Our text references Noah, Daniel and Job four times. They lived in different times and different circumstances. If we were to call them saints, we would certainly be correct. Their are no names in scripture that are more descriptive than Noah, Daniel and Job. They remind us of righteousness and a Godly life. Consider the influence of these three men. What would it be like to receive council from these three men in our current situation? Noah was the pattern of Godly fear. He ignored the ridicule of the hour and set about God's work. Daniel was a young man of sterling character. There is nothing about him which could be said to be defective or flawed. He was a model of manliness and a see or God's will. Job is the example of how to live a Godly life. Even Satan could not find a fault in Job. Job is a model of excellence and patience. When we consider the combined virtue of these men we are in awe. God brings these men together to make a point to His people: In spite of the combined virtue of these great men can be wiped out by one thing. These men could save no one but themselves. In spite of all the Godly influence, we can nullify it by making the wrong choice. It doesn't matter who our parents or grand parents were, if we make the wrong choices, we will be lost. Associations will not save us. We know that, but some do not live that. There is no amount of prayer from someone else that can void wrong choices. We have the power to decide how the word of God affects us. God was trying to get a point across to His people. We can be surrounded by all the good and Godly influences, but it will all be for naught if we make the wrong choices. There is no amount of prayer that can go up that will save us from being burned if we willingly stick our hand in the fire. We cannot cling to old things and expect new things to happen. Associations will not save us. We can carry a bible around until it is worn out from being carried, but if we do not get it into our heart, that bible will not make a difference. The differences is when we decide that that Word will become the foundation of our life. All our life must be founded on the Word. It doesn't matter how good church is, it cannot get us out of the hole we are in if we decide to stay in it. No amount of good can void a wrong choice. It doesn't matter who is trying to help, if we do not open up and accept that help, there is nothing that can be done if we keep making wrong choices.

Our text references Noah, Daniel and Job four times. They lived in different times and different circumstances. If we were to call them saints, we would certainly be correct. Their are no names in scripture that are more descriptive than Noah, Daniel and Job. They remind us of righteousness and a Godly life. Consider the influence of these three men. What would it be like to receive council from these three men in our current situation? Noah was the pattern of Godly fear. He ignored the ridicule of the hour and set about God's work. Daniel was a young man of sterling character. There is nothing about him which could be said to be defective or flawed. He was a model of manliness and a see or God's will. Job is the example of how to live a Godly life. Even Satan could not find a fault in Job. Job is a model of excellence and patience. When we consider the combined virtue of these men we are in awe. God brings these men together to make a point to His people: In spite of the combined virtue of these great men can be wiped out by one thing. These men could save no one but themselves. In spite of all the Godly influence, we can nullify it by making the wrong choice. It doesn't matter who our parents or grand parents were, if we make the wrong choices, we will be lost. Associations will not save us. We know that, but some do not live that. There is no amount of prayer from someone else that can void wrong choices. We have the power to decide how the word of God affects us. God was trying to get a point across to His people. We can be surrounded by all the good and Godly influences, but it will all be for naught if we make the wrong choices. There is no amount of prayer that can go up that will save us from being burned if we willingly stick our hand in the fire. We cannot cling to old things and expect new things to happen. Associations will not save us. We can carry a bible around until it is worn out from being carried, but if we do not get it into our heart, that bible will not make a difference. The differences is when we decide that that Word will become the foundation of our life. All our life must be founded on the Word. It doesn't matter how good church is, it cannot get us out of the hole we are in if we decide to stay in it. No amount of good can void a wrong choice. It doesn't matter who is trying to help, if we do not open up and accept that help, there is nothing that can be done if we keep making wrong choices.

