Spared To Save | Bro. Alex Mason

Thank you Jesus Lord, your worthy Lord, your good, great

and greatly to be praised. I feel you in this place

tonight. Hallelujah.

Hallelujah. He is a good God.

Amen. You may be seated tonight.

I won't keep you standing. I have a whenever I get going.

I have a lengthy reading, so you're welcome, but thank you

for your faithfulness to the House of the Lord tonight on

this hot Sunday afternoon. Welcome to summer, ladies and

gentlemen. We have officially made it, if

that's what you want to say. We've made it.

So if you were wanting it, you're welcome.

If you're ready for fall or winter, I'm sorry, but it is

what it is and here we are thankful to be here tonight.

Love and appreciate pastor and his wife and and their family.

Glad that they not only get to go to general ministry

conference. I'm glad that they get to take

some time, much needed time to be able to rest and and to spend

time together. So I'm I'm thankful that they

get to do that. I hope that GMC was, was

energizing and, and, and good for them, but I hope this, this

vacation is also just as energizing and good for them as

well. Love and appreciate Bishop and

his wife. I, I was joking, brother Malone,

he was just like, well, you're in charge tonight.

And I said no, I said, Bishop's in charge.

He's got seniority. So, so I just, I just tap my tap

my hat off to him and I just let him take it and love and

appreciate them, everything that they do, everything that they

are to this church. And I'm, I'm thankful for, for

them in my life. I love and appreciate my

parents. I am, I am sad that they are

gone, but I'm glad that they are ministering the word of the

Lord. I pray that it went well this

afternoon and that they blessed people and I'm so thankful for

my lovely wife and she is pregnant with our daughter and I

am just so ecstatic. And I just can't, I just can't

say enough about how, how excited we are.

She she was talking about how close, close ish we are.

You know, we're further along than we were before.

And, and you know, just as as time rolls on, but she was also

like, I don't know about another 3:00-ish months of this and it's

supposed to get worse. And she's like, I don't know

about this. And I was like, well, we

committed now. So here we are.

I'll support you any way I can, but we committed now, so love

and appreciate her. If you have your Bibles, go

ahead and turn with me to Job One.

Job 1 and 13 tonight. Just a couple.

Just to echo what Bishop said, we do have Wednesday night.

We have brother Zach McGee will be here speaking.

So make sure to be here for that.

Be here because it's midweek. But looking forward to, to

hearing him and what he has from the Lord.

Friday we have from 7:00 to 10:00, we have game night.

We had a great time last time. A bunch of laughs, a bunch of

fun. So make sure to come be a part

of that. If you would like to travel to

the, the, the foothills of of Medora, then there is a rally at

5:00 PM Eastern. Pastor David Scott will be

preaching. So come be a part of that if you

would like. And then Sunday, come Sunday,

it's Sunday. Anyways, you should be here

Sunday morning. We'll have one service.

It is the Sunday school picnic. So please be a part of that.

We will have Pastor Merrill Weir.

He is. When you I say this, when you

see him, just understand he is my friend.

But when you see him, he's going to look older than someone.

That would be my friend. And I say that and I hope he

listens to this later. But he is my friend and I'm so

glad that he is going to be here.

You will be blessed. And so come and be a part of

that. Be a part of the festivities.

If you are a part of FAC and you are going to be a part of the

festivities, I encourage you, please bring something.

You know, go back, check, check the menu, check what needs to be

filled. Please bring something if you're

going to be a part and you are a part of the FAC family.

But we're looking forward to a good week.

Hey man, looking forward to a good week.

So Job One, verse 13 we're coming upon Job here.

And it says, and there was a day when his sons and his daughters

were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house.

And there came a messenger unto Job and said the oxen were

plowing and the asses feeding beside them.

And the the Sabians fell upon them and took them away.

Yeah, they have slain the servants with the edge of the

sword. And I only am escape alone to

tell thee. While he was yet speaking, there

came also another, and said, The fire of God has fallen from

heaven, and hath burned up the sheep and the servants, and

consumed them. And I only am escaped alone to

tell thee. While he was yet speaking, there

came also another, and said, The Chaldeans made out three bands,

and fell upon the camels, and have carried them away, yeah,

and slain the servants with the edge of the sword.

