Raymondo's Whatever

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2011-06-30T07:59:00.002+12:00

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story book: A sort of a plan for a book.

2011-05-04T20:33:00.000+12:00

story book: A sort of a plan for a book.: "Where was I going? I thought it might be the start of a story book - a kind of history book - for young grandchildren. But for what age or..."

How to Find the Way Home

2011-02-17T20:37:00.004+13:00

“How to Find the Way Home.”
OKAY! Do you want to do some theology?
John 1:1-14 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

It’s a dark night and even though your car headlights are on and shining brightly, you notice how dark it is outside: it’s a dark night.
You have been driving through the night, a long way from your home, but you will soon be home.
Even after your long drive ends and you reach your home tired and needing a good rest, you know that the only way you will be able to see the familiar things you love, as they really are, will be the next morning in the light of day. Somehow things will be better in the morning.
You may be carrying the weight of the world on your mind tonight, but things will be better in the morning. Things are always better in the morning!

The whole Bible pictures us as being in the darkness, a long way from home. Christians call home ‘heaven.’
I want you to consider this message about “How to Find the Way Home.”
There is something primeval about John’s use of the words “in the beginning” because as a Jew he was very much aware of and indeed immersed in the Jewish understanding of the beginning. Everything begins with God: “in the beginning God,” Genesis 1:1.
So here he recalls that primeval truth and God gives him additional revelation about Christ: “In the beginning was the Word…” (John 1:1)
Where we read ‘Word’ in English, it comes from the Greek word ‘Logos,’ the expression of information, is in this case about God. For the ‘Logos’ or the ‘Word’ is God,¬¬ says the Apostle John.
If you study anthropology, you want to find out about man and if you study theology you discover things about God. So the dictionary says of this passage that in theology: “the divine word or reason incarnate in Jesus Christ. (John 1:1–14.)” (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/logos)
The ‘logy’ part of these words, anthropology and theology, and many other scientific words like ‘biology,’ come from the Greek word ‘logos’ or ‘word.’
The ‘logos’ part of a word in English indicates ‘the study of’ or “matter under consideration.”
So ‘Theos’ and ‘logos,’ make up the word ‘theology.’

And here John embarks on a study of God: theology.

Who is God? The One who expresses knowledge about Himself. He is the One who reveals Himself:
“In the beginning was the Word.”
God reveals Himself through His Divine Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the Word of God. Verse 2 says, “He was in the beginning with God.”
He embodies the expression of who God is. So if you want to know who God is, look to Jesus!
“I came to Jesus as I was,
Weary and worn, and sad;
I found in Him a resting place,
And He has made me glad.” Says hymn writer Horatius Bonar.

Secondly, says the Apostle, Christ is Creator: Verse 3 “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.”
Christ is the mediator of creation as well as salvation.
Where is God? Verse 1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
I thought that what I learned about Genesis chapters 1-11 at Bible College would always be a problem to me.
I was so confused. But later in life I came to understand that God in His Word never lie or deceive us or leave us with confusion as the teaching of men can often do. (I Corinthians 1:20-21).
John Bunyan warned of Mr Worldly Wiseman in A Pilgrim's Progress. “In modern parlance, Mr.Worldly-Wiseman would be the equivalent of a liberal pastor who scorned the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ as taught in the Bible and preached social reform based upon evolutionary advance and moral influence.” (http://www.bunyanministries.org/pp_commentary/05_com%20_christian_encounters_worldly.pdf)

Jesus and John, Moses and Paul, Isaiah and Peter and all the Prophets and Apostles and indeed the Pharisees believed in Genesis as history. The dogma of an exceedingly ancient Earth was foreign to them as it was to the church for thousands of years.
It is only recently, the last 160 years, that God has once again been slapped in the face and believers told “You will not surely die.” and “Has God indeed said?” (Genesis 3:1, 4)
What we know about God is truth from God, revelation from God, not given to us through myths and ancient loosely interpreted stories. The Apostle Peter said (2 Peter 1:16) “For we did not follow cunningly devised fables (myths) when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty.”

“In the beginning was the word…”
John reminds us that God is eternal. His word stands firm. It was God who was there at the beginning of all created things. So He is always present.

God is here right now because, being God, He is omnipresent, everywhere at once.

God is here, revealing Himself to you, right now.

How can I know about God?
Better, how can I know God? Is that even possible?
The fact that we can ask such questions says a lot.
If we were born already knowing God, humankind would not be asking “how can I know God?” and “where will I find Him?” There would not be all the religions and religious speculation in the world if we naturally knew God and were friends with God.
The Apostle John explains that by nature we are in darkness like the rest of the world: 4 “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” The darkness is the darkness of the world without Christ. Living within that world is to experience darkness. In that darkness there is no light or life. 9 “That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.”
Have a look at John 3:19 “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”
At which point did men love darkness?
When did they begin to need the light of God?
From the beginning of the world after the Fall. Again you have to have faith in God’s word in Genesis 1-11 to accept this.
If we know God, if we see the light, we have life, for Christ is the Light of the world, he says, and the light gives life to men.
“I heard the voice of Jesus say,
‘I am this dark world’s Light,’
Look unto Me, thy morn shall rise,
And all thy day be bright.” (Church Hymnary 410, verse 3, Horatius Bonar 1808-1889)

6 “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. (The Baptiser) 7 This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, (Jesus Christ) that all through him might believe. (That is, believers)
8 He (John) was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.”
‘It’s not about me,’ says John the Baptiser. “I am here to tell you about Jesus Christ.”
9 “That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world. 10 He (Jesus Christ) was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.”
The Greek word used here ‘Ginowsko’ means to know and here it is explained that the world had no perception of Christ, did not understand or comprehend Who and what God was or what Christ had come among them for.
Knowing God is to know or experience life as it should be: John 17:3 “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”

Verse 11: “He came to His own, (His own people, the Jews) and His own did not receive Him. 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right (‘exousia:’ the power or the authority) to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:
13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”
So what we need is a revelation of God that tells us who Jesus is and thus tells us who God is because Jesus shows us God. So if you want to know who God is, look to Jesus!
“I looked to Jesus, and I found
In Him my Star, my Sun;
And in that light of life I’ll walk,
Till travelling days are done.” (Church Hymnary 410 verse 3, Horatius Bonar 1808-1889)

The way John the Apostle uses the words ‘believe’ and ‘receive’ are not exactly the same in meaning but they are close to it.

If you believe in Christ, you receive Him.
If you receive Christ, you believe in Him.

“If I eat sausages on Tuesday, when it is a Tuesday I eat sausages.”
But clearly my reference to ‘Tuesdays’ and ‘sausages’ are two different things.
Tuesday is a day of the week.
Sausages are the things I eat on that day.
But that is why I believe that ‘believing’ and ‘receiving’ are spoken of in a particular way here in John’s Gospel.
There have always been those who believe in God.
There have always been those who believe in Jesus Christ. But there have always been those among them who have not received Jesus Christ!
Just as Tuesdays are not sausages, believing does not always result in receiving Christ. Just as I may miss eating sausages some Tuesdays, some people miss receiving Christ.
How can you say that?
Well, Mark 2:15 and 5:24 for example, tells us that there were many who followed Jesus but in John 6:66 it tells us: “From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.”
Because they were offended by Jesus’ explanation about the bread, that they would ‘eat His flesh and drink His blood,’ they stopped following Him. (Read about it in John 6: 22-59)
So who were those who trusted Jesus then and who are they now?
What characteristic do believers have that makes them Christians? Love, is the primary characteristic but what do they all have before that love can grow in their lives?
What is noticeable about them?

They had to be those who, as Jesus said, understood spiritually, “everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.” (Jn 6:45)
6:40 “And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”
There is clearly a difference between believing that Jesus Christ exists and receiving Him personally.
There is clearly a difference between believing in Jesus Christ and believing Him according to the Bible.
Those who ‘see’ Him as the Bible understands seeing, “everyone who sees the Son” as John says in chapter 6, are those who once they have ‘seen Him,’ understand Him to be who He claims to be and they believe in Him.
They are the ones who embrace or receive Him into their lives.
The Bridge
Suppose I go on a long walk. I am on holiday and being unfamiliar with my surroundings I discover that I need to cross a bridge to get back home. You can find that is the case in lots of places.
You may not have started off knowing you would need to cross a bridge to get home, but you find on your way back you do…(There is such a bridge if you go up Pine Hill Road near where I live, and if you keep going along until you get to Leith Valley you come to a bridge...)
Anyway, I come up to the bridge and look at it.
I understand the purpose and ability of the bridge to hold me up if I want to cross it to get home safely.
If I get on to the bridge, I believe something very important.
I believe the bridge will hold me up above the water or the road or railway below.
If I look at the bridge and say: “Yes I believe in the bridges’ ability to hold me up safely when I step on to it,” yet I do not step on to the bridge when I really need to cross it to get home, I do not believe in the bridge!
I do not believe in the way that Jesus understands ‘believe.’
I do not believe in the way Jesus means me to ‘believe,’ and teaches about believing in Him.

You need to stop believing the old way and start believing the new way, in order to get home.
Just like me needing to actively get on to that bridge, you need to actively rely on Jesus Christ to get you home.
John 1: 11 “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”
John says that the reason people do not believe, as God calls them to believe, is that they use human wisdom to try to work out the Christian life. So that is why Paul says:
I Corinthians 1:18-25 “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
1:19 For it is written: ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.’
1:20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
1:21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.”
Jesus and Paul are in complete agreement. 1:22 “For Jews request a sign, (See Jn 6:30) and Greeks seek after wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”
So you are in good company if you just believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and take Him at His word. Indeed, you are commended by Jesus Himself and His Apostles.
“He who believes in me will never perish but have everlasting life.” (John 6:47) AMEN.

I love the internet

2010-11-19T22:18:00.001+13:00

I love the internet

Thank God always

2010-10-16T16:17:00.002+13:00

We are once again looking for tenants for our flat in Arthur St so I am showing people through this week and next week and so on until we find someone. Some lovely people so far!

Its been a great day!

2010-10-07T18:12:00.006+13:00

Its been a great day! God is good!

Alan Peachey talks sense

2010-09-06T12:28:00.002+12:00

Please go to:
http://breakingviewsnz.blogspot.com/2010/09/allan-peachey-protecting-democracy.html#comment-form
There you will read some common sense on education and implications for democracy.
All the best 4 now, Ray.

It has come to my attention that...

2010-05-08T20:03:00.009+12:00

It has come to my attention that...four trustworthy accessible sources predict a soon coming persecution of Christians.

First: Dr John Piper of Desiring God Ministries said in his introduction to The Supremacy of Christ in a Post Modern World 2006 National Conference that there were coming persecution which he called "winds of adversity with unbelievable force.."
See: The Supremacy of Christ in a Post Modern World 2006 National Conference DVD Disk 3 -> Bonus Materials -> Interview with John Piper -> "Why you should come to this conference."

Second: Rev. Franklin Graham only this week has come out boldly saying that to speak up in America on Biblical truth will earn you persecution by the government authorities. Rev Graham said in reply to a question:
"Regarding the recent case of a British preacher recently arrested for publicly espousing the biblical view that homosexuality is a sin, Graham was asked if that level of secular repression could be enacted in the United States.

"Oh, no question. It's coming," Graham says. "I think when you preach that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life, I think we're going to see one day that people will say, 'This is hate speech, because you're being so narrow and you're excluding other people.' I believe that, I think we're going to see that come."

Reference: http://newsmax.com/Headline/franklin-graham-islam-obama/2010/05/03/id/357711?s=al&promo_code=9D96-1

Third: Dr. Adrian Bates of Creation Ministries International says in the May 2010 Update article "Butterfly tactics and the spiritual battle" Quote: "Before we even had the opportunity for complacency, another front opened up. We publicised one more instance of a growing global opposition to the teaching of creation - even in Christian schools. It was a sharp reminder of how this cultural retreat from the Bible's truth is starting to affect our long-taken-for-granted western freedom of belief."

Fourth: Dr Melanie Phillips in her May 3, 2010 post on her blog says: "It would appear that Christianity, the normative faith of this country on which its morality, values and civilisation are based, is effectively being turned into a crime.
Surreally, this intolerant denial of freedom is being perpetrated under the rubric of promoting tolerance and equality — but only towards approved groups.
Never has George Orwell’s famous satirical observation, that some people are more equal than others, appeared more true.

Reference: http://www.melaniephillips.com/articles-new/?p=735

I am not distressed by this news but I am going to get prepared for it and have already alerted a large number of my friends.
May God forgive and protect us all.

The Problem of Evil and a Dog

2010-05-08T20:01:00.002+12:00

The Problem of Evil and a Dog
“The Banner Man” song by Blue Mink* reminds me of the playfulness of the scene. A great big banner is paraded through the small USA town flowed by the local children some of their family and Uncle Tom Cobley and all. Barking at the heels of such a crowd and especially at the feet of the banner man is a small terrier like dog.
“And the kids and the dogs were laughing as they ran
And the Banner-Man held the banner high
With an Allelujah in his eye
I wished that I could be a Banner-Man…”

I can see it can’t you?

What creates the impression of joy fun and abandonment is the dog with the children in the picture.
The children following, laughing, shouting and singing or crying out are a great source of please to look at. The thing that touches me is one of the little dogs at the man’s heels making it somehow even more joyful a scene. Apparently the dog is laughing!

My issue is:
Why is the dog there?
Is it supposed to be running around, off its leash?
Has it escaped from some home nearby or even a distance away and some family is crying their eyes out looking for it?
It is clearly out of order something is wrong yet everything is right!
Jesus said something at His baptism in Matthew 3:
“And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him.” Mt 3:13 (KJV)

Strongs Greek G737 ἄρτι, arti, ar'-tee.
Adverb from a derivative of G142 (compare G740) through the idea of suspension; just now: - this day (hour), hence [-forth], here [-after], hither [-to], (even) now, (this) present.

“Let it be so for now.”
“It is not finished yet, let it be. Suffer it for a while longer…”
So what has that got to do with the dog in the parade?
Well, I can see there may be a lot of joy removed from the picture if the dog is not there and (say) tied up at home in the kennel with his family.
At the same time, I see that something is out of place and needs to be rectified. You know the dog is unrestrained in the picture I have drawn…
As soon as the parade is over it will need to be caught and restrained, as I am sure a running dog will be the notice of the town dog catcher coming to net his prey!
So here is my analogy:
Life is full of such instances of joy and laughter, yet somehow things are not what they strictly should be.
I think the instance of the dog in the picture illustrates what Jesus said at His Baptism that “let it be so for the meantime as I don’t need to be baptised by you now as you so clearly protest, John the Baptiser, but let it be done God’s way. Let it be so for now.”
Sin and the problem of constant evil in a world where the good all powerful God reigns, does not seem to fit.
In the prophet Jeremiah’s day they said: JER 12:1 “Righteous are You, O LORD, when I plead with You; Yet let me talk with You about Your judgments. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are those happy who deal so treacherously?”
And so evil seems to mitigate against God’s will since He is all powerful, isn’t He? Why can’t He do something about it? It seems to make mockery of the Christian teaching about God. God is all good and all powerful so why does He not end all evil?
But it doesn’t deny God’s will if God says: “In the meantime it will be like this. Not at all perfect, but a bit messy until my time to fulfil all righteousness on earth has come. Don’t jump to conclusions. My will is being done, and will be done to my honour and glory. In the meantime get busy doing good and spread the gospel!”
“But Jesus answered him, ‘Let it be so for now. For in this way we shall do all that God requires.’ So John agreed.” (Matthew 3:15) (GNB)

A comparison of some translations below:
Mat 3:15 (CEV) Jesus answered, "For now this is how it should be, because we must do all that God wants us to do." Then John agreed.
(Geneva) Then Iesus answering, saide to him, Let be nowe: for thus it becommeth vs to fulfill all righteousnes. So he suffered him.
(GNB) But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so for now. For in this way we shall do all that God requires." So John agreed.
(GNT-TR+) αποκριθειςG611 V-AOP-NSM δεG1161 CONJ οG3588 T-NSM ιησουςG2424 N-NSM ειπενG3004 V-2AAI-3S προςG4314 PREP αυτονG846 P-ASM αφεςG863 V-2AAM-2S αρτιG737 ADV ουτωςG3779 ADV γαρG1063 CONJ πρεπονG4241 V-PAP-NSN εστινG1510 V-PAI-3S ημινG1473 P-1DP πληρωσαιG4137 V-AAN πασανG3956 A-ASF δικαιοσυνηνG1343 N-ASF τοτεG5119 ADV αφιησινG863 V-PAI-3S αυτονG846 P-ASM
(KJV) And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him.
(KJV+) AndG1161 JesusG2424 answeringG611 saidG2036 untoG4314 him,G846 SufferG863 it to be so now:G737 forG1063 thusG3779 it(G2076) becomethG4241 usG2254 to fulfilG4137 allG3956 righteousness.G1343 ThenG5119 he sufferedG863 him.G846

The song can be found at: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/b/blue_mink/the_banner_man.html
AND http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HL1rj5ymYwY
The lyrics can be found at: Blue Mink: The Banner Man
Songwriters: Cook, Roger Frederick; Flowers, Herbie; Greenaway, Roger
Lyrics: http://www.chordscenter.com/blue-mink-the-banner-man-lyrics_song-ttnjjj.html

“So we waved our hands as we marched along
And the people smiled as we sang our song
And the world was saved as they listened to the band
And the Banner-Man held the banner high
He was ten feet tall and he touched the sky
I wish that I could be a Banner-Man

And the drums went, boom as the cornets play
And the tuba, "Umba-d", all the way
And the kids and the dogs were laughing as they ran
And the Banner-Man held the banner high
With an Allelujah in his eye
I wished that I could be a Banner-Man

Glory, glory, glory
Listen to the band
Sing the same old story
Ain't it something grand
Glory, glory, glory
To be good as you can
Like a Banner-Man

So we reached the square, on the top of the hill
And the music stopped and we stood still
And a few were saved and the people said
“Amen”
Then we all got up and we formed a queue
And the drums went, bang as the trumpets blew
And we marched right down into the town again

Glory, glory, glory
Listen to the band
Sing the same old story
Ain't it something grand
To be good as you can
Like a Banner-Man

Lalalalalalala

Glory, glory, glory
Listen to the band
Sing the same old story
Ain't it something grand

Lalalalalalalal

Oh Glory, glory, glory
Listen to the band
Sing the same old story
Ain't it something grand

© DICK JAMES MUSIC INC;

Geological Evidence Indicates Rapid Formation

2010-03-30T14:32:00.001+13:00

Geological Evidence Indicates Rapid Formation

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Quick answers to 10 questions

2010-03-29T15:24:00.002+13:00

Now some good answers to silly questions posed here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDHJ4ztnldQ&NR=1

So I am an educated person. I do know how to think critically. My education was based on humanism but I am a Christian who knows God personally so...
Q1. God does not heal all amputees because this world has many problems caused by sin. Take sin seriously and you have an answer at least a partial one.
Q2. God does care. So many in this world are starving due to sin also. You can see how you must begin to think about sin now, surely?
Q3. Death of people is also due to sin. Sin cannot be allowed to rule or the world would be far worse than it is now.
Q4. Six days is no problem to God to create all things nor is the flood or Adam being created from dust. Why do you have problems with these things?
Q5. Slavery was tolerated just like your sin but only for a while.
Q6. Bad things happen because of the senselessness of sin.
Q7. Jesus' miracle of the resurrection has created and left behind to witness to it, the biggest church in world history. Pretty good evidence you have to agree?
Q8. Jesus does not have to appear to us in visible form. We can trust Him without that. Real easy that one.
Q9. Jesus people do not believe that they eat His physical body. Communion is a spiritual help not a physical one.
Q10. Divorce is not the ideal but again sin has spoiled life for all of us to some extent. Divorce is but one of those issues of life.
I am happy that my answers make sense. I have faith in God and He has been faithful to me and millions of others all through history.
You have the delusion that you know more than everyone else. You have failed to convince me and the millions I know trust God.

Vows and if we break them

2009-10-04T17:08:00.004+13:00

Hi all, I'm back! Some may think that's a bad idea but, sorry, you can't kill weeds!
Anyway, I don't know if it's me or whether everyone has this happen from time to time but I was thinking (and no I have not turned into Richard Prebble) I was thinking that vows can be broken sometimes and a good can result.
Now that's terrible coming from a Presbyterian Minister, I know, but think of the good and honest vows you made at New Year as resolutions or at other times when you wanted to change your life...
Now think how you have broken those vows... no guilt intended, just think how it is possible.
They may not have been as important as vows made to God, but you and I still broke them...
Now what if someone broke a vow to God...Could anything good come of that?
I was getting ready for church this morning and thought, for no particular reason that I can discern...I was not about to preach about vows or keeping promises, yet I thought:
WHAT ABOUT THAT LUTHER EH? HE MADE VOWS OF POVERTY, CHASTITY AND OBEDIENCE, YET HE BROKE THEM AND ENCOURAGED HIS FUTURE WIFE, THE LOVELY KATIE VON BORA TO DO THE SAME!
Did any good come of it?
YES it did, because if he had not broken those vows there would have been no full blown Reformation and we would still all be in bondage to the will of those who want us to live in slavery to them. Spiritual slavery is by far the greatest bondage you can suffer.
Come to think of it, was the Church of that time a legitimate church? It did not allow the freedom we are allowed under the gospel so it makes me wonder if it was the real Church.
The Church was under Arianism at one time and God resist any who would draw us back to that, but surely the Church under the Roman Catholic Church was in just as much of a dark place?
I have been thinking...
Love to you all, Ray

World's Greatest Lies

2009-05-15T16:24:00.001+12:00

World’s greatest lies

That God may have made everything but through evolution.

That your soul is unimportant; it cannot be taught anything and will perish when you die.

That you are No.1 (for all practical purposes)

That material things are all that really matter.

That the world owes you food, clothing, housing, warmth, pleasures, an income and a purpose in life no matter how much you do or do not contribute to your society.

That sin does not exist and that humans are basically good.

That the collective always matter more than the individual and always knows what is best for you.

That if you are not No. 1 in the world then fight through the rat race to ensure you will be one day.

Good Friday Sermon 10.04.2009

2009-04-16T11:35:00.000+12:00

Good Friday Sermon 10.04.2009

I like the way Luke writes…
1:1 “Inasmuch as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us…
1:4 that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed.”

Luke says others have written an orderly narrative,
telling of ancient prophecies being fulfilled in their experience,
of eyewitnesses and servants of the word of God telling what they have seen and heard,
Luke himself having had a perfect or complete understanding of all the things to do with the gospel from the very beginning. His purpose is to write an orderly account for his friend Theophilus and for his Christian readers and for the world.

Luke 1:4 “I do this so that you will know the full truth about everything which you have been taught.” (GNB)
But does Luke mention any fulfilled prophecies in his Gospel? And does he say how the Easter events are foretold?
Are these writings more than a testimony? Even if mainly aimed at a Gentile audience, if the writings of the Luke are a fulfilment of OT prophecy then they are far more than testimonies. They are the word of God himself. Due to the short time we have, I want to look at some of the Easter prophecies fulfilled in Luke’s Gospel.
1. Firstly, Jesus was considered a sinner so He was crucified
Lk 22:37 “For I say to you that this which is written must still be accomplished in Me: ‘And He was numbered with the transgressors.’ For the things concerning Me have an end.”
What was predicted long ago in Isaiah 53 (v.12) about Him, Jesus reminds His hearers how He would fulfil OT prophecy in His own punishment and death. That He could do this proved He was the Messiah. The end or purpose of all the things that happened to Jesus proved who He was: God the Son and the Son of Man. Although perfect He was counted to as a transgressor or law breaker and was taken to a cross with two others who had broken the law. “He shared the fate of criminals…” (Isa 53:12, GNB)

2. He was Pierced for our sins
Lk 23:33 tells us of Jesus’ crucifixion; a horrible way of punishment and death which Senator and Historian of the Roman Empire, Tacitus said was a ‘despicable death.’ Most Romans would not even look at it. Crucifixion was invented by the Persians, picked up by the Carthaginians, and passed on to the Romans.” (John McArthur in: http://www.biblebb.com/files/MAC/sg1574.htm ) The interesting thing is that it was not the known way of punishment when the Psalm writer said in Ps 22:16: “Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet.” It was probably invented around 600 years before Christ, well AFTER the time of Psalm 22. (NOTE 1.)

3. He was mocked and sneered at as a believer and as Messiah
Lk 23:35 “And the people stood looking on. But even the rulers with them sneered, saying, ‘He saved others; let Him save Himself if He is the Christ, the chosen of God.’ ”
This is almost word for word what the same Psalm said all those years before: Ps 22:7-8 “All those who see Me ridicule Me; They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, ‘He trusted in the LORD, let Him rescue Him; Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!’ ”

4. He was Buried in a Rich Man’s Tomb
In Isaiah 53:9 we are told that He will be buried in a rich man's tomb. “And they made His grave with the wicked - But with the rich at His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was any deceit in His mouth.” (Isa 53:9).
Luke 23:50 “…a man named Joseph… from Arimathea… who himself was also waiting for the kingdom of God...went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a tomb that was hewn out of the rock, where no one had ever lain before.” (Luke 23:50-53).
After extensive study of these things someone wrote:
“The mathematical probability that a person could fulfil even the prophecies listed here is astronomical, yet Jesus did it.” (http://www.bprc.org/topics/fulfill.html#header_4 )
I mean, even if you can cast doubt on some of them, it still leaves too many which were fulfilled to be fulfilled by chance!
Jesus Himself, as He had done so many times before His death, after His resurrection said to His disciples:
Lk 24:44 “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.”
Jesus believed in the Bible predictions about Himself. Was He deluded?
As we all come to the cross today, can you see a wonderful long-established plan of compassion and love worked out for you?
Without knowing all the Scriptures about this, you can know that Jesus really is the Messiah, the Son of God and the Son of Man who being fully human and fully divine was the perfect sacrifice for us and still is the way of saving you and me from our sins!
Halleluiah, what a Saviour!

andendunedin@xtra.co.nz

NOTE 1. See: http://www.themoorings.org/apologetics/prophecy/Crucifixion/Ps22.html
Answer to an Objection
“An uninformed reader of Psalm 22 might suspect that the writer is knowingly describing a crucifixion. The facts prove otherwise, however. This method of punishment was not invented until the sixth century B.C., long after any plausible date for Psalm 22 (9). So what we have in this psalm is supernatural knowledge of the future—real prophecy, in other words.” (Keihl and McDowell)
[Erich H. Kiehl, The Passion of Our Lord (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House, 1990), 123-124;
Josh McDowell, The Resurrection Factor (San Bernardino, Calif.: Here's Life Publishers, 1981, 41.]

