Does God Have a Need? Pastor Phil Sessa

Psalm 145:16, “You open Your hand, And satisfy the desire of every living thing”

As a science teacher I have taught my students that all life has basic needs. Most living things need food, water, air, and living space (shelter). I’ve heard it said in the context of marriage that man has a need for respect that can be satisfied by a man’s wife. Similarly, women have a need for emotional love that can be fulfilled by her husband (see Ephesians 5).

Submitting To God’s Righteousness, Part 7of10, Evans Olang

Romans 10:3, “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God”

God forgave David and he truly appreciated it as demonstrated by his sacrifice to the Lord. He refused to offer God what cost him nothing. It cost God a lot to bring him out of his sin, he also understood that it will cost him a lot to live for Him. Isaiah’s lips were touched with alive coal of fire and his sins departed, he then heard the Lord say, “who shall go for us”, Isaiah was quick to say, “Here I am Oh Lord send me”. In other words, if you could do this for me by giving the very best, I will do anything for You. John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” and because of that, I will serve You for the rest of my life. I will be a living witness of Your saving grace. I will stand like Isaiah and say, “Here I am Oh Lord send me”. I will offer sacrifices that will cost me. I will not give you what cost me nothing. I will delight to do thy will. The gratitude I may not express in words, I will express in works. I will give you what is RIGHT not what is LEFT. I HAVE SEEN THE COST TO APPRECIATE THE SACRIFICE.

Submitting To God’s Righteousness, Part 6of10, Evans Olang

Romans 10:3, “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God”

The bible says James 4:6. “God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble”. The humble will submit to the righteousness of God. Watch this, 2Samuel 24:17, “Then David spoke to the Lord when he saw the angel striking the people, and said, “SURELY I HAVE SINNED, AND I HAVE DONE WICKEDLY; BUT THESE SHEEP, WHAT HAVE THEY DONE? LET YOUR HAND, I PRAY, BE AGAINST ME…” David was not justifying himself neither was he seeing that he was being rubbed the wrong way, he saw God serving justice over what he did and he understood that he deserved justice and that humbled him.

Submitting To God’s Righteousness, Part 5of10, Evans Olang

Romans 10:3, “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God”

If you continue to ready 2Samuel 24, youdiscover how God plagued David by killing 70 thousand people, while God sent His Son to this world to die for over 6 billion people. If 70 thousand people had to die for someone to be redeemed, we can conclude the sin was not petty. If a judge is to pass a sentence that requires the offender to pay 70 thousand dollars as his fines, we can conclude it wasn’t a petty crime. Romans 5:8 “God demonstrated his love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us”. Christ was the ultimate sacrifice to pay for the fine for law breakers. If the sacrifice was this great, the law broken must be big. D.L. Moody said, “FOR GOD TO CREATE, HE ONLY HAD TO SPEAK; TO REDEEM, CHRIST HAD TO SUFFER (PLAGUED)”. Quick death is less painful compared to suffering before dying. Christ suffered greatly, crushed before dying and that was His demonstration of His love to us. Isaiah 53:5, “He was wounded for my transgression, He was bruised for my iniquities”. His sacrifice was not a painless death but a painful death and once again, that was the demonstration of His love.

Submitting To God’s Righteousness, Part 4of10, Evans Olang

Romans 10:3, “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God”

In the case of David in 2Samuel 24, David sinned by numbering people, he goes before God and asks for forgiveness. I would imagine God easily forgiving him, but not quite yet. I’m in no way saying God wasn’t going to forgive him, I’m saying that God had to first show him THE SERIOUSNESS OF HIS SIN AND THE COST TO MAKE THINGS RIGHT.

Submitting To God’s Righteousness, Part 3of10, Evans Olang

Romans 10:3, “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God”

God upholds his laws, Psalms 19:7, “The law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul”. Charles Finney said, “God’s righteousness and perfect purity of character are revealed in His law”. The law was designed to call to attention the state of the heart which is the real value in God’s sight” No one is saved by the law, the bible says, Romans 3:20 “By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified”, the law is just the mirror. I have never seen a mirror clean anyone. Charles Finney also said, “Ever more the Law must prepare the way for the Gospel. To overlook this in instructing souls is almost certain to result in false hope, the introduction of a false standard of Christian experience, and to fill the church with false converts…Time will make this plain.” And the bible continues to highlight the purpose of the law, Galatians 3:24, “Wherefore the LAW was our school master to bring us to Christ that we might be justified by faith”. To quote CharlesSpurgeon, “The law cuts into the core of the evil, it reveals the seat of the malady, and informs us that the leprosy lies deep within. Oh how the man abhors himself when he sees all his rivers of water turned blood, and loathsomeness creeping over all his being”.

Submitting To God’s Righteousness, Part 2of10, Evans Olang

Romans 10:3, “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God”

In the early chapters of the book of Isaiah, we have some things shown to us. I believe Isaiah was a good man according to men’s standards and with that he would have justified himself. Comparing to other people, you can tell that he was reasonably clean however this is a horizontal standard. If anything we all should look at the vertical standard (God’s) of being good. Being good means being perfect and being perfect would mean you have kept the Ten Commandments perfectly from the time you were born till now. Perfection means it has no crack even a little bit. If you were going to buy a vase or a mirror, one little crack shatters it’s perfection and thus if you kept all the commandments and broke even one at any point, then you become guilty of all for, you have shattered it’s perfection and James 2:10 says “Whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend it at one point is guilty of all”. Psalms 19:7, “The law of the Lord is perfect…”

Submitting To God’s Righteousness, Part 1of10, Evans Olang

Romans 10:3, “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God”.

Its been said that 80-90% of the people who make a profession of faith fall away, I witnessed this first hand when I evangelized. Some never made it to church and some did for a short time. Do you know of souls you witnessed to, led them through sinner’s prayer but still did not see the fruit of salvation in their lives? Well you might say that at least a seed was planted however there is something seriously wrong somewhere we all need to be concerned about and address. I have rejoiced over the ones who stood, I praise God for them but my heart has been troubled over the ones who did not stand and I had to go before God in prayers to find out why. As I began to attentively study the book of Romans chapter 1-7, 2Samuel 24 and Isaiah 6, it became very clear to me why. God was gracious enough to teach me some things. My eyes have been so much opened that I must share with you what I have learnt in the last few years. I came across some of the preachers in the 19th, 20th, and 21st century whose preaching’s God has used to enlighten me. I pray that you will learn something from this series.

Here I Am Send Me, Part 3of3, Evans Olang

Isaiah 6:1-8, vs. “8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: “Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?”Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”

Who is the man of unclean lips, it is one who has given the Lord the lip service but the heart is far away. We Sang songs with our lips but did not honor the Lord with our actions making our lips unworthy. If the angels who I would consider more holy than man could gaze upon the Lord and cover their faces because of His holiness, how much more should we fear God and reverence in His presence? None of us comes even close. At least those who are saved are better off yet we still fall short of God’s glory. What about the lost souls? To quote Matthew Henry, ” Those who are to teach others the knowledge of God ought to be well acquainted with Him themselves”