here is no more beautiful story than the one told in the Song of Soloman. It is a very intimate book. Some parts can be embarrassing at first glance. Many avoid reading Song of Soloman because it is so intimate. It is however, a portrait of divine love. It is a picture of the type of love that God has for us and His desire to have a relationship with His creation. It is a great book for couples to read because it teaches how to talk to each other, and how to talk about one another in the context of a marriage. That is the earthly application, but the book is more than that. In our text, he comes to his beloved. God is not content to sit above His creation, but he wants to come to us and be connected in a very personal way on a daily basis. In our text, we see a divine intent. He comes deliberately because he wants to fellowship with His beloved. God of heaven wants to talk and fellowship with us personally. What a wonderful revelation! There is something in God that longs for a relationship with us. So much so that He takes the initiative and makes the first move. God came after us. He will use any possible way He can to talk to our heart. How many times and in how many ways has God tried to make a connection to us? How many times during the day does He make an effort to speak to us? Do we still recognize God's voice? When He begins to move, do we realize that He is speaking directly to us? God is trying to talk to each one of us to let us know "I am here!" God is not here to frighten us. In our text, the beloved speaks to her to calm her and communicate his love to her. God speaks to us to communicate His love, not to fill us with fear. As He speaks, he does not bring up the failures of our past, but instead use words like, beloved, dove, undefiled. In our text, he comes and asks "open to me." In the next verse, she offers excuses why she cannot open. Our spirit is saying come on! But on the other side, our flesh is offering excuses. God has an intent desire to come to us. If we can get past our flesh; our carnality, we can experience joy everlasting. We must press through our flesh and answer the call to "Open to me."

here is no more beautiful story than the one told in the Song of Soloman. It is a very intimate book. Some parts can be embarrassing at first glance. Many avoid reading Song of Soloman because it is so intimate. It is however, a portrait of divine love. It is a picture of the type of love that God has for us and His desire to have a relationship with His creation. It is a great book for couples to read because it teaches how to talk to each other, and how to talk about one another in the context of a marriage. That is the earthly application, but the book is more than that. In our text, he comes to his beloved. God is not content to sit above His creation, but he wants to come to us and be connected in a very personal way on a daily basis. In our text, we see a divine intent. He comes deliberately because he wants to fellowship with His beloved. God of heaven wants to talk and fellowship with us personally. What a wonderful revelation! There is something in God that longs for a relationship with us. So much so that He takes the initiative and makes the first move. God came after us. He will use any possible way He can to talk to our heart. How many times and in how many ways has God tried to make a connection to us? How many times during the day does He make an effort to speak to us? Do we still recognize God's voice? When He begins to move, do we realize that He is speaking directly to us? God is trying to talk to each one of us to let us know "I am here!" God is not here to frighten us. In our text, the beloved speaks to her to calm her and communicate his love to her. God speaks to us to communicate His love, not to fill us with fear. As He speaks, he does not bring up the failures of our past, but instead use words like, beloved, dove, undefiled. In our text, he comes and asks "open to me." In the next verse, she offers excuses why she cannot open. Our spirit is saying come on! But on the other side, our flesh is offering excuses. God has an intent desire to come to us. If we can get past our flesh; our carnality, we can experience joy everlasting. We must press through our flesh and answer the call to "Open to me."

In many ways Israel limited God. Because of their spirit, choices and lack of desire. We must take care to not limit God by our lack of faith, or motivation. Sometimes we develop spiritual blind spots that cause us to miss what God has for us. We get into a routine and become comfortable with life and we do not allow ourselves to worship God in the way that He wants and deserves. There is a world that God wants to expose us to that are without limit. As much as we see, God sees more. From our perspective, we can only see so much. God can see so much more. We should not allow our spiritual blessing to be limited by what we can see with our human eye. We need to see a world according to God, not a world according to me. Israel limited God by trying to define HIm in their terms. We must not be guilty of putting restraints on God.

