"GET READY, GET READY, GET READY"

“WHEN GOD SAYS,,, NO”

POINT #I. “SAYING NO, MEANS, GET READY, GET READY GET READY”

POINT #II. “SAYING NO, IS NOTING NEW WITH GOD.

POINT #III. “SAYING NO, MEAN HE IS WORKING OUT FOR YOU”

POINT #IV. “SAYING NO, COULD BE GOOD OR BAD”.

I truly believe, if we would be honest with ourselves, there have been time in our prayer life that every one of us have had these feelings,

· That God did not hear me,

· or He is holding out on me,

· and He is withholding a blessing that I really need.

If you remember, I said

· You went to God about something that meant the world to you,,, at that time,

o And you were as serious as you have ever been with God,

o And your loving Father is saying “NO” to you,

o You went to God,,,, almost or maybe with tears, in your “HEART”,

§ Because this thing is bothering you so.

o And the only thing you can hear from God,,,,, is “NO”!!!

o You went to your loving Father,,,,

§ You are at this time, pleading with Him,,,

· “HELP ME”

· “HELP ME”

· “HELP ME”

§ and the only answer you received,,, what just the opposite of what you called on God to do for you.,

We also learned from that lesson that:

1. God is no respecter of person.

a. With all of the hard-ship that Paul went through for the sake of Christ,,,

b. Compared to the little work that we have done,,,, COMPARATIVELY, to Paul and to hear God tell Paul “NO”!!!

c. Then, it makes it easier for me to accept God saying “NO” to me.

We learned in our:

“WHEN GOD SAYS,,, NO”

POINT #I. “GET READY , GET READY, GET READY!!!

1. Religious People will question your calling.

a. And in Paul’s case, these Religious Leaders were mean toward him, that he found himself in a place where he even tried to defend himself.

2 Corinthians 11:22-33 (KJV) 22 Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I.

Paul had been lied on by these “SO CALLED RELIGIOUS LEADERS”, to a point that

Paul ask the question, that you and I ask all the time,,, about people who are always in the middle of the mess that goes on in our church.

2 Corinthians 11:23,,,,,, Are they ministers of Christ?

· Sometime you just wonder!!!

· And while you and I might wonder about them

· Paul did not have something that you and I have,,, and that is,,,

o Paul did not have this letter he wrote to the Corinthians

o to give him any comfort in his ordeals as he was going through them.

So we see what Paul did,,

· Paul just prayed and prayed and prayed, according to 2 Cor. 12:8,

· 3 times Paul prayed that the Lord would removed this thorn that he had.

2 Corinthians 12:8-9 (MSG) 8 At first I didn't think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, 9 and then he told me, My grace is enough; it's all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness. Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ's strength moving in on my weakness.

Paul is learning -- “WHEN GOD SAYS,,, NO”

POINT #II. “SAYING NO, IS NOTING NEW WITH GOD.

Under the “Law of First Mentioned”, the first account of God saying “No” to someone was found in the book of Genesis.

Genesis 3:1-8 (KJV) 1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORDGod had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, [“NO”] Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

Church,,,, just like Adam & Eve could not understand why God would say’ “NO” to them, we don’t understand why at times, God says “NO” to us, , we just need to know that God know it all and because He know it all, God is the only one who see the harm of us rejecting Him when He says “NO” to us.

Church,,, are you learning anything about,,,

“WHEN GOD SAYS,,, NO”

If you aren’t sure that you are, let’s move on with the Adam & Eve story in our:

POINT #III. “SAYING NO, MEAN HE IS WORKING OUT FOR YOU”

God knew that the end result of Adam & Eve disobeying Him. God knew it would mean that He/God, would have to work out “A PLAN OF SALVATION”, to rescue “ALL OF US” back to Him,,,, because Adam & Eve would not accept His saying “NO” to them.

Romans 5:12 (KJV) 12 Wherefore, as by “one man” sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon “all men”, for that all have sinned:

Romans 5:12 (MSG) 12 You know the story of how Adam landed us in the dilemma we're in—first sin, then death, and no one exempt from either sin or death.

Church,,,, “WHEN GOD SAYS NO”, God is not looking just at one person and what that one person is doing, God looks at the full picture.

· And, the full picture in the Adam & Eve story is what was just read in your hearing.

· by “one man” sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon “all men”, for that all have sinned.

· So through Adam & Eve, every person born and reached the age of accountability have sinned and would be headed to hell, unless God did something about the sin of Adam & Eve.

The answer to our Point #3 “SAYING NO, MEAN HE IS WORKING OUT FOR YOU”

· Adam & Eve mess this thing us for us all.

Romans 5:18 (KJV) 18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.

How many really, deeply understand what is being said in this verse. This is the reason I look at different transliterations, to help me better understand what a verse is saying.

· Romans 5:18 (TLB) 18 Yes, Adam’s sin brought punishment to all, but Christ’s righteousness makes men right with God, so that they can live.

· Romans 5:18 (MSG) 18 Here it is in a nutshell: Just as one person did it wrong and got us in all this trouble with sin and death, another person did it right and got us out of it. But more than just getting us out of trouble, he got us into life!

When God said “NO”,,, God knew that He would have to go to work on our behave to redeem us back to him. God would have to sent a redeemer down through 42 long generations to suffer under Pontius Pilate,

· be crucified

· died

· and was buried

· To rise again on one third day morning.

Which brings us to our last point:

POINT #IV. “SAYING NO, COULD BE GOOD OR BAD”.

The first question that will be asked of you by God is,,, what did you do with my Son Jesus?

The one who came down to die for you

The one who paid the full price for your forgiveness

You answer could be good

Or Your answer could be bad.

What you do with this invitation to come to Jesus will determine whether your answer is good or bad.

Which bring us up to our printed scriptures read:

2 Corinthians 12:1-10 (KJV) 1 It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord.

“SOMETIME, YOU HAVE TO GO THROUGH HELL,

TO GET A GLIMPSE OF HEAVEN”

God saying “NO” to Paul has prepared Paul to receive the best that God has to offer him.