Belonging to the Lord

This past weekend, LEFC Women's Ministry hosted our annual Spring Brunch. 225 women from LEFC and their friends and family joined us for a wonderful morning of fellowship, laughter, and encouragement.

Below is the message God laid on my heart to share with our ladies... It was one of those God-moments that will serve as a spiritual marker in my life for years to come.
I'd been struggling for weeks trying to write this message. I knew where I thought it was going to go, but every time I sat down to write it, I'd have this mental block and just have to wait.
The night I finally was able to write it, I'd driven back from my parent's house (an hour's drive) and had been talking to the Lord about what He would have me to say. He began to flood my mind with a new direction for the message. As soon as I got home, I grabbed a tablet of paper and started to write the thoughts down so I wouldn't forget them. Rather than just jot down a few points, I ended up writing the entire message. I felt the Lord's Spirit so heavy on me, I was afraid to move. I didn't check the clock, didn't get up from my couch and barely let the pen leave the paper. And when I was done, not only had the Lord made clear to me what I was to say, He blew my mind and taught me some huge and powerful things FOR ME as well. I pray He touches your heart today. Jesus is everything. He is more than enough.

Belonging to the Lord

First, let’s talk about belonging. And what it means to belong.

To belong, immediately calls to mind 2 things. The thing were talking about and the who or what it belongs to.

• Children belong to their parents.

• Property belongs to the owner (a house, a car)

• You write your name on a cup at the party. Why? So you make sure you get the one that belongs to you every time.

• Food in a shared fridge. Your leftovers, your lunch.

• Growing up, we knew a family with a bunch of kids. To help the mom when folding the laundry, she stitched a colored thread on the bottom of each child’s sock so they got the ones that belong to them back.

• All these things are things we can look at and use the word: MINE. Like a child who ferociously guards his toy. These kids are MINE. This car is MINE. This cup at a party is MINE. This delicious piece of cheesecake left in the fridge is MINE. I called it. I wrote my name on it. I will fight you to the death for it. Uh, well, maybe not to the death, but you get the idea…

Those examples are more or less the things and they belong to us because we say so. But let’s think about things we belong to because WE say so.

• Maybe you belong to a gym.

• Many of you are wearing a wedding ring…declaring you are not on the market. You belong to another, you’re his!

• Players of a team wear shirts saying which team they belong to.

Belonging. Something either belongs to us or we belong to it.

Keeping that in mind, let’s take a look at Isaiah 43.

It starts out with God talking to His people.

"Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name; you are Mine!
2"When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
And through the rivers, they will not overflow you
When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched,
Nor will the flame burn you.
3"For I am the LORD your God,
The Holy One of Israel, your Savior;

Then, later on verse 4 continues:

"Since you are precious in My sight,
Since you are honored and I love you, basically I will save your life. Do not fear for I am with you…

Verse 7:

Everyone who is called by My name,
And whom I have created for My glory,
Whom I have formed, even whom I have made."

That’s God. Talking to Israel. Absolutely applicable to us.

You belong to me. I treasure you. I cherish you. You are precious to me. I LOVE YOU.

Some of you need to hear that today. Some of you haven’t heard the words I LOVE YOU from another human being (and I’m not only talking about a man) in so long, you can't even remember the last time you did hear it.

The God of the UNIVERSE loves you. He loves you just the way you are. He treasures you. He cherishes you. You are precious to Him. HE LOVES YOU. Perfect or not. He loves you. And He can’t help it.

So, then the chapter continues to explain to the Lord’s people that they are His witnesses. People who have seen the things He can do. His chosen people for whom He has worked miracles for!

In verse 11 He says: I am the Lord and there is no savior besides me.

He’s telling them, “Only I can be your God. Only I can work miracles like parting seas, providing water in a desert, keeping you safe in the fire. You belong to Me and I love you. Nothing else can be for you what I AM for you.”

He doesn’t say, what I can be for you--IF you stinking people turn back to me, jump through these hoops, fulfill these 12 steps, stand on one foot while holding a finger to your nose…

He is the Lord and there is no Savior besides Him.

What about you? Are you trusting in anything or anyone for your saving…for your rescue… for your security… anyone or anything else you put your faith and trust and hope other than God?
Do you trust God to get you out from your mountain of debt—or are you handling that one all on your own?

Are you relying more on a relationship for encouragement, rescuing, security than you are trusting God?

Maybe it’s money, a relationship…Maybe it’s having nice things? There is nothing wrong with having nice things as long as you’re not working like a dog, killing yourself, sacrificing family in order to be or have the best of the best.

There are many things we can serve or set above our God… but to borrow a great acrostic from Beth Moore:
Every
Alternative
Savior
Takes
Early
Retirement

EASTER.