God’s Promises Fulfilled in Christ

2009-04-16T11:32:00.001+12:00

God’s Promises Fulfilled in Christ

8:31 “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
8:32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?
8:33 Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies.
8:34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.
8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
8:36 As it is written:
‘For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.’
8:37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
8:38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,
8:39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Introduction
The Roman Christians are asked “What then shall we say to these things?”
The ‘things’ are found in the verses before. These verses speak of God’s great promises:
to save us from sin of which we are all guilty. (Ch 1-3)
to give us His power through salvation (Ch 1:16 "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.)
He promises blessing if we are not hypocrites (Ch 2 see: 2:29 but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.)

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to justify us by faith in Christ alone. (Ch 3:24-26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.)
to give us the Substitute, Jesus Christ who took our place on the cross so as to die for your sin. (Ch 3:25)
to fulfil all His promises to Abraham. Abraham was justified by faith as we are. (Ch 4.)
to give us peace with Himself and the gift of eternal life. (Ch 5)
to give us understanding that grace is not an excuse to live as we wish. That we obey God out of gratitude for all the things He has done for us through Christ. (Ch 6)
to grant us knowledge that Christ has delivered us from obedience to the law. That we are saved by faith in Christ and enabled by His Holy Spirit. (Ch 7)
to bless us with the power of the Holy Spirit so we can live the life God wants us to live. (Ch 8)
that we are adopted as His children forever. (Ch 8: 12-17)
and finally the assurance Ch 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”
So God promises us everything we would ever need to be free from sin’s power and penalty, and one day, its presence also.

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Indeed, as Paul goes on to say: “If God is for us who can be against us?” (31)
Of course he does not mean we have no enemies or that life is not a struggle. Surely temptation to do our own things and to let the Devil take advantage of us is always present. But now we are free not to follow it.
But Paul is thinking of the end purpose.
What will happen in the end is that through Christ and the grace of God in Christ, we will be victorious.
So what shall we say to these things?
Hallelujah!
Thank You God!
Praise God!
We love You God!
What will You have us to do Lord?
David and Paul’s Perspective
Sometimes we lose perspective: Like David facing the giant Goliath, many including king Saul and even David’s own brothers, thought the boy would be slaughtered. Goliath thought he always had the better of David but because of God’s plan, protection and providence, David succeeded and Goliath was defeated/ overcome/ vanquished!
Is that how you approach life? Are you like David’s critics? Sceptical as to how things will turn out?
“It is short sighted,” says Paul. “If God is for us who can stand against us?” (31)
Let us have David and Paul’s perspective!

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V. 32 tells us why: “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?”
The little phrase “delivered Him up” is interesting because it means that God gave us His most precious gift by surrendering Him to the cruelty of men and then to the cross. What for? John in his Gospel tells us in these familiar words of Jesus: “Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.” (Jn 12:31-32)
Jesus became the great, atoning, Personal Sacrifice for our sins. As Paul says elsewhere “He is our peace.” (Eph 2:14) His suffering and death made God our Friend and broke down the wall that separated us from God, uniting people to God.
God has also joined Jews and Gentiles together, but we will come back to that wonderful truth in the next three chapters.
The Elect
Ch 8:33 “Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies.
8:34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.”
At this point (33) we come to a word that is a challenge to many Christians and it is the word ‘elect.’ Not only does it say that some people are chosen but that Paul calls them ‘God’s elect.’ God’s elect are Christians. He chose us before we chose Him. Eph 1:4 says God: “has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love…”

5

You if you are Christ’s: “Come, (says Jesus), inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world…” (Mt 25:34)
As Paul has already said in v 29 & 30 “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.”
This explains who the elect are. It takes us well beyond ourselves! It takes us beyond ourselves spiritually, morally, mentally and right out of our depth.
The ‘elect’ are chosen by God. They have a destiny that is already sure. They have a destiny that has been determined by God Himself. God ‘knew’ them which means He decided to set them apart for Himself before they were born, before they knew Him, before they could do anything to gain His pleasure or do any act that would put them in good standing. As the verse from Eph says:
“He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world…” (1:4) Before the world was created God ‘knew’ you, if you are in Christ.
Ezekiel’s picture is apt here: “ ‘…on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed in water to cleanse you; you were not rubbed with salt nor wrapped in swaddling cloths.
No eye pitied you, to do any of these things for you, to have compassion on you; but you were thrown out into the open field, when you yourself were loathed on the day you were born.
And when I passed by you and saw you struggling in your own blood, I said to you in your blood, 'Live!' Yes, I said to you in your blood, 'Live!'

6

I made you thrive like a plant in the field; and you grew, matured, and became very beautiful. Your breasts were formed, your hair grew, but you were naked and bare.
When I passed by you again and looked upon you, indeed your time was the time of love; so I spread My wing over you and covered your nakedness. Yes, I swore an oath to you and entered into a covenant with you, and you became Mine,’ says the Lord GOD.
‘Then I washed you in water; yes, I thoroughly washed off your blood, and I anointed you with oil.
I clothed you in embroidered cloth and gave you sandals of badger skin; I clothed you with fine linen and covered you with silk.’ ” (Ezek 16:4-10)
Well, can you see that you are God’s! Your place, your life in God’s favour, your future, your hope is all because of the predetermined ‘knowing’ of God. It is all because of God’s prevenient grace. God’s grace comes first.
“We love Him because He first loved us.” (I Jn 4:19)
God went ahead with a plan that would overcome all obstacles, including our own objections, and chose us in Christ before the world was made!
(See Rom 11: 2; Acts 2:23; 1 Pet 1:2)
God, being who He is, saw that everything happens according to His perfect will.
8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”
Some people are very uncomfortable with this teaching as it seems to deny any free will on our part. But does the
foreknowledge of God and His plan to save people before they could choose Him really do that? Does it nullify,

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remove or dismiss our free will? According to the Bible it does not, because God calls people who decide not to come to Him: “For many are called but few are chosen” as Jesus says. (Mt 22:14) Jesus called people who did not remain His followers, some were even disciples. John tells us: “From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.” (JN 6:66)

So what does our text say?
Back to our text: V 33 “Who shall bring a charge against God's elect?” and V 29: “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son…”
So another way of explaining this: is it only those God has not chosen who will turn away from His voice and be separated from Him forever?
Or does God look down the thousands of years of human history and seeing some that will have faith chose those ones only?
But it does not say God foresaw a person’s faith or good deeds or anything of the person’s qualities; it says “those (people) whom He foreknew, He also predestined.” (Rom 8:29 NASV)
God saw people. God loves people apart from their deeds with unconditional love. Indeed, “God is love.” God knows all of us intimately and lovingly not just seeing ahead in time to see what we will do.
As someone said: “God chose to save us despite our sinfulness” which seems to be what is implied here.
Praise God

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Now we have wonderful reasons to praise God and to honour God for His great grace rather than try to find ways of explaining God’s sovereign will as something that needed our help. He is the King, so it is foolish to treat Him as though He was not really a king at all.
He is Lord of all or not Lord at all.
The God of the Bible saw us with unconditional prevenient, powerful love that did not depend on anything we were or did or said or believed.
MH says: “The whole human race deserved destruction; but for reasons not perfectly known to us, God determined to recover some by regeneration and the power of his grace…”
http://mhc.biblecommenter.com/romans/8.htm
“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things.” (Rom 8:31-32)
Now that’s grace!
Amen!

A Safe Place to Go

2009-04-16T11:29:00.000+12:00

Sermon 08.03.2009: A Safe Place to Go

Rom 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
8:29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
8:30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.”
Introduction
If you have a safe place to go where is it?
Maybe with someone you trusted?
Maybe a place you trusted, that you think is secure?
Would it be a place where things worked out for you?
You felt safe there. For some people that place is their childhood because it was safe and good and things did work out and there was someone there to look after them.
Is that how you feel? But you can only go back there in your memory…it is not a place you can live in here and now or in the future.
The whole Sri Lankan Cricket team visiting Pakistan in Lahore last Tuesday, were terrified when they and their guards were fired upon by terrorists and thought they may be killed. They were glad when their bus driver got them away from danger by driving them into the Gaddafi Cricket Stadium and onto a helicopter and then home.
They found their safe place with the help of those who were looking after them. Some cricket officials, such as West Indies Cricket Board president, Julian Hunte, think that all cricketers are now terror targets. (http://tvnz.co.nz/cricket-news/all-players-now-terror-targets-2514184)
Well, the Bible offers us a place where all that happens makes us feel secure and where everything works out - in the end. Of course you feel danger if someone is firing bullets at you or you face some other immediate danger but in the end says Paul it will work out for good.
Some say: “That is just unrealistic wishful thinking that denies reality.”
Well, even if you die, and death is not only a danger but a certainty as a Christian, God promises that it will be a glorious thing. He values it: “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.”(Psalm 116:15) The word ‘precious’ indicates costly as precious stones, dear, beloved as relatives and friends, Psa_45:9; honored, respected, Ecc_10:1; splendid, beautiful, Job_31:26; rare, 1Sa_3:1.
Rom 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”
Think for a moment of the so called prodigal son, the story Jesus told of ‘The Lost Son.’
If he had not left home, would he have become as selfish and cynical as the brother he left behind?
If he had not splashed his money around and got in with the wrong crowd, would he have begun to see his need?
If he had not tried all that the world had to offer and found it badly wanting, would he have decided to work on a pig farm just so he could eat?
Would he have discovered the truth about himself?
If he had not made a complete mess of his life while away from his father, would he have decided: “I’ve had enough of this, I’m going home!”?
How else would he have come to his senses?
If the pig farmer had given him more suitable work, would he have come to his knees?
If his father did not love him, would he have been drawn back home?
If he had not repented and retuned home, would he have found the welcome his father had waiting for him?
If the Father God did not have an overarching plan for us who believe in Christ would there be any hope for us?
The answer to these questions is: NO!
But all things worked together for good to those called by God so the prodigal son and every believer will find it’s all right in the end.
I am convinced that what everybody wants is a safe place and a place where it all works out well in the end. Even our social security system in NZ was designed to meet that human desire and dream. Sometimes it’s called a social security “safety net.” So what did Paul offer to Christians when he wrote:
Rom 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” (?)
There are certain things you can know for sure, but the world does not offer such assurances.
Paul says “we know…” This is not arrogance, or presumption. This is faith. A faith that has matured into hope in God.

Where else do we read of such assurances?
In Gen 9:11 God says to Noah and all people on earth: “Thus I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth."
9:12 And God said: "This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations…”
And in 2 Cor 9:7 “So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.
9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.
9:9 As it is written: ‘He has dispersed abroad, He has given to the poor; His righteousness endures forever.’ ”
What sort of Person does this describe? Who are we dealing with here? Clearly someone who is very generous, like the father of the Prodigal/Lost son.
He is the God of “never again” when He promises not to do something: “Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood…” (Gen 9:11) and He is the God of “all grace abounding” to you that you may be sufficient in all things and have an abundance for every good work on His behalf.
He is the righteous One and Provider for all the needs of His people. Rom 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”

We know this by faith says Paul. It is not a matter of intelligence or cleverness. You can know a lot of things and not know God. If you do not know God, you do not know His eternal security.
There are many men and women who have great learning but not much wisdom. Jesus called such people “blind guides.” (Mt 23:16)
There is one Solomon who speaks of it when by his own experience he found out:
PROV 4:7 “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding.”
PROV 16:16 “How much better to get wisdom than gold! And to get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver.”

Rom 8:28 “We know that in all things God works for good with those who love him, those whom he has called according to his purpose.
29 Those whom God had already chosen he also set apart to become like his Son, so that the Son would be the first among many believers.
30 And so those whom God set apart, he called; and those he called, he put right with himself, and he shared his glory with them.” (GNB)

Rom 8:29 an alternative trans: “For long ago God recognised His own and marked them out to become like His Son, so that the Son should be the Eldest in a large family.”
(TNT: Translator’s New Testament, The British and Foreign Bible Society, London, 1973, p. 256)
Illustration:
A little boy was in a running race at his school sports day.
On the starting line his little legs were shaking! He was far from sure he could run all that way. He was terrified of coming last.
His Dad, on the other hand, was there too cheering him on:
“Come on Phillip! You can do it! You can run the whole way. Remember what I told you!”
The boy found new strength and his confidence grew as the starter called out: “Ready, get set….go!”
Phillip took off as fast as he could and after what seemed a very long time he did reach the finish line. As it turned out he was not the fastest runner that day but he was a finisher and he believed what his Dad had told him. He gained confidence from his Dad and took him at his word.
Now we do not just have God’s Spirit to cheer us on at the start line and all the way through the race of life, but He has been sent by Jesus to dwell within us forever, to make us like Jesus and to empower us to complete whatever God has called us to do.
Rom 8:28 “We know that in all things God works for good with those who love him, those whom he has called according to his purpose.
29 Those whom God had already chosen he also set apart to become like his Son, so that the Son would be the first among many believers.”
God says we are in a race that we win if we arrive.
We do not need to get there ahead of our brothers and sisters, we just have to persist in order to get there. There is a teaching in Philippians at Ch. 2 v12-13:
“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”
Because I am trembling and fearful do not judge me too hastily.
It depends why I am trembling and fearful.
Find out before you assess whether I am walking in faith or in foolishness.
Being faithful may involve me doing some scary things. It may mean moving my family to a different country, or going without the things I enjoy and have become attached to. But it also involves taking God seriously. This kind of fear of the Lord cuts through any arrogance or taking God for granted that may dwell within us.
“Working out your own salvation” means to be careful and not carless about our eternal salvation.
We are to concentrate on pleasing God, obeying His commands as Jesus said “This is the new commandment that I give to you that you love on another as I have loved you.” We are to work out all the salvation that God has placed within us by His gracious act of coming to live within us by His Holy Spirit.
[Jn 13:34 "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 "By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."]
This is not easy but we are given all we need to accomplish what God has called us to do.
God is working for us and in us more powerfully than we can imagine. Far better even than the best Dad at the sideline of a school sports day. He has given us His dynamic Holy Spirit.
God is working “for good with those who love Him.” It will work out for good in the end. We must hold on to that.
In all things good or bad that happen to us and to our family members, God has a final end in sight that will be a good end.
For even in the valley of the shadow of death He says: “Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’ ” (Isa 41:10)
God has a purpose for us who love Him. It says “to those whom he has called according to his purpose.”
His purpose for us is much bigger than our purpose for us.
Maybe that’s why we find it difficult to grasp what the purpose is and what the outcome will be, because in our present state we cannot comprehend it all, so we are daunted by it?
Whatever the reason, do not let yourself be daunted by life’s sadness’s and problems because God, El Shaddai, Almighty God who rules the universe, has said: “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” (28)
One student many of us looked up to at Bible College had the words of God in a framed picture on the wall of his room:
“El Shaddai” is all it said and all it needed to say when Mark Jackson looked up at it every day. That is where Mark got his strength from to be student President, from a humble dependence on the Almighty God who always keeps His promises.

I love these Bible teachings because they teach me that salvation is all of God and that His bigger purposes are always at work in everything that happens to me…
If we thought and prayed about that for a while it would revolutionise our whole church.
I love the Bible’s teaching not because I find it all easy to understand or to obey but because of its challenge.
As President John F. Kennedy said in 1962:
“We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon... (interrupted by applause) we choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win...”
(http://www.jfklibrary.org/Historical+Resources/Archives/Reference+Desk/Speeches/JFK/003POF03SpaceEffort09121962.htm )
All the things that we think are working against us are actually working for our good, in the end, under God’s sovereign will.
Such truth should cause us to work and pay and not give up so that we will be assured all is worthwhile and that God will get all the glory. Amen.

The Spirit Helps Us

2009-04-16T11:26:00.000+12:00

Sermon: Rom 8: 26-30 The Spirit Helps Us

Rom 8:26 “Likewise the Spirit also helps (*1) in our weaknesses.(*1a)
For we do not know (*2) what we should pray for as we ought,
but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us (*3) with groanings which cannot be uttered. (*4)
8:27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. (*5)
8:29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
8:30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.”
Introduction
In the hospital a sad parent looks at their sick child: “What do you think doctor?”
Doctor replies: “He hasn’t got a prayer!”
This is obviously bad news to the waiting parent. Someone who hasn’t got a prayer has less than no chance of recovery in our modern way of speaking! This attitude about prayer is common. Some people suggest you are in a desperate position if you get by on “a wing and a prayer.” Prayer is seen by many as the last measure you can take, an extreme action in a desperate situation. A human way of combating or coming to terms with evils that may come our way. Prayer is also thought by some to be a hopeless and meaningless or useless exercise. Many people think it is only a form of therapy for the distressed person, to relieve their mind and that prayer has no other measurable benefits.
But a person who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ will tell you otherwise. True in their experience is the saying in Hebrews:
“But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” (Heb 11:6)
Those who have no faith in Christ see little benefit in praying while those who trust the Saviour see no other way to get real help.
Those without Christ have never seen the results of prayer. Whereas those in Christ will tell you they cannot live without it.
David Watson, the well know evangelist Anglican priest, tells of the effect of prayer: “When We Pray, Coincidences Happen.”
“The leaders of the Clapham Sect of British social reformers such as William Wilberforce, daily gave themselves to three hours of prayer and organized Christians throughout the country to unite in special prayer before critical debates in Parliament. William Temple replied to his critics who regarded answered prayer as no more than coincidence, 'When I pray, coincidences happen; when I don't, they don't.”
(David Watson, Called & Committed, (Harold Shaw Publishers, Wheaton, IL; 1982), p. 83 Copied from: http://www.crosswalk.com/pastors/illustrations/)
Help!
A person who has experienced these “co-incidences” knows God has helped them or someone they have prayed for.
And so the writer in Romans 8 adds another way in which the Holy Spirit helps the Christian. This time He helps us in a very important way. He supports us and teaches us how to pray.
(26) Help is what we first discover about God. Indeed, Jesus promised to send another Helper: the Holy Spirit and He is here. We soon discover that we need His help. We are sinful and remain weak and dependant on God for every breath. That is why we came to Christ in the first place. We knew that we were in trouble with God and that we could find no way out except His revealed way of salvation through Jesus Christ.
C. H. Spurgeon says: “Prayer is the autograph of the Holy Ghost upon the renewed heart.” (C.H. Spurgeon’s Daily Help, Feb 14, BALTIMORE: R. H. WOODWARD & COMPANY, 1892.)
As Christians learn to pray, we keep on learning.
Who is not still learning? We are disciples or followers and learners aren’t we?
The Shorter Catechism of our church teaches:
Question 98. What is prayer?
Answer. “Prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God, for things agreeable to his will, in the name of Christ, with confession of our sins, and thankful acknowledgment of his mercies.”
As we learn to pray we realise more and more just how weak we are and how much we need God.
Verse 26 reveals that we have more than one weakness, yet He does not count them against us but instead has compassion on us and lifts us up to heaven to help us.

We Do Not Know What To Pray
Most of us would be the first to admit we need help in prayer. It is the Christian’s duty to pray, the believer’s privilege to pray, to have access to the King of Kings!
Paul, arguably the greatest Apostle, you may favour John perhaps, but Paul, this great man of God says that he too had weaknesses. He includes himself in the “weaknesses.” “In our weaknesses” he says (26).
He admits that he too did not know what to pray as he ought.
Now if Paul, and presumably the Apostle John had weaknesses, surely we would have to admit that we are full of weaknesses especially when it comes to prayer. “Then He came to the disciples, (one of whom was the Apostle John) and found them asleep, and said to Peter, ‘What? Could you not watch with Me one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.’ ” (Mt 26:40-41) (Cf. I John 1:8 “If we say that we have no sin,” )
We are weak. Sadly, for many Christians they are like Samson that when his hair was cut, he did not know that the Lord had left him and that he was as weak as anyone else. Warned that the Philistines were coming, “he awoke from his sleep, and said, ‘I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free!’ But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him.” (Jud 16: 20) It is very sad.

We know we do not pray as much as we should…
Is it not true (?) that lot of what we do is still done in our own strength and wisdom?
That we do not spend much time in prayer asking God for His guidance and power?
We know we do not pray in the way that we should.
Do we know enough about God and what He expects of us to pray as we ought? What does the Bible say about this?
Paul says we do not know what we ought to pray for.
Like me, do you make a list and having gone through it think you have prayed what God wants you to pray about?

Have you remembered to pray for yourself lately?
To pray for your own needs?
Can I suggest the ‘ACTS’ prayer again? A-C-T-S.
A = Adoration of God for who He is,
C = Confession of personal sin.
T = Thanksgiving for His salvation, provision, and for all that Christ has done for you and continues to do for you.
S = Supplication: Prayers for others in need.

V26 b while we do not know: “For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought,” v. 27 says only God knows what the mind of the Spirit is. The Spirit is always ‘in tune’ with the will of God. He prays for us according to the will of God 27b.
We have the weakness that we do not know what we should pray for as we ought. Notice, it’s not just that we do not know what we should pray for but that we have an obligation to pray for what we ought to pray for. We ought to be praying for what interests God. For something of content, something important and significant to God, but we don’t know what that is.
Let me say here it is not enough to use our imagination. There is nowhere in Scripture, which is the mind of the Holy Spirit, the teaching of the Holy Spirit, that we are instructed to use our imagination to pray.
God’s word says the imagination is a dangerous place:
“I will never again curse the ground for man's sake, although the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done.” (Gen 8:21)
Lk 1:51 “He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.”
We need to get into the word of God and see what God wants us to pray about. What did Jesus pray about? What’s on God’s heart?
Enabling
V 26 c. “the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us…”
God’s Spirit does not pray for us, instead of us, so that we do nothing, but,
the meaning is that as we open ourselves up completely to God’s will and let His Holy Spirit into our lives we are enabled to pray.
It is then and there that the Holy Spirit helps us spiritually. It’s a wonderful communication system and uses very little physical energy on our part. Even the weak and dying can pray and receive the Spirit’s help and deliverance.
V 26 d. On the mention of ‘groanings,’ the commentaries are not very satisfying on this verse. The plain meaning is that the Spirit groans on our behalf, for it says: “the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” In the Book of Jude we read: “But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God.” (Jude 1:20-21)
Paul writes in Eph 6:18 “praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit…”
Groaning, whether on our part or the Spirit’s part, shows an intensity and effort which is not usually associated with prayer in the common or popular understanding. But Paul is one who learned to see prayer as an important and intense work. A work in which the person praying co-operates with God and, like Jesus, works at not only bringing the right things into His prayers, but gets to know the God who hears and answers prayer. It’s a dialogue and not a one way monologue. That’s where the effort comes in and maybe why we need so much help from the Holy Spirit.
Could it be that unless you have prayed with such intensity, groaning, at least spiritually, knowing in your own experience your great need of the Spirit’s help, that you have hardly prayed at all?
The Purpose is God’s
8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”
V 28. MH says: It might be objected that, notwithstanding all these privileges, we see believers compassed about with manifold (many) afflictions; though the Spirit makes intercession for them, yet their troubles are continued. It is very true; but in this the Spirit’s intercession is always effectual, that, however it goes with them, all this is working together for their good.” (MH Com on Rom 8:28 See:
http://bible.crosswalk.com/Commentaries/MatthewHenryComplete/mhc-com.cgi?book=ro&chapter=008
Further: “All this we know — know it for a certainty, from the word of God, from our own experience, and from the experience of all the saints.”
There is a whole series of sermons in the phrase that begins this verse: “And we know…” since it has been God’s intention from the very beginning that we should know. He has always been determined to reveal His will and He revealed Himself and His purposes to all of us. Oh yes, we know alright.
We know about God, first from seeing creation, the natural world, telling us as Paul has already said in Ch.1: 20 “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse…”
From what is visible, i.e. the creation, what we can see of it shows us God’s invisible attributes. The created order points toward the God who made it and shows us two things about Him:
1. God’s eternal power.
2. God’s divine nature.
So we know things about God that some continue to deny at their peril. Paul says they suppress this knowledge so they can go on sinning. (Rom 1: 18) Because they are living in spiritual darkness, Paul goes so far as to say that while they profess to be wise they have become fools to deny God His proper place in their lives. (Ch.1 21-22)
God exists and is divine, no mere human, and shows everyone that He has eternal power. The hymn writer Isaac Watts says it well:
“Before the hills in order stood,
Or earth received her frame
From everlasting Thou art God
To endless years the same.”
(C.H. 601 and WOV 46 by Isaac Watts, from Ps 100)

What is not revealed by creation is Christ the Way of salvation. That is where the word of God comes in and it is in the Bible where the Spirit always points to Him as the Way, the Truth and the Life.
So we are in the position as Christians, of not only knowing that there is a Divine Person, God, who made everything and that this Person has eternal and stupendous power, but also that what happens to us is for a greater purpose that will do us good.
28 “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”
Often Christians are asked why their faith and prayers do not stop bad things happening to them and “the prince of preachers,” C.H. Spurgeon says:
“God often takes away our comforts and our privileges in order to make us better Christians. He trains His soldiers, not in tents of ease and luxury, but by turning them out and using them to forced marches and hard service. He makes them ford through streams, and swim through rivers, and climb mountains, and walk many a long mile with heavy knapsacks of sorrow on their backs. Well, Christian, may not this account for the troubles through which thou art passing? Is not the Lord bringing out your graces, and making them grow? Is not this the reason why he is contending with you?
‘Trials make the promise sweet;
Trials give new life to prayer;
Trials bring me to His feet,
Lay me low, and keep me there.’ ”
(C.H. Spurgeon: Morning; 18 Feb; "Morning and Evening.")

So what will you choose?
The belief that the Living God can hear and answer prayer? or that prayer is but a human invention for extreme situations merely to calm the troubled mind?
Your answer reveals one of two general attitudes to God.
Matthew Henry says this about this passage: “To a hypocrite, all whose religion lies in his tongue, (he can talk it but not walk it) nothing is more dreadful than that God searches the heart and sees through all his disguises. To a sincere Christian, who makes heart-work of his duty, nothing is more comfortable than that God searches the heart, for then he will hear and answer those desires which we want words to express.”
The unbeliever may say:

One of our planes was missing
Two hours overdue
One of our planes was missing
With all its gallant crew
The radio sets were humming
We waited for a word
Then a noise broke
Through the humming and this is what we heard

Comin' in on a wing and a prayer
Comin' in on a wing and a prayer
Though there's one motor gone
We can still carry on
Comin' in on a wing and a prayer
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/on-a-wing-and-a-prayer.html

Or:
“the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” Amen.

Hope Makes it All Worthwhile

2009-04-16T11:22:00.000+12:00

Hope Makes it All Worthwhile

Rom 8:18 “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
8:19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.
8:20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope;
8:21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
8:22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.
8:23 Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.
8:24 For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees?
8:25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.”