And I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, thy

sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in

their, in their eldest brother's house.

And behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and

smoke the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the

young men, and they are dead. And I only am escaped alone to

tell thee. You're seeing a pattern here.

Then Job arose, and he rent his mantle.

He shaved his head, and he fell, fell upon the ground, and

worshipped, and said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and

naked shall I return. Thither the Lord gave, and the

Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

And in all this Job sinned not, nor charge God foolishly.

So tonight I have a subject that I would like to reflect on and

that is spared to save spared to save.

This is different than what we would expect Job's story to

maybe look at. And we've, we've heard it, we've

heard it, It's been preached till people are blue in the face

of the story of Job. And I do not, I do not downgrade

that. We, we all preach and we reflect

on the story of Job and, and it feels like at times that you

know, oh, here we go again. We're, we're in job.

Let's go for it. You know, we're, we're going to

talk about how he, he endured till the end and all these

different things. And but this today I hope to

take you down and different understanding.

I, I, I feel like over the past few years, I have adopted this

kind of what if mentality that pastor has of look, trying to

look at things in a different light and just trying to

understand. I, I'm a, I'm a very when it

comes to ideas. I'm a, I'm a perspectives and,

and a different idea person when it comes to, well, what about

this way? What about this way?

What about this way? And so when it comes to

scripture, I enjoy looking at it that way and understanding man,

there's something may be powerful here.

And so with with Job, something is happening here because he's

not just suffering loss. There's if you if you read this

scripture passage that we just read, there's a cadence to it.

The oxen are gone, the donkeys are gone.

Fire is falling, camels are taking his children are dead.

And at one right after the other it says as one is speaking,

another is coming to tell. And I only, and I only and I

only have escaped to tell you I am alone after all these voices

that have emerged. I only am escaped alone to tell

thee. 1 servant is surviving every single time.

Why is that? Well, one would assume,

obviously you know, that someone has to tell Job, someone has to

tell Job about it. But why?

Why couldn't, why wouldn't there just be a destruction of all of

the servants and then some random person eventually, you

know, or Job finally comes across it.

But there there had to be a witness.

There was a witness. There was a servant that

survived every time. And no matter how terrible a

thing that happened, somebody made it out.

Satan is consuming everything around Job, but there's still

someone that escapes. It doesn't seem to make sense

when we look at that because because the hedge had been

lifted. If we look at that, we look

earlier in the the 1st chapter of Job, Job 6 through 12, it

says now there was a day when the sons of God came to the

present present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came

also among them. And the Lord said unto Satan,

Whence comest thou? And Satan answered the Lord and

said, from going to and fro in the earth and walking up and

down it. And the Lord said to Satan, hast

thou consider my servant Job? This is where we know that the

Lord is offering Job as as a trial, because because Satan

thinks, well, I got to find somebody and he's like, well,

what about my God, Job? And so we have that.

And he says that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect

and upright man, one that feareth God, and a shoe with

evil. And then Satan answered the Lord

and said, doth Joe fear God for not has now made a hedge about

him, about his house and about all that he hath on every side.

He said you, you have him all protected and locked up.

I can't do anything. I there's nothing I can do

because he's all protected. And so the Lord lifts that

hedge. He's so Satan went forth from

the presence of the Lord in chapter 12 and he is going to go

and take take Job everything that he has take him for what

he's worth because the Lord has lifted lifted.

It is just said save his life right Not you can have

everything else but but he sets a boundary.

He said you can't touch him, can't touch him.

And we see that and we, we see, you know, sometimes I feel like

we believe everything is being taken.

Everything is being taken from us.

And we, we ask God if he has forgotten about us.

We feel like Job sometimes. And then he is preserving things

in the middle of it, though that we don't even understand.

Not everything is gone. Not everything is taken.

Not everyone is taken. The servants that survived those

disasters, they did not survive because they were lucky.

They survived because they were given a task whether they knew

it or not. Their task as a survivor was the

first instinct was I need to go tell my master.

I need to go tell Joe. And maybe, just maybe that's why

you're standing here today. Maybe that's why it was them and

not you. Why your prayer didn't stop the

loss, but it preserved you. It didn't spare you to be a

spectator, but he spared you. It was a sparing because you

have something to say when we look at things that people

having something to say bearing witness.

