Making A U-Turn

February 24, 2019

SMUMC

Known By: Called To

Psalm 37:1-11, 38-40

2 Chronicles 7:14 AMP

Various other Scriptures

Within the sermon…

“Making A U-Turn”

Let us pray…pray for the spirits leading and for God to be heard through or in spite of me...

This morning’s scripture comes from the Old Testament… A short but impactful…powerful…rich piece of scripture that, even though it is from the old Testament, it very relevant in the times in which we live now… It is found in 2 Chronicles chapter 7 verse 14…listen to the warning, hope, instruction that is found there in…

2 Chronicles 7:14 King James Version (KJV)

¹⁴ If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

Good Morning. Last week I talked about something very near and dear to my heart. Short version…we need to be the hem of Jesus’ Robe to those who are lost and hurting. We need to be the garment of Christ in the world that brings healing and wholeness. We are to be the aroma of Christ so that the world gets a whiff of us and wants to smell the same way too. But why do we need to do this? Why can’t people just get a grip and change their ways?

John 3:19 Living Bible (TLB)

¹⁹ Their sentence is based on this fact: that the Light from heaven came into the world, but they loved the darkness more than the Light, for their deeds were evil.

Furthermore…why does it seem that God’s not listening to the pleas of the His people.

Well…my take on this…is quite simple. It comes from talking to people about the world... and where they see…or not see…God in the world. This is my theory…you can agree or disagree. Like I said this is my opinion. I believe it has very much to do with the scripture from this morning.

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

We…as God’s people…have let the world in and we have allowed far too much of the go along to get along attitude delegate how we worship and view God. We have allowed God to be taken out of our schools. We have decided that it is too inconvenient to get and go to be with fellow believers and do God on our own time…watching those who we agree with on TV. I praise God that Jesus didn’t think it too inconvenient to go the cross for me…

©Mark 7:21-22 Living Bible (TLB)

²¹ For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts of lust, theft, murder, adultery, ²² wanting what belongs to others, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, pride, and all other folly.

© James 3:6-8 Living Bible (TLB)

⁶ And the tongue is a flame of fire. It is full of wickedness, and poisons every part of the body. And the tongue is set on fire by hell itself and can turn our whole lives into a blazing flame of destruction and disaster.

⁷ Men have trained, or can train, every kind of animal or bird that lives and every kind of reptile and fish, ⁸ but no human being can tame the tongue. It is always ready to pour out its deadly poison.

We are told:

© 1 Corinthians 15:33 Living Bible (TLB)

³³ Don’t be fooled by those who say such things. If you listen to them, you will start acting like them.

1 John 1:9 Tells us:

⁹ But if we confess our sins to him, he can be depended on to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong. And it is perfectly proper for God to do this for us because Christ died to wash away our sins. Back to the first scripture I read this morning…

Believe it or not…there are Christians that lack faith and don't really believe in the enemy...and until they change their ways...have faith and believe...the enemy is winning...the enemy will continue to use their disbelief and continue to infiltrate our churches...

We are told:

©Ephesians 6:12-13 Living Bible (TLB)

¹² For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against persons without bodies—the evil rulers of the unseen world, those mighty satanic beings and great evil princes of darkness who rule this world; and against huge numbers of wicked spirits in the spirit world.

¹³ So use every piece of God’s armor to resist the enemy whenever he attacks, and when it is all over, you will still be standing up.

We pray…but

©Matthew 6:13 Living Bible (TLB)

¹³ Don’t bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the Evil One.^[a] Amen.’

Sum up the sermon…

¹⁴ If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

Amen…