Introduction
Hope! Hope! Hope! It is a wonderful thing to have hope in your life.
Chris McGreal reports in The Guardian, Friday 13 February 2009:
Juliana Tafirei will probably die, while the pills that could save her life
lie on her bedside table. The drugs arrive each month with a batch of Red Cross food aid at her small conical house in the village of Muzondo in Masvingo, a sprawling agricultural province of about 1.3 million people, 300km from Harare, the Zimbabwean capital. But there are a lot of mouths to feed and the food runs out after a couple of weeks, three at best. After that, Tafirei and her six children eat only every other day, a meal consisting of a few boiled wild vegetables and sometimes a cup of maize begged from neighbours.

That is when Tafirei, 36, stops taking the antiretroviral (ARV) drugs that prevent HIV from developing in to full-blown Aids. On an empty stomach they are, as one health worker puts it, like digesting razor blades. "We don't each much. The food they give us doesn't last. The children get hungry. It is hard to tell them they cannot have food when they can see it sitting there," says Tafirei, lying in bed eating a small plate of beans, her only meal of the day. "When I eat I feel a bit better. But when I get hungry, I'm really, really weak. I can hardly walk. I'm taking ARVs. Without any food I don't take them because it's very painful."

But intermittent use of the drugs, combined with immune systems weakened by a lack of food, makes ARVs virtually useless over time. Then Aids takes a grip.

Tafirei is not alone. The United Nations says that this month it will feed seven million Zimbabweans, more than two-thirds of the population still left in a country where drastic shortages have driven millions of the most able across the border to work illegally in South Africa.”
(From my Yahoo email: News February 13b Saturday, February 14, 2009 12:17 AM
From: "Barbara Goss"
To: zimbabwenews@googlegroups.com)

That’s the story of a people for whom the world holds out no hope.
Now think closer to home. I was amazed at the way many people told their stories who had just escaped from the devastating Victorian bush fires. How they gave their terribly sad accounts having only just lost loved ones. I was amazed that they had a tone of hope in their hearts.
“Well, we will just have to start again,” one man said.
Like many others, he was preparing to start rebuilding his shattered life. People like that do not determine to “just start again” for no reason. They are looking for something far better.
We all have to have a reason for living, and that’s what this passage is about: the Christian Hope: our reason for living.
Hope Makes it all Worthwhile
1. Hope says that we are waiting for something better. Something is coming that Christians are waiting for. Something good. We are told if we look at v 19, that creation eagerly waits for it. In v 22 creation waits for it with groans like a mother waiting for the birth of her child.
Verse 23 says we who have the Holy Spirit wait eagerly for the day of our redemption and v 25 says we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.
In the Christian life we are waiting for what we know God cannot fail to deliver. Even though there is ever so much wickedness in the world and tragedies almost overwhelm us, God refuses to go back on His word. He will perform that which He promised for His people so long ago. What He promises us today, God promised His people way back in Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
And from Paul writing to the Thessalonians: 1THES 5:24 “He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.”
To hope in Jesus Christ means we will receive the ultimate reward.
Hope is one of the great themes of the Bible, because ever since that dreadful day when Adam and Eve committed sin in that perfect garden of Eden, so that it became instantly no longer perfect, God put hope into human hearts.
Ever since they were condemned for their actions and banished from Eden, even the creation was disastrously affected. It has been waiting in hope of restoration to that blissful state when God in His great love placed the first two humans in that idyllic garden.
Yes, creation itself, says Paul, waits for something important to happen and Paul says that it is the revealing of something: 8:19 “For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.” The GNB has: “All of creation waits with eager longing for God to reveal his children.”
What’s he talking about?
First, there is a glory that will be revealed in Christians one day: (18). One day, a glorious change will happen to those who are faithful in Christ who have died and to those still alive at Jesus’ coming.
Secondly, creation earnestly expects and eagerly waits for the open declaration of this glory (19). The created order is affected.
Thirdly, he says: in v 21 “that creation itself would one day be set free from its slavery to decay and would share the glorious freedom of the children of God.” (GNB) This glory that will be openly declared and established is the permanent freeing of creation, and all who are God’s children, from the bondage of corruption that sin caused. (21) “For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected in hope.” (20) So the Apostle is saying that we, as well as creation, will be finally and fully set free from being subject to corruption and all the effects of sin.
The future outcome for creation depends on God’s plan of redemption for His people, His own children. (See vv.15-21)
Creation will not reach the freedom it longs for without the church arriving at the day of redemption.
Paul says that day is the day of the full revelation of our freedom with God. (19)

Mysteriously, God has built into the created order a longing for the day of our completed salvation. It is called “the redemption of our body” in verse 23. The day when our bodies, minds and spirits will be made perfect in Christ.
Truly it will be a day of absolute freedom and deliverance from all that we have ever feared or been bound by.
For we are promised that we shall see Him and when we do, we shall be like Him.
1JN 3:2 “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” (I John 3:2)
That is what will be revealed on the day of our redemption.
It will also include the freedom or deliverance for the creation so that it desires with groaning for it to happen. (22)

2. Secondly, hope in Christ points us to glory. Glory to God and glory for us in Christ. Hope points us, like the stars at night point every observer to the Great Creator of the Universe. The stars say to everyone who looks at them with an open mind: “Don’t look at us, look at the One who made us! Look to Him, Look to Him!”
Verse 18 goes on to say that the glory He gives to us will be revealed in us. That is our future, in contrast to our present sufferings which he says are temporary and cannot be our main focus.
For we must, in the end, by faith, look away from our present cares and sufferings to Him who waits for us.
This is putting faith into action. This is hope in action.
He waits, like the father in the Prodigal Son story with arms wide open, coming to us, running towards the lost repentant one in love and with joy in His great heart to see us and embrace us.
“There and Back”
Perhaps you will remember what it was like when you were away from home for a while. Away on a long journey we often think of those we have left at home. As the time draws nearer for us to return again and meet with them, we eagerly await that event because we have missed them so much. The absence makes the heart grow fonder.
So it is for God. He eagerly waits to see you. God calls us to eagerly wait in living hope to see Him too. God is calling you to eagerly and actively wait the day of your redemption as your Christian hope. (23)

3. Thirdly, hope saves us (v. 24) in the same way that faith saves us. We have faith in Jesus Christ; we put our hope in Him. Hope is faith matured. Hope in Christ is a life of faithfulness or sustained faith if you like.
We are stretched to the limit at times, to be sure, but hope is faith that God has great purposes for us and for the world; purposes that He will ensure are completed perfectly. “…being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ…” (PHIL 1:6)

That is mature, saving faith. We are confident not in ourselves or even in some sort of self generated faith, but in the One who draws us by grace to His side, implants faith in our hearts and protects us to the very end. We hope in Him.

It is this faith that keeps on trusting; that finally brings us to see the end of the Christian’s great hope: Jesus Christ in His glory.
(Heb 10:23 and Rom 5:3-4 ff. tell us about this)
Paul says in Ch 12:12 that we are those who are “Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer…”
And that it is through reading the Scriptures that we find hope:
“that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.” (Romans 15: 4)
Furthermore He is: “the God of hope” who can “fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Rom 15: 13)
Here we are reminded that in the Apostle’s writings, hope is no side issue tacked on to make life interesting! Hope is such a central theme of the whole Bible that he comes back to it time and time again.
It is good that we look at these things desiring to know more and with a confidence that God has His purposes in working things out in our lives.
For example, God’s bigger plan of salvation is the main point of chapters 9-11 of this wonderful book and, God willing, we will come to that in due course. Take time to read ahead in Ch 9-11. You will be greatly encouraged and sustained in your faith.

Conclusion
What this section, Rom 8: 19-25, helps us to do is to see that temporary sufferings are well worth going through because:
1. Hope says we are waiting for something far better. Living in hope means waiting for something better than we could ever imagine: the fulfilment of God’s great purpose for us believers, the church and all creation.
2. Hope in Christ points us to glory. We will be glorified: He promises in I John 3:2 “we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” We will see Christ and be perfect and in bliss forever.
3. Hope saves us. Paul says in verse 24: “For we were saved in this hope…”
This teaches us that all God has promised us in Christ will be ours: salvation from sin, seeing Jesus and fellow believers, living forever in perfection and so much more.
We will experience the fullness which hope leads us to on the day when Christ returns.
As Paul has already said in Chapter 5: “Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” (ROM 5:5) AMEN.

The Obligation of Grace

2009-04-16T11:18:00.000+12:00

The Obligation of Grace
8:12 “So then, my friends, we have an obligation, but it is not to live as our human nature wants us to.
8:13 For if you live according to your human nature, you are going to die; but if by the Spirit you put to death your sinful actions, you will live.
8:14 Those who are led by God's Spirit are God's children.” (GNB/TEV/Pew Bible)
Introduction: Last time, we saw how:
The Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead is in you! (That is, in all genuine believers in Christ)
This Spirit is God the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Trinity.
That the OT writings and the Lord Jesus promised the Spirit to the church.
That the Holy Spirit has a ministry in our lives.
The Spirit is the One who makes Jesus real to us.
He is the power generator in our lives to enable us to live as Christians should.
In applying that to ourselves we see that the reason the Spirit is not more evident in our lives is that we do not honour the Him as we should.
We do not submit to His will as we should.

Also, He is less evident in the church’s witness to the world today because the church has compromised the gospel message and persistently refused to turn to the Spirit for renewal of her own life and witness. I know we have been encouraged to shape our message to meet with the cultural understandings of today but that’s not what the first Christians did. They turned their world upside down!

We still find it in the arm of flesh to do all that we do in the name of God and tell God in our prayers what we can do and tell each other what to do without God’s authority.

The Obligation of Grace
Now Paul tells the church there is no condemnation but an obligation. Condemnation for your sins has been replaced by pardon through God’s grace. With grace comes an obligation:
8:12 “So then, my friends, we have an obligation, but it is not to live as our human nature wants us to. 13 For if you live according to your human nature, you are going to die; but if by the Spirit you put to death your sinful actions, you will live.
8:14 Those who are led by God's Spirit are God's children.”
(GNB/TEV/Pew Bible)
This obligation to live for God does not come from an obligation to law but from God’s grace.
It is because God has put us right with Himself through Jesus Christ and given us His Holy Spirit that we want to please God.
We are obliged by grace. We want to love God out of gratitude for all that He has done for us.
Who are God’s Children?
To explore what Paul says in verse 14 we have to ask what he means by “God’s children.” Who are God’s children? Is everyone a child of God?
This teaching that we are God’s children ties in exactly with Jesus’ teaching about who are God’s children where He says in John’s Gospel in at least two places:
Firstly in John 3:3, He states, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
And in v. 5 Jesus said: “ ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ ”
Being born again is a clear description of becoming a child, of being born spiritually. It is a description of what needs to happen for us to become God’s spiritual children. Being reborn spiritually is the Holy Spirit’s work. It is how we become God’s children. We cannot enter God’s kingdom, says Jesus, unless we are born again.
Jesus says we are made spiritually alive by God’s Holy Spirit. Christians are what Jesus calls ‘born again or born from above.’ Their life comes from God. Once they were dead in their sins, now they are alive to God. EPH 2:1 says: “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins…”
The second place where Jesus teaches about who are alive to God and can be called God’s children is in John 3:36.
Jesus states that: “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
Then in John 5:24 Jesus says, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.”
This is precisely what Paul is telling the Roman Christians and us!
He says there is an outcome, a consequence, of being born again:
8:12 “Therefore, brethren, we are debtors (obligated) - not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.
Rom 8:13 For if you live according to your human nature, (i.e. the flesh) you are going to die; but if by the Spirit you put to death your sinful actions, you will live. 14 Those who are led by God's Spirit are God's children.”
We are debtors, says Paul or, as the GNB says, we have an obligation, verse 12: “So then, my friends, we have an obligation, but it is not to live as our human nature wants us to.”

Let me share an Illustration of what it means to try to live as your human nature wants you to, as opposed to enjoying the healthy life God intends for you.
Let me tell you about a young man, Martyn, who was eating all the wrong kinds of food.
He was eating nothing but sugar, lollies and salty carbohydrates!
Although he did not look overweight or anything like it, he was making himself very ill. So he was shocked to hear what the experts said about his laboratory tests. The doctor said to him that when she looked at his results she thought: “These are the blood tests of someone who is either an alcoholic or has hepatitis. In my opinion your blood tests and abnormal liver function tests are due to your diet. Does that surprise you?”
Martyn said that it did.
“Your liver has to work double or triple its strength to break down the food you are taking in. So it’s overstretched, so it’s essential that you get these fruit and vegetables and give your liver a break. If it’s not working, you won’t survive.”
Martyn said: “I’m quite shocked at the seriousness of what’s going on.”
The doctor went on to say about Martyn’s liver: “I mean the choice is: fix this (pointing to his liver) or get a new one or die.”
What’s interesting for us is what he said when he discovered what was happening and, more importantly, what he did about it. When asked about what he had learned about his test results Martyn said:
“It’s changed from being something I’ve chosen to change to something I really must change.”
With some help from nutritionists and doctors Martyn came to see that what he described as a ‘foible’ in his eating habits and just part of his quirky makeup, was in fact killing him.
“Talking to the doctor really did frighten me I mean, I don’t want to die as a result of my food issues… something that’s just been… what I have thought of as part of my character, my, you know, foibles, my weirdness, but this part of me is actually killing me.” Martyn was wise enough to get help and is changing his diet and working on overcoming his unhealthy food habits.
Some people are like that about their spiritual health. They think that the spiritual diet they are on is perfectly adequate. That they can pick and choose whatever they want to believe and nothing will happen to them.
That they don’t have to respond to the commands and the love of God and even though God wants a personal relationship with them that they can shun Him or effectively ignore Him all their lives as though He did not exist. A personal relationship means meeting with a person and having friendship with them.

When Paul says: “So then, my friends, we have an obligation, but it is not to live as our human nature wants us to.” (Rom 8:12) he means that we owe God a relationship which puts Him first in our lives. We have to allow Him to be the boss of our lives.

So is what you are doing, is what you believe killing you spiritually? Martyn’s body was being severely affected by a sick liver and if he continued that diet of nothing but sugar, lollies and salty carbohydrates he would kill his liver an then he would die.
Paul’s warning is found in verse 13: “For if you live according to your human nature, you are going to die; but if by the Spirit you put to death your sinful actions, you will live.”
It’s clear enough isn’t it?
We have an obligation not to live as our human nature wants us to but to live as God wants us to.
To have the ability to do this we must be born again.
We must start with God’s new birth as we come to Jesus Christ in faith.
We must all repent of our sins and believe the gospel.
Only then can we have the power and inclination to do as God wants.
It is because the Spirit indwells every true Christian that Paul says we who claim to be Christians have to live for God. Elsewhere, in Eph 2:4, Paul says it’s all by God’s grace: “ But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)…”
Then he outlines the purpose:
2:8 “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
2:9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”
God’s children, Christians, are described in Romans 8 verse 14 as those who are led by God: 8:14 “Those who are led by God's Spirit are God's children.”
These are the ones who benefit from their new life in Christ.
8:15 “For the Spirit that God has given you does not make you slaves and cause you to be afraid; instead, the Spirit makes you God's children, and by the Spirit's power we cry out to God, "Father! my Father!"
We benefit from the new relationship we have with the Father, because of Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf and through the indwelling Holy Spirit who makes it all real. What before was a vague,
hoped for,
perhaps seen in other people,
promised intimacy,
but never quite there,
is now a close personal relationship in which you can call the Lord of the Universe: “Daddy!”
Nice to be such a child, one of God’s children!

Concluding on a note of assurance…
Some people think the Christian life is too hard because on the one hand, God expects so much; we have to put Him first, and on the other hand the world we live in is going in the opposite direction, so we find ourselves swimming upstream all the time…It’s tough!
The story is told by George, a Jewish Christian who lives with his family in the Negev Desert in Israel, about the runner Mike Delcavo. George writes:
“Mike Delcavo and 127 of the best runners in the country were battling for glory over the 10,000 meter course. About three miles into the race, Delcavo was somewhere in the middle of the pack, when he realized that the runners had made a wrong turn. So he yelled out, "You're going the wrong way," but they didn't listen. Only 4 others followed Mike when he turned in the right direction... and suddenly, he found himself in the lead.
However that lasted only about a mile, since Mike and the runners who followed him soon reunited with the larger pack who, having gone the wrong way, actually shaved about a half a mile off the course, and were now in the lead again. The final blow came when, because so many of the runners had gone the wrong way, the officials changed the official course route to accommodate their error. So when Mike Delcavo finally crossed the finish line, he was number 103 overall.

At the end of the race, some of Delcavo's competitors "thought it was funny that he went the right way."

In our mixed up world, when everybody is wrong, then wrong becomes right. However, in the world to come there is only one Judge and He will not change the correct course regardless of how many or how few actually run it…

It's easy to follow the crowd. But it takes courage and conviction to follow wholeheartedly after God. Sometimes it can get lonely running your race, wondering where the crowd is going, and even whether you, yourself are on the right road. But you my friends, keep running with the Lord. And when the race is over and you have finished your course, may He say to you, "Well done, you good and faithful servant!" Amen.

Not been here...

2009-04-16T11:09:00.006+12:00

Not been on here for a year, so sorry about that!
NEWS IS ANDREW is getting Married to Gina Macko in Sydney on Saturday 23 May 2009.
Congratulations to you both.
Love from Dad and Kathy
We are going over to the wedding and plan to stay about 6 days and see a few sights.

Romans series:
The Spirit of Him who raised Jesus is in YOU
Rom 8:1 “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
8:3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh,
8:4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
8:5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
8:6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.
8:8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
8:9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.
8:10 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
8:11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”
Introduction
In this 8th chapter, the writer of this letter to the Christians in Rome, Paul the Apostle continues to set out why Christians are to live spiritually clean lives. Ch 8:2 “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.”

All that I am about to say relates to true Christians; those born of the Holy Spirit of God. When I use the word ‘Christian’ I mean those who are born again.

The Spirit’s Ministry
Paul sets out here in Ch 8 the groundwork or basic principles about the Holy Spirit’s ministry in the believer. He does this very carefully because he wants Christians to hear and understand all the wonderful things God has already done for us.
We are to live clean lives because we have been granted a new life of freedom. (2) With such freedom comes responsibility.
This freedom is found in Jesus Christ as we experience God’s Spirit. (We read this in Rom Ch 6: 18-22 and Ch 8: 3-6)
We live by or according to the Spirit: see v 4. It is Christians “who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

Paul says to live as God wants us to live, as God intends us to live, we must allow the Spirit to control our behaviour.
We read about this in verses 5-8: Warnings about the fate of those who live according to or after the flesh i.e. non Christians and how we Christians are to live according to the Spirit’s direction. That Christians are not fleshly i.e. we do not live according to human nature but we live in step with the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit’s Indwelling Power
He goes on in v. 9-10 to say to the whole church: You individually and collectively, belong to God and behave as He wants you to because His Spirit is in you.
The Spirit of Him who raised Jesus is in you!
If Christ by His Spirit is in you, you have life courtesy of the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead.
Let me say it another way: In vv. 10-11 Paul tells us what God has already done for us.
The astounding news is that God’s resurrection power resides in you, runs in and through your life, gives you life, eternal life and power. He, by His Spirit, shares His eternal resurrection power with you who believe.
“And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
v. 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”
That’s the NKJV, but it does not matter which Bible you use, the good news remains the same:
The Spirit of Him who raised Jesus is in you!
Your pew Bible says 8:10 “But if Christ lives in you, the Spirit is life for you because you have been put right with God, even though your bodies are going to die because of sin.
8:11 If the Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from death, lives in you, then he who raised Christ from death will also give life to your mortal bodies by the presence of his Spirit in you.”
(See MLJ on the distinction in v. re: “Spirit is life” versus “spirit is life” in v.10 on pages 70ff in “Romans 8.5-17 “The Sons of God.”)
All this is to tell Christians that we are sanctified. Being sanctified simply means separated to God, possessing His Spirit, belonging to God, as distinct from the world. We are God’s own children re-created in Christ to do good works so as to glorify Him. (Eph 2: 8-10)
All this is implied in the statement, the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus is in you!

How can we experience this?
How can we get the benefit of this wonderful truth?
If the God of the universe has put His resurrection power within us, surely there should be some marked difference in our lives?
If the power that raised the Lord Jesus from the tomb resides in us, then surely we should know it in our experience! So how can we experience this?
Illustration
Think about this. If some new company built a dynamic new power source in the middle of Dunedin, such as a new form of power generator, a thing of wonder! You can be sure everyone in Dunedin would want to know all about it, and to get their share of the power it was built to produce. It is the same with the H.S.
Within us is the ‘dunamis’ of the Spirit: the power of God. ‘Dunamis’ is the Greek word we get the word ‘dynamite’ from. This ‘dunamis’ comes from the power generator, the Holy Spirit.
So, how can we experience this power?
Reckon it to be yours!
Say to yourself: “I have received Christ and I have the Holy Spirit living in me!”
‘Dunamis’ is nothing less than the resurrecting power of the gospel: ROM 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,” says Paul in Chapter 1 “for it is the power (dunamis) of God to salvation for everyone who believes…”
It is the same power that “declared Jesus to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.” (ROM 1:4)
And remember, Paul has told us that the Holy Spirit lives within each of you as a believer and in the church as a whole.

So why are we so powerless and the church so ineffectual?
No.1: We do not recognise the Person or power of the H.S. We think of Him as a vague impersonal influence that may come to us and go away just as mysteriously from time to time. We do not honour the H.S. Sometimes we ascribe things to Him that are not true.
He is a Person who lives. He is the Third Person of the Trinity of God. He is God the Holy Spirit. He dwells within the believer so that we can know Jesus Christ in our lives.
The Spirit of Him who raised Jesus is in you!
No. 2: We do not submit to the H.S. as we should and so He does not produce His power in us as He could.
The Early Christians
But the early Christians did experience this power. The early Christians turned the world upside down! A world far more against them than the world we face against us today. They had no access to political power, they were not recognised or paid any attention to, they belonged to an illicit religion under Roman governorship; they had no means of communication as we have today, they had none of our advantages…yet they relied on the power and grace of the H.S. and they turned their world upside down! The Book of Acts tells us that they turned the world upside down by proclaiming the Lordship of Jesus in the power of the H.S. Acts 17: 6 “These who have turned the world upside down have come here too. 7 Jason has harbored them, and these are all acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying there is another king - Jesus.”
The church has compromised this message, so any power it had in NZ is waning and new forms of Christianity are rising up every day. No doubt some will be effective in NZ and some will not. It will depend how faithful believers are to the word of God and how dependent they are on the power of the H.S.
Examples of the Spirit’s Power in OT Times
In OT times the Spirit of God came upon people like Samson to give him superhuman strength to fight God’s enemies, on Gideon to win a battle with little in the way of resources, on young David to down the giant Philistine Goliath, on Moses in order to lead an unruly mob through the desert to the edge of the promised land and on all the prophets and leaders, judges and kings, but the Spirit did not remain with and certainly not in these early believers. In order to bring in the gospels’ power, in order to make permanent changes in people’s lives, the Holy Spirit had to come and stay in human lives. This where Jesus is central to this.
Jesus’ Promise
It was after the coming of Jesus and His resurrection and Ascension that the Holy Spirit was given to enter into and remain with God’s people, the church. That was why these ordinary folk could do such amazing things and have such assurance and determination that lead some of them to martyrs’ deaths and others to write the sublime words of the NT which we still have today…The Spirit of God was with them and to remain in them and to be theirs always!
The Spirit of Him who raised Jesus is in you!

The Spirit’s words of the OT prophets about Jesus and Jesus’ promises to His disciples and to us came true: Lk 11:9 “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
Verse 11 If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone?
Verse 13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”
The difference between those OT and NT believers and us is not that the age of miracles is passed, but that we have become so comfortable with our own power. We have been able to do so much without having to depend on the Holy Spirit. At least we think we are ok without Him.
What we need as a church is to confess our foolish dependence on human strength and instead breathe in deeply of the Holy Spirit. The Apostle warns us in verses 5 and 6 of this chapter: 8:5 “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 8:6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.”
There is still too much confidence in those who live by their own strength and too little on dependence on the power of the Spirit.
The Spirit of Him who raised Jesus is in you!
Why would we not employ that superhuman strength, that wonderful wisdom, that source of eternal salvation and security?
For this is what the Holy Spirit produces in the believer.
When sought out regarding these things by no less than an eminent religious leader of His day, “Jesus answered, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 Do not marvel that I said to you, “You must be born again.” ’ ” (John 3: 5-7)
And on the occasion of His farewell, Jesus said to His followers: “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day,
47 and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
48 And you are witnesses of these things.
49 Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you;” (MEANING THE HOLY SPIRIT looking forward to Pentecost) “but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power (dunamis) from on high.” (Lk 24:46-49)
So God’s promise to you today, right now is: “if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” (Rom 8:11)

And it is that way and that way alone that you will be able to benefit from being a Christian and bring glory to God.

It is depending by faith in the working of the Holy Spirit in your life that you will be able to do what He calls you to do.

It is in turning from a dependence on your human nature to divine power the Holy Spirit supplies in you.

It is in humbling yourself to God afresh and in seeing what He has already done for you in Christ by the Holy Spirit is all sufficient and all that you need to live and then you will indeed live!

The Spirit of Him who raised Jesus is in you! AMEN.

Real Believers? What for? (Romans Series No. 4)

2008-04-14T08:06:00.000+12:00

Real Believers? What for?
Romans 3:1-20 Sermon 4
Introduction: There are two points in today’s message:
1. Who is a real believer? and 2. What is the point of being a believer?
In our journey through Romans, may I take you to some of the verses we read last Sunday. That is: to chapter 2:17-3:4
1.Who is a Real Jew?
There the apostle Paul answers the question: “Who is a real Jew?”
In this section there are seven questions about who is a real Jew.

Paul discusses the danger of being a Jew yet remaining an unbeliever.

Paul searches the Scriptures to see what God expects of His people and comes up with a verse from Isaiah: which he quotes in Rom 2 V 24: What is the significance of the OT quote in V24?
It appears to come from: Isaiah 52:5-6 “‘Now therefore, what have I here,’ says the LORD, ‘That My people are taken away for nothing? Those who rule over them make them wail,’ says the LORD, ‘And My name is blasphemed continually every day. 6 Therefore My people shall know My name; Therefore they shall know in that day that I am He who speaks: 'Behold, it is I.' "
V 24 is about this:
When God has His good name blasphemed because of the bad behaviour and consequent judgment of His chosen people, He will not stand for it.
Not only should believers know the name of God, but be obedient to His word. He has set it down in Scripture.
Paul says that what is so destructive about unbelief and its resultant disobedience to God is that it blasphemes God’s name and destroys people.
Hosea puts it so clearly when he says: HOSEA 4:6 “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.”
So the knowledge the Jews needed, says Paul, is heart knowledge. They need to know God personally as we saw last week.
After asking all the questions Paul sets it all out for us:
Rom 2:29 “…he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.”
It is no different for you and me.