Whatever it is you’re setting higher than God in your life and priorities… it won’t save you and it won’t last. It’s only temporary. You can lose everything. It’s not worth it.

So, back to Isaiah:
God tells Israel you belong to me. You are precious to me. I love you. And I’m it. No one and nothing else could ever be for you what I am for you. Period.
The chapter continues with some well known verses of Scripture:

“Forget the former things,
Do not dwell in the past.
19"Behold, I am doing a new thing!,
Now it will spring forth;
Will you not be aware of it?
I will even make a roadway in the wilderness,
Rivers in the desert."

Forget the former things! Do not dwell in the past!

Did you hear that this morning?

Forget the past! Do not dwell in it.

Don’t camp there. Don’t live in the Land of What If things had been different or If Only I would have made a different choice.

Well. You didn’t.

Even if we know we’ve taken a wrong turn, our God is too loving and too merciful to let us live in a perpetual state of un-blessing. If we realize we’ve taken the wrong path and try to make it right through Him… He is the God who restores. He makes all things new.

Granted, our pasts shape us and form us and mold us into who we are. But that doesn’t mean we’re stuck there! The great thing about life is that it’s a journey. Everyone has had bad things happen to them. EVERYONE. Those who walk in joy have left the past behind. They’ve learned what they needed to learn and left it in the past. Those who walk around in bitterness or with a victim’s mentality are still living in their past. And if that is you. If you are stuck in the Land of Woe is Me! To you I say, as respectfully as I know how: GET OVER IT! Leave it behind. Give it to Jesus and enjoy the present have a bright hope for the future!

God refers to Himself as I AM. Even earlier in our chapter, He says, I AM the Lord. I AM the One who got you out of trouble. He didn’t say, I was the One who rescued you. NO. HE IS. I AM the Lord. He is not the I WAS. He is the great I AM.

And because He is the I AM today. He will still be the I AM when tomorrow gets here. Maybe your future is scary: As you wait for the chemo to start or to finish, as you wait for the test results to come in, as you wait for a test you have scheduled in a week or 2, as your company is making decisions about lay offs and you or your husband could be next, as the surgery date is ever approaching.

Whenever that day arrives, He will be present then. That day He will still be I AM.

If this describes you…any of it… and you want to live a better way, raise the white flag of surrender. It’s not a sign of weakness, but a mark of great courage and great faith. Just surrender. Surrender control. Surrender your plan. Trust that He is BIG enough. He knows what He is doing. No matter the outcome, He is still God.

Back to Isaiah 43:
God is basically telling Israel to forget the past things He has done. Don’t dwell even on the good of the past. Sure, He did some mighty miracles among their people in the past. But He’s telling them that He is RIGHT NOW doing a work and they’re so focused on what great things He once could do, they can’t even see what He’s in the middle of doing RIGHT NOW.

My oh My, does that apply to us as well.

Do you ever feel like you used up all your blessings? Like God did some great thing for you, some huge miracle, came through for you in a HUGE way so much so that in your mind He becomes the God who did that thing rather than the God who can do ANYTHING. And you know he can do anything because He did THAT.

Are you stuck on who He was and not able to believe Him for who He is?

Israel was stuck on who He was.

God was pointing out their faith in His past actions and blindness to His current abilities. He then tells them:

Yet you have not called on Me, O Jacob;
But you have become weary of Me, O Israel.
You have not been obeying Me, giving me the required offerings.
You haven’t been giving burnt offerings—you haven’t even been seeking forgiveness for your sins!
Rather, you have burdened me with your sins. You have wearied me with your iniquities.

Then, God tells them of His own faithfulness.

Basically, even though I’m burdened by your disobedience, complacency & sin…I AM the One who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake. And I will not remember your sins.

Our God is so faithful. He loves us So much… like the NT also tells us: Though we are faithless, He remains faithful because He cannot deny Himself. (2 Timothy 2:13)

Here comes the BEST part:

Chapter 44 continues…
Don’t worry Israel. I am faithful. You may have not made the most of this relationship. You may have turned your back on me and trusted everywhere else for only what I can give you, but this is what the Lord who formed you and created you says:

"I will pour out water on the thirsty land
And streams on the dry ground;
I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring
And My blessing on your descendants;
4And they will spring up among the grass
Like poplars by streams of water.'

You may have thought you left Me, but I will never leave you. You belong to Me! You are MINE!

Verse 5:
This one will say, “I am the Lord’s” and this one will be called by the name Jacob, and another will write on his hand, “I Belong to the Lord.”