In our text, God lays out a prescription for a breakthrough. One of the first things to understand is that it is not possible to have a breakthrough, and be satisfied. A breakthrough comes when people are reaching, praying, and expecting. In a simple way, God lays out what has to be in place for a breakthrough to happen. Bro. Hughes notes four words that challenge the spirit of meritocracy. They call us to a better future. They say that if we incorporate these things into our lives, we will have a breakthrough. The first word is enlarge. To enlarge is to make room for increase. We must always make room for what God has for us. We must grow. The second word is stretch. Like muscles that are tight, we have to stretch spiritually to get to what God has for us. We have to stretch to reach for more. To take our lives in all directions. We have to stretch out of our comfort zone. To worship differently, to begin a new ministry, to reach out and to go beyond where we have gone before. Get out of our comfort zone and teach a home bible study. Stretch a little and go visit people. The third word is spare not. To give it all we have. To hold nothing back. It means to not be stingy or tight fisted. It means that we are not hard to move. We should not let a service go by where we regret not responding to they way we felt God wanting us to worship. We should never leave feeling that we had not given God our all. The last word is strengthen. We must always seek to strengthen our relationship with God. Our spiritual building is no stronger than the foundation on which it is built. We must remain strong on our core principles and Biblical values. We must strengthen the things within and the steaks that hold up the tent of our life. Without this, all of the other things will fall.

If we incorporate these things into our life, we will experience the breakthrough we desire.

In many ways Israel limited God. Because of their spirit, choices and lack of desire. We must take care to not limit God by our lack of faith, or motivation. Sometimes we develop spiritual blind spots that cause us to miss what God has for us. We get into a routine and become comfortable with life and we do not allow ourselves to worship God in the way that He wants and deserves. There is a world that God wants to expose us to that are without limit. As much as we see, God sees more. From our perspective, we can only see so much. God can see so much more. We should not allow our spiritual blessing to be limited by what we can see with our human eye. We need to see a world according to God, not a world according to me. Israel limited God by trying to define HIm in their terms. We must not be guilty of putting restraints on God.

In our text, God lays out a prescription for a breakthrough. One of the first things to understand is that it is not possible to have a breakthrough, and be satisfied. A breakthrough comes when people are reaching, praying, and expecting. In a simple way, God lays out what has to be in place for a breakthrough to happen. Bro. Hughes notes four words that challenge the spirit of meritocracy. They call us to a better future. They say that if we incorporate these things into our lives, we will have a breakthrough. The first word is enlarge. To enlarge is to make room for increase. We must always make room for what God has for us. We must grow. The second word is stretch. Like muscles that are tight, we have to stretch spiritually to get to what God has for us. We have to stretch to reach for more. To take our lives in all directions. We have to stretch out of our comfort zone. To worship differently, to begin a new ministry, to reach out and to go beyond where we have gone before. Get out of our comfort zone and teach a home bible study. Stretch a little and go visit people. The third word is spare not. To give it all we have. To hold nothing back. It means to not be stingy or tight fisted. It means that we are not hard to move. We should not let a service go by where we regret not responding to they way we felt God wanting us to worship. We should never leave feeling that we had not given God our all. The last word is strengthen. We must always seek to strengthen our relationship with God. Our spiritual building is no stronger than the foundation on which it is built. We must remain strong on our core principles and Biblical values. We must strengthen the things within and the steaks that hold up the tent of our life. Without this, all of the other things will fall.

If we incorporate these things into our life, we will experience the breakthrough we desire.

I never thought I would be in this place. How often have we observed that. Most of us would write the story of our life differently. We would have eliminated the mountains and storms that are part of our story. We would not write into our lives the painful things that we have had to endure. The truth is, however, it is the experience of those storms, mountains and dark places that have formed who we are. When we look at the life of Paul, we see that he has spent more time in prison than he did in church. By looking at his resume, he would not be an in demand speaker for most churches. However, Paul has one of the most remarkable lives and, if he were to be alive today, his speaking calendar would be booked for years. Paul was able to use the things in his life as a way to praise God. It is easy for us to become frustrated with life. We wish and dream and wonder what might have been if only we could be free of the things that afflict us. Paul didn't want to be in prison. Many of the letters that he wrote to the first century church came out of a prison cell. Paul learned that it does not matter where he was or the circumstances he was in, God was the same and worshiping Him was the key. How often have we found ourselves in a prison and all we could do was complain? In a prison cell, Paul witnesses to a run away slave named Onesimon who is converted. This is a lesson to us that no matter what, we can be fruitful and preach the gospel to a hungry world. Even from a prison cell, we can bring things to life. We have problem and trials that we are in. The lesson Paul teaches us is that no matter what, there are opportunities to reach out to people and teach the gospel. The world is not going to get any better. We have to make up our mind that even if it does not get better, we have to put ourselves in a place where God can use us. We do not have time to wait until things are better. The devil fights that which he fears. So when we are seeing the most opposition may be the time we are going to see our biggest success for God.