Those who are justified before God, the just ones, those accepted on Christ’s behalf, are those who put their heart trust in Him.
Now the Jews of Jesus and Paul’s day had come to believe that you kept the law and God forgave you.
Rom 2v25: Paul’s argument goes on to say: “if you keep the law” That is “a big if..”
Ch 2:25 “For circumcision is indeed profitable if you keep the law; but if you are a breaker of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.”
CIRCUMCISION
Since CIRCUMCISION is spoken of so much in Romans I better explain for those who are following Paul’s message…
Circumcision was the sign of a believers dedication to the Lord, to follow His ways all your life in faith.
It was the child’s parents who took their baby boys to the priest when they were eight days old, and has its following rite all through the church history in infant baptism until today. Baptism as directed by Jesus Himself replaced circumcision as the sign of God’s mark and favour on believers.
Notably, baptism is less gender biased and is quite PC because both boys and girls are baptised into Christ.

But back to Paul’s teaching…
Paul’s point is that no matter what you do, no one keeps the law perfectly.
So we all owe the Lord an obedience we have failed to keep…

He paid a debt He did not owe,
I owed a debt I could not pay,
I needed someone to wash my sins away,
And now I sing a brand new song, amazing grace,
Christ Jesus paid the debt that I could never pay.

Even if we followed all of the ten commandments, all of the regulations and all the ceremonial laws in the OT, like the Jews of old, we would not be saved.
Why not?
Because we would not keep them perfectly.
We would not do them perfectly. In writing to the Galatians Paul makes it very clear: Gal 2:15 “We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, 16 knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.”
So a real Jew, a true believer is one who is justified by God’s grace in Christ and knows it.
The words of Leviticus, ‘You shall be holy for I am holy.’ ” (Lev 11:44-45) is not only an O.T. expectation but a N.T. one as well.
Paul says: “without holiness no one will see the Lord.” (Heb 12:14)
We do not do all that God expects.
The Apostle Peter says:
1 Peter 1:13 “Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 14 as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; 15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 because it is written, ‘Be holy, for I am holy.’ 17 And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear…”

Ch 2:27 would be appalling to a Jew: 27 “And will not the physically uncircumcised, if he fulfills the law, judge you who, even with your written code and circumcision, are a transgressor of the law?”
Certainly Not! May such a thing never happen!
That would be the orthodox Jewish reply.
Jews to be judged by the unrighteous? Horrible thought! May it never be…
Paul warns them that this is what will happen to his nation if they do not repent and believe the gospel. He goes into more depth in Ch 9-11.

2. What’s the Point in Believing?
Where’s the advantage in it?
There are eight questions in this passage that I have chosen for today. Maybe it’s a confirmation that it is legitimate to ask questions when preaching as I often do…
BUT…I am not going to answer every question, nor am I going to go longer than I normally go, God willing…

The questions in today’s passage (all eight of them) centre around the issue of what advantage there is in being a Jew.

Now you can read for the word ‘Jew,’ a believer in Jesus Christ.
What’s the use of believing in Christ?
I have made a switch, you may say…well it’s in the passage…

Let me explain:
Last week we saw that while we are non-Jews ethnically, that is, by our blood and by our background, we can be Jews inwardly, or, if you like, be accepted by God as God’s chosen people on the very same basis as every real Jew was accepted:
Rom 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith.”
So it is now Paul who can refer to genuine believers as “Jews inwardly” (Look at Rom 2:29)

The point of being a Jew inwardly he goes on to say is found in Ch 3 verses 1-20…
No.1. The Jews were given the word of God. I will read verses 1-4.
3:1 “What advantage then has the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision?
2 Much in every way! Chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God. 3 For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? 4 Certainly not! Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar. As it is written: ‘That You may be justified in Your words,
And may overcome when You are judged.’ ”
On Sinai, Moses received the ten commandments. Even if some of the people did not believe them they are still God’s holy word and must be obeyed.
God did not stop being faithful to His people even when they were unfaithful to Him. That’s the nature of grace.
No sooner had Moses got down from receiving the law than the people were fully in the damnable process of disobeying all of them.
God is still true even if every man denies Him and He is quite capable of maintaining the honour of His own name.

Reason 2.
What advantage is it to be a Jew, to be a believer?
Because it establishes God’s law.
Look at verses 5-9: 3:5 “But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unjust who inflicts wrath? (I speak as a man.)
6 Certainly not! For then how will God judge the world?
7 For if the truth of God has increased through my lie to His glory, why am I also still judged as a sinner? 8 And why not say, ‘Let us do evil that good may come’ ?-as we are slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say. Their condemnation is just. 9 What then? Are we better than they? Not at all.”
Some people argued that if we sin and God is gracious to us it emphasises the graciousness and therefore the goodness of God.
It demonstrates how great God is.
If God is seen as all the more truthful in contrast to my lies, is that not a good thing?
And if it’s a good thing, should we not sin more so as to show up how gracious and good and great God is? …sort of demonstrate the picture of who and what God is as with a magnifying glass?
This is the “Let us do evil that good may come” teaching that some people accused Paul of preaching.
It does not make much sense to us because it says we should forget God’s law once we have become believers… but it was attractive to some people at that time…
Paul says: “That’s NOT what I’m preaching! and people who say that deserve to be condemned,” but, and very quickly he adds, “does that mean I am better than they are?”
“By no means,” he says: “the Bible says,” asserting Gods law, “we are all sinners and not one of us is without sin…” then he goes on to give his proof texts or his evidence that this is true and he quotes:
Psalm 14:1, 3, 7; Psa_53:1-3; Isa 57; Job_14:4, Job_15:14, Job_15:16, Job_25:4; Jer_17:9; all over the O.T. actually. (Cf. Rom_3:23)
Commentator Albert Barnes says: “The apostle (Paul) is reasoning with Jews; and he proceeds to show from their own Scriptures, that what he had affirmed was true. The point to be proved was, that the Jews, in the matter of justification, had no advantage or preference over the Gentiles; that the Jew had failed to keep the Law which had been given him, as the Gentile had failed to keep the Law which had been given him; and that both, therefore, were equally dependent on the mercy of God, incapable of being justified and saved by their works.
To show this, the apostle adduces texts to show what was the character of the Jewish people; or to show that according to their own Scriptures, they were sinners no less than the Gentiles.”
By doing this, Paul established that the Jews had been given God’s very words, having failed to live them out as they were called to do, they are sinners as much as the Gentiles are, and so are equally dependent on God’s grace in Christ and that God is justified in upholding His righteousness.
By this God shows everyone that He establishes His law.
Conclusion
So who is acceptable to God, who is a real Jew, Paul asks?
Who are those who are God’s chosen people in Paul’s day or today?
Who is it that is acceptable before God?
By now, if you have read what Paul has been saying in ch.1-2:16 that we are put right with God by the grace of God and that grace comes to us through faith in the heart.
Christianity is a heart religion.
So when Paul says these words he is calling for a rethink:
Ch 2 v 28-29: “For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; 29 but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.”
When Paul says that circumcision is of the heart, the heart has to be changed, that the heart has to be engaged and that it is never sufficient to be a Jew outwardly, he is calling us to search our hearts…
He wants everyone to know that being spiritual is a result of a spiritual change in your heart. It is something that God does by His Holy Spirit…
God’s own people belong to God because His grace has met them and a revolution has taken place!
And where do you suppose Paul expects that revolution to take place?
He says “circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.” (2v29)
Yes, in the heart:
Acts 15:8 “So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us…”
ACTS 16:31 “ ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.’ ” Amen.

Honesty? Certainly Not! Romans sermon series (No. 3)

2008-04-14T07:56:00.005+12:00

Honesty? Certainly Not!
ROMANS 2:17-3:4 “Indeed you are called a Jew, and rest on the law, and make your boast in God..."

Introduction
Before I say a word of my own let me quote you some song lyrics. They go like this:

If you search for tenderness
It isn't hard to find
You can have the love you need to live
But if you look for truthfulness
You might just as well be blind
It always seems to be so hard to give

Honesty is such a lonely word
Everyone is so untrue
Honesty is hardly ever heard
And mostly what I need from you

I can always find someone
To say they sympathize
If I wear my heart out on my sleeve
But I don't want some pretty face
To tell me pretty lies
All I want is someone to believe

Honesty is such a lonely word
Everyone is so untrue
Honesty is hardly ever heard
And mostly what I need from you

I can find a lover
I can find a friend
I can have security
Until the bitter end
Anyone can comfort me
With promises again
I know, I know

When I'm deep inside of me
Don't be too concerned
I won't ask for nothin' while I'm gone
But when I want sincerity
Tell me where else can I turn
Because you're the only one that I depend on

Honesty is such a lonely word
Everyone is so untrue
Honesty is hardly ever heard
And mostly what I need from you
– Billy Joel, “Honesty”
http://www.lyricstime.com/billy-joel-honesty-lyrics.html

We will come back to that…

Introduction
Rom 2:17 “Indeed you are called a Jew, and rest on the law, and make your boast in God…”
Who was the Apostle Paul writing to? Who were Paul’s readers?
We know he wrote to the Christians in Rome, but who were they?
You know how important it is to address your letters or parcels correctly?
You may be concerned that your letter or package goes to the wrong person or maybe it could be lost if it is not addressed properly…
And so the Apostle sends off his letter to the Christians in Rome, to the church in Rome which has been established by the preaching of Christ through the word of God. 1:7 “To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

They had no postal service as we have today, and no fax or email, but God saw to it that it got there safely. Paul gave it to Phoebe, a Greek woman, who God protected until she got to the Christians gathered in Rome. We read about her in ch 16:1-2.
We’re coming to that last chapter, I am trying…I promise…

Now, who were these Romans that Paul was writing to?
Were the Roman Christians all from the same background?
Did they all worship in the same way and have the same coloured skin?
Did they have and the same education, and home background? More importantly perhaps, at least outwardly, did they speak the same language? Since that is a big giveaway, as it still is today.
We often judge people by the language they speak and how they speak it.
So were they all the same, NO, some were Gentiles, and not Jews.
By the way the Apostle writes, the non-Jews were in the majority and the rest were Jews.
We know of the two groups because Paul refers to Jews and Gentiles right at the very beginning.
He makes no distinction between them for they are one in Christ. He says in Ch 1:5-6 “Through Him (Jesus Christ) we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name, 6 among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ…”
All the nations are ‘goim,’ in Hebrew, they are Gentiles, the ethne, not Jews.
In a crude sort of explanation Jews saw themselves as God’s chosen people, anyone else was gentile or other, pagan.
Greeks saw themselves as sophisticated and well educated, anyone else was a Barbarian the ‘barbaros’ Paul refers to in Ch 1:14 unless they could prove themselves otherwise.
They were considered foreigners because they were not Greek.

Gentiles including Greeks and Barbarians are considered by Jews as foreign and so by implication pagan…
In Ch 1:13 in the Greek they are the ‘ethnecin,’ from which we get the word ethnic.
We here today, belong to the pagans according to the Jews of Paul’s day…
The Thayer Dictionary definition is:
“in the OT, foreign nations not worshipping the true God, pagans, Gentiles.” (Thayer in E-sword Bible under Rom 1:5 on the word ‘nations.’)
And remember Jews take their heritage from the OT.
Further, in verse 13 Paul says why he is writing to them: “that I might have some fruit among you also, just as among the other ‘ethnecin’ (or ‘goim’ in Hebrew) Gentiles.”
He says they are ethnically different from the Jews so by implication religiously different, unorthodox, pagan.
So a distinction is made there and then he says in v14 “I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise. 15 So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also. 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.”
Now, here is a distinction!
The gospel or the Good News of Christ is for the Jews first and also for the Greeks or non-Jews, ethnically and religiously different, from them as we are.

Different language, different religion, different worship, not Jewish! At the beginning, says Prof. Petros Vass-il-ia-dis Associate Prof. of the University of Thessaloniki:
“In the first two decades after Pentecost the early Christian community understood its existence as the perfect and genuine expression of the people of God. With a series of terms taken from the Old Testament the early Christian community believed that it was the “Israel of God” (Gal 6:16),
the “saints” (Acts 9:32, 41; 26:10; Rom 1:7; 8:27; 12:13; 15:25),
“the elect” (Rom 8:33; Col 3:12 etc),
“the chosen race” (1 Pe 2:9 ),
“the royal priesthood” (ibid) etc; namely the holy people of God (laos of God), for whom all the promises of the Bible were to be fulfilled at the eschata (the end of the age.)
During this constructive period the concept in which the early Church understood herself was that of a people and not of an organisation.”

[An examination of both the Old and the New Testament terminology makes this quite clear. The chosen people of God were an ‘am (in Hebrew, especially in the prophets) or a λαός (in Greek), whereas the people of the outside world were designated by the Hebrew term goim and the Greek one έθνη (ethne) (cf. Acts 15:14) http://users.auth.gr/~pv/Pneumatological%20Ecclesiology.htm]

See also:
http://www.myriobiblos.gr/texts/english/vassiliadis_reconciliation.html

The After Pentecost Miracle
God did a huge miracle in the hearts of the Apostles after Pentecost. In Acts 15:14 after the Holy Spirit had fallen on the non-Jews in Jerusalem, the Apostle James said:
“Simon Peter has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name.”
God was taking out, calling out people from every ethnic grouping. This was hard enough to swallow for the Pharisees who complained bitterly about it, but even the Apostles had an argument about it! Could God be calling these people with all their different ways into His kingdom just as Jews were called?
Paul was very accepting of the fact that non-Jews could be saved as He was a long way down the road to converting many others to the faith, well before the Jerusalem Christians and the Apostles in particular, had understood the import of what God was already doing. (See Acts 14: 19 to 15:1-35)
So it’s not that Paul begrudges us Gentiles having access to the good news for our salvation. On the contrary, Paul is called the Apostle to the Gentiles.
He is called to the very purpose of preaching the good news to non-Jews, even though he is a Jew himself. We talked about that the last time we looked at Romans.
Paul’s Heartfelt Problem
In ch 9:1-2 he wishes he could substitute himself for his brothers if some of them could be saved by doing that. In ch 10:1 he says: “Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. 2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.”
So although there are many reasons why the gospel is for the Jews first, there is something wrong here. There is something terribly wrong with what is happening to the Jews as a people.
They have a zeal for God but not ‘heart knowledge’ of God, says Paul.
Paul is terribly worried about this. He is burdened by it, so he says:
Ch 9:1 “I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, 2 that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart.”
Why, Paul, why?
3 “For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh, 4 who are Israelites…”
What? Why do you speak in such an extreme way Paul?
4 “to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; 5 of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen”.
The problem was that as a nation his people were cut off from God and through they had a zeal for God they did not know God in their hearts.
The question is:
Is that true of you? Are you just like the people you live among?
Should I be concerned about you?
Do you know God in the way Paul says you can know Him?
It is possible, says the Apostle, to be zealous for God but not know God.
We can know God by having an active faith in the living Christ!
He said it, not me!

Be honest.
How much do you think about Christ during the day, during the week?
Do you know Christ in your heart and are you communicating with Him?
Could God be saying these words to you?

“Honesty is such a lonely word
Everyone is so untrue
Honesty is hardly ever heard
And mostly what I need from you.” Amen.

We will look at this section and go further into chapter 3 next week…

Easter Message: Easter Sunday

2008-03-25T09:44:00.003+13:00

The Miracle of the Seed

I Cor 15:35 “But someone will say, ‘How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?’
15:36 Foolish one, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies.
15:37 And what you sow, you do not sow that body that shall be, but mere grain-perhaps wheat or some other grain.
15:38 But God gives it a body as He pleases, and to each seed its own body.
15:39 All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of animals, another of fish, and another of birds.
15:40 There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.
15:41 There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory.
15:42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption.
15:43 It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.
15:44 It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
15:45 And so it is written, ‘The first man Adam became a living being.’ The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.’ ”

Can you see the seeds that I collected? Please look at them through the plastic…(Everyone has been given a small collection of two types of seeds in a plastic bag)
They don’t look like much as they are…pretty insignificant really. They do have potential however. They carry a promise of something to come…
Seeds have a miraculous power in them.

You pass by seeds every day as you go about outside, to collect the mail, to go to work, to go shopping, to walk in the garden. You look at the pretty flowers or the progress of the vegetables or fruit on the trees, but you do not examine the seeds. (Well, maybe you do, good on you.)

But if you plant these seeds, I have given you, in good soil you will see what they will become. You will discover their nature.

Paul the apostle says it’s a bit like that with our bodies.
1 Cor 15:35 “But someone will say, ‘How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?’ 36 Foolish one, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies. 37 And what you sow, you do not sow that body that shall be, but mere grain-perhaps wheat or some other grain. 38 But God gives it a body as He pleases, and to each seed its own body.”
Paul argues against the sceptics’ claims that the resurrection of the body is foolishness. He uses the example of seeds in nature, much as Jesus did in his parables.
In Mt. 13:32 Jesus reminds us that His marvelous kingdom can be seen in a mustard seed, “which indeed is the least of all the seeds; (He says) but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”
Paul says this process is a picture of eternal life, resurrected life.
So the picture is of a miraculous change in form but not in the nature of what we are now.
The picture is of a miraculous change in form but not in the nature of what we are now.
Each seed reproduces after its own kind.
You plant a carrot seed and carrots come up, not potatoes!
Each seed has a power within it to reproduce its own kind. And this is the thing that is marvelous in nature, but miraculous when we think about what happens when we die.
Both Jesus and Paul say even though the seed that is sown bears no relation to the form that emerges in the new plant, it will be the same with our bodies.

God is able to do what He wishes.
He has told us that while what is “sown” when we die, just like a seed is planted and dies in the ground, as it were, it results in the generation of a new plant.
It has changed radically in its appearance or form, but not in its nature…the flax seed appears as a flax plant not a big Kowhai tree!
For each of us who trust in Christ, God promises a vital continuity, but what we shall be is not identical with what we are now or what we are like at the point of death.
Indeed, it is far better than we can imagine.
Paul says: “So also is the resurrection of the dead.
The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption.
43 It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory.
It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.
44 It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.
There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.” (1 Cor 15:42-44)
Imagine that!
That everyone who is Christ’s will return alive and perfect.

I said before that God is able to do what he wishes.
Bible teacher Geoffrey Wilson puts it this way: “…since God organizes matter in an infinite variety of ways, there is no reason to suppose that it is beyond his power to raise to eternal life the body that is sown in corruption.”
So eternal life is not some vague promise to the believer in Jesus Christ.

Oh no! The Easter message is that God does a miracle!

When we die, Jesus said, it’s like the planting of a seed in the ground and then God raises us in a perfect body.
This happens because Jesus rose again from the dead on our behalf.
Geoffrey Wilson continues to say:
“As we inherit our natural life from Adam, so we receive our spiritual life from Christ. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, so we shall bear the image of the heavenly. For flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.”

I said earlier that if you plant these seeds, I have given you, in good soil you will see what they will become. So what will they become?

They are flax seeds and Kowhai seeds.
The black ones are flax and the three yellow ones Kowhai.
One type of seed will produce one kind of plant and the other another completely different one, but each after their kind as God designed them.
The seeds hold a promise, they offer potential. They contain a marvel of God’s power within them. This power of the seed is a picture of the power of the resurrection of Christ.
As we have borne the earthly image so we shall bear the heavenly image…
Again, imagine that! That everyone who is Christ’s will return alive and perfect before God!
We will not be identical to what we are in our present form, but we will be identical in nature.
1John 3:2 “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”

That is the Easter message.
May God bless you with that faith this Easter. Amen.

Easter message: Good Friday

2008-03-25T09:40:00.002+13:00

The Planting of the Seed for Us (John 12:24)

It is with hindsight that we know Jesus’ death and burial had a purpose.
But for the first followers, of course, it was a huge disappointment, a heartfelt grief and deep fears set in from the time Jesus lead them to Gethsemane to watch and pray and on to the moment He was arrested.
They were afraid for Him and then afraid for themselves.
But Jesus had spoken of His death and resurrection to them in intimate terms.
So what did Jesus say about this or in what picture did He paint the gospel?

The Planting of the Seed
Jesus used images they understood very well when he spoke to His disciples in John’s Gospel chapter 12:
John 12:23 “But Jesus answered them, saying, ‘The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. 24 Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.’ ”
The Lord knew what would happen to Him.
He told them He would give up His life for them.
He would agree to sacrifice Himself for them.
That He would, as it were, ‘fall into the ground and die alone’ like a seed planted in the ground.
Jesus also knew what would happen to them…and they would have to be ready.
So Jesus warned them about His arrest, crucifixion, death and resurrection. What he told them would eventually help them immeasurably to trust, to follow and to be His witnesses. He did it all for them and for us.

The Planting of the Seed for Us
On the day we call Good Friday, John tells us what Jesus was about to do:
He as the Seed that is prophesied about in Genesis 3 and the One Abraham was promised by God…
This Seed was to be born, suffer and die as the Representative of us all.
Abraham is told in GEN 22:18 “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed…”
And the apostle Paul tells us what this means when he writes to the Galatian Christians.
GAL 3:16 “Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, ‘And to seeds,’ as of many, but as of one, ‘And to your Seed,’ who is Christ.”
‘Like a wheat seed,’ Jesus said, ‘I will fall into the ground dead, but that will not be the end since God’s promises are true and will come about in due course.’
By this Jesus spoke of something He alone could do for us. His death paid for our sin and He paid all we owe to God for salvation. His dying fulfilled His purpose. It was His destiny to die for you and me…and He is our blessed future hope if we trust Him.
We can respond in radical faith.
As a forerunner of His people, or what the Bible calls the ‘firstfruits,’ Jesus made it possible for us to live in eternal life and serve God like He did. This means sacrifice…
Jesus said: JOHN 12:25 “He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.”
His call to radical discipleship is a hard but necessary part of our Christian calling and faith.
It closely concerns ourselves if we call ourselves Christians. Bishop J.C. Ryle says: “He that would be saved must be ready to give up life itself, if necessary, in order to obtain salvation. He must bury his love of the world with its riches, honours, pleasures and rewards, with a full belief that in doing so, he will reap a better harvest both now and hereafter.” (J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, John, Volume II, James Clarke and Co. Ltd; Cambridge and London, 1869, 1969 edition, 377)
So when you look at the cross today and hear the words of Jesus, remember that He has gone before as your Representative and tasted death that you may live eternally. Remember that there is great blessing in it for it was the means by which the Seed was planted that you may live and grow.
HEB 2:9 “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.”
It is time to put your whole trust in Him and by His grace follow what He says to you…Amen.

So, how has this week been for you? Here is the third message which I preached last Sunday. I hope it's helpful.

2008-03-04T20:31:00.002+13:00

What An Apostle Can Say That We Cannot
(Sermon 3 on Paul’s Letter to the Christians in Rome)

Readings Psalm 37:23-40; Mark 10:17-27; Romans 1:18 - 2:16

2:2 “But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things.
2:3 And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things, and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God?
2:4 Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?
2:5 But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,
2:6 who ‘will render to each one according to his deeds’:
2:7 eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality;
2:8 but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness-indignation and wrath,
2:9 tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek;
2:10 but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
2:11 For there is no partiality with God.
2:12 For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law
2:13 (for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified;
2:14 for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves,
2:15 who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them)
2:16 in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.”
Introduction
We saw in the first 17 verses of this letter to the Romans the Apostle’s main point:
“we are justified by faith through the mercy of God alone…that the righteousness which is based on faith depends wholly on the mercy of God.”
(Calvin’s Commentaries: The Epistles of Paul to the Romans and to the Thessalonians; (Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh,) 1961. Romans 1:17, page 29)

Today we come to: The Revealed Gospel (Ch 1:17-18)
“For in it (i.e. the gospel) the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith.’
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness…”

It was a hot summer day. People had waited a long time for Mr. Whippy (the ice-cream man) to come. When he did arrive, 8 year old Russell was there first. But when they saw what he got, some people thought that Russell’s ice-cream cone was a bit over the top.
It consisted of two cones, the double-headed kind, with three different flavours: strawberry, chocolate and hokey pokey.
Not only did it boast two chocolate flakes with hundreds and thousands, but it was also choc-dipped!
The more people looked at it dripping onto his chin, the broad smile on Russell’s face as ice-cream dropped onto his T-shirt, some onto the path as he slurped while wending his way home…the more they looked, the more they wanted it.
Yes, big children, little children, and even some adults thought Russell’s ice-cream was well over the top!
But no matter what they said, it made no difference to Russell, because when he was asked who paid for it, he told them:
“My Dad gave it to me. He’s Mr Whippy, you know!”
And off he went, slurping his ice-cream!

Some people think we are arrogant to say there is one way to heaven and that it is through the Lord Jesus Christ.

If God had not given Paul the gospel, Paul would have been presumptive and arrogant to call the gospel: “my gospel.” As he says in Romans 2:16 “...in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.” and again in Romans 16:25 “Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began…” and in writing to Timothy he says: 2 Tim 2:8 “Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to my gospel…”
Paul can say ‘my gospel’ because his Dad, his Father God revealed it to him.
God the Father gave it to him in order to reveal Christ to the nations: the non-Jews the Bible calls Gentiles. We looked at some of that in the second sermon in this series. (Acts 13:46-48; Acts 22:17-21)
The Apostle says: “According to my gospel…”
This is a phrase we can never say of ourselves.
It is something an Apostle can say that we cannot.

Jesus and His Opponents
I am sure that the religious authorities of Jesus’ time and place thought that He had a cheek telling them the way of salvation. We only have to look at what Jesus predicted would happen to Him and the threats of the religious authorities that are recorded in the Gospels. (Matthew 12:14 and 20:17-18; Mark 3: 6).
After Matthew tells us: “the Pharisees went out and plotted against Him, how they might destroy Him,” (Mt 12:14) we are told: “great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all. Yet He warned them not to make Him known...” (Matt 20:15-16)
In Mark at chapter 3:6 it says: “Then the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him.”
Paul writes to Timothy and tells him that God committed the gospel to him for safe-keeping: “According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.” (I Tim 1:11)
That is surely what Paul means when he calls the gospel: ‘my gospel’ in these verses in Romans.

