Subtopic:" It's A Blessing"

Sermon Notes By Pastor Arthur H. Coleman Sr. For Sunday May 18, 2014

Text :Psalms 1:1-3 “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. (vs2) But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. (vs3) And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.”

Psa. 65:4 "Blessed is the man whom thou chooseth, and causeth to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple.

Eph.1:3-7 " Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: (vs4) According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: (vs5) Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the pleasure of his will,(vs6)To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. (vs7) In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;"

Psa.27:13-14 "I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.(vs14) Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say on the Lord.”

Premise

The Pulpit Commentary ,Vol.8, Pages7-8; A Comment On Psalm 1:1-6 --- THE BLESSEDNESS OF THE TRUE. “God is Love.” He must, therefore, seek the happiness of his creatures. Man is the highest of his earthly creatures, and his happiness must be of the highest kind, not only fit for him to receive, but worthy of God to bestow. Such is the happiness here depicted. It does not come anyhow, but in accordance with law. It does not depend on what a man has, but upon what he is. It is inward; not outward. It is of the spirit, not of the flesh. Happiness is blessedness--- the blessedness of the true in character.”

Subtopic: “Being Happy With Jesus Alone; Overcoming Myself”

Sermon Notes by Pastor Arthur H. Coleman Sr. for Sunday May 4, 2014

Texts: 1 Kings 18:21 “And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God follow him: but if Ba’al, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.”

2 Timothy 4:3-4 “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; (vs4) and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”

Psalms 17:15 "As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness".

PREMISE

The Pulpit Commentary Vol.21, Pages 65-66, a comment on 2 Timothy 4 3-4---  I. THE REASON OF THE APOSTASY. “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine.” 1. The gospel-doctrine is sound, because it necessitates a holy life, and holds the gratification of sinful passions to be inconsistent with the hopes of salvation. 2. Evil men cannot endure it, because it is so opposed to the corruption of human nature, and therefore treat it with neglect, if not contempt. II.THE EFFECT OF THIS MORAL DISGUST AT THE GOSPEL. “but having itching ears, will heap to themselves teachers after their own lusts.” 1. They Will Not Discard The Ministry Absolutely. They will only exchange one class of ministers for another. But they will vastly multiply the number of religious guides. 2. The Itch For Novelty Led To The Multiplication Of Teachers. They were fickle, unsettled, and uneasy. They wanted to hear new things or smooth things, such as would reflect the unreasonable notion or desire of a corrupt nature. 3. The Reason For The Whole Rabble Of Teachers That They Gathered To Themselves is to be found in their wish to have their fancies gratified--- “after their own lusts.” They wanted indulgent guides, who would flatter the pride of human nature, and not lay too great a stress upon the importance of a holy life. The sound doctrine was necessarily allied to a pure morality. III.THE RETRIBUTION THAT AWAITS ON SUCH A PERVERSION OF JUDGEMENT. “And will turn away their from the truth, and be turned aside unto fables.” 1. It Is A Solemn Fact In Divine Providence, That When Men Do Not Like To Return To The Knowledge Of The Truth , God gives them up to a reprobate mind, so that they lose all relish for sound doctrine.  

   2. It Is An Equally Solemn Fact That, If The Truth Is Repudiated , The Heart Will Therefore Cease To Exercise Itself About Religious Concerns. The heart cannot long remain empty. Fables rush in to occupy the place which denies a footing to truth, just a slack of religious faith  has a vacuum-creating power, which superstition immediately rushes in to fill up. What a waste of soul!--- profitless fables taken in exchange for soul-saving truth!

Subtopic: Day By Day I Will Make This Journey

Sermon Notes By Pastor Arthur H. Coleman Sr. For Sunday April 6, 2014

Text: Psalm 37:23-26 “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way. (vs24) Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand. (vs25) I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. (vs26) He is ever merciful, and lendeth; and his seed is blessed.”

Romans 8:28-31 “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose. (vs29) For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. (vs30) Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. (vs31) What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?”

PREMISE

The Pulpit Commentary Vol.8,Pages 290-291,a comment on Romans 8;28 “In The Widest Sense Human Life--- “ the steps of [each] man,” the path in which he treads--- is under God’s guidance; upheld by his power, directed by his counsel (Proverbs 20:24). As a journey is made up of single steps, and one false step may be fatal; so life, of momentary experiences and acts of choice, of which the greatest may hinge on the least. Life or death may hang on a pair of damp sheets or wet shoes, or a whiff of poisoned air. The fate of an empire may turn on the flight of a bullet. A spider’s web spun across a dark opening has saved a fugitive from his persecutors. A successful career or a happy home may be owing to a seemingly chance meeting. If, therefore God rules human affairs, he must foresee and control their most minute and secure causes.”

