This is Ed Dickerson, the pastor of the Decatur Church of God located on Highway 503, Decatur, Miss. I am filling in this week for Ms. Agnes Russell. What I want to share with you is based on a sermon I preached a week or so ago at our church in Decatur. I called the sermon “Drawing close to God while the world moves farther away from Him.” I hope you will find something today that will encourage you and help others to get on the right track.
by Ed Dickerson
Hebrews 10:22, “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water”
James 4:8, “Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double minded”.
God is our only hope
Psalms 39:7, “And now Lord what wait I for? My hope is in Thee.”
Ever since the existence of man, God has always wanted a relationship with man. He even created man in His own image and likeness. What a great start God gave us. God had a daily visit in the cool of the morning with Adam. Satan wanted to destroy this relationship then and he still wants the same thing today. John said that it was important that we know that we know. It is not enough to know who He is but that we experience salvation through Him. We may not be able to put a date on this experience, but we need to know when it happened. This is an actual work of grace that literally happens, and it changes our life. I remember very well when I gave my heart to Jesus when I was a young child. I have never regretted making that commitment with God.
I love our nation but am afraid that we have distanced ourselves from God. I believe that God still has the desire for a relationship with us. If we could only see what God wants for us and what He has for us even in this New Year. Psalms 71:5 “For Thou art my hope, O Lord God, Thou art my trust from my youth.” Our hope is not in the last administration nor is it in the future administration. There is no limit to what God can and will do for us if only we will get close to Him. Mathew 6:33 tells us to seek the Kingdom of God first. We have never seen a time like we are seeing now. We are hoping for better days. We don’t know what is ahead. But we do know that the Church which is made up of all born again believers has a sure future. I believe that Jesus is about ready to return for His Church.
Let’s run to God and not away from Him
After Adam sinned while living in the garden, he made the mistake of running and hiding from God. God was looking for him to have fellowship with him. What sad words we hear from God when He says, “Adam where are you?” It was not that God didn’t know where he was, but God expects us to come to Him and not try to hide from Him. Jonah ran from God and tried to hide and woke up in the belly of a whale. Oh, if we could only learn from Jonah! Peter, after denying knowing Jesus, tried to hide from being part of His group, then he repented and became the first preacher after the birth of the church. If we find ourselves separated from Him, we should repent and get close to God.
Let’s turn to God for help Psalms 121:2: “My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.” Many of us really do need help from the Lord. We need to seek God to help us in this Covid -19 crisis. We all have lost friends and family to this horrible virus. Yet we trust God to get us through. We are facing a political situation that we have never seen nor even thought could happen. But rest assured that it has not caught God unaware and certainly not unprepared. Remember that God is still in control. I want to leave you with some comforting words found in Isaiah 41:10. “Fear thou not, for I am with thee, be not dismayed for I am thy God, I will strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee, yea I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.”
I want to share with you God’s wonderful plan of salvation. You must confess that you are a sinner. You must believe that Jesus is God’s only Son. You then ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins. Then accept Him as your personal Savior. God’s plan of salvation is a work of faith. You might ask, “Will I feel anything? The answer is, yes, if we believe that He forgave and saved us. He will cleanse you from the guilt of sin. You may stumble from time to time but remember that you now are now a Child of God. Strive to walk with Him and get just as close to Him as you can.
I hope and pray this new year will be a great year. Happy New Year to everyone!
Live for Jesus! He’s coming soon! You may contact me at lagnesrussell@gmail or
601-635-3282.