Bearing witness. I know we look at Job and these

are terrible things that happened.

But if we reflect that and we talk about bearing witness, if

we look in Mark 5 and 18, it says in when he Jesus come into

the ship, and that he had there was Jesus in this moment, and He

had come to the ship, that he had been possessed with the

devil and prayed him that he might be with them.

How be it Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home

to thy friends. This is after the demoniac has

been healed and the demons have been brought out.

He says, Go home to thy friends and tell them how great things

the Lord hath done for thee, and had hath compassion on thee.

This demoniac after he was healed, the demons are out of

him. He wanted to follow Jesus, but

Jesus is saying, no, go tell her the great things.

Go tell her I have spared you so that you would tell the great

things. The man with those legions is

set free and the man that was born blind, when we reflect on

him and Jesus healed him. He was healed and to be a

witness because his testimony was had more power when it goes

back to the place where he was broken, right?

Your testimony has a lot more power when you go back to the

people that saw you when you were broken.

When you see somebody off the street and they don't know you

from Adam and you tell them the testimony and they haven't seen

you when you were broken, it may not have the same weight.

God willing it will. But when you go back to the

place that you were broken, the people that saw you when you

were broken, there's power because they knew that you were

spared. And now here you are telling a

testimony, telling a testimony when?

When this man that says John 9 and a it says the neighbors

therefore. And they had which before had

seen him that he was blind and said, Is not this that he's he

that sat and begged? Some said, this is he, others

said he is like him, but he said, I am he.

Therefore they said unto him, How were thine eyes opened?

They knew they he, he was the one.

He was the one. They knew.

They knew in that place of brokenness He knew from a babe

that he was blind. And he begged.

And for years and years they knew that he was the blind

beggar. He answered and said a man that

is called Jesus made clay and anointed my line is and said

unto me, go to the pool of Siloam and wash and I went and I

washed and I received sight when he was questioned even with the

Pharisees the Pharisees in Chapter 9 verse 24, it says then

again called they the man that was blind and said unto him,

give God the praise. We know that this man is a

Sinner. You know, Oh, we give God the

praise, but this guys, this guys a Sinner.

And then he answered and said whether he'd be Sinner or no, I

know not one thing. I know that whereas I was blind,

now I see He was bearing witness.

He was bearing witness just as those that were saved in the

time frame of Job. They were bearing witness of

things that they had seen these miracles.

They were sent to bear witness of Jesus.

And when we get when we get to Jesus in John 1135, you already

may know it. Jesus wept nice and easy, short,

short verse people. We always do it in the in the

youth class and say John 1135 and we just see who says it

first, right? Because it oh, Jesus wept.

But in this verse, it carries weight when you look at it in

different perspectives, right? We've we've looked at it and I

think even pastor or maybe even sister McGee during their grief

series talked about Jesus weeping and grieving when you

look at it through that eyes. But but why is he weeping?

We look at it many times. Why is Jesus weeping?

He knows what he's about to do. I think, if you would indulge

me, I think because even though he knew that the resurrection of

Lazarus was coming, he still felt the weight of death and he

still felt the sting of loss, right?

We reflected on that before. But he still bore that burden of

people that were unbelieving. And his tears weren't just for

Lazarus. I don't think his tears were.

They were for what was coming, right?

Because this was the cumulation that the crescendo, if you will,

of his earthly ministry. This was the nail in his hands,

if you will, because this was what was going to get the people

really fired up, if they weren't fired up already.

They were ready to take care of Jesus after this.

Because this is unacceptable, right?

And so he is weeping. He is weeping.

I think that for what is coming, because when he lays razz

Lazarus, the religious leaders finally said, you know what,

that's it, John 1153 says. Then from that day forth, they

took counsel together to put him to death.

Jesus knew that this would happen.

He weeped, but he did it anyway. He wept and He walked forward

and He lays raised Lazarus from the grave.

Every miracle, every teaching, every step that He took, it was

leading towards the cross. And He knew that.

And He knew that at that moment in time, it was going to be a

very, very quick thing after that moment.

And this is all during Passover week.

Right before Passover week is when this is happening.