Threat or Warning?
The book of Proverbs warns us that:
“There is a way that seems right to a man but the end of it is the way of death.” (Webster Bible)
(http://bible.crosswalk.com/OnlineStudyBible/bible.cgi?word=Proverbs+14%3A12§ion=5&version=wbt&new=1&oq=&NavBook=pr&NavGo=14&NavCurrentChapter=14)

Julie Ackerman Link in Our Daily Bread writes:
‘God never threatens; the devil never warns,’ declared Oswald Chambers. We sometimes use the words threat and warning interchangeably, but Chambers saw a principle that suggests a distinction.
Threats are used to get people to do what is in our best interest. Warnings are issued to get people to do what is in their best interest.
In other words, threats seek to preserve power, whereas warnings serve to protect people from danger.”
(Our Daily Bread: 20 Feb 2008, http://www.rbc.org/devotions.aspx?id=52848 )

This could not be more meaningful than when we are speaking about the gospel.
God cares about us and if you care about someone, you offer them warnings about any dangers they may face.
Jesus Himself told His listeners that without repentance they would be lost:
Luke 13:3 "I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.” (Cf. John 3:14-15; 10:28; Rom 2:4)
John 3:14-15 “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”
John 10:27-28 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.”

Paul’s message is in complete harmony with this teaching. Look at chapter 2:3-4: “And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things, and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? 4 Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?”
We do not naturally want to repent of our sins.
We have always tried to avoid the Holy Spirit’s accusation of guilt.
We have tried to avoid humbling ourselves before God.
We have always tried to avoid having to make changes in our hearts and in our behaviour.
John Calvin says: “the flesh will not willingly humble itself to the point of ascribing…salvation to the grace of God alone…”
Because of this, he says: “Paul shows that the whole world is guilty of eternal death.” So he says, “we must recover life by some other means, since in ourselves we are all lost.”
(Calvin’s Commentaries: The Epistles of Paul to the Romans and to the Thessalonians; (Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh,) 1961. Romans 1:17, page 30)

Adam blamed Eve; Eve blamed the serpent.
Abraham told lies to foreigners to cover up the truth that Sarai was his wife.
Moses ran away into the desert when he was accused of being a murderer.
Jonah ran in the opposite direction when called by God. Later he even tried to hide in a shelter away from God. But God confronted him anyway and held him to account.
King David managed to hide his sins and guilt from men but not from God; and had to repent when the prophet Nathan told him the truth.
(http://www.sermoncentral.com/article.asp?article=a-Ron_Forseth_02_25_08&ac=true)

What the Apostle Paul sets out in these verses in Romans is that no one has any excuse before the bar of God’s judgment. When sin came into the world, it polluted everyone and it has affected everyone ever since, so we cannot possibly excuse ourselves before God.

No Excuses
a. No excuses before the law of God.
Rom 2:12 “For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law…”
The first five books of the Bible, Genesis to Deuteronomy, given by God to Moses are the standard for human behaviour.
Ignorance of them is not an excuse. You can be a Jew or not, the same standard is used for everyone.

Illustration: Think of it this way:
Ignorance of the traffic laws of NZ is no excuse. Every time you break the speed limit while driving and you would like to make an excuse when you are pulled over by the traffic officer and held to account, no excuses are permitted. The traffic officer has sworn to apply the law of the land. It does not matter if you do not come from that area of NZ or that you do not know the speed limit in that area. You will be ticketed and you will have to pay a fine.

It is the same with the law of God, says Paul.
There are no excuses for not obeying it.

b. No excuses before our own consciences. (2:14-15)
Paul says: 2:14 “…for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, 15 who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them.”
While in your conscience you may have a debate about right and wrong, you have no excuse in the end. If you want to say that you felt it was right or that your thoughts and behaviour was right according to your conscience, that you believe your conscience is clear…
Please remember this:
Your conscience is a flawed thing, not perfect. So you cannot rely on your conscience to acquit you before God.

c. No excuse before God
Since God is represented by the law given to Moses and by the gospel given by Jesus and through Paul (‘my gospel’), there is no excuse before God for the things we think, do, and say.
“There are none who are righteous, not one.” says Paul in Chapter 3:10 while quoting Psalm 5:9 and Psalm 140:3.
Paul concludes in Chap 3 by saying 3:19 “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.”

Consequences for our Actions (Romans 1: 24, 26, 28)
Paul goes on to say that there are consequences for our behaviour.
Three times Paul says God ‘gave them up’ or ‘gave them over’ i.e. God gives up those who hold down the truth in their unrighteousness and suppress the truth of what is really going on.
God gave them up / over: Rom 1: 24, 26, 28
God allows us to continue doing what we are doing and to suffer the consequences of our own actions, if we refuse to come to Him in repentance.
He will not force people to obey or to love Him.
Love is not real love if it is forced.
Faith is not true faith if it is not planted by God in the heart.
Hope is misplaced if it is not in God.

According to Truth
Ch. 2:2 “…the judgment of God is according to truth…”
How does God measure justice?
How does He know faith when He sees it? Or love or hope?
Well, because He is God, He cannot change His holy character. He cannot change His holy nature, so He cannot change His standard of righteousness. This is the way Romans says it in Ch. 2:2 “…the judgment of God is according to truth…”
As Tom Houston says: “The gospel begins and ends with what God is, not with what we want or think we need.”
(Tom Houston in Gathered Gold, John Blanchard, Evangelical Press, 1984, 127.)

It is not based on emotion or the outward appearance: i.e. what a man or woman, boy or girl portrays of themselves outwardly.
The judgment of God is according to truth…
Contrary to what you have been told, there is such a thing as absolute truth and it’s in God.
It is part of God’s nature and it is reflected in His word here.
Men judge by what is seen: “For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” (I Sam 16:7)
When God sees us holding down the truth in our unrighteousness (ch 1:18), and He does see everything…the only remedy offered to us is in Paul’s message, the gospel:
“For in it (the gospel) the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith.’ For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness…” (1:17-18)
As Paul said to the Christians of Corinth:
I Cor 1:18 “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written: ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.’
20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.”

An illustration of how we act against nature was given to us last week:
Tricia Scott told us last week that some mothers do indeed forget their children and do not love them.
Isa 49:15 “So the LORD answers, ‘Can a woman forget her own baby and not love the child she bore? (Good News Bible)

Here is another illustration of sinful neglect by a mother:
A newspaper (The Chicago Tribune) reported the story of a mother who let her nine children, aged 8 months to 11 years, fend for themselves in a gritty apartment filled with trash and excrement. Public officials, responding to a neighbor's call, entered the apartment at 2am and took the children into custody. The mother, said the owner of the apartment building, was more interested in partying late than in caring for her children. The public was outraged by this maternal malfeasance.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/biblestudies/areas/biblestudies/articles/080213.html

If a mother can treat her children like this, what hope is there?
Isa 49:15 “So the LORD answers, ‘Can a woman forget her own baby and not love the child she bore? Even if a mother should forget her child, I will never forget you.’ ”
And so while the wrath of God, God’s holy anger, has been revealed through the preaching of the gospel, God tells us to warn us not to condemn us.

Rom 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

“The thunders of the law and the terrors of judgment are all used to bring us to Christ; but the final victory is effected by lovingkindness. The prodigal set out to his father’s house from a sense of need; but his father saw him a great way off, and ran to meet him; so that the last steps he took towards his father’s house were with the kiss still warm upon his cheek, and the welcome still musical in his ears.”
(Charles Haddon Spurgeon: Morning and Evening: Morning, February 29 in e-Sword Bible)

Thanks to God through Christ. Amen.

Right with God

2008-02-11T10:18:00.001+13:00

Hi and WELCOME in again...as I said last week I am starting a series on the Book of Romans...here is the second in the series. If you have any questions or comments please leave them for me to read. Thanks.
Paul's Letter to the Romans: Sermon 2
Justification By Faith
Introduction
Rom 1:8 “First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.
1:9 For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of His Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers,
1:10 making request if, by some means, now at last I may find a way in the will of God to come to you.
1:11 For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, so that you may be established-
1:12 that is, that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.
1:13 Now I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that I often planned to come to you (but was hindered until now), that I might have some fruit among you also, just as among the other Gentiles.
1:14 I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise.
1:15 So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also.
1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
1:17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith.’”
First of all, the Apostle Paul thanks God.
He thanks God since the Roman Christians’ faith was known and spoken of widely throughout the then known world. It is important to the Apostle since he was an evangelist like, for example, the prophet Isaiah and Jesus Christ Himself and the Apostle Peter and the first martyr Stephen. These men wanted everyone to know that Jesus Christ is LORD and Saviour.
In verse 9: The Apostle Paul says: “that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers.” Paul prayed for his readers constantly.
Please also pray for me. Will you pray for me as I pray for you and prepare these messages specifically for you? Pray that we will hear God speaking to us. In this way we can get on the same page together and learn together.
The aim is to learn together what blessings God has for us and how we can pass these blessings on.
There is little use in me preaching if you do not hear from God, for we are all earthen vessels. 2COR 4:7 “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.” It is by His grace that we have been chosen to hear, receive, speak and live the word of God. My task is to preach and teach the word of God to you, so I need your prayers.
Later, in writing to pastor Timothy, Paul says:
II Tim 3:14 “But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, 3:15 and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”
If there are things you have learned about God that you cannot be assured of then begin to think about them. Bring them up in your mind and heart as we go though Romans together.
Read the chapter before each Sunday. Even if the chapter I ask you to read each week is the only thing you read, it will help you.
Ask questions while you read.
Ask God to resolve your questions and about how to be sure about God’s truth.
As you prayerfully read God’s Word ask yourself:
• What does this passage mean to me?
• What is God telling me?
• Is there a lesson to learn?
• Is there a command to obey?
• Is there a sin to avoid?
• Is there a promise to claim and keep?
• How does this apply to me?
• What will I do about it?
In vv.10-12 Paul prays that he may be able to come and see the Roman Christians. He wants to help establish them in Christ as he brings them a spiritual gift. He spells out what this gift is: “that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.”
Sound selfish? Well, it’s not. If Paul is not encouraged he will be ineffective. He is only human after all!
True, a great leader but still only human, if he is not encouraged he will be ineffective.
If so, he cannot bring the Christians the blessing of encouragement. He cannot encourage them to hold to and experience the same faith in Christ which they hold together. He cannot establish them in the faith. It is his calling and he feels indebted to them.
v.13-15 God has laid a burden upon Paul to preach and teach the gospel to them, and he feels indebted. It is because of his calling from God that he feels indebted to the Roman Christians and that is why he wants to come to them and encourage them and be encouraged together with them in the gospel.
Paul: The Apostle to the Gentiles
Paul never forgot that God called him to be ‘one sent to preach the gospel,’ but to the Gentiles, which is everyone who is not a Jew. In Romans, Paul calls them ‘Greeks’ in v.14 and in Chapter 3:9 and but mostly refers to non-Jews as Gentiles as in verse 13 of this chapter.
God spoke to him in the temple in Jerusalem years before… Bible commentator F.F. Bruce says it was three years after his conversion on the road to Damascus.
(F.F. Bruce, Commentary on the Book of the Acts, Marshall, Morgan and Scott, Ltd, London, 1954, page 443.)
Then in Acts 22 Paul relates his story of being appointed an Apostle, or “one sent out,” when he preached to the crowds on the stairs outside the temple in Jerusalem. I will leave you to read that for yourselves in Acts 22:17-21.

Like Paul, I feel indebted to you because of God’s call. Ministers are called by God. They do not call themselves. At least they are not supposed to.
I am indebted to you because I owe you an explanation of the gospel and that’s what I am attempting to do.
Paul felt this indebtedness to God and to the Christians he wrote to in Rome.
Since Paul is the Apostle to the Gentiles, sent by God to speak to non-Jews i.e. you and me, we had better listen to what he has to say!
v16-17 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
1:17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith.’ ”
There are four things in these verses that need to be explained so as to help us:
First are the words: “I am not ashamed.” “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ” (16) is a way of writing or speaking to get his point across. It can be rendered “I am overflowing with the message of the good news of Christ.” “It is a highly commendable thing.” In speaking this way, Paul already dismisses arguments that attempt to weaken the goodness (or beneficial nature) of the gospel in the eyes of the Romans.
“I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also. I am not ashamed to do so…”
In writing this way, He is careful to protect the image or standing of the gospel message and the Lord Jesus of which it speaks.

The Righteousness of God is Revealed
The second thing is this business of the righteousness of God.
God loves righteousness. He is the Righteous One. We do not have righteousness. We do not love righteousness. God does not love unrighteousness. He loves His Son Jesus Christ the Righteous. He does not suddenly become a lover of righteousness out of a reaction to man’s bad behaviour or attitude to Him.
God by His very nature is just, righteous, holy. So His is a natural love for all that is right, all that is good and holy and true.
Our nature is opposite to that. Paul spends three chapters telling us that!
In order to be loved by God we have to have righteousness. What is more, we have to have a righteousness that is not our own, since we do not have righteousness naturally or by any natural means. We are not born with it. In fact the opposite is a fitting way to describe our nature.
King David in Psalm 51 says 51:4 “Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Your sight - That You may be found just when You speak, and blameless when You judge. 5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me. 6 Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts,
And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom. 7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.” and Paul quotes Psalm 14 v 3 “There is none righteous, no, not one; 3:11 There is none who understands;
There is none who seeks after God. 3:12 They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.” The Apostle Paul in chapter 3 of Romans.
So we will leave any comment on that until later.

Let me just say that we do not come upon the gospel naturally. Paul says it has been revealed to him by God:
“…in it,” i.e. the gospel, “the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith.”
What We Need and How We Can Get It
What we need is the righteousness that Christ has. It is only His righteousness that is accepted before God. It is only by or because of His righteousness that God loves us, for there is nothing naturally in us that He loves or would love.
We are counted as righteous when we trust Christ, when we have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
From Faith to Faith
1:17 “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith…”
The third thing that needs to be explained is in verse 17. The words are “from faith to faith.”
God likes to see our faith in practice. God honours our faith. He rewards our faith. He expects to see our faith grow.
John Calvin says that at the beginning of our Christian walk we see God as it were at a distance. He says: “When we first taste the gospel we do indeed see the countenance (face) of God turned graciously toward us but at a distance.” Then as our knowledge of God increases he says, “we see the grace of God with more clarity and with more familiarity as though He were coming nearer to us.” (Calvin’s Commentaries: The Epistles of Paul to the Romans and to the Thessalonians; Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh, 1961. Romans 1:17, page 28)
Even so, we must not be under any illusion that our faith is a power or an ability that we have.
It is not a capacity that we offer to God. Faith is not a special skill or talent. Don’t think of it that way.
It is God who works the miracle of faith in our hearts. Eph 2:8-9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God not of works, lest anyone should boast.”
That is why the Apostle Paul says that to be justified or put right with God through faith in Jesus Christ is “from faith to faith.”
Faith begets faith. Faith is born of faith.
Faith is given to us as a gift from God in the first place. It is faith to be put right with God.
From faith given to as this gift is faith to get more faith…to get more understanding in mind and heart of the Lord Jesus Christ.
You become more familiar with His ways and His desires for your life, and you become more willing to hear Him and to obey His promptings.
More spiritually aware, more sensitive to God and to people He wants you to share Him with.
Justification
“…as it is written, "The just shall live by faith.”(17)
This is the fourth thing that needs to be explained.
The just shall live by faith or the justified shall live by faith. But what is justification?
It is being put right with God.
Justification is being reckoned to stand rightly before God.

Sometimes we may question someone’s actions. We hold them to account and ask them: “How can you justify that?”
God always has a right standing because He alone is righteous. Only He is just.
Abraham asked God a very good question: GEN 18:25 “Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?”
God justly offers us Christ’s righteousness as the means by which we can stand rightly before Himself.
This offer cost Jesus Christ, God’s Son, severe punishment and His death on the cross.
Illustration
It is like the story of the unusual judge.
A person is arrested and tried for a crime.
The judge finds the accused person guilty as charged.
A sentence of life in prison is passed on the guilty party.
The full weight of the law is to be justly applied. The person is guilty and is about to go to prison for life.
But a thing strange happens.
The judge comes down from the bench and takes off his robes and wig and pays the penalty by going to prison in place of the guilty person.
The originally convicted person was still the one who had committed the crime, but the righteousness and compassion of the judge paid their penalty for them. He took their place.
Someone might say: “It’s unfair!” But if some one did it for you, you would not call it unfair.
However, it is not a perfect illustration and an unfairness is involved in the illustration, but JUSTICE was served.
JUSTICE was done: Someone was guilty. The law had been offended and someone paid the penalty which the law demanded. That part of it was just.
We have a righteousness imputed to us. We are given the benefits of Someone else. We are granted the position of being right with God.
We are let off. We are not convicted. We are not sent to prison because God counts us as innocent before His righteous law.
Why? Because Jesus Christ is our righteousness. He paid the full penalty on our behalf.
“And Israel will dwell safely; Now this is His name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.” Jer23:6
ROM 10:4 “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”
2COR 5:21 “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Amen.

We're all Romans!

2008-02-02T21:20:00.000+13:00

Hi all!
I am starting a new series of sermons beginning with Romans chapter One.
Here's my first effort dated 3 February 2008:

Introduction to the Book of ROMANS

Rom 1:1 “Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God 2 which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, 3 concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, 4 and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.
5 Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name, 6 among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ…”
Introduction
Rev John Piper writes in his introduction to a series on the letter of the Apostle Paul to the Romans (I am reading from a paragraph he calls: Sustaining the Ministry)
“And though I have never preached through Romans, it has been the great truths of Romans 8:28 and 8:32 that have sustained the ministry here these 18 years. And I can say with John Stott that I have heralded the final triumphant verses of Romans 8 at innumerable funerals and "never lost the thrill of them" (Romans: God's Good News for the World [Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1994], p. 10).

"For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:38-39).

So I have a personal history with this book. And so do many, many people. I will be telling you some of their stories in the weeks - and years - to come (for instance, Augustine, Martin Luther, John Wesley, Karl Barth and some of you in this congregation).”
JOHN PIPER, The Author of the Greatest Letter Ever Written, Sermon in Romans series:http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/BySeries/2/1035_The_Author_of_the_Greatest_Letter_Ever_Written/
This book is the bedrock of the Christian faith.
Bedrock..it is the place builders like to build on where possible. Why bedrock? What is bedrock?
Builders know that it is important to set down solid foundations and when looking for a place to build there is nothing better than bedrock.
Bedrock does not move. Bedrock is therefore a reliable and good place to build a valuable asset on.
But we are not building a house or any physical building. We are building a life together. A life together with God…
First, you have to have a good solid foundation for life to begin and be sustained.
Then you need new life, you need new spiritual life to come into being; what Jesus calls being ‘born again’ or ‘born from above’ or ‘born from heaven.’
Then you can start to build a life.
There is absolutely no use in starting to train people for ministry until you have evidence that they are spiritually alive.
I am not talking about training ministers and elders. I am talking about making the everyday Christian a useful person for God.
This is where the Bible comes in. Particularly the Book of Romans because it is the one book you can find all you need as a Christian in an understandable and well set out fashion.
Romans is like Mount Everest. It begins with a fabulous footing, broad based, unflinching. It soars up through the skies and beyond into the clouds well above everything else.
As John Piper says: “there is no greater exposition of the Gospel of God than the book of Romans.”
I say there is no greater expedition than a study of the Book of Romans.
As I get older I see things differently and know that to answer the questions the world sets us every day is important but the more important questions are those God asks.
What are you doing with your life?
Do you have life?
Where are you going when you die?
What are you doing about to sharing the gospel with others?

The book we are beginning to study deals with all these questions and much more. Once again I agree with John Piper when he says:
“I have a deep confidence that the best way to be lastingly relevant is to stand on rock-solid, durable old truths, rather than jumping from one pragmatic bandwagon to another. Romans is as solid and durable and reliable and unshakable and thorough as the truth can get.”
http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/BySeries/2/1035_The_Author_of_the_Greatest_Letter_Ever_Written/
So it will not matter if during this year disaster strikes you or your loved ones or that because it’s election year your circumstances change, or you lose your job or your income or both.

A Point of Inspiration
Cutting lawns has little to do with sermon preparation, Buzzzz !!! Wrong!!

While I was cutting the lawns I thought about the picture Martin Luther had of God and what he thought can be sustained from Romans, but he got it from the book of Psalms. It was a picture of an angry master about to punish his servants…
So I was thinking, if you think of God as a Father (revolutionary thought coming up!) then the warnings about sin’s consequences that you get so sternly set down in the first three chapters of Romans does not mean God does not love us, but as part of His character He is wrathful about human sin so He warns us about its consequences for our good! This is true for Christians but is not true for those who reject God’s gospel in Christ.
Our Father is always looking out for us. He wants the best for us. He works out our lives for our good.
It is in here (Romans) that God says:
“And we know that all things work together for good, to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” ROM 8:28
“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”
Now we need to unpack that, but you get my drift…I hope.
This promise is to those who “love God.”
They are of course, believers in the Lord Jesus Christ and cling to Him for their lives like drowning men and women clinging to what they know will keep them afloat as their boat sinks beneath them without trace...
So the gruff warning of chapters 1-3 are for Christians to see as God looking out for them and they are to avoid those things that displease their heavenly Father.
Those things, the same things are to warn unbelievers in Jesus Christ that God will punish them unless they repent.
It’s not popular, it’s not topical, but this teaching has HUGE implications.
Reports of 10 deaths by murder in NZ during the month of January this year are not exaggerated.
Whether or not they are par for the course, above average or lower than average as the year goes on is irrelevant.
What causes people to have murderous thoughts and to commit these acts?
Why are young people, oh so young, committing these horrific crimes?
The Book we are studying tells us why. But unlike the moralists of this world, it goes much, much further and gives us the solution from an impeccable Source:
The Perfect Source of all Goodness, God our heavenly Father. “Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures..” (Rom 1:1-2)
It is the very gospel of God. The Good News that sin and its consequences are now dealt with and that Jesus Christ has died to pay our debts before God, to absolve us before the Holy God and take all our sins and their consequences from us.

This is the great re-discovery of the reformers of 16th Century Europe. I say re-discovery because this message was always the gospel of God even though men in their wisdom chose to twist it and to derail its passage and to water it down to no gospel at all. Today the modern version of the gospel has become useless in the purpose of God so far as salvation is concerned. We need a new Reformation.
Paul warned about this when he wrote to the Galatians at chapter 1:6 “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, 7 which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.” (Gal 1:6-9)
His words could not be stronger.
“From 1510 to 1520, Luther lectured on the Psalms, the books of Hebrews, Romans and Galatians.” (Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther#Monastic_and_academic_life )
While Martin Luther was embarrassed to report that he once cringed before the Holy God. Having taught his students from the Psalms and seeing God as a hard and vicious taskmaster, he writes the following as a result of reading in the first chapter of the Book of Romans:
“I greatly longed to understand Paul's Epistle to the Romans and nothing stood in the way but that one expression, "the justice of God," because I took it to mean that justice whereby God is just and deals justly in punishing the unjust. My situation was that, although an impeccable monk, (he claimed to be the monkiest monk that ever lived!) I stood before God as a sinner troubled in conscience, and I had no confidence that my merit would assuage him. Therefore I did not love a just and angry God, but rather hated and murmured against him. Yet I clung to the dear Paul and had a great yearning to know what he meant.
Night and day I pondered until I saw the connection between the justice of God and the statement that "the just shall live by his faith." Then I grasped that the justice of God is that righteousness by which through grace and sheer mercy God justifies us through faith.
Thereupon I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise. The whole of Scripture took on a new meaning, and whereas before the "justice of God" had filled me with hate, now it became to me inexpressibly sweet in greater love. This passage of Paul became to me a gate to heaven . . .
If you have a true faith that Christ is your Savior, then at once you have a gracious God, for faith leads you in and opens up God's heart and will, that you should see pure grace and overflowing love. This it is to behold God in faith that you should look upon his fatherly, friendly heart, in which there is no anger nor ungraciousness. He who sees God as angry does not see him rightly but looks only on a curtain, as if a dark cloud had been drawn across his face.”
http://www.inchristalone.org/LuthersDiscovery.htm
Quoted from Roland Bainton’s: “Here I Stand,” a life of Martin Luther, p.49-50 in New American Library of World Literature, 1950, 1960.

Rom 1:1 “Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God 2 which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, 3 concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, 4 and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.
5 Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name, 6 among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ…”

Have you been called?
Are you among the called?
Who? The called…
Are you one of them?
Paul says he was called to be an Apostle but then he goes on to say that the Christians of Rome are “the called.” “Through Him (the Son of God) we (the Apostles) have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name, 6 among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ…”
Are you part of “the called?”
Frances Ross our neighbour was home early on Wednesday afternoon and she called to me from her balcony to offer me some of her garden vegetables…gave me quite a start…
For an instant, since all I heard was my name in a female voice, I thought the feminists must have it right; God was a woman after all!
Francis was calling me and I turned around to answer her…and she gave me vegetables which we ate that night.

God may not call you with an audible voice, but I trust that as we go through this book together He will indeed speak to you in your heart through His word and that you may respond in faith to His beloved Son whom He has sent to you…
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) Amen.

Happy New Year! Below my last for the year...

2008-01-03T09:03:00.000+13:00

Flight or Faith or Both?
Sermon for December 30th 2007
As we come to the end of another year, we look back, if we dare, to see where we have been and wonder where we will go.
Like travelers on what seems, some days, a very long journey and on others we fear it may not last as long as we would like, we are sometimes wondering, sometimes fearful or at least unsure, and at good times, happy and content with our lot.
In our most contented times we know that God is in control, not in a fatalistic way, but in a way that acknowledges God’s personal interest in our lives.
Today we read of the family of Jesus on the move.
Known as ‘The Flight into Egypt,’ some see in this the plight of refugees in today’s world. In the ancient story of Jesus day and in the present time of refugees in Europe, Africa, and indeed all over the world, North Korea and China for example, we see or should be able to see through the eye of faith the faithfulness of the lovingkindness of God. God offers people a home.
Nobody belongs here on earth, wandering the earth forever. We are all meant to have a home, an eternal home, an eternal rest. But sadly some will never find it and like the strange wandering ghost of Jacob Marley, Ebenezer Scrooge’s business partner, they will never be at rest.

