Prayer Meeting - A Time for Salvation
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A Time for Salvation
A Time for Salvation
But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
I came across a funny story to share with you tonight that illustrates the need for a Savior.
A Little girl was in her car seat waiting with her Dad for her mom to come out of the store. It was hot and she was tired of waiting. All of a sudden because she could not free herself from the car seat and needed someone bigger and more powerful to rescue her from her frustrations. She hung her head out the window and yelled: “Please God! Get me out of this!” She was crying out for a savior!
Ever feel like that? In a moment of frustration where you feel so overwhelmed with work, worry, even frustration? Maybe you feel like that during Christmas. You feel like yelling “Please God get me out of this!”
God gave us Jesus, God Gave us Christmas for many reasons but another one to remember is for Salvation!
Salvation is defined as deliverance from sin, self, and hell. It definitely includes all that but it also embraces so much more. We are not only saved from something bad we are saved for something good.
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
God has a great purpose and a good plan for your life. Salvation also means to be given the freedom from and power to fulfill God’s purpose for your life.
Salvation is offered to everyone for free! It is for anyone who would accept it.
for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
Notice that the Savior is for you! - He came for your benefit. Jesus is a personal savior. What does that mean? People often refer to knowing Christ or accepting Christ as getting saved. Saved? From what?
Saved from
worry
our debt
anger
our past
bad habits
ourselves
God’s gift of true salvation is freedom, purpose, and life in three dimensions past, present and future.
God saves us from something, for something, and by something.
Jesus came to save you from sin and ourself
We trip ourselves up far more than we realize. Be honest we all have habits we have trouble breaking, thoughts we don’t want, regrets, resentment we can’t let go of. We are born with an “I” problem. We are all by nature self centered. Our natural inclination is to want our own way instead of God’s way. The tendency to make the wrong choice instead of the right ones is called sin. The middle letter of that word is “I”.
Sin is our greatest problem and it is universal. You and I sin everyday - through words, thoughts and actions.
The Bible says:
For there is not a just man on earth who does good
And does not sin.
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
Sin is habit forming. The more we do it the easier it gets.
I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.
And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.
I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong.
We may think we are ok and that we don’t need God but daily we need to surrender ourselves to Him. The attitude of prideful self will is what causes disconnect from God and causes us to feel distant from Him. This focus on self makes us feel like God is a million miles away. If you feel far from God, Guess who moved?
We are not meant to live disconnected rom God. The solution - any lasting solution must start in the heart, and only God an transform hearts.
Another word for Salvation is freedom!
I was in trouble, so I called to the Lord.
The Lord answered me and set me free.
From what are we set free?
Free from guilt over the past. Guilt is a mental price we pay for violating our God given consciences. We know that if we break the law we will have to pay a penalty. When we break God’s moral laws someone has to pay for that too. But God through His deep love for us sent Jesus to solve that problem.
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.
When Jesus died on the cross He paid for everything we have ever done wrong or ever will do wrong in the future. How great is that?
It has been called the Great exchange and you and I get the better end of the deal.
For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
God’s forgiveness is far more powerful than our mistakes and sins put together so we get a clean slate.
We are free from bitterness and resentment. We can’t control what others do to us, but we can choose how we respond. Resentment is cancer of your emotions. Unless we allow Jesus to free us from it eventually it will destroy us.
We are free from the expectations of others.
The fear of human opinion disables;
trusting in God protects you from that.
Constantly worrying about what others thin about us is a dangerous trap. It robs confidence, limits potential, drains energy and keeps us from being all we can be.
The antidote is to build our foundation on God’s unconditional love for us. Love liberates. It is a confidence builder.
There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
No matter what we do in life there are some people are not going to like it. And often the brighter the light the more bugs it attracts.
Affirmation from others is encouraging but feeling deeply loved and chosen by God is far greater!
Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.
Even before He made the world He loved us! God has elected, chosen to love us unconditionally.
Rejection hurts and we all carry scars of that on our hearts. We often spend a lot of time trying to win the approval of someone who seems unpleaseable.
If you haven’t gotten that person’s approval by now, it is unlikely you will ever get it, But the good news is you don’t need any human approval to be happy!
Focus on how much you matter to God and His unconditional love for you!
What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?
Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies;
Even if my father and mother abandon me,
the Lord will hold me close.
Find your true identity in God not in what others say about you.
Free from addictive habits - soon we will hear talk of New Year’s Resolutions these are not enough to break out of self destructive patterns and routines. With each cycle of best intentions, failure, remorse, you feel more trapped and helpless. You need a power that is greater than yourself. You need a Savior!
Jesus said:
So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free.
God never intended us to go through life on our own power. He wants us to stop trying and start trusting.
Free from the fear of death - If you accept what Jesus did for you on the cross, your eternal destiny will be secured.
Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying.
Jesus came to save us for a purpose
We often wonder what is our purpose?
God has never created anything without a purpose. Since you are alive, you can be certain God has a purpose for your life.
Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love.
But the problem is everyone of us have strayed from God’s intended purposes for our lives. Like a train that jumped off the tracks, we have been derailed by our own stubbornness and sinful choices.
We’re all like sheep who’ve wandered off and gotten lost.
We’ve all done our own thing, gone our own way.
And God has piled all our sins, everything we’ve done wrong,
on him, on him.
Although God has created us for a purpose each of us have taken detours. So God sent Jesus as our savior - to redeem us from sin, to reset directions of our lives and to restore us to his original purposes for our lives. We are not just saved from evil we are saved for good.
He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.
“For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell asleep, was buried with his fathers, and saw corruption;
God creates us, shapes us, gifts us, calls is, and saves us for a purpose. That’s why the Bible says:
If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it.
Nothing compares to the thrill of being used by God for a great purpose. It is the deepest longing in your heart and no other experience can take the place of it. It is why we were created.
You were made for far more than success. You were created for significance. But you will never find significance in possessions, pleasures or positions. Significance comes from service - giving your life away for a greater purpose than yourself.
If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it.
Tonight as we pray ask God to cleanse you and make you whole. Give you a fresh touch of His presence and walk in surrender to His will for your life.