Sometimes the greatest gifts come to us in the simplest form. One of the greatest and most magnificent messages are on our text today; He came. He came from the perfection of heaven to our world for us. He did not send a representative, God came Himself to the world He created because we needed Him to do it. Our text assures us that He came for everyone. "But as many as received Him." THis means that anyone has access. It is not lmited to Jews, the rich, or the prominent. He came for the sick, for the needy, for the lame, for the sinner and the saint all alike. No one is denied access. We have the privilege of walking into the throne room of glory and boldly bring our needs. He gives us access to the blood which can cleans all sins. His blood is sufficient to cover all sins. For those who access this power, there is a door that is opened that affords them the greatest opportunity known: The right to become a son of God. He gives us permission to live, to win, to overcome, to leave our past behind and enter a life of freedom, grace and mercy. God wants us to know that we have options and opportunities. We have no reason to be defeated, doubtful or lost. Because here today, we have an opportunity. No matter who we are, not matter our past, not matter our outlook, God gives us the opportunity to change that outcome. God leads us to this intersection, but the choice to change direction is up to us. If we do not like the present, our text is the opportunity to take advantage of the opportunity that God has afforded.

I never thought I would be in this place. How often have we observed that. Most of us would write the story of our life differently. We would have eliminated the mountains and storms that are part of our story. We would not write into our lives the painful things that we have had to endure. The truth is, however, it is the experience of those storms, mountains and dark places that have formed who we are. When we look at the life of Paul, we see that he has spent more time in prison than he did in church. By looking at his resume, he would not be an in demand speaker for most churches. However, Paul has one of the most remarkable lives and, if he were to be alive today, his speaking calendar would be booked for years. Paul was able to use the things in his life as a way to praise God. It is easy for us to become frustrated with life. We wish and dream and wonder what might have been if only we could be free of the things that afflict us. Paul didn't want to be in prison. Many of the letters that he wrote to the first century church came out of a prison cell. Paul learned that it does not matter where he was or the circumstances he was in, God was the same and worshiping Him was the key. How often have we found ourselves in a prison and all we could do was complain? In a prison cell, Paul witnesses to a run away slave named Onesimon who is converted. This is a lesson to us that no matter what, we can be fruitful and preach the gospel to a hungry world. Even from a prison cell, we can bring things to life. We have problem and trials that we are in. The lesson Paul teaches us is that no matter what, there are opportunities to reach out to people and teach the gospel. The world is not going to get any better. We have to make up our mind that even if it does not get better, we have to put ourselves in a place where God can use us. We do not have time to wait until things are better. The devil fights that which he fears. So when we are seeing the most opposition may be the time we are going to see our biggest success for God.

Sometimes the greatest gifts come to us in the simplest form. One of the greatest and most magnificent messages are on our text today; He came. He came from the perfection of heaven to our world for us. He did not send a representative, God came Himself to the world He created because we needed Him to do it. Our text assures us that He came for everyone. "But as many as received Him." THis means that anyone has access. It is not lmited to Jews, the rich, or the prominent. He came for the sick, for the needy, for the lame, for the sinner and the saint all alike. No one is denied access. We have the privilege of walking into the throne room of glory and boldly bring our needs. He gives us access to the blood which can cleans all sins. His blood is sufficient to cover all sins. For those who access this power, there is a door that is opened that affords them the greatest opportunity known: The right to become a son of God. He gives us permission to live, to win, to overcome, to leave our past behind and enter a life of freedom, grace and mercy. God wants us to know that we have options and opportunities. We have no reason to be defeated, doubtful or lost. Because here today, we have an opportunity. No matter who we are, not matter our past, not matter our outlook, God gives us the opportunity to change that outcome. God leads us to this intersection, but the choice to change direction is up to us. If we do not like the present, our text is the opportunity to take advantage of the opportunity that God has afforded.