Isaiah’s message is altogether better:
Isaiah 63:7 “I will mention the lovingkindnesses (chesed) of the LORD and the praises of the LORD, according to all that the LORD has bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, Which He has bestowed on them according to His mercies, according to the multitude of His lovingkindnesses (chesed).
63:8 For He said, "Surely they are My people, Children who will not lie." So He became their Savior.
63:9 In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the Angel of His Presence saved them; in His love and in His pity He redeemed them; and He bore them and carried them all the days of old.”
So God, says Isaiah, was always with His chosen people blessing them (7b), with His goodness and mercy through ‘chesed’ or lovingkindness. God shows favour, mercy, kindness; for that is His nature.
God claims these as His people (8) and chooses to save them and call Himself their Saviour (8).
He identifies with them personally in their suffering (9a), and sent His Angel to save them (9a), He bought them back redeemed (9b) and carried them all their days (9c).
He shows us:
God chooses some people over others.
We don’t like to (well PC arrests our thinking here) choose some people over others, to single some out, but we must! And in fact we do, all the time.
We do it when we honour a person (not a man) with a VC.
The latest VC went to: Corporal Willie Apiata, and rightly, he has not been far from acknowledgement and praise ever since.
Wonderful News!
Can I tell you that he could have been more greatly honoured than that?
I do not know Willies’ personal beliefs, but the highest honour says Isaiah, is for Willie to know that He has been personally chosen by God to be God’s own child.
Isaiah 63:8 “For He (God) said, "Surely they are My people…”
Of course the same goes for you and all of us here.
God chooses us out for redemption by His lovingkindness. We call it an act of grace: God’s riches given to us at Christ’s expense.
Unlike the receivers of the Victoria Cross, we do not contribute to our salvation. We do not give anything to God. He gives us His Son, that’s what Advent is all about!

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0707/S00006.htm
Pastor George of Worthy Ministries tells the “powerful story about a Dutch pastor and his family who had been hiding Jewish people in their home during the second World War.
One night, they heard the sound of heavy boots and the loud impatient knocking on the door. They were arrested and loaded into a cattle car (of a train). All night long, the pastor and his family rode along in anguish, knowing they were being taken to one of Hitler's concentration camps only to be separated from each other and likely killed.
Finally, the train stopped. The doors of the cattle car were opened. They were marched out and lined up beside the railroad tracks. But then something very strange happened. They discovered that they were not in a death camp at all -- they weren't even in Germany!

During the night a courageous employee risked his life and purposely tripped a switch which sent the train of prisoners to Switzerland, to their freedom. Instead of being marched to death, they were welcomed to new life. Wow! Thank you God. In the midst of his joy and relief, the Dutch pastor said, "What do you do with such a gift?"

We do not contribute to God’s gift of salvation to us in Christ.
But we do accept it with humility like Corp.Willie Apiata accepted His VC.
Back at the beginning of July this year, when asked about his actions in Afghanistan, Corp. Apiata said with great emotion:
“I was doing my job and looking after my mates…
When asked what he was thinking about at the time he said:
“Where’s my buddies? How can I help them?”
His action in saving his friends is the kind of loving action commended by Jesus when He says how his followers should act: "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.” (Jn 15:13)
And the Apostle Paul speaks of the same thing when he says: “For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom 5: 6-8)
What a friend we have in Jesus, eh?
The point is that it is unusual. The VC is given for special action above the call of duty or of preserving your own life.

Jesus Christ died for unworthy people, yet He went ahead and did it…for you.
God acts deliberately to secure your salvation, as Isaiah 63 v 8 tells us.

1st He chooses us in Christ before the world was made: “…who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began…” (2 Tim 1:9), says Paul and Jesus says: “Here am I and the children whom God has given Me."(Heb2:19)

2nd Then He acted in compassion to redeem us from the curse of the law. “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us…” (GAL 3:13)

3rd He promised us through an eternal covenant that He will keep us forever in His loving care. "Nevertheless I will remember My covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you.” (EZEK 16:60)
And in Hebrews He says to you: “Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant make you complete in every good work to do His will…” (HEB 13:20-21)
This all because of Jesus’ actions on our behalf as He
lived,
suffered,
died and
rose again
to put us right with God the heavenly Father.
It is all part of the divine plan orchestrated by the God whose lovingkindness the prophet Isaiah knew.
That is why we can respond to the love, reply to the purpose within God’s plan, and take up God’s promise for ourselves:
“Whoever calls on the name of the Lord WILL BE SAVED!” (Rom 10:13 Joel 2:32)
There is no doubt about it on God’s side.
What are you waiting for?
A vision, a miracle?
You may wait a long time!
Faith, ……………..faith, ………………. faith,
We are put right with God when we practice faith in Jesus Christ.
We learn about that when we read the Bible. Matthew tells us of the family of Jesus who went into Egypt to escape any harm coming to the Child as a result of the infanticide being enacted by the king of their day, Herod. As soon as Joseph saw and heard the angel’s message they went in
faith. They were learning of the God who cannot lie and who had promised them salvation before time began. They were learning to live in hope, to practice faith, to be faithful to God.
As Paul says further: “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (Rom 10:17)
The prince of preachers, CH Spurgeon says:
“Faith lays hold upon the Lord Jesus with a firm and determined grasp. She knows his excellence and worth, and no temptation can induce her to repose her trust elsewhere; and Christ Jesus is so delighted with this heavenly grace, that he never ceases to strengthen and sustain her by the loving embrace and all-sufficient support of his eternal arms. Here, then, is established a living, sensible, and delightful union which casts forth streams of love, confidence, sympathy, complacency, and joy, whereof both the bride and bridegroom love to drink. When the soul can evidently perceive this oneness between itself and Christ, the pulse may be felt as beating for both, and the one blood as flowing through the veins of each. Then is the heart as near heaven as it can be on earth, and is prepared for the enjoyment of the most sublime and spiritual kind of fellowship.” (C. H. Spurgeon: Morning and Evening: December 28, Morning, e-Sword Bible)
A story from Our Daily Bread.
David Roper writes: A friend of mine spent several months rebuilding an old Ford Bronco (a four wheel drive truck) and turning it into an off-road vehicle for use here in Idaho. He kept it in his garage under lock and key. When Christmas came, Gary thought, What better place to hide my daughter Katie’s present.
Shortly before Christmas, someone asked Katie what she was getting for Christmas. “Oh,” she replied, “I already have it. It’s a bicycle in a box under the Bronco in the garage!”
I don’t know what methods Katie used to discover her present. But I do admire her unshakable confidence that the bike was hers even though she did not yet have it in her hands.
That confidence reminds me of the apostle Peter’s words: “[God] has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:3-5).
What is reserved for us? Our inheritance—heaven, and a legacy beyond description that rests on the certainty of eternal life, “which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began” (Titus 1:2). — David H. Roper

Begin the relationship - This is amazing! Ray encourages you to read it...

2007-12-14T09:58:00.000+13:00

Begin the relationship

Democracy - who really wants to fight for it?

2007-12-13T17:07:00.000+13:00

12 Dec 2007 - Democracy under attack. Sad but true the Bill is going to be passed under urgency.

My Christmas message is below..Have a really great Christmas everyone!

Messiah for All (Isaiah 11: 10)
(Or what E.J. Young calls: The Crisis and the Messiah)
When in trouble, people react in different ways. Some will look inside themselves, some outside themselves. But they may look in the wrong direction toward entertainment or drugs, work and family, alcohol or sex.
The most common question is ‘where is God in my situation?’
So Who will help us? Someone needed to deliver the people of Isaiah’s day.
You have to ask; you feel the need of some help. However, needy people may not know who or what God is. Some people speak of ‘the universe’ rewarding their good or bad behaviour and they organise their lives along the lines of good or bad karma.
This is where the Bible helps and Isaiah in particular on this second Sunday in Advent.

Who is He?
Who is the Person who will help us when we are in trouble?
That is the constant question, the perennial question. Who is the person who will make things right and make the world all right again?
And by the way, we always need help since we are not in control of the world, not even our little part of the world…We are all finite, only God is infinite.
God is God and He is in control.
Another reason we are needy is that all have sinned and come short of what God expects.
The Bible says: “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” (Rom 3:23)
Our theme today is:
Messiah for All: Christ came to save His people.
So the prophet is keen to tell us about Him.
Who is this Messiah or Anointed by God? The Anointed One is set apart to take the people sins and to rule over them in peace.
Where did Jesus the Messiah the One we call Christ come from? Isaiah tells us in chap 11:
“The royal line of David is like a tree that has been cut down; but just as new branches sprout from a stump, so a new king will arise from among David's descendants.” (Isaiah 11:1)
Jesse was David’s father, so this Person is from King David’s house/lineage. This is what Luke and Matthew tell us in their Gospels. They wish to make it plain that Jesus has the right credentials to be who He claimed to be.
C.F. Alexander picks this up in one of his hymns which says:
“Once in Royal David’s City, stood a lowly cattle shed, where a mother laid her Baby in a manger for His bed. Mary was that mother mild, Jesus Christ her little child.”

Illustration
During last week, I went to the University to enroll for a course. In order to prove I was who I claimed to be, I produced a passport. That worked.
In Jesus’ day or for that matter, in Isaiah’s day, there were no passports, so you relied on your lineage and for Jesus to establish Himself as the Messiah, this is well documented in both OT and NT.
The Maoris use their whakapapa so you can follow a line of people to whom they belong. It would have been Jesus’ whakapapa that Mary and Joseph presented at the census when they enrolled at Bethlehem. (Lk 3: 31-32; Mt 1: 6)
It was also during this last week that my sister chose to send me our family tree! What an interesting time I had with that! And I was able to add few people to it (with pictures.)
The reason I found it interesting was that it spoke about people I knew, my people, and told me about my heritage from Scotland and now passed on through me to Australia and NZ.
This is what interested the believers and people generally way back in Isaiah’s and in Jesus’ day. They knew of Jesse’s son David and the importance of the lineage that flowed from that line of God’s people.
It was where the Messiah had been predicted to come from.

What Will The Messiah Do?
Apart from His whakapapa or lineage such claims about the Messiah away thousand of years before the birth of Jesus had to be substantiated in another way.
How would people recognise Him as their Messiah?
Isaiah says we will recognise the Messiah by what He will do.
11:2 "The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him,
The Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The Spirit of counsel and might,
The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD." Cf. Luke 4:17-20
Is this what Jesus was like? The people of Jesus’ day thought so and that is precisely why Luke records these events of Jesus preaching in the synagogue.
Did Jesus qualify as Messiah?
He knew more than Solomon. He was greater than Solomon. (Mt 12:42)
He told the woman at the well more than she knew about herself! That He was the Source of living water and eternal life and that He was the long awaited Messiah. (Jn 4:12 greater than the Patriarch Jacob, Jn 4:14-25)
Apostle Peter told Jesus” “Lord you know all things!” (Jn 21:17)
This Jesus had the Spirit without measure. (Jn 3:34)

What He will Do is further spoken of in Isaiah 11:2 and in Luke 4:17ff
What He will do follows on from His character described in verse 2 and from Luke 4.17ff.
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has chosen me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed, and announce that the time has come when the Lord will save his people.” (18-19)
Lk 4: 21 “as he said to them, ‘This passage of scripture has come true
today, as you heard it being read.’ ” (from Isa 61)
You know, it is essential that we believe in our hearts that He will do what He claims.

Because we have been let down by a few or many people is no reason to distrust Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ is the Saviour the world has been waiting for.

Illustration: Christ-No Social Reformer
“A Brahmin once said to a Christian missionary in India, ‘There are many things which Christianity and Hinduism have in common. But one thing Christianity has that is not found in Hinduism.’
‘What is that?’ asked the missionary.
The Brahmin's answer was, ‘We do not have a Savior.’
He was right. Christianity is different in that Christ did not come as a social or economic reformer but as a Savior of individuals. God came to earth, not to change the adverse conditions under which men live but to change the sinful hearts responsible for such evil in the world.’ ” (e-Sword Topic Notes, Christ: His Uniqueness)
That does not mean that He will not do good.
He will come and improve social conditions for people. But follow the Biblical order. He is first of all, Jesus: the One who saves. That’s what His name means!
“His delight,” says Isaiah, “is in the fear of the LORD.” That comes first.
He will establish a reverence for God and justice for the needy: Isaiah 11:3 “His delight is in the fear of the LORD, And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, Nor decide by the hearing of His ears; 11:4 But with righteousness He shall judge the poor, And decide with equity for the meek of the earth; He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked. 11:5 Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins, And faithfulness the belt of His waist.”
Oh, and by the way, He will not establish a just society according to our standards of what that community shall be.
“He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, Nor decide by the hearing of His ears; 11:4 But with righteousness He shall judge the poor, And decide with equity for the meek of the earth…”
The standard for that action will be the righteousness of God from heaven. Anyone wishing to live in such a kingdom will have to submit to God’s values in the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. Christians still debate when this time will be.
He alone has come to save the people.
Jesus came to save: the poor in spirit and the meek who shall inherit the earth, not those who speak and act falsely especially in His name.
‘Equity’ is here a straight measurement. He will measure society with a justice, straight, like the barrel of a gun. It does not mean that those who have will be robbed to pay out to those who do not have!
(The wicked will be judged and destroyed, (4) so he must be talking about a future time than our present.)

What else will He do?
He will establish a kingdom or realm of peace…
11:6 “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, The leopard shall lie down with the young goat, The calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little child shall lead them. 11:7 The cow and the bear shall graze; Their young ones shall lie down together; And the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 11:8 The nursing child shall play by the cobra's hole, And the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper's den. 11:9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.”
Who or what on earth could transform a leopard into being at peace with a lamb? Or make it safe for a child to play safely in a poisoned snake’s den?
Verse 9 says: “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain…”
As we saw last week, the holy mountain was Jerusalem.
Zion or Jerusalem is Jeru-Shalem or “foundation of peace.”
He will be the Saviour of all who seek Him and who call on His name.
11:10 “And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse,
Who shall stand as a banner to the people;
For the Gentiles shall seek Him,
And His resting place shall be glorious.”
The Branch blesses not just Jews but all the nations of the world. (In verse 10 and continued in v 11).
The Flag, Ensign or Banner of v10 will be lifted up on a pole and draw all men to Himself.
There are people from many nations and ethnic backgrounds among us here today.
It’s been the history of our St Mark’s church.
This shows the amazing power of God through the gospel of our Branch, the Lord Jesus Christ.
As the Psalm writer says in Ps 117:1-2 “Praise the LORD, all you Gentiles! Laud Him, all you peoples!
For His merciful kindness is great toward us,
And the truth of the LORD endures forever.
Praise the LORD!”
And the Apostle Paul in Romans 15:12 “In Him the Gentiles shall hope.”

Romans 15: 4-13
15:4 “For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.
15:5 Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus,
15:6 that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
15:7 Therefore receive one another, just as Christ also received us, to the glory of God.
15:8 Now I say that Jesus Christ has become a servant to the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers,
15:9 and that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy…
15:13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
MAY THE HOPE OF THE MESSIAH FILL YOU ALL THIS CHRISTMAS!!! Amen.

Beyond Jam to my Ears!

2007-12-10T08:17:00.000+13:00

Hello and welcome back! Since my jam episode I have been busy and a little unwell. Christmas or Advent is a busy time for us pastors and I have been suffering from a strange ringing in my ears which before you say it is probably caused by an infection to my eustachian tube...yes only my left one at present! However I hope to be over that by Christmas which is probably when my hospital appointment will come through!

I must buy jam!

2007-10-29T10:53:00.000+13:00

I won't be happy until I have bought some jam! or at least that and a few other things..I need to catch up today and jam is one of the things I need to go and buy because my day starts with jam! I make breakfast for my wife and she has jam on her toast. We have run out of jam so I will have to replenish or there may be tears in the morning...
The other things I need to catch up on are...print prayer meeting notes, cut lawns, get message ready for next Sunday, prepare for tonights meeting with Justice family, to name a few. As well as all that I need to get ready the material for the children since I am doing Benita's slot on Sunday AM. It's God's way of telling me that every Sunday is special I am sure...

God's Gift for All from Oct 7th

2007-10-25T14:30:00.000+13:00

God’s Gift For All
2 Timothy 1:1-14
“I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you.” (2 Tim 1:6)
Introduction
Although it is not Christmas yet…
1. God has given each believer in Christ a gift
A) You have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit:
ACTS 2:38 “Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’ ”
EPH 4:7 “But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift.”
Eph. 4:7 can be thought of as the key verse in the whole Bible about gifts, since it sets out what is the most basic gift: faith in the Lord Jesus Christ through God’s grace.
If every Christian experienced the fullness of that gift in their lives, the church would be far more effective in the world.
The church is not a glorified social club; it is God’s messenger to bring salvation to the world.
It needs the gift of grace from God to create faith in us to do that work.
People receive God’s gift of grace, through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
“God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son” is another way of saying the same thing…the gift you are offered is Jesus Christ; and the faith we all need to receive Him into our lives and to continue to trust in Him, is a gift from God.
EPH 2:8 “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God…”

B) You cannot earn or buy the gifts of the Holy Spirit: Acts again 8:20 “But Peter said to Simon, ‘Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money!’ ”

C) You are not the only one who has been given the gift of the Holy Spirit.
ACTS 10:45 “…the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also.”
1COR 7:7 “For I wish that all men were even as I myself. But each one has his own gift from God, one in this manner and another in that.”

D) You have spiritual gifts, or to say it another way, the gifts you have been given are spiritual. Paul told the Christians in Rome: ROM 1:11 “For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, so that you may be established…”

E) You are put right with God as a free gift.
ROM 5:15-16 “But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man's offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many…the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification.” (“the gift of righteousness.” Rom 5:17)
Thank God that through faith in Christ, you are thought of as righteous before God.

F) As a result of genuine faith you have the gift of eternal life. ROM 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Secondly…
2. God owns the right to use your gifts
Since God Himself is the Lord of salvation, He has decided to give you His gifts. As Lord, He alone has the right to call on them at any time and to use them in any way He chooses.
Jesus Christ is Lord.
We ought to be grateful that this is so. Paul says in 2 Cor 9:15 “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!”
How we treat gifts
We exchange gifts from time to time and we expect that when we hand over a gift that the receiver has the right to do what they want with it from then on.
If we receive a gift, we expect to be allowed to use what we are given how we decide to use it. We do not like ‘Indian givers’ so we would react to some one taking the gift back again after having given it to us.
We do not like second giving: the practise of passing on gifts you have been given to a third person…
How God treats gifts
How does God treat gifts?
God’s gifts are spiritual and of a very different nature to the kind of gifts we normally exchange with each other at birthdays or Christmas.
Maybe that’s why the Bible calls them ‘charisms’ rather than material offerings which are gifts of sacrifice.
Spiritual gifts or charisms, from which the charismatic movement got its’ name in the 1960’s to the 1980’s came, are what enhance people spiritually.
These spiritual gifts are especially designed to be used to build up the ability of the Church to be the effective Body of Christ.
They are under God’s control, not ours.
Spiritual gifts are not like the offering gifts we give God which Jesus talked about in His teaching about forgiveness in Matt 5:24 “…leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”
Spiritual gifts are spiritual abilities, under God’s control which we share with other believers or, as with evangelism and social services, to share with the lost world in which we live.

3. God expects us to stir up the gifts He has given us
Expanding on his first instructions to Timothy in chapter 1, Paul goes on to say in chapter 4:
II Tim 4:12 “Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.
4:13 Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.
4:14 Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership.
4:15 Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all.
4:16 Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.”
Timothy was a young man and a fairly recent convert to Christ, a recent believer. He did not have the experience or wisdom of the Apostle Paul, yet he was to lead churches and speak the truth to them in grace and do the work of an evangelist.
Paul makes very clear to Timothy how he is to lead the churches as he charges the young man with instructions in the two letters to Timothy we have in the NT.
Modern Timothys
Historically, the church has taken from these Scriptures that a minister’s job is to pay attention to constant study and application of the teachings for which he is responsible.
That is why he is to attend theological college and to study the great truths of the faith; why he is to learn from others. Education beyond the Bible is also important in the Scottish Presbyterian tradition from which the early Presbyterian Church in NZ came.
That is also why ministers or teaching elders are to lead and to teach the elders and people/members and to protect the church from error by making sure that what is taught in the church is from the Bible.
As people have learned to listen to so many voices in the world and to think for themselves and to be responsible for themselves, it has become harder for the truth of the Scriptures to gain a foothold in the minds and hearts of those who are determined to think and live in their own way and wisdom regardless of the consequences.
The teaching that “I am the boss of me” has taken on very well in the latter part of the 20th Century right up until today.
But it does not lead anyone to God. It causes them to miss the gifts of God and leads them away from salvation.
It is time for us to stir up the gifts God has given us and use them to spread the good news of the gospel.
That is why Timothy was instructed:
“Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.” (II Time 1:6) and “Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.” (II Tim 4:16)
Gifts to Share
Another illustration of what gifts are for is found in 1PT 4:10 “As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”
A good steward looks after the things he has been put in charge of.
In the case of being a steward of grace the first thing is to share it…
In a restaurant the patrons order some wine of their choice. The wine steward brings the wine and pours it out. He is only a servant but the patrons do not get their glass filled until the steward brings the kind of wine they ordered and pours it into their glasses. He has to know the wines, be trained, experienced in serving people, efficient, and a careful wine pourer or the wine will be spilled and lost…His service is all important.
Timothy was being trained to be a steward of God’s gifts in order that the gifts of God reach the people of God.

We learn how important the gift of faith is when we listen to the words of Jesus from today’s Luke reading, or when we studied the book of Hebrews recently. We discovered that faith sees where the human mind cannot: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Heb 11:1) and that “By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.” Heb 11:3
We learned that without faith it is impossible to please God.
“But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” (Heb 11:6)

The Gift of Salvation and the Problem of Unbelief
Illustration
Now we have had in the last few days, stories of men and women trapped in a mine well below the surface and facing death unless saved quickly.
It began on Thursday, our time that the news came of 3200 people trapped underground in the Honesty Gold, gold mine near Johannesburg in S.A.
How desperate they felt, we thought.
How horrific is their plight, we thought, and I hope prayed…for them to be released.
We can thank God that the men and women who were trapped for more than 24 hours in abominable heat of 40C; without adequate food and water, were released in batches and that all were saved during Wednesday and Thursday their time.

I want to liken their plight with that of our spiritual condition.
If only we could each see how desperate is our situation before God if we do not accept His most wonderful gift of salvation. It is ours by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ for our deliverance from sin, death and destruction…

If we looked at life that way we would fly to the Cross of Jesus and surrender our puny will and exchange it for the perfect, all-knowing, compassionate will of God our Father.

If we looked at life as though our family and friends were lost in the depths of a hot, dark mine, if we considered them spiritually lost, and desperately in need, we would fear for our friends and family and pray for them until they were released from their prison.
This work of seeking to save the lost is hard work, but we must not think that because it is hard that we are going beyond the call of duty, for Jesus Himself said not to expect thanks for it:
“Does he (the master) thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not.
So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, 'We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.’ ” (Lk 17:9-10)
And yet, says Jesus, there is more rejoicing in heaven among the angels when one sinner repents… (Lk15:10)

We would be happy to hear people testify to God as the Psalm writer:
PS 18:35 “You have also given me the shield of Your salvation; Your right hand has held me up, Your gentleness has made me great.”

The implication of Jesus’ words are that we too should see that event as a cause for rejoicing and our reward for work well done. Amen.

October and nearly ended! Below is a mini sermon from Oct 14th about Thankfulness

2007-10-25T14:23:00.000+13:00

‘Thankfulness’ from Luke 17:11-19
Luke 17:11” Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee.
17:12 Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off.
17:13 And they lifted up their voices and said, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!’
17:14 So when He saw them, He said to them, ‘Go, show yourselves to the priests.’ And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed.
17:15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God,
17:16 and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan.
17:17 So Jesus answered and said, "Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine?
17:18 "Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?"
17:19 And He said to him, ‘Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.’ ”
Jesus was not at home. He was away with His disciples beyond His home town of Nazareth, and having to travel through Samaria to get back home.
Jesus showed what God is like in healing 10 men.
All of them were lepers.
Maybe He came near a colony of lepers, for such people often had to live together so as to keep away from the rest of society and in order to help each other.
Only one man came back to thank Jesus for healing him.
I don’t know whether Jesus was annoyed exactly, but He was not pleased: “So Jesus answered and said, ‘Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine?’ ” (Lk 17:17)

As I said, Jesus was not at home. At the time this happened He was not even in Jewish territory…He was probably in a Samaritan village.
You may do different things when you are away from home…but not Jesus. He was concerned about the people. He had compassion on the people whoever and wherever they were. He healed people to get the message across that He cared about their sad times their illnesses, their family problems.
He did this to show that God the Father cared about them and that God was now doing something about the needs of ordinary, sinful people, people who were ordinarily rejected and considered outcasts….including lepers
Even lepers whose main problem, according to the way people thought in those days, was that they were cursed by God and so God sent them this horrible disease.
This separated them from other people so they stood far away from Jesus and His disciples (V12). While they could not find a way to come to Jesus, He came to them and then kindly healed them.
As they left excited at the idea that they could start their life properly, Jesus healed them as they traveled.
And so Jesus in His compassion healed 10 of them but only one returned to give glory to God.
Jesus was disappointed about this, especially since it was not one of His people, not a Jew who came to give God the glory, but a Samaritan!
Now we see here that there is thankfulness to God on behalf of this man who returned to Jesus. His thanksgiving is expressed in praise to God.
The Apostle Paul says some sad words when he describes people who do not know God personally as their Saviour and Lord. He says of them one thing that always stands out in my mind when I think about thankfulness.
This is what Paul says: “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools…” (Rom1:20-22)
I always think this is a very sad statement about those who really do not know God’s love in their own hearts; who do not know God as their own personal Saviour and Lord.
“They did not glorify Him as God nor were thankful...” (21)
It makes me think that we cannot really be thankful in our hearts and so give out thanks and praise to God from our hearts unless we are filled with God’s Spirit and love.
Oh, we can stand and give prayers like the best Pharisee, but does it come from the heart?
This one leper was so changed, not only physically (the disease was gone), not only ritually (his priest could now clear him to enter the synagogue for worship), not only socially (he was now able to be accepted with the other 9 into society again)…not only all that, but he was changed within!

His heart was changed by the Holy Spirit and He was made new; born again.

He was acceptable to God!

That was why he came back to Jesus, to give God the glory!
That was why he gave thanks to Jesus and praise to God for the salvation of Christ!

So, how are you responding to God’s love?
He offers you, unworthy as the next person, unworthy as the 10 lepers, the freedom and the acceptability before God of all who are blood washed and cleansed by the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Are you thankful like this man?
If so, what difference does it make in your daily life?

V19 “And Jesus said to him, ‘Get up and go; your faith has made you well.’ ” Amen.

Goto: http://www.killthebill.org.nz

2007-09-28T10:34:00.000+12:00

Conversion chart for those who do not use Celsius

2007-09-18T11:30:00.001+12:00

747 Landing - St.Maarten

2007-09-18T09:06:00.001+12:00

Terrifying!

