Sunday Northfield VT – 11/25/2012

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Speakers:

• Steven Atherton
• Megan Atherton

Scriptures used:

• Romans 8:38-39
• Matthew 5:7
• Matthew 18:23-25
• Matthew 6:25-34
• Joshua 2

Subject:

• Today’s service was based on the song “Stir up a Hunger” by Paul Baloche and Rita Baloche.
• Day into night, you can turn the dark into light, you can take a soul that was lost and turn it around.  Only the Lord can turn a soul around.
• Lord on my own, my heart can turn as hard as a stone, but you can make it tender again with your love.  Only the Lord can change a heart.
• The Lord’s mercies are new every morning.  This means our mercy account can run dry but God is merciful to those who show mercy.
• Jesus likens the Kingdom of Heaven unto a certain King who would reckon with his servants.  To the one who owed him 10,000 talents he was going to sell he and his household into slavery to make good on the debt, but when his servant fell at his feet and begged time of him to make good the debt, his master straightway forgave him.  That same servant then went and asked another who owed him 100 pence and he, when his fellow servant begged time of him, he cast him into prison.  As that King was wroth with his servant who he forgave for his lack of mercy to his fellow servant, so is the Lord with us.
• The world and the evil therein turns our hearts to stone because of the wickedness we find and the lack of love we see.  As a consequence, we lose hope that anything could ever be different.  But the Lord, in His grace, makes His love and the way out that He provides available to all through the simplicity of the Gospel, which is available to all.  By His love our hard, embittered, prideful hearts are able to be made tender again so that we can share His love with others.
• Seek first the Kingdom of God and His (not our) righteousness, He will provide our food and our clothing so we need take no thought for such things.
• The story of Rahab the harlot (prostitute), who was condemned to die with the other people of Canaan but was saved by her decision to protect the Israelite spies.  Her faith is later honored by God Himself when He included her in Jesus’ lineage.
• The point of these stories was to make clear that there are no qualifications for admission into the Kingdom of God, but acceptance of the free gift that God gave us in the atoning sacrifice of His Son and our reliance upon Him, rather than ourselves, for righteousness.
• Getting the place where we are able to humble ourselves to accept the truth, however, can be difficult because we do not want to acknowledge that we were/are wrong.  Particularly when there are so many people (because of their lack of love themselves) who will only seek to use our confession against us.
• The key is to not let what others think stop you.  The only one whose opinion matters is the Lord.