Subtopic: "It's God's Way Or No Way"

Sermon Notes By Pastor Arthur H. Coleman Sr. For Sunday March 2, 2014

Text: Psa. 127:1 "Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain."

Eccl.3:14 "I know that, whatsoever God doeth , it shall be  for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it : and God doeth it, that men should fear before him."

Isaiah 55:6-9 “Seek the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: (vs7) Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. (vs8) For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. (vs9) For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

St. John 15:4-5 “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. (vs5) I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.”

Premise

The Pulpit Commentary Volumes 8 &9 , Pages 62-63 &227-228 , comments on Psa.127:1 and Eccl. 3:14."UNBLESSED LABOUR 1. We can do nothing at all without the Divine co-operation. We constantly depend on the presence of his material, on the action of his laws, on the activity of the forces he keeps in play. We all recognize this in agriculture; that it is vain for the husbandman to sow his seed, unless God sends his rain and wind and sunshine ect. It is also true of our other occupations. The sailor and the builder depend on the constancy and regularity of Divine laws and forces. We are always assuming their existence, though we may think nothing of their Author. 2. We can effect nothing without divine permission. If God means that the guilty city shall fall, the watchman will wake and the soldier will fight in vain. If God intends to humble a man whose pride needs to be brought down, his utmost exertions in his trade or in his profession will not bring success. Many a man has found, as he at first thought to his cost, but afterwards knew to his advantage, that when God's wise and faithful providence is against his prosperity, he wakes early and works hard in vain. But how much more is blessed is he in a corrective adversity, than he would be in a hardened prosperity! We do well to ask that God's blessing may wait upon and crown all our activities; we do well, also; to remember that it may happen that, for our own sake, God will not grant us our desire in the form of temporal success. 3. We find no blessedness in a prosperity which is not hallowed by devotion. It is a vain thing for a man to strive hard and to attain the immediate object of his pursuit , if he is not making his life a life of holy service. Even if the bread he eats is not "bread of sorrows" in the sense that it is scanty, yet it will be such in the sense that it yields no abiding joy; for it is abundantly clear that a life of even prosperous labour , apart from the service and without the friendship of God, selfish and earthbound, is a life of dissatisfaction and practical defeat. The springs of pure and lasting joy do not rise on that lower ground."

A comment on Eccl.3:14 says "Behind man's free action and volition (the act of willing) stands the will of God, which orders events with a view to eternity, and that man can alter nothing of the providential arrangement. We cannot hasten or retard God's designs; we cannot add to or curtail his plans. There is a moral purpose in this disposal of events. Men feel this uniformity and unchangeableness in the working of Providence, and thence  learn to cherish a reverential awe for the righteous government of which they are the subjects."

Subtopic: God’s Overshadowing Providence/”Lord Let Me Hide In Thee”

Sermon Notes By Pastor Arthur H. Coleman Sr For Sunday February 23, 2014

Text: Psalm 91:1-7 “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. (vs2) I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. (vs3) Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. (vs4) He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. (vs5) Thou shall not be afraid for the terror by night; nor the arrow that flieth by day; (vs6) Nor the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. (vs7) A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.”

St. Matthew 11:28-30 “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (vs29) Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. (vs30) For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

PREMISE

“The rest, peace and security that we seek is only found in that “secret place of the most High” as we “abide under the shadow of the Almighty”, inasmuch as we take upon us the yoke of Christ which is the yoke of Christian living, Christian duty,  and Christian affliction, which gives us the full knowledge of Christ , which in turn  causes us to experience the ease of the yoke, the lightness of the burden and the resting place of His security and peace.---AHC.

Subtopic: “A Personal Quest For God”

Text: Psalm 63:1-8  ( A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Ju’dah) “O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; (vs2) To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary. (vs3) Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. (vs4) Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name. (vs5) My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips: (vs6) When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches. (vs7) Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice. (vs8) My soul followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me.”

PREMISE

The Pulpit Commentary, Vol.8, Page 25, A comment on Psalm 63:1-8  1. THE SOUL’S LONGING  “When we “ thirst for God”, we naturally look back and recall the times we had the truest and fullest enjoyment of his presence. We think of “the sanctuary.” It was not the outward glory; it was not the splendid ritual; it was not the excitement of the great congregation; but it was the vision of God that then brought peace and joy to the soul. And that is what is craved again--- more life and fuller: “To see thy power and thy glory.” There are often circumstances which intensify and strengthen our longings. When we come to know God, not only as God, but as our God and our Redeemer, we feel that it is a very necessity of our being, that it is our life, to see him and to serve him, to love him, to worship him, to rejoice in him as all our salvation and all our Desire.”