A Runnaway Accepted in Christ - September 9th 2007

2007-09-14T22:48:00.000+12:00

A Runaway Accepted in Christ

Philemon 1:1 Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our beloved friend and fellow laborer,
1:2 to the beloved Apphia, Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house:
1:3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
1:4 I thank my God, making mention of you always in my prayers,
1:5 hearing of your love and faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints,
1:6 that the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.
1:7 For we have great joy and consolation in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed by you, brother.
1:8 Therefore, though I might be very bold in Christ to command you what is fitting,
1:9 yet for love's sake I rather appeal to you - being such a one as Paul, the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ-
1:10 I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten while in my chains,
1:11 who once was unprofitable to you, but now is profitable to you and to me. 1:12 I am sending him back. You therefore receive him, that is, my own heart,
1:13 whom I wished to keep with me, that on your behalf he might minister to me in my chains for the gospel.
1:14 But without your consent I wanted to do nothing, that your good deed might not be by compulsion, as it were, but voluntary.
1:15 For perhaps he departed for a while for this purpose, that you might receive him forever,
1:16 no longer as a slave but more than a slave-a beloved brother, especially to me but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.
1:17 If then you count me as a partner, receive him as you would me.
1:18 But if he has wronged you or owes anything, put that on my account.
1:19 I, Paul, am writing with my own hand. I will repay - not to mention to you that you owe me even your own self besides.
1:20 Yes, brother, let me have joy from you in the Lord; refresh my heart in the Lord.
1:21 Having confidence in your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say.
1:22 But, meanwhile, also prepare a guest room for me, for I trust that through your prayers I shall be granted to you.
1:23 Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, greets you,
1:24 as do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke, my fellow laborers.
1:25 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.

Introduction
Is your fridge working? I hope it is working well!
Washing machine going ok?
Did you drive or do you use a car?
If you like watching TV at night, maybe you have had to replaced it or your computer because it did not work well. Because appliances belong to you, you have the right to sell them or disposed of them as you wish.
Using such things leads some people to use people that way. Well, slaves were used like home appliances in Greek and Roman/NT times…In those days there were probably more slaves than free men. “They performed most of the work in the great agricultural estates, they acted as household servants and as clerks in business houses, and publishers employed them as copyists. Where modern enterprises operate by machinery, the ancients used cheap labour.” – slaves.
(Merrill C. Tenney, New Testament Survey, p.50)
Because they were under their owners command, that does not mean all slaves were ignorant. Some were educated and served as administrators or doctors. Some were gladiators and made a lot of money for their owners. Some Greek slaves served as tutors to famous people like Alexander the Great.
Some slaves acquired property and made an income so that they were able to buy their freedom.
Many more were simply servants in private households and did what they were told or they would be punished.
Who was Onesimus?
One such slave was a young man called Onesimus.
His name ‘Onesimus’ means useful…but his master found him to be useless.
Maybe Philemon had told Onesimus that he was useless.
In NT times, slaves were only useful if they could work hard, be honest, not steal from you and if they did not get sick.

They were considered as chattels, bought, owned and sold by their masters.

They were often treated cruelly depending on the society they lived in or the cultural group they were sold into or born into.
Some Roman nobles used them sexually and to do all the menial tasks around the home.
It may be that when Onesimus ran away from Philemon he thought he could do better by himself, for himself. Maybe he was trying to run from God like some latter day Prodigal son, only to run into one of God’s servants.
He somehow meets up with an Apostle; no less than the Apostle Paul himself. Perhaps they met up by Onesimus being put into the same prison as the Apostle.
Paul writes to his friend Philemon to speak on Onesimus, the runaway slave’s behalf. Onesimus had surrendered to Jesus Christ and everything had changed.
Because this young man is now a Christian, he has the power to be a useful servant, not only to Paul (13), not only to Philemon (11, 12) but to God and to the community to which he belongs and to wherever God sends him.

A Christian is a Christian in name only unless they are useful to someone other than themselves.

Loving service ought to be the mark of every believer so that Christ can be proclaimed in the world.
Onesimus, who left Philemon, was costing his master instead of helping him through faithful service. He may have paid to get information as to where his slave had gone.
That is why Paul said he would recompense Philemon. Onesimus was supposed to do everything he was told to do. Whenever he failed to do this he could be dispensed with as we might sell off an old fridge or washing machine to someone who may somehow be able to use it for a while…
Onesimus, the young runaway slave, had nothing with which to pay back the employer he had left. Paul kindly offered to pay whatever he owed to Philemon.

Could Philemon accept his wayward slave back?

Would he be able to have him back not only as a slave but now as a new Christian brother?

Paul wrote to appeal to his friend Philemon so that he would do just that: to accept the unlovely and rebellious.
Paul had learned that he served and represented the God who accepts the unlovely and rebellious.
Paul had experienced that for himself. He knew in his life that God did that for him and for everyone God has called to Himself.
Paul is prepared to be a mediator, a substitute in fact, so he offers himself like this: v. 17 “If then you count me as a partner, receive him (Onesimus) as you would me.”

4 reasons why Philemon should do what he is asked i.e. to accept Onesimus back:
Matthew Henry suggests:
“1st Argument: Philemon had done good in the past: (7)”
It is always worthwhile doing the very best that you can in whatever God has given you to do. You do not know when that day will come when you will be required to account for the way that you have served the Lord. Also, as in this case, it is our work that commends us to others on earth.
“2nd Argument is from the authority of him that was now making this request to him: ‘I might be very bold in Christ to command you to do that which is convenient…’ (8)”
Paul had divine authority as an Apostle, to command his friend Philemon and to expect Philemon to do as he was asked.
“3rd Argument, Waiving the authority which yet he had to require, he chooses to entreat it of him (9)”
As a church leader and indeed an Apostle (sent by God himself), Paul could have commanded Philemon to take the boy back, but he chooses to ask him instead.
The wisdom of God is easily entreated, it is not forced even if it is demanding. It appeals while others bully, it concedes when others must win at all costs.
[JAS 3:17 “But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and good deeds. It shows no partiality and is always sincere.” The New Living Translation]
“4th Argument, When any circumstance of the person pleading gives additional force to his petition, as here: Being such a one as Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ. (9)”
(MH Comm. on Philemon in e-Sword Bible)
Out of respect for an ageing, suffering and imprisoned friend, Philemon is asked to help this young man.
Paul has kindly taken this wayward servant under his wing and wants the master and slave not only to be reconciled but also to accept each other as brothers in Christ.

Runaway Slaves

Runaway slaves have existed throughout history.
Isaiah calls them fugitives: (See Is 45:20)
Matthew Henry calls them refugees.
They have escaped the cruel domination of the nations such as King Cyrus in Isaiah 45 v1. (MH on v 20)
All they found there was a “refuge of lies.” (MH)
They were now being welcomed into God’s family such was the grace of the One calling them.

A runaway…
What is the modern voice of the one who is rebelling against God, family, and society; like a latter day prodigal son?
Christopher Cross wrote a song which says it very well…

Christopher Cross – Ride like the Wind
It is the night. My body's weak.
I'm on the run. No time to sleep.
I've got to ride.
Ride like the wind to be free again.
And I got such a long way to go.
To make it to the border of Mexico.
So I'll ride like the wind.

I was born the son of a lawless man.
Always spoke my mind with a gun in my hand.
Lived nine lives
gunned down ten.
Gonna ride like the wind.

And I got such a long way to go.
To make it to the border of Mexico.
So I'll ride like the wind.
Ride like the wind.
Ride like the wind.

Accused and tried and told to hang
I was no where in sight
when the church bells rang.
Never was the kind to do as I was told.
Gonna ride like the wind before I get old.

It is the night. My body's weak.
I'm on the run. No time to sleep.
I've got to ride.
Ride like the wind to be free again.

And I got such a long way to go.
To make it to the border of Mexico.
So I'll ride like the wind.
Ride like the wind.

And I got such a long way to go.
To make it to the border of Mexico.
So I'll ride like the wind.
Gonna run like the wind.

http://www.lyrics007.com/Christopher%20Cross%20Lyrics/Ride%20Like%20The%20Wind%20Lyrics.html

Sad, sad, story of the runaway. He has no future and he doesn’t know where he’s going; he’s lost. He thinks he can run and by doing so find freedom, but because he does not know what the true picture is, he is completely lost and foolish.
He does not know where to go, what to look for and who or what to avoid on the dangerous road ahead. It is night for him even during the brightest day…for this runaway is ignorant of God…Isaiah again: “They have no knowledge…”(45:20)
Only he thinks he is wise and knows something. No one else does.
Anyone he comes across on his flight from reality only agree with him and support him in the view that he’s finding freedom by running away from his masters and his family for their own selfish reasons. They agree with him so as to get his money, to get him to work for them for free or to get sexual favours from him.
Perhaps they see potential in him and plan to make him into a petty criminal. You have to have some ability to be a criminal even if it’s just enough to keep you out of jail!
Psalm 1:6 “For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the ungodly shall perish.”
PROV 14:12 “There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.”
Then there is a safe way or what we call a way of salvation indeed it is THE WAY of freedom and security and hope: “I am the way and the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but through me…” says Jesus. (Jn 14:6)
Which way did Onesimus choose? He chose to repent of his rebellious ways and turn to Jesus Christ.
Which will you choose?
Choose today or you may not get another opportunity…[As Tricia said last week she doesn’t like the word luck or chance…quite right too! Neither do I.]
God is LORD and knows exactly what He is doing with our lives even if we think we know best…
We need to admit that to the Lord and make our prayer what the Psalm writer said:

Let us pray…

139:1 “O LORD, You have searched me and known me.
139:2 You know my sitting down and my rising up;
You understand my thought afar off.
139:3 You comprehend my path and my lying down,
And are acquainted with all my ways.
139:4 For there is not a word on my tongue,
But behold, O LORD, You know it altogether.
139:5 You have hedged me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me.
139:6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is high, I cannot attain it.
139:7 Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
139:8 If I ascend into heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.
139:9 If I take the wings of the morning,
And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
139:10 Even there Your hand shall lead me,
And Your right hand shall hold me.
139:11 If I say, "Surely the darkness shall fall on me,"
Even the night shall be light about me;
139:12 Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You,
But the night shines as the day;
The darkness and the light are both alike to You.
139:13 For You formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother's womb.
139:14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.
139:15 My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
139:16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them.
139:17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How great is the sum of them!
139:18 If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; When I awake, I am still with You.
139:19 Oh, that You would slay the wicked, O God!
Depart from me, therefore, you bloodthirsty men.
139:20 For they speak against You wickedly;
Your enemies take Your name in vain.
139:21 Do I not hate them, O LORD, who hate You?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against You?
139:22 I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them my enemies.
139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me, and know my anxieties;
139:24 And see if there is any wicked way in me,
And lead me in the way everlasting.”
Amen.

"DELIVERANCE" - Sunday 26 August 2007

2007-09-14T22:34:00.000+12:00

Deliverance!
Lk 13:10 “Now He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.
13:11 And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up.
13:12 But when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her, ‘Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity.’
13:13 And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.
13:14 But the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath; and he said to the crowd, ‘There are six days on which men ought to work; therefore come and be healed on them, and not on the Sabbath day.’
13:15 The Lord then answered him and said, ‘Hypocrite! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from the stall, and lead it away to water it?
13:16 So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound-think of it-for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?’
13:17 And when He said these things, all His adversaries were put to shame; and all the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by Him.”

Introduction
“Now He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath…” (10)
Jesus was teaching. What did He teach about? Luke says He taught about the salvation of God, because it was prophesied about Him: “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest; for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, to give knowledge of salvation to His people by the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God…” (Lk 1:76-78)
We also notice that He was allowed on this occasion to teach in the synagogue, so it must have been in the earlier party of His ministry when the Pharisees and Scribes were not totally opposed to Him and His ministry.
Verse 11 tells us: “And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up.”
What is a spirit of infirmity? Such a spirit is one that causes a physical or mental disability in the person. We all bear God’s image and Satan wants to distort or destroy it. He had managed to distort the image of God in this daughter of Abraham for 18 years imagine it! (16) When Jesus saw this woman He was not going to stand for it any longer…What could He do about it with everyone looking on?

Illustration
I clearly remember the day when this passage was being dealt with at Bible College by the NT lecturer. He said that the woman’s ailment was probably something we would be able to heal with modern medicine. In other words, that it was a natural illness, a physically caused sickness.
That it was described in the way ancient people saw things. That her problem was described according to their limited knowledge, and how today we would not describe or treat people that way blah, blah, blah.
That today we, who know so much better than them, would treat it as a purely physical problem and that there was no mystery to it.
The students in my class were very quick to point out that was not the case. They pointed out that it was a spiritual problem the woman suffered from. It had physical results to be sure. She did present with a bent back and could not straighten it at all for 18 years. (v11)

Reasons for believing this are:
1) Luke is the writer of this Gospel. Both He and Jesus say the woman had a spiritual problem. He was a medical doctor. He would not say she “had a spirit of infirmity” unless he was sure that is what she had. It could be argued that he was mistaken, or that he did not understand the problem the woman had. However, such reasoning creates more problems than it solves.
Why would he write something he was mistaken about under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit?
How could God, the Spirit of Truth authorise a known mistake in the inspired record?
Why would a Christian physician not understand the spiritual nature of this poor woman’s problem and ascribe it to a spiritual cause when it had happened naturally?
That would not even be truthful morally, let alone accurate Biblically, so there is no way Dr Luke would do that!
Why would he describe it the way he did if it was a purely physical ailment? He wouldn’t, because it was what it was, and Luke describes accurately that the woman was bent over by Satan as Jesus described her condition in verse 16: “ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound -think of it- for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?”
Why would Luke misrepresent Jesus who also called it a spiritual problem?
2) Secondly, in verse 12 he tells us that Jesus “loosed” her because she was bound by something.

Jesus freed her.
That’s what the word ‘loosed’ means.

Jesus said explicitly in verse 15 that the woman was “loosed” from something spiritual because it was Satan who had bound her for these past 18 years. We can only imagine the kind of degradation she must have suffered because of this…

We Can Learn from Her Example
This woman is to be commended for at least three things:
1) This poor woman went to worship on the Sabbath. How little excuse we have for not coming to church when it does not suit us.
2) She surely had prayed many times like the Psalmist from Ps 72 in today’s reading: “In You, O LORD, I put my trust; Let me never be put to shame. Deliver me in Your righteousness, and cause me to escape; Incline Your ear to me, and save me. Be my strong refuge, To which I may resort continually; You have given the commandment to save me, For You are my rock and my fortress.” (Ps 71:1-3)
3) When she was delivered from her bondage she gave God the glory. (13)

Back to the Bible
Now when this was pointed out to the lecturer at Bible College he recanted his naturalistic interpretation of the passage and apologised to all the students for misrepresenting the teaching of Luke and of Jesus.
That’s important because it teaches us something.
This teaches us:
1) We should always take the Bible’s authority over the authority and interpretation of men, no matter who they are.
2) We should acknowledge that we know very little and that God knows the source and the causes of certain ailments which we do not know and which we cannot heal even with the best treatments and medicines.
3) That Jesus can heal the most difficult illnesses and diseases.
To take a legalistic approach and say that they “cannot be healed on the Sabbath” or that Jesus no longer has authority or chooses not to heal physical ailments/illnesses/diseases, is to act like the Ruler of the synagogue that day.
The Pharisees were put to shame after criticising Jesus for healing on the Sabbath on more than one occasion.
The result of Jesus’ healing of the woman was: “And when He said these things, all His adversaries were put to shame; and all the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by Him.” (17)
If perhaps you are sleeping by now and do not think what I am saying matters…
No, ok, if you think what I am saying is only about a mistake made by an old Bible College lecturer way back in 1973…let me quote you something as recent as 4th April this year within the Presbyterian church:
We were having a discussion, using email, about authority and the Bible’s authority was brought up. This was the reply to someone who defended the Bible’s authority.
At the time I called it, Email of the week: QUOTE “As an adult, I used to go to a church where the priest clearly had his hang ups and he preached out of them. I consciously decided that if the word from the pulpit contradicted what I learnt in the secular world during the week, I would junk the word from the pulpit. It's a very good principle to live by, (name withheld). Try it some day.”
Elspeth - Wednesday, April 04, 2007 (From my Yahoo email under PRESSY CHURCH)

Jesus clearly believed in Satan. Jesus preached about Satan as a deceiver, a liar and a murderer. (John 8:44)
He saw Satan fall when His disciples did what they were empowered by Him to do. (Lk 10:18)
This same Jesus who spoke about love for God and love for our neighbours knew for Himself the evil of the father of lies (Jn 8:44) as He experienced the temptation in the wilderness. This same Jesus, who we accept as the communicator of love warned His disciples as He warns us of the devil’s tricks.
Are we going to edit the words of Jesus and say His words of love are OK, but don’t tell me anything He said about the devil?
Is His belief in Satan and His warnings about Satan to be ignored as words unsuitable for a scientific age, and that since Jesus lived in a time before science, well, Jesus just did not understand?
Are we saying that Jesus didn’t get it?
Are we saying that we understand better than Jesus?
We have a natural explanation for miracles and Satan now?
Are we going to say “Jesus was a man of his time,” and ignore the truth about Satan as evil personified, evil in person?
As Jesus said in Matthew’s Gospel: “If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then will his kingdom stand? . . . But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” (Mt.12: 26 & 28; see also Acts 26:18 ["the dominion of Satan"]; Col. 1:13 ["the domain of darkness"]).
In the introduction to the wonderful book, "The Screwtape Letters," C.S. Lewis writes: "There are two equal and opposite errors into which the human race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight." (CS Lewis Screwtape Letters 3 in: http://www.enjoyinggodministries.com/article/confronting-reality-of-spiritual-warfare )

That is why I do not preach much about the devil. In this world, he gets too much airplay as it is!
However, maybe I have not preached enough about the devil…since some people only come to respect the devil’s powers when they know his existence and power in their own experience…Or better, when they experience the deliverance of the Saviour from all the power of the enemy!

I do not want you to fear….that’s not God’s purpose for you.

Instead, thank God! “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Eph6:12)
And indeed, is it not true that vestiges of that power once given to the Apostles still adheres to us today?
Jesus said to His disciples later to become His Apostles: “Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” (Lk 10:19)

The Issue of the Sabbath
The Pharisees challenged Jesus for healing on the SABBATH.
Oh My Goodness, Jesus, You did something good on the Lord’s day!

A question arose in the Western Isles of Scotland:
“If we aren't allowed to whistle on the Sabbath how do we call our sheepdog in for its dinner?” http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/islandblogging/blogs/005114/0000006193.shtml

(I will leave you to answer that one for yourselves!)

His Great Compassion
You may have heard of the Great Commission, well, here was the Great Compassion.
Here was a woman bound and bent over in fear and misery for 18 years and Jesus great compassion for her breaks out and looses her from her bondage and heals her!
Now the only reason that was interpreted as bad by the church leaders of the day was that they had missed the big picture.
“And when He said these things, all His adversaries were put to shame; and all the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by Him.” (17)
They did not recognize who Jesus was, even though he preached like an angel and healed badly bound and sick people before their eyes!
They refused to recognize God the Son and “all the glorious things that were done by Him.” (17)
The only reason people today cannot see the good in someone coming to be set free by Jesus, is that they do not know Jesus as God the Son for themselves!
Lk 12:8 “ ‘For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.’
12:9 Now when He had departed from there, He went into their synagogue.
12:10 And behold, there was a man who had a withered hand. And they asked Him, saying, ‘Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?’ - that they might accuse Him.
12:11 Then He said to them, ‘What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out?
12:12 ‘Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.’ ”
Bring all the feeble, sick, diseased, infirm to Jesus and only unbelief will stop them from being made whole by Him.
Not all diseases are healed. Why, we do not know.

That’s in God’s hands, but we do know that if you trust in Him, He will make you to know Him, and He will set you free to be known by Him in a very personal way and give you, grant you, present you with free access to Him now and into all eternity!

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. AMEN!

What Faith Is - Sunday 12 August 2007

2007-09-04T14:13:00.000+12:00

What Faith Is

Heb 11:1 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
11:2 For by it the elders obtained a good testimony.
11:3 By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible…”
11:8 “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.
11:9 By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise;
11:10 for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
11:11 By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised.
11:12 Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude-innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.
11:13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
11:14 For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland.
11:15 And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return.
11:16 But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.”

Introduction

This is the great chapter on faith. It is the greatest example of faith in the whole Bible.
In the last few verses of the previous chapter, the writer outlines how the Hebrew Christians in Rome needed to persevere in their faith.
“Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise:
‘For yet a little while, And He who is coming will come and will not tarry.
Now the just shall live by faith;
But if anyone draws back,
My soul has no pleasure in him."

But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul. (Heb10:35-39)

Chapter 11Verse 1: “Now faith…” Why does the writer say ‘now,’ ‘now faith’? He wants to tell us something important, something significant.

Professor Breward who taught Christian Thought and History used to begin all his lectures: “Now…”
The writer says “Now” because he is about to embark on an important journey.
He is about to take us through the evidence of things we have not seen, the evidence of the faithful who have gone before.
Faith is described in Hebrews as something that we can have.
But how do you get it?
Faith comes to us by hearing God’s word. “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” says Romans 10:17.
OK, so once we have it, how do we keep our faith in all the ups and downs, the various circumstances of life?
It is in the warning of the previous chapter that we learn what is taught in the writings of all the Apostles: “do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward.” (10:35)
According to the writer of Hebrews, Abraham and Sarah obeyed God and a whole faithful nation sprang up. (11:8-12)

What are we supposed to be doing with our faith today?

Does your faith make you obey or cause you to obey God?

Genuine faith is indeed tested by how obedient the person is.

For example, Joseph (mentioned in verse 22) was tested as to whether he would sleep with Potiphar’s wife…and by faith he refused.

The genuineness of his faith was tested and rewarded.
He became the Prime Minister of Egypt.

Communication
In communication, the essential elements are that there is a sender of the information and one who receives it.
Send and receive, send and receive.
However, if the receiver and sender are not connected together, the message will not get through.

Illustration

Most people have wonderful examples of modern technology in their homes. Most have radios and TVs in their houses receiving all kinds of stations.
If we tune to a negative station we will miss all the good news messages that are being broadcast.
The message of the gospel is the good news and you can hear it if you tune into a Christian radio or TV station. If you don’t you miss is.
Most people: a) Have been set a bad Christian example, or
b) Want to live life their own way, and do not care about God or
c) Believe that God cannot be reached or,
d) Want to get to God by their own efforts.

God send the gospel message via His servants, Jesus Christ being the most prominent One.
How do we receive that message?
Well, according to the Bible, we need to have a ‘personal radio’ and to tune it to hear the gospel message. We need to switch on. We need to open up our hearts and minds and read the Bible.
Faith is able to hear and so to respond to God and to please God.
Heb 11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”
Without faith...it is impossible...to please God, is a spur of encouragement rather than a snub.
It is the writer’s style, his way of speaking, to put his message in the negative and it is intended to challenge us to put our faith into action so as to please God.
If I said “You can please God any way you like according to your own ideas,” I would not be doing my job.
The writer says it is impossible to please God without faith so as to spur us on so as to please God in God’s way.
It is not a snub. If I were to snub you I would say something like: “You don’t please God. You are displeasing God. You never have pleased God and you never will because you can’t.”
That would be a pretty hard word but it would not be God speaking!
God cares about you so much that he sent Jesus to save you from ruin.
God sends us saving power through the gospel. If taken into your heart by faith, the gospel of Jesus Christ will save you from sin to God. “…he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” He really is!

Faith Involves Risk
My experience of faith is different from yours and I do not expect you to do things the way I do them, but let me tell you what happened when I was going to Bible College.
When I became a Christian through faith in Jesus Christ, I realised how little I knew about the Bible. Months passed and the more I read of the Bible the more I came to realise I needed some solid teaching.

I believed that I should apply to go to Bible College in Auckland and learn.

My friend Keith Matthews did not understand this.
He kept asking me: “Are you still going to Bible College?”
My Father, whom I lived with, thought it was foolish to leave a good paying job as a telephone technician to go to Bible College.
Keith kept asking the same question, almost weekly as I remember, and I kept giving the same answer.
I think he even asked me how sure I was about going.
I gave him the answer in terms of a percentage…it was a pretty high percentage, and it got higher each time he asked.
The funny thing was that it was not up to me. It was up to God and up to the Bible College I had applied to as to whether I could be accepted.
It was unusual for them to accept very young Christians which at the time I was.
One day the letter came and it told me I was accepted.
I was of course delighted and scared all at the same time.
But this is the verse that Dr. David Stewart included at the bottom of his letter:

“He who calls you is faithful, and He will do it.” (I Thess 5:24 RSV)

When I look back, it had never been up to me whether I should go to College in the first place, so I should simply have told my Dad and my friend Keith that it was up to God.
As Matthew Henry says: “Our fidelity (faithfulness) to God depends on His faithfulness to us.” (MH Comm. on I Thess 5:24 in E-sword Bible)

My call to St Mark's was bit different. I was out of parish ministry for a while and when I came back to Dunedin I began to worship at the local Presbyterian Church, here at St Mark’s. I took some services over a period.

After some time, the Board which was discussing who to call as their minister asked Arthur to ring me and I was at home that night and went down to meet with them. I took on the challenge as from God and I took the risk that if I left my work at the University which I would have to do in order to give the time to St Mark’s, God would provide for me.

And the rest as they say is history. I am now very grateful to Arthur as Session Clerk, and to you all for your support, forgiveness and kindness to me and my wife Kathy.
Yes, faith involves risk..

“Attempt great things for God expect great things from God,” was William Carey’s motto, the founder of modern missionary work.

Also “what is not from faith is sin,” because faith expects God’s guidance and is willing to obey it. (Rom 14:23)

Also that which is not of faith is usually self.

You assume you know what you are doing and where you are going. You are an adult after all! But you do not ask God in faith.

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” (Mt 7:7-8)

Faith is the condition, the requirement, the ‘substance’ and the evidence says Hebrews, which allows you to receive this message of salvation.

George Mueller’s Faith

Some of you may have heard of the life of George Mueller.
I tell it in order to encourage you. It illustrates what faith in God can achieve.
“George Mueller (1805-1898) did many great works for the Lord in his lifetime, among them building several orphanages.
The following is a great story he tells:
It was time for breakfast at one of my orphanages in England and there was no food. Not only was there no food in the kitchen, but there was no money in the home's account. A young girl whose father was a close friend of mine was visiting the home. I took her hand and said, "Come and see what our Father will do." In the dining room, long tables were set with empty plates and empty mugs. We sat down at the table with the others and I prayed, "Dear Father, we thank Thee for what Thou art going to give us to eat."