All previously in our lesson this morning, God was telling His people: You belong to Me. You are precious to Me. I cherish you. I treasure you. You ARE MINE! I will do anything for you.

And yet, Israel just couldn’t get it.

They were lost in the past without hope for their own future, they had given up on God entirely. They thought He was just the God who was. They forgot He is the God who is. The Great I AM.

So God is assuring them, they (the people who are hearing His word through the prophet Isaiah) may not get it. But their descendents will. He is faithful to do what He says He will do… their descendents will come back to the Lord.

And not just come back as those who belong to the Lord because He says they do. They will come back with JOY because they themselves say so… they’ll have such joy they will not be able to contain it. They’ll just have to tell it: I am the Lord’s; they’ll name their children Jacob in honor of their heritage as God’s chosen people and they will write on their hands, I BELONG TO THE LORD!!

So the questions is: What about you?

Are you the one who bought some fire insurance several years ago and you have done little to embrace the abundant life OR are you so full of gratitude, joy, esteem, respect and faith you declare, I am the Lord’s and call your children Jacob and would write it on your hand (or you facebook) I Belong to the Lord!

If you need more Jesus and you need more joy…ask HIM for it! Get out of your pit!
Tell Him you’re a mess, ask Him for help and do what He says!

There is power in private prayer. Getting alone with God. There’s nothing like it. Spend time reading His word, getting to know Him, allowing Him to speak to your heart.

I tell you what, if you ask Him for more, He’ll give it to you. You just have to take the step out and ask Him to help you change.

As our time together comes to a close, I need to point out that there are very likely people in this room who don’t fall in either camp because they don’t yet BELONG TO THE LORD.

What about you?
Do you belong to the Lord?

Don’t we all?
No, we don’t. We’re not born followers of Jesus.

Do you belong to the Lord?
Maybe. Is not an ok answer. I think so or I hope so aren’t going to work either.

The Bible tells us that everyone has sinned (or done something wrong they know they shouldn’t do) and falls short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)

Because of our sin, we aren’t good enough for God. He is holy and perfect and we are dirty and broken because of our sin.

The Bible also tells us that the penalty for our sin is death—eternal, forever separation from God. Or, in terms of heaven or hell, hell. (Romans 6:23)

Because we are not perfect like God, we can’t get into heaven when we die. There are no balances and scales to judge our good deeds against our bad deeds. Everyone falls short.

But God showed His love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

God knew we weren’t perfect. Satan deceived Adam & Eve and ruined perfection for all of us.
But God loves you so much that even though He knew we would sin and fail Him, He made a way to cancel out our sin so that we would no longer fall short.

He sent His only Son to earth (Jesus) to be born as a human in order that His Son, Jesus, a perfect, sinless man, would take your punishment for your sins upon Himself, so that your sin debt could be cancelled out.

Jesus died a horrible death, nailed to a cross 2000+ years ago so that you and I don’t have to pay the consequences of our sin. Our consequence, being an eternity apart from God, suffering unspeakable pain in hell.

Jesus, who died for our sins, was then buried in a tomb.

And 3 days later, He ROSE FROM THE DEAD! His resurrection of coming back from death to life guarantees Believers an eternity TOGETHER with God in heaven.

A Believer is someone who believes that she has sinned and because of her sin she deserves eternal, forever separation from God. She believes that God sent His Son Jesus to take her punishment so she won’t ever have to. Jesus died because of her sins, that means my sins, and your sins. A Believer believes that Jesus was buried and arose from the dead so that she can be sure of what happens to her soul after death in heaven. Some people call it being saved, others call it accepting Christ or being born again. Some call it following Jesus because a believer’s life on earth before her eternity in heaven is forever changed, too.

The Bible even tells us how easy it is to receive God’s free gift of eternal life or salvation:
If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9)

It’s really the easiest thing to do with the biggest most unbelievable rewards:

So, if you're ready to follow Jesus today, you can pray this prayer to God. It's not a magic formula that you have to get just right or it won't work. Your mouth is just a way to express what you believe in your heart. You can say the words and not mean them and nothing would change in your life. But if you believe and are ready to follow Jesus from the depths of your heart, pray this prayer to Him now and tell Him so.

God-
I confess that I have sinned.
I understand that because of my sin I deserve an eternity apart from You.
I believe that You sent Your Son, Jesus to take the punishment for my sin upon Himself.
I believe that He died, was buried, and rose from the dead.
I accept your free gift of salvation today.
I ask for your Spirit to guide me all the days of my life
And help me grow in relationship with you.
Amen

If you made a decision to follow Jesus today, please let me know! I'd love to tell you more about who Jesus is and help you as you begin to live your life with a fresh hope and a new joy! You can find my email on the staff directory HERE