have so easily be set us, 25:28 ask and it shall be given to you. 25:31 My friend, in the value of that surrendering flag. 25:35 What you are doing in essence is you are opening 25:39 the door to your heart and your saying to your Jesus, 25:42 my life is unmanageable. Will you please come in 25:47 and help me. And at that movement just now, 25:53 as you're saying Lord I too wanna follow you, 25:57 I too want help with my life. 26:01 Do you know the temptations that once 26:04 so easily be set you are know by his strength 26:11 you will be able to overcome. 26:12 Pray each and everyday, seek his face 26:16 in the morning, don't put it till the end of the day 26:19 because all the day, the problems rushed in 26:21 and we have no where to turn, 26:22 no hope or no strength, seek his face 26:25 early in the morning. Don't wait until the end 26:29 of the day to give God the opportunity with your heart 26:32 and with your life. I wanna tell you in a literal sense, 26:35 what's gonna happen to your life, I wanna promise you 26:38 what God will do for you. Your life seems rocky, 26:41 it seems empty, you don't know where to turn, 26:43 but as you ask God, you're willing to surrender 26:46 your will, and your life to him, 26:48 he will take and begin to mold and perfect you, 26:51 he will encourage you and help you. 26:53 I don't care maybe you're a good Christian already. 26:56 I tell you that God will help you and mold you 26:58 and polish you, because he has a special place for you 27:01 my friend in the Kingdom of heaven. 27:04 And I look forward to see you not only you, 27:06 but as you're willing to surrender your will 27:08 and life to Jesus Christ. You're gonna, 27:11 he's gonna use you to lead another, 27:12 and I look forward on that great day to see you 27:15 in the Kingdom of heaven. 27:16 We, we go to the Olympic Games 27:18 and we want to win gold medals 27:20 and all kinds of things. He has streets of gold for you 27:23 and for I. He's promised, he is went to prepare 27:28 a mansion for you. And he said, 27:30 that he will come again and receive you unto himself, 27:33 but we have to be willing to surrender, the choice today 27:37 my friend is to surrender the hopelessness 27:40 and the despair and the emptiness, 27:43 to the creator of the universe. 27:45 And he will lift you up, he will hold you, 27:48 he will sustain you, he will keep you, 27:51 and encourage you. Until that great day, 27:54 I look forward to knowing of what God 27:57 has been doing in your life. 27:58 I wish you God's rich blessings 28:00 until we meet again. Please, surrender 28:03 your will and heart to Jesus, amen. |
Revised 2014-12-17