Just as the Israelites once placed the blood of lambs over

their doors, God placed His own blood on the cross.

See, He He was, just as in Exodus 11, it tells us about the

plague that broke Pharaoh's will, the death of the first

born, the only begotten of the Father.

The first born was put upon the cross during Passover week.

That is powerful enough because Jesus became that lamb, that

perfect, spotless lamb. And 1st Corinthians 5, Evan says

For even for even Christ, our Passover is sacrificed for us.

He didn't get trapped in the Calvary.

He walked willingly to Calvary. Every tear, every miracle, every

moment of mystery was all a part of the plan.

Why does that matter? Why talking about spared to

save? Why does that matter?

Because he decided in that moment he is weeping.

I don't think he's just weeping for Lazar.

I think he's weeping for you in that moment.

I can see. I can just think about the fact

that he is looking in and throughout time and he is seeing

us. He is seeing our brokenness.

He is seeing the things that we have gone through, our sin, and

he is deciding within himself that this is a part of the plan.

I'm going to spare them for them to help save others, right?

Just as he said to Peter, you will be the rock and you will

have the keys to the Kingdom. He was here to save.

But it's kind of like a a pre save.

It's a if you ever think of a reserved seat, right, People

think, oh, I got the my ticket punched to to heaven.

Well, you have to think it's a reserved seat because you have

to get to the seat that's reserved.

I'm, I'm telling you the the price was paid.

You were spared to save. What that means is once you've

been spared and you decide to actually take your heavenly seat

in salvation and it's time to grab others, you've been spared

to save. You've been spared to pull

people out of the fire. Psalm 18 and seven 1/18/17 says

I shall not die. He's speaking and he says, but I

but live and declare the works of the Lord.

If you have been spared, you have the greatest opportunity to

speak of his goodness. You have the greatest

opportunity because someone still needs to hear.

Someone still needs to hear and sometimes, sometimes Romans at

1014 says, now shall they hear without a preacher?

Sometimes you need to look at yourself and say, I'm that

preacher. I'm the one that needs to go and

make sure that they hear. They hear the testimony.

They hear of the goodness of God because I've been spared to help

save. Proverbs 1130 says He that

winneth souls is wise is wise. You didn't just survive, you

were spared to save. I know, I know folks, that this

is a simple a simple thing. I sat, I sat last night.

I was I was scrolling on on Facebook and I see I see some

news headlines and I am not one that I'm digging deep into news

and everything like that. And I'm not trying to do any

type of fear mongering or anything.

Please understand my heart tonight.

I just look at that and I look at the things that are going on

around the world, right? Bishop talked about it this

morning. Just just pray.

But a heavy burden for for being spared to save.

We have this opportunity. We have the opportunity of truth

and we, we go throughout our jobs and, and our families and

we encounter people on a daily basis and, and we go through the

motions. We live life.

And I understand that it can, it can get repetitive and things

happen. And, and I'm not even saying

that you haven't tried, but how hard have we tried?

How hard have we tried? Just just as somebody that is

that is drowning overboard and throwing a throwing a life

preserver. How hard have we tried to save?

We've been spared. We know the blessing that ad

has, but how hard have we tried to pull someone out of the fire?

Say you got a seat reserved. Let me help you find it.

You're the servant who survived. Maybe you're the blind man who

now sees the demoniac who got delivered.

You're you're Lazarus. Lazarus.

He didn't even have to necessarily preach anything.

He was walking testimonial proof.

Do not bury your voice and your witness.

You have a story to tell. All of these examples, all of

these examples are miracles. And by comparison, we wouldn't

call those people who survived to tell Job that they weren't a

miracle, but they they were. They were a miracle.

The reason that you are still here, the reason the enemy still

didn't finish the job, the reason that you made it through

what should have crushed you is because the devil left a

witness. Now let me let me make something

very clear. The devil doesn't leave a

witness because he wants to. He left the witness.

If we reflect back to what happened with Job, when God

offered up Job, he left the witness because he had to.

And just the same, he would love to have your life.

He would love to take your life. All of us, anyone that has

truth, He would love to take all of our lives, but we have been

spared and he he, we have a hedge about us and because of

that we have an opportunity to save.