Subtopic: “I’ve Got Something To Praise God For”  

Psalm 40:1-3 “I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. (vs2) He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. (vs3) And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and trust in the Lord.” 

 2 Corinthians 1:9-10  ( Concerning Paul’s Persecutions In Asia) “But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: (vs10) Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us;”  


PREMISE 

From the 2200 Quotations From the writings Of Charles H. Spurgeon Concerning 1 Cor.2:10 “We shall always be in danger as long as we are here. “the Lord delivered, doth deliver, and he will deliver,” so we shall always need divine deliverance while we are in this world. We must not expect “here” to be ever out of the gunshot of the enemy” 

Subtopic: Keep Looking Up

Psa. 61:1-3 "Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer. (vs2) From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I. (vs3) For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy".

Col.3:1-2  If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. (vs2) Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth.

PREMISE

The Pulpit Commentary, Vol.8, Page18, a comment on Psa.61:1-2 “The power of prayer in trouble. “My cry”. Every one has his own needs. Think how it is this day. In how many lands, by what various voices, with what manifold emotions, the cries of men are uttered! What signs of pain, what plaints of desire, what passionate prayers for help, go up to heaven! Who but God could “attend” to them all? Moses groaned under “the burden of all the people” (Num.11:11). Paul was oppressed with “the care of all the Churches” (2 Cor.11:28). But increase the “burden,” and multiply the “cares” ten thousand times, and what is it all compared with what falls upon God? What mind but the eternal mind of God could attend to all? What love but the infinite and unchanging love of God would not grow weary by the continual comings and the countless importunities of such multitudes of supplicants? But God bends his ear to all. Not one, not the humblest or the poorest, is neglected. Wherever we are,  however great and sore may be our troubles , though weak and sinful and unworthy of the least of God’s mercies, yet if we will call upon him he will hear us; if we commit our cause to him, he will bring us deliverance.

Like an exile, we may be far off from friends, solitary, and sad. But God is always near. Through all help from man should fail, God is with us to deliver us. The enemy may be coming in like a flood. There may seem to be no way to escape. But God will, when we cry to him, stretch forth his mighty arm from above, and lead us to “the Rock” where we shall find safety and peace.”

Matthew Henry's Commentary, Page 1873, on Col.3:2 says " Upon the wings of affection the heart soars upwards. Things on earth are here set in opposition to things above. Heaven and earth are contrary one to the other and the prevalence of our affection to one will proportionally weaken our affection to the other".

Subtopic "Fatal Attraction"

Psa.27:4 "One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord, all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple."

St. Mark 9:43-48 "And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched:(vs44)Where the worm dieth not, and the fire that never shall be quenched:(vs45)And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: (vs46)Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.(vs47) And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire:(vs48) Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched."

PREMISE

The Pulpit Commentary on page 31, comment on St. Mark 9:43-44 BETTER DIE THAN SIN "Christ is speaking here of injuries which we may do ourselves or others. Most men guard themselves carefully against physical injury. They insure against accidents, avoid miasma, and attend to the first appearance of the external assault, but is unsuspicious of treachery within. In a moral sense, it may often be said "A man's foes are they of his own household". The allusion to the hand, the foot, and the eye indicate that the causes of sin are found in our nature; that evil is natural to us as the use of these members. Sins spring from within:"Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts". When acts are repeated, habits are formed which become part of ourselves. Then these habits are allowed for and excused by others, so that we no longer get our attention directed to them as otherwise we might do, and notoriously regarded as a personal peculiarity. Yet though it seems a part of ourselves, God says, "Cut it off and cast it from thee". 

Subtopic: "Lord Help Me To Keep On Keeping On"

Text: Job 17:9 "The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger".

Psalm 1:1-3 "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.(vs2) But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.(vs3) And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper."

Premise

The Pulpit commentary pages 301-302; a homily excerpt on Job 17:9 "Steady progress in virtue is marked by increasing strength of character and conviction. The righteous man waxes "stronger and stronger". Holy principles gain a firmer hold upon his convictions. His life settles into a definiteness and stability of habit. He has greater power to resist evil; he has greater power over his own heart; he exerts a greater power over others around him. He is not moved from his integrity either by the fierce onslaughts of temptation or by the severities of trial. His life is pledged to a course of obedient living--- to purity ,truth, goodness. More and more he is established in his goings. He rises to greater brightness as the sun to greater strength. He gathers strength even from his afflictions. Deeper and deeper principles of holy living strike their firm roots  into his whole spirit. He pursues his chosen and holy way undeterred by the many forms of temptation that assail him. In his righteousness he can" hold on his way" and with "clean hands" he waxes "stronger and stronger" day by day".-RG