Sunlight

I remember the demonstration at Vacation Bible School revealing how Jesus can take a black heart of sin, wash it with the red blood of Jesus, making it whiter than snow. 

2 Corinthians 4:6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

I’m ever so thankful for the light Jesus shined in my heart when I asked Him for forgiveness. I was a child, but I’ll never forget it. It was a life changer. 

Psalm 27:1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

Sunlight

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“I wandered in the shades of night,  —. Till Jesus came to me,  —  And with the sunlight of His love  —  Bid all my darkness flee.

Chorus

“Sunlight, sunlight in my soul today  —  Sunlight, sunlight all along the way;  —  Since the Savior found me  —  Took away my sin,  —  I have had the sunlight of his love within.

“Tho' clouds may gather in the sky,  —  And billows round me roll,  —  However dark the world may be,  —  I've sunlight in my soul. 

“While walking in the light of God,  —  I sweet communion find;  —  I press with holy vigor on,  —  And leave the world behind.

“I cross the wide-extended fields,  —  I journey o'er the plain,  —  And in the sunlight of His love  —  I reap the golden grain.

“Soon I shall see Him as He is,  —  The light that came to me,  —  Behold the brightness of his face,  —  Thro'out eternity.”

Judson W. Van De Venter 1897

Ideas for this unprofitable blog are taken from The Sermon Notebook—Biblical resources for preachers and teachers of the word of God. They allow these sermons to be used as the Lord leads but not for profit. 

Heaven’s Jubilee

With all that’s happening in this chaotic world, I thought we could use some comfort.

The hope of the believer is wrapped up in meeting our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the clouds and being with Him forever. 

That’s the hope for all our tomorrows.

1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 

[17] Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 

[18] Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

Heaven’s Jubilee

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“Some glad morning we shall see, Jesus in the air. —  Coming after you and me, joy is ours to share.  —  What rejoicing that will be, when the saints shall rise,  —  Headed for that jubilee, yonder in the skies.

Chorus

“Oh what singing!  —  0h what shouting!  —  On that happy morning when we all shall rise.  —  Oh what glory! Hallelujah!  —. When we meet our blessed Saviour in the skies

“Seems that now I almost see, all the sainted dead,  —  Rising for that jubilee, that is just ahead.  —  In the twinkling of an eye, changed with them to be,  —  All the living saints to fly to that jubilee.

“When with all the heavenly host, we begin to sing,  —. Singing in the Holy Ghost, how the heav’ns will ring.  —  Millions there will join the song, with them we shall be,  —  Praising Christ through ages long, heaven's jubilee.

Chorus

“Oh what singing!  —  Oh what shouting!  —  On that happy morning when we all shall rise.  —  Oh what glory! Hallelujah!  —  When we meet our blessed Saviour in the skies.”

     G.T. Speer

Ideas for this unprofitable blog are taken from The Sermon Notebook—Biblical resources for preachers and teachers of the word of God. They allow these sermons to be used as the Lord leads but not for profit. 

Learning To Lean

If you are one of those who is "weary and heavy laden", there is a Haven of Rest when you lean on Jesus. 

Matthew 11:28  Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Leaning on Jesus means we place ourselves at His disposal and allow Him to be the absolute Lord and ruler of our lives. 

When we lean on Jesus we wait for Him, and He gives us strength for our journey.

Isaiah 40:31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

Learning to lean.

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“The joy I cant explain filled my soul. —  The day I made Jesus my king.  —  His Blessed Holy Spirit is leading my way,  —  He's teaching and I'm learning to lean.

Chorus

“Learning to lean,  —  Learning to lean,  —  I'm learning to lean on Jesus.  —. Finding more power than I've ever dreamed,  —  I'm learning to lean on Jesus.

“Sad broken hearted, at an alter I knelt.  —  I found peace that was so serene.  —  And all that He asks is a child like trust,  —  And a heart that is learning to lean.

“There's a glorious victory, each day now for me.  —  I've found peace so serene.  —  He helps me with each task, If I'll only ask.  —  Everyday now I'm learning to lean.”

  John Stallings

Ideas for this unprofitable blog are taken from The Sermon Notebook—Biblical resources for preachers and teachers of the word of God. They allow these sermons to be used as the Lord leads but not for profit. 