We have an opportunity to grab souls with us.

He does not like that. If he had his way and his will,

he would take your life, but he does not have the opportunity.

He does not have the choice. He had to leave a witness.

There is that detail you have to understand.

Because of that, you have power. We don't think about it, but we

have power. The Bible says you have power.

After that, the Holy Ghost has come upon you.

You have power from on high, and you have to understand that

because of God, we survived the attack.

He tries, even though Satan tries to steal our praise, he

does not have a foothold on us. Because of God, we walked away,

but even Satan tried to convince us to bury our story.

But I'm telling you your story is what's going to help people

be saved. Your witness, your testimony is

what's going to compel people, people and bring and pull on the

hot strings of people that's going to help people bring

themselves to God. Genesis 50 and 20, Joseph even

says what you meant for evil, but God meant it for good.

Joseph, he was the brother that made it out.

He wasn't spared to live soft. He wasn't.

He was positioned, though, to save lives, and that's exactly

what he did. God doesn't just allow what you

lost, He assigns purpose to what has been left.

If you are a survivor, if you are a survivor, you have been

spared for a reason. If you've been through loss and

carried weight and wounds and stories that you, you, you are

you find difficulty in telling, I'm encouraging you, you have

been spared to save. Bring that to the forefront.

Bring that testimony to the forefront.

You will be surprised at how how powerful the testimony that you

have been brought through, who have been spared from will be an

encouragement to somebody else will be will be even a like to

somebody that maybe maybe they have been hurt.

Maybe they have gone through similar things that you have

gone through and they see you. You've been brought out, you've

been saved, you've been spared and they want that.

Pull them, pull them. You are spared for that reason.

I believe that reason was to save, not by your own power or

strength, but by the power of the Lord.

Were you spared? If you stand, my wife will come

and play. If you have made it through the

fire, if you're the only one left standing, if you've if

you've got breath in your lungs but you have scars in a story,

then I encourage you to take inventory on how can I go to the

edge? Pull out my life raft, my life

preserver, whatever you want to call it, and you're pulling

people in. How can I grab the arms of

people that are still still drowning, still looking for

something, looking for truth. They're the the fields are wide

for harvest. I believe that to be true

because there's so there's so much more people that are

desiring and looking into the word on their own right there.

There has been that that thing for the longest time of just

people just listening and not necessarily digging into the

word. But I, I work with people.

I work with people that don't don't necessarily believe what

we believe, but they dig into the word and I just pray Lord

send revelation, sin revelation because because not not

necessarily that I even have to say, let's say it, the Lord, but

as a witness giving my testimony, the things that God

has done for me. I can tell them the goodness

that he has spared me from the things that he has spared me

from the goodness of God. And then they can look and say,

what is it that they, what is it that he believes?

What is it that what is it that that gets him so excited?

What is it that that is different because these people

are hungry and, and the more that things start to happen in

our world, the more people are going to be looking for

something, the more people are going to be looking for answers.

And you have the answers. Question is, are you going to

be, are you going to be like Peter and deny him?

Are you going to step up? Are you going to step up and say

this is what you need to do? Come, come with me, Come with

me. I've been spared for this reason

so that I could help you, so I could help pull you out.

I know it's been dark. I know you've gone through

things that that are inexplicable and unimaginable,

but I'm telling you, I've been through some similar things.

And he brought me out. He brought me out.

You have been spared to save, spared to save.

This altar is open tonight. I wonder if we could come

tonight and ask God to challenge us, challenge us in our

thinking. How?

How can I help bring people out of drowning, bring people out of

this world, bring people to the altar, bring people to God?

Lord, am I doing everything that I can to help be a witness?

Is my testimony going far enough?

Am I not doing what I need to do I need to be a better witness?

Do I need to exude more of my story, even if it feels

uncomfortable and telling my story?

Is it something that would be a benefit?

Is it something that would be a witness that would that would

draw people in and make people see your goodness, Make people

see how wonderful it is to live a life walking with the Lord.

I've been spared to save. I've been spared that I would be

a conduit for your Kingdom. I've been spared that I would

help people and be a body of believers, that we would help

bring people out of the fire. Oh God, have your way.

Oh, Jesus, Jesus.