Subtopic : “Walk The Walk To Talk The Talk

Sermon Notes by Pastor Arthur H. Coleman Sr. For Sunday November 10, 2013

Text :1 Peter 2:19-23 “For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. (vs20) For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. (vs21) For even hereunto  were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: (vs22) Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: (vs23)Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:”  St. Luke 24:45-48 ( Christ appears to the Eleven) “Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures. (vs46) And he said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: (vs47) And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. (vs48) And ye are witnesses of these things.”

PREMISE

The Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 22, Pages 84 &95-96, Comment on 1 Peter 2:21 “ Christians Are Called To Imitate Christ “. “Christians are called to suffering; the cross is the badge of their profession; without the cross they cannot be disciples of the crucified Lord. This was the meaning of your calling, St. Peter says; you knew it when you became Christians; you must not forget it in the hour of trial. Christ suffered for you; he left behind him, when he ascended into heaven, an example for you to imitate, a sketch for you to fill up in detail. Try by the grace of God’s Holy Spirit to renew the likeness of God in your hearts; look to the Lord Jesus Christ as your Model; copy one by one the features of that Divine loveliness; fill up the portrait, little by little, touch by touch, looking with fixed attention on the great Original. And , to change the figure, follow him; he goeth before you. Climb the steep ascent of heaven, stepping in the very footprints of the Divine Guide. He will lead you safe. But there is only one way--- the way he trod himself, the royal way of the most holy cross”. 

Subtopic: “ My Work For God Is A Duty Not A Choice”

Sermon Notes By Pastor Arthur H. Coleman Sr. for Sunday November 3, 2013

Text; Isaiah 6:1-8 “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. (vs2) 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. (vs3) And one cried unto another, and said, Holy,holy,holy, is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory. (vs4) And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. (vs5) 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. (vs6) Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from off the altar: (vs7) And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sins purged. (vs8) 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.” Acts 1:8 “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”   1 Corinthians 9:16-17  “For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is me, if I preach not the gospel! (vs17) For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward: but if against my will, a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me.”

PREMISE

The Pulpit Commentary, Vol.10, Pages 114-115, a comment on Isaiah 6:8. “THE CALL TO SERVICE. Again the august and dominant voice of the Eternal is heard: “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” A ready answer, full of devotion, full of self-abandonment, comes from that lately overwhelmed heart: “Here am I; send me.” Out of weakness Isaiah has been made strong, and there is no hesitation now. There is “triumph lingering in his eyes, wide as of some swimmer’s descries help from above in his extreme despair.” The foolish imprudence which cries, “Here am I; send me,” without having calculated the cost of the enterprise and the extent of the resources, is not that of Isaiah. Still less is the unfaithful trifling with one’s powers and opportunities under the excuse of modesty, or the delight in dreams of action rather than in action itself, seen in him. We see some men rashly staking their future on the cast of a die, impetuously crossing a course of action from which one cannot turn back; others lingering on the brink, or moving superstitiously in a fancied circle, beyond which seems to lie the frowning impossible. And we see a third class who have learned the Divine magic of the word “obey,” and who alone move safely and with high heart to ends greater than their dreams. The servants readiness, his quickness of eye and ear, is what we need. Can we allege that we have never seen our vision, heard our call from the unmistakable voice? If the plea be sound, then our mistakes and straying cannot be charged against us. But can we maintain such plea so long as there is any meaning in the words, “truth and duty”? Truth is ever beckoning to us, duty’s low clear voice is ever sounding, though the paths to which they guide lie but dimly before. The call to act is for us all; the call to act greatly but for God’s elected few. Let us not mistake our wishes for Divine commands, nor in vanity create a destiny which is only our own fiction. Still less let us treat impressions which have seized us and shaken us with awe, and against which reluctant flesh and blood have struggled, as dreams to be set aside and fancies to be overcome. If, after straining eye and ear, God seems to leave you through wide tracts of life’s way to struggle with your ignorance and to work out your problems unaided---be it so. This is your call. If otherwise you are the subject of strong and extraordinary impressions, reaching into the reality behind the shows of things, hearing with open ears where others know but confused sounds,--- be it so. Your call is more direct. If only we will not indulge the blindness of those who will not see, the deafness of those who stop their ears, the proud weakness of those who hate to obey, all may be well.”