Something Beautiful

A diamond is found in the ground. It’s rough and ugly, but in the hands of a master diamond cutter, that rough, ugly stone is transformed into a thing of tremendous value and beauty. 

The Lord does the same, taking old rough sinners and transforming them by His grace and His patient work in their lives. 

I praise Him that He can take them from where they are, save them by grace and make something beautiful out of them for His glory. 

Isaiah 61:1,3 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; 

[3] To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.

The following words penned by Gloria Gaither in the song   ‘Something Beautiful” always humbles me when I think of where I came from and how the Lord blessed my life.

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“Something beautiful,  —  something good.  —  All my confusion He understood.  —  All I had to offer Him was brokenness and strife,  —  But he made something beautiful of my life. 

“If there ever were dreams that were lofty and noble,  —  They were my dreams at the start.  —  And hope for life's best were the hopes that I harbored  —  down deep in my heart.  —  But my dreams turned to ashes. —   my castles all crumbled,   —  My fortune turned to loss.  —. So I wrapped it all in the rags of life. —  And laid it at the cross, and He made —

“Something beautiful,  —  something good.  —  All my confusion He understood.  —  All I had to offer Him was brokenness and strife,  —  But he made something beautiful of my life.”

Gloria Gaither

Ideas for this unprofitable blog are taken from The Sermon Notebook—Biblical resources for preachers and teachers of the word of God. They allow these sermons to be used as the Lord leads but not for profit. 

The Old Rugged Cross

No more brutal form of execution had ever existed in this history of the world. Jesus died, crucified on a cruel cross, in horrible agony so that you and I might live in glory. 

He also demonstrated the boundless love of God for sinners when He died on that cross, Rom. 5:8. 

When we see Him in Heaven, we will see Him as God, but also as the Man Who died for our sins on the cross, and Who still bears the “beauty marks” of that experience in His body. 

Philippians 2:8  And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Galatians 6:14 But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.

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“On a hill far away, stood an old rugged Cross. —  The emblem of suffering and shame.  —  And I love that old Cross where the dearest and best. —  For a world of lost sinners was slain

Chorus

“So I'll cherish the old rugged Cross,  —  Till my trophies, at last, I lay down.  —  I will cling to the old rugged Cross. —  And exchange it some day for a crown

“Oh, the old rugged Cross so despised by the world,  —  Has a wondrous attraction for me;  —  For the dear Lamb of God, left His Glory above. —  To bear it to dark Calvary.

“In the old rugged Cross, stained with blood so divine,  —  A wondrous beauty I see;  —  For ‘twas on that old cross, Jesus suffered and died  —  To pardon and sanctify me.

“To the old rugged Cross, I will ever be true. —  Its shame and reproach gladly bear.  —  Then He'll call me some day to my home far away. —  Where His glory forever I'll share.”

      George Bernard

Ideas for this unprofitable blog are taken from The Sermon Notebook—Biblical resources for preachers and teachers of the word of God. They allow these sermons to be used as the Lord leads but not for profit. 

Amazing Grace

No force in Heaven above down to Hell beneath has the awesome power to  change a sinner to a saint, except the grace of God.

The lyrics to "Amazing Grace" were penned by the Englishman John Newton (1725-1807). 

Once the captain of a slave ship, Newton converted to Christianity after an encounter with God in a violent storm at sea.

The change in his life was radical. Not only did he become an evangelical minister for the Church of England, he also fought slavery as a social justice activist.

Not long before his death, he preached in a loud voice, "My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things: That I am a great sinner and that Christ is a great Savior!"

Ephesians 2:7-9 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. 

[8] For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 

[9] Not of works, lest any man should boast.

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“Amazing grace! How sweet the sound. —  That saved a wretch like me.  —  I once was lost, but now am found,  —  Was blind, but now I see.

“'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,  —  And grace my fears relieved.  —  How precious did that grace appear. —  The hour I first believed.

“Through many dangers, toils and snares  —  I have already come;  —  'Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far. —  And grace will lead me home.

“When we've been there ten thousand years. —  Bright shining as the sun,  —  We've no less days to sing God's praise. —  Than when we've first begun.”

      John Newton, 1725-1807

Ideas for this unprofitable blog are taken from The Sermon Notebook—Biblical resources for preachers and teachers of the word of God. They allow these sermons to be used as the Lord leads but not for profit.