At once, we heard a knock at the door. There stood the local baker. "Mr. Muller," he said, "I couldn't sleep last night. Somehow, I felt you had no bread for breakfast, so I got up at 2 o'clock this morning and baked you some fresh bread. Here it is." Muller thanked him and gave praise to God. Soon afterward, a second knock came. It was the milkman. His cart had broken down in front of the orphanage. There was no way to move and repair the cart except to empty it of the milk he needed to still deliver so he asked me if we could use his milk. We had a wonderful breakfast that morning.

Faith was the pinnacle of George Muller's life. Without a personal salary, he relied only on God to supply the money and food he needed to support the hundreds of homeless children he befriended in the name of Messiah. A man of radiant faith, he kept a motto on his desk for many years that brought comfort, strength, and uplifting confidence to his heart.

It read, 'It matters to Him about you.'
Mueller believed that those words captured the meaning of 1 Peter 5:7, and he rested his claim for divine help on that truth. He testified at the end of his life that the Lord had never failed to supply all his needs.” (Worthy Brief: Wed, 08 Aug 2007, in my Yahoo email dated 8/8/2007. Look for “Worthynews.”)

George Mueller’s experience of answered prayer was definitely the result of having faith in God, but the results were not so much miracles as examples of God’s providential care and provision.

It is true that these examples are spectacular answers to prayers of faith, but the point of them is to show us that God is to be trusted.

God is to be trusted to supply us with what we need if we have an active faith.
We do not need to have the same results as this great Christian leader and benefactor, but we do need to have the essence of what he had in order to enter heaven.

Our faith must be more than a nodding assent to some facts about Jesus or God.

Our faith needs to be more than a vague assurance that things will work out in the end somehow.

Our faith has to be personal. Jesus said:

“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.” (Jn 14:1)

“I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (Jn 14:6)

“God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” (Jn 3:16)

Our faith has to be actively trusting God each and every day no matter how hard our circumstances are and how impossible life seems to be.

In this chapter the writer of Hebrews gives a long list of those who suffered for believing God. The ancient saying is true and wise: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh, And strength to your bones.” (Prov 3:5-9)

I found this recent statement about being a Christian:

“Now in order (then) to be a Christian, you must have at some point admitted that you failed God and ignored Him - probably that you failed Him for a good many years. You must ask forgiveness for this, and you must ask that that forgiveness be through Christ - because the only way we can be forgiven and not punished is if there is someone who has already taken the punishment - and because of His great love for us, God in Jesus took that punishment for us - he took the punishment we deserve.

As a sign that you genuinely understand that God is Lord and His way is right, you have to live a life of service to God - that means living the way He directs and seeking to glorify His name. Such a person as is described here, once forgiven, will be living in a restored relationship with God and therefore a Christian.”

(http://www.1way2god.net/printerfriendly/dyk.html)

Charles Spurgeon, the Prince of Preachers, on the verse “Christ who is our life” from Colossians 3:4 says:

“Where there is the same life within, there will, there must be, to a great extent, the same developments without; and if we live in near fellowship with the Lord Jesus we shall grow like him. We shall set him before us as our Divine copy, and we shall seek to tread in his footsteps, until he shall become the crown of our life in glory. Oh! how safe, how honoured, how happy is the Christian, since Christ is our life!” (C.H Spurgeon, Morning and Evening, August 10, E-sword Bible.) Amen.

I well remember my uncles and my Dad would have a drink at the pub or at home: "First the day!" they would say. Well, here is first this month...

2007-08-07T10:59:00.000+12:00

Hi everyone,

It's been a busy month even though we had a weekend at Timaru recently. Next month we are off to Geraldine...ho hum for the holidays! (another ancient saying attributable to my brother, Russell.)

Below is the first for this month...

What Kind of Riches Do You Want?

Luke 12:13 “Then one from the crowd said to Him, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.’
12:14 But He said to him, ‘Man, who made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?’
12:15 And He said to them, ‘Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.’
12:16 Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: ‘The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully.
12:17 And he thought within himself, saying, “What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?”
12:18 So he said, “I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods.
12:19 And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.”’
12:20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’
12:21 ‘So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God. ’ ”

Introduction

We in NZ all have plenty, plenty of things.
It’s not wrong to have things.
It’s not wrong to make and to keep profits either.
In today’s passage from Luke, Jesus did not say it was a sin to own things or to make a profit…and He certainly did not say that anywhere else in the Bible.
Jesus sometimes spoke about avarice, greed, stealing, usury, taxing people too much. Jesus said: one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.’ (14)
I like the Dictionary.com definition of avarice: “insatiable greed for riches; inordinate, miserly desire to gain and hoard wealth.” (http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=avarice)
“The itch of covetousness makes a man scratch what he can from another.” (Thomas Watson) (Gathered Gold, John Blanchard, Evangelical Press, Darlington, England, 1984; ‘Covetousness’ p.53)
Surely here was Jesus’ chance to say being rich was evil. But he does not take it, because it’s not what He believed and it’s not true.

The Politics of Guilt
There has been a bad misreading of what the Gospels say about wealth or riches. The politics of guilt have been used to make people feel bad if they are wealthy and feel as though God was accusing them of wrongdoing.
By this method, people have been brought into slavery by a man-made subjection to the words of men, rather than the freedom the word of God brings!
In fact, it’s is not so much misunderstanding or misreading the Gospels; it is the deliberate reading of one’s own philosophy of life into the texts so that you get Jesus to say what you want Him to say for political purposes!
One such example is the ‘Jesus Seminar.’ We will not discuss that now.
What have riches and politics to do with Jesus and the gospel?
People like Jesus get in the way of our pet politics…politics which attempt to make wealthy people feel guilty.
In response to those who preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, people will often say things like:
“Don’t tell me what to do. Don’t tell me and my children what to believe and do.”
And yet they are willing to let consecutive governments tell them exactly what to believe, what they can say and do, to control their income and their daily lives down to the details of what they feed their children; to bring in laws to control where and when they can breastfeed their babies, and to decide and enforce how they should discipline their own children!

What is Jesus Attitude Towards the Rich?
So what is Jesus’ attitude to this man who had worked so hard and had become successful and become rich by it?
I think it’s the perfect example about attitudes to wealth, since it hits on the exact issue facing us as a people today.
We can ask this: What is Jesus attitude towards the rich?
Are rich people the problem?
Rich people are seen by some people as bad, simply because they have wealth. Since there are others who do not have the nice warm houses or latest clothes and winter holidays that they have, the wealthy are labelled as “bad.”
How about looking into why some have and some do not!
There are plenty of rich people. Compared to many people in the world we are very rich. People get jealous of rich people. As a result they get covetous.
They begin to lust after what the rich have. Acts of violence are excused if the perpetrator is poor and the victim is rich.

When the rich are robbed some say: “Good, it’s what he deserves. Now he will know what others suffer.” Similar things were said about the horrific deaths of nearly 3000 people in the destruction of the Twin Towers on 9/11/2001. (There were 2974 who died that day.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11,_2001_attacks#Fatalities)
“America has been a bad global citizen so deserves what’s happened,” some said.

Who’s to Blame?
In a twisted logic, the cause or the responsibility for any covetous attitude is laid at the feet of the rich person, the person who is better off.
A ‘redistribution of the wealth’ is the answer, according to some if not most people, if recent elections are anything to go by.
Jesus does not criticise anyone for having wealth, while some people have little or nothing.
It is not from the lips of Jesus that we get the ‘redistribution of wealth’ philosophy. In fact, Jesus declines to be the arbitrator between people!
See verse 14: “ ‘Man, who made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?’ ”
Jesus concern is with attitudes and spiritual matters and had not come to decide legal matters to do with inheritance. (See Note*)

The Parable
Jesus responds to a man who is not happy. He questions Jesus as to how an inheritance he is due to receive can be more fairly distributed between himself and his brother.
Jesus discerns that within his question and within his heart is covetousness.
Jesus here finds a man who is selfish and by his attitude the man displays that. So he tells the story of a person who is like this unhappy disputer. The attitude is revealed in verse 17.
Look at verse 17: “ ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. I will say to my soul…’ ” (Lk12:17-19)
In questioning himself this man says “I” five times.
“I have no room…”
“I will do this…”
“I will pull down my barns…”
“I will store all my crops and my goods…”
“I will say to my soul…” I, I, I, I, I.

He does not give thanks to God…“although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.”(Rom 1:21)
Some of the saddest words in the Bible: “nor were thankful,” is a sure sign they are lost.
No respect for the God who made them.
Surely vanity reigns in that human heart.
The man in Jesus’ story is like that.
He does not ask God what to do. He makes his own plans without referring to the God who made him.
He reasons with himself that, “I will do this and that.”
I will call it ‘BBB Industries,’ BUILD BIGGER BARNS!
He is like the Pharisee Jesus spoke about in chapter 18 of Luke: “The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, 'God, I thank You that I am not like other men.’ ” (LK 18:11)
In contrast to the Pharisee, the farmer in Jesus story, the man wanting to build bigger barns, makes no reference to God at all.

He does not pray.

On the other hand, whatever the Pharisee thought he was doing, was not prayer either!
Jesus says the Pharisee prayed with himself and that the prayer was not answered by God.
His prayer bounced off the walls and ceiling of the temple but got no further.
The farmer’s reasoning and exclusion of God condemns him.
The farmer is condemned by his own words.
Jesus says God will require the man to answer for his attitude and the actions that flow from that.
“But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you…’ ” (20)
Now it should be known that the word “Fool” is not what we would use to describe someone if we were angry with them.
“Fool” in this context means someone who does not take God into account.
“The fool has said in his heart: There is no God.” (Psalm 14:1)
So it’s not a measure of intelligence but rather of inability respect or even acknowledge God.
Psalm 92:6 “A senseless man does not know, Nor does a fool understand this.”

It is foolish to live life without reference to God.

It is foolish to live without trusting Christ.

The person who lives like that will have misfortune come upon them without warning and their end will be the loss of their soul.
As Jesus says: “This night your soul will be required of you.”
The man was rich with goods but empty in his soul.
Things had taken the place of God in his heart.
Riches robbed his soul of true wealth.
Don’t let that happen to you.

Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church asked people the following two questions:
1. Do you know for sure that you are going to be with God in Heaven?
2. If God were to ask you, “Why should I let you into My Heaven?” what would you say?
If you were asked: “Why God should let you into His heaven?” How would you answer?
Those who are born again by God’s Spirit can answer that question confidently.
You should be able to say:
“Why should God let me into His heaven? Because Christ died for me on the cross and took the penalty for all my sin.”
To those who are born again Jesus says, in verses 22-25:
Don’t worry. Don’t worry about what you want. Take what you need from God.
“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will put on. Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing. Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds? And which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? (Lk 12:22-25)

Dependence on yourself leads to ultimate ruin, no matter how materially rich you become in life.
Dependence on God through faith in Jesus Christ brings deliverance from sin and death, peace with God and eternal life in heaven.
So it is not whether a person has faith. Everyone has faith of some kind.
The farmer with the many goods wishing to build barns had faith…faith in himself – I, I, I, I, I!
No, Christ wants people who have faith in Him!

I was doing some research and came across the Lutheran Augsburg Confession on one of their church websites.
In it I read the following and I said to myself:
So do I! I believe that too!
Here is part of their statement on justification or how to get right with God.
“1] Humans cannot be justified before God by their own power, merits, or deeds. Rather, they are freely justified for Christ’s sake through faith.
2] By faith we mean this: that they believe that they are both received into God’s favour and that their sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake. For by his death, Christ has paid the debt for our sins.
3] Thus God views the person who has this faith to be righteous in his sight (Romans 3 and 4)”
(Augsburg Confession, Article 4: About Justification, The Unaltered Augsburg Confession, A.D. 1530) (See also Galatians 2:16)
(See: http://www.wels.net/cgi-bin/site.pl?2601&collectionID=783)

So a person who is justified is declared by God to be not guilty.

Their merits – “things that are worthy of praise or reward” are not able to make them worthy before God.
They are put right with God “for Christ’s sake” – i.e. “Because of what Christ did” by His life, work, death, resurrection and ascension to heaven on their behalf.
This is very important and missed by most people. Even in churches many will say:
“Well, it’s not that clear cut. You have to do good to be right with God because faith is only a part of it.”
Their Christianity is all do, do, do!
Actually behind it is I, I, I, I, I, because they do not accept God’s word for it and want to achieve merit on their own.
It is the just who will live by their faith. (Hab 2:4 and Rom 1:17)
Not, “the faithful will live by justifying themselves!”
Yes, the man in Jesus parable made great plans to build bigger barns, but he forgot to thank God, to trust God and to live under God’s laws.
“But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’ ‘So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God. ’ ” (12:20-21) AMEN.

[*Note: “Now this shows us what is the nature and constitution of Christ's kingdom. It is a spiritual kingdom, and not of this world.”
“Though he came not to be a divider of men's estates, he came to be a director of their consciences about them, and would have all take heed of harbouring that corrupt principle which they saw to be in others the root of so much evil.” (Mathew Henry Commentary on Luke 12:14 in E-sword Bible.)]

On this very day!

2007-07-22T15:08:00.000+12:00

Hi, EVERYONE,
On this very day I preached about Martha...
C'mon, you all have heard of Martha, if not here goes:

Distracted from Jesus

Luke 10:38 “Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house.
10:39 And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus' feet and heard His word.
10:40 But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, ‘Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.’
10:41 And Jesus answered and said to her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things.
10:42 But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.’ ”

Introduction
Martha was working. Martha was doing house work and preparing food for her Guest. Martha was in fact distracted by working. You may have seen the cartoon titled: “The hurriered I go the behinder I get?”
She was worried too. She was busy and upset, and yet Jesus was right there in the house! How could you be worried, rushing around and upset while Jesus was right there in the house?
Maybe, as some wit suggested, she was a Rushin’ Orthodox?
Obviously, she had missed something; she had not seen something. She had not perceived what was happening.
She was distracted, that’s what she was.
Have you ever been distracted? I’m sure you have.
Everyone in this church has been doing something, thinking something, and then somehow they have been taken to a different line of thinking and doing than the one they first pursued.
You have been distracted. You are no longer thinking and doing what you intended to do, what you began to do.
Sometimes this does not matter much…but it matters if you are driving a car!
Most accidents are caused by the driver’s inattention. The driver intended to watch the road, intended to watch that bike or car or truck or pedestrian, but they for one moment failed to do so and they were involved in an accident.
Some people begin a journey wide awake and alert to what is going on around them. Some people can be good drivers but after 30 to 40 minutes or an hour fall asleep at the wheel. Tragic consequences come from being distracted or falling asleep while driving.
The same thing can happen to Christians. We can all lose the plot, get distracted from looking to Jesus in faith or simply fall asleep spiritually, go offline and drift.
Many things may cause this to happen.
Sometimes it because we are too busy doing the Lord’s work!
Like Martha, we may decide that what we do is all that needs to be done, and that what we do is fulfilling what God has asked us to do. Our work is legitimate, the sorts of things set down in the Bible that Christians should do.
But there may well be what Jesus calls that “one thing lacking.”

The one thing that we are lacking and which makes all the difference to the outcome of our lives is to listen to Jesus’ words and obey them.

Martha had missed something important her sister Mary had seen. Mary was commended for seeing and acting on something important.
So Martha was very busy, worried and upset.
She brought a question to Jesus: ‘Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.’(40)
Martha shows Jesus respect. ‘Lord’ is an appropriate address for a Rabbi or teacher of the Law of God.
But she also makes two accusations:
1. That Jesus does not care about her crisis.
2. That her sister is being a lazy lump!
The disciples asked Jesus the same question when they were worried that they may drown in a sinking boat and questioned Him saying: “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” (Mk 4:38)
What did Jesus do? (He calmed the storm. He brought them to safety.)
Jesus cares about you, in your life. He can calm your storm. We have His promise on that.
“Casting all your care on Him for he cares for you.” (I Pet 5:7)
And you can hear it in His voice.
It is not:
“Martha, I am busy with Mary here. Can’t you be more like Mary and sit down and listen?”
Instead the Lord says: “Martha, Martha...” to calm her as a baby is calmed by mother’s voice over the cot.
“Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. I do understand Martha, and I love and care about you. There’s just one thing, and Mary’s doing it…come sit down and rest and listen to what I have to say.”
Jesus is concerned with you and you have to be concerned with Him. Never mind about your sister or brother or anyone else, be concerned with Jesus.
Is there something in your life that distracts you from being concerned with Jesus?
It might be work. It might be someone else. It may be an otherwise innocent thing, but does it distract you from Jesus?

The danger is that it probably has become so much part of your life that you do not consider it a distraction any more.

Indeed you may think it the right thing to do; the thing God has given you to do.
But is it?
What time have you given this last week to listening to Jesus?
And by that, I mean reading God’s Word, since that is the main and most reliable way of hearing Jesus’ voice.
Have you taken your cares to Jesus lately?
Have you listened and responded to Jesus in prayer?
Or are you like Martha, too busy with other things?
Bishop JC Ryle says: “Profits and pleasure are dearly purchased if, in order to obtain them we thrust aside eternity from our thoughts, abridge our Bible reading, become careless hearers of the gospel, and shorten our prayers.” (JC Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Luke Vol 1: Chapter 10:38-42, James Clarke and Co. Ltd, Cambridge and London, August 1858, reprinted 1969)
Think for a moment of your time as something you invest.
Time, as I have said before, is your life. It is all we really have on earth.
Just think what the investment of your time costs you…you should expect a good return on your investment.

What are you using your time for?
Bishop Ryle is saying that it is a poor investment, a poor use of our time… if money or wealth, possessions or pleasure is all we get in this life…for the time we spend here on earth.
If you strive for money, possessions, pleasure and don’t spend any time thinking about your eternal future…for we all have an eternal future…
If you strive for what you want, but spend little time with God in Bible reading and prayer…
If you listen with little or no interest to the preaching of God’s message… and say to yourself: “Oh it’s the gospel, I’ve already heard that…been there, done that!”
All this, says J.C. Ryle, show a poor investment of your effort and time here on earth.
I finish with a story which illustrates the power of God's Word, the Bible, and why we should read it often.
It is the story of Augustine’s coming to Jesus Christ. Augustine is one of what we call ‘The Church Fathers’ who wrote and taught Biblically with great wisdom and effect.
“Gradually he came to accept the plausibility of confidence in the scriptures as the true source of knowledge of God. He "made a beginning," reading the scriptures "with the most intense desire." But he could not yet embrace the truth wholeheartedly.
At last Augustine began to despair of the things he had always expected would make him a happy man: honors, wealth, and marriage. By his thirtieth year, he looked back upon his quest for wisdom, begun at nineteen, and realized he had continually been saying to himself, "Tomorrow I will find it!", always deferring, always looking for a time with more leisure to look into his endless questions. Yet the single factor that he later recognized as preventing him turning to the truth was, "I thought I would be too wretched, if I were kept from a woman’s arms."
http://www.intervarsity.org/gfm/resource/the-conversion-of-a-scholar

Two friends, Ambrose and Simplicianus and his mother Monica’s constant prayers had a great effect on him.
Ambrose’ kindness and preaching kept Augustine in the church as a learner.
Simplicianus related to him a wonderful story of a man who taught in Augustine’s own discipline and who having suffered for Christ became an inspiring example to Augustine.
While at another level his mother Monica’s prayers brought him constantly to God.
As a young man while studying, it was his hearts’ desire that he should find “undying wisdom.”
(“All my vain hopes forthwith became worthless to me, and with incredible ardor of heart I desired undying wisdom."
See under ‘Later Youth’: http://www.intervarsity.org/gfm/resource/the-conversion-of-a-scholar)

In his ‘Confessions,’ dedicating his life and the whole book to God, Augustine writes how one day, in the presence of another friend Alypius, he had to get away and be alone with God:
“I suppose I had said something before I started up and he noticed that the sound of my voice was choked with weeping. And so he stayed alone, where we had been sitting together, greatly astonished. I flung myself down under a fig tree--how I know not--and gave free course to my tears. The streams of my eyes gushed out an acceptable sacrifice to thee. And, not indeed in these words, but to this effect, I cried to thee: "And thou, O Lord, how long?... Wilt thou be angry forever? Oh, remember not against us our former iniquities." For I felt that I was still enthralled by them. I sent up these sorrowful cries: "How long, how long? Tomorrow and tomorrow? Why not now? Why not this very hour make an end to my uncleanness?"
29. I was saying these things and weeping in the most bitter contrition of my heart, when suddenly I heard the voice of a boy or a girl I know not which--coming from the neighboring house, chanting over and over again, "Pick it up, read it; pick it up, read it." ["tolle lege, tolle lege"] Immediately I ceased weeping and began most earnestly to think whether it was usual for children in some kind of game to sing such a song, but I could not remember ever having heard the like. So, damming the torrent of my tears, I got to my feet, for I could not but think that this was a divine command to open the Bible and read the first passage I should light upon.
[For I had heard how Anthony, accidentally coming into church while the gospel was being read, received the admonition as if what was read had been addressed to him: "Go and sell what you have and give it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come and follow me." By such an oracle he was forthwith converted to thee.]
So I quickly returned to the bench where Alypius was sitting, for there I had put down the apostle's book when I had left there. I snatched it up, opened it, and in silence read the paragraph on which my eyes first fell: "Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof." I wanted to read no further, nor did I need to. For instantly, as the sentence ended, there was infused in my heart something like the light of full certainty and all the gloom of doubt vanished away.”
From AUGUSTINE: CONFESSIONS, newly translated and edited by ALBERT C. OUTLER, Ph.D., D.D.
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/aug-conv.html
Such is the power of God’s Word and when we make good and constant use of it, it changes our hearts and makes us useful to God and to the world. Amen.

Now wonderful July...

2007-07-18T22:57:00.002+12:00

We had a wonderful few days in Timaru and we plan to go to Geraldine next time...to Grumpys Retreat actually...sounds like fun!

Now here is July's first sermon:

Through the Eyes of a Child

2 Kings 5:1 “Now Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great and honorable man in the eyes of his master, because by him the LORD had given victory to Syria. He was also a mighty man of valor, but a leper.”
Introduction
God Governs the World
One night when an ambassador and his valet were obliged to sleep in the same room in a hotel, the valet noticed his master tossing and turning in bed. "Sir, what bothers you?" he asked.
"Oh, I have so many things on my mind. The burden of my responsibility is hard to bear."
"Forgive me, sir, but do you think God has been governing the world up till now?"
"Of course."
"And do you think He'll manage even after you've left this world?"
"Undoubtedly."
"Then don't you think it's possible for you to trust Him to do it even during your lifetime?"
The ambassador got the point and was soon fast asleep.
(e-Sword Bible: Topic Notes: Faith)
The Lord is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34), which does not mean what it may sound like. The GNB has it this way: “I now realize that it is true that God treats everyone on the same basis.”
So far as faith in God is concerned, it does not matter whether you are an important leader in society or a person without a job or social standing.
God respects all human life. He treats all fairly, with the same standard, and with the best possible outcome. Whether we are young or old, weak or diseased, like Naaman the important man with leprosy, a distasteful skin disease, still God treats us all the same. For those of you who like Mathew Henry's comments, here is what he says: “Our Saviour's miracles were intended for the lost sheep of the house of Israel, yet one, like a crumb, fell from the table to a woman of Canaan; so this one miracle Elisha wrought for Naaman, a Syrian; for God does good to all, and will have all men to be saved.” (e-Sword Bible, Matthew Henry Com. on 2 Kings 5:1)
5:2 “And the Syrians had gone out on raids, and had brought back captive a young girl from the land of Israel. She waited on Naaman's wife. 5:3 Then she said to her mistress, ‘If only my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria! For he would heal him of his leprosy.’ ”
What You Say Matters
This servant girl from Israel was an insignificant person in the grander scheme of things.
She was just a servant of Naaman’s wife. Although in those days the commanding officer’s wife may have had some standing in Syrian society, her servant was a slave had none whatever.
Yet such was the misery and growing desperation of the leper Naaman, that he was willing to try the unlikely: the possibility of a cure from Israel. (Can anything good come out of Nazareth?)
We learn from this that no matter who you are or who you think you are it matters what you believe and say. And whether you are prepared to say it like this servant girl!
It is from a godly heart of compassion that good things come and good words help people.
A word at the right time can save a life; can save a human soul from hell.
5:4 “And Naaman went in and told his master, saying, ‘Thus and thus said the girl who is from the land of Israel.’
5:5 Then the king of Syria said, ‘Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.’ So he departed and took with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten changes of clothing.
5:6 Then he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which said, Now be advised, when this letter comes to you, that I have sent Naaman my servant to you, that you may heal him of his leprosy.
5:7 And it happened, when the king of Israel read the letter, that he tore his clothes and said, ‘Am I God, to kill and make alive, that this man sends a man to me to heal him of his leprosy? Therefore please consider, and see how he seeks a quarrel with me.’
The servant girls’ words resulted in a political incident between the two countries!
But thankfully that was not the end of the matter.
5:8 “So it was, when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying,
‘Why have you torn your clothes? Please let him come to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.’
5:9 Then Naaman went with his horses and chariot, and he stood at the door of Elisha's house."
Picture it…
“There’s Naaman,” the people said as his horses and chariots went by…yes, people noticed Naaman! No doubt his horses were the finest looking animals in Syria, maybe in all that part of the world! And his chariot was always gleaming!
Well, here he was, right at the prophet’s door.
“I am waiting, Elisha! Are you coming out soon?”
5:10 “And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, ‘Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean.’
5:11 But Naaman became furious, and went away and said, ‘Indeed, I said to myself, “He will surely come out to me, and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leprosy.”
“Now look here, I am the commander of the army of the king of Syria. Where are you Elisha? I expected you to make a great show for me. I am a very important person!”
5:12 “Are not the Abanah and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?”’ So he turned and went away in a rage.
5:13 And his servants came near and spoke to him, and said, ‘My father, if the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, “Wash, and be clean”?
5:14 So he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.” ’ ”
Child’s Faith, Child’s Skin
When told how puffed up he was, Naaman repented of his former proud thoughts and humbled himself and did what the prophet Elisha commanded.
Only then was his leprosy healed. Only then did he have clean skin.
It took faith like a child to have skin like a child.
The story is told about: Childlike Trust
“A frantic mother phoned her pastor one day. She was experiencing a bad case of ‘nerves’ as so many of us do. He thought he heard a child's voice while she was speaking, so he asked,
‘Is your child as upset and worried as you are?’
‘No, of course not,’ she replied.
‘But why not?’ persisted the pastor.
‘I suppose she puts her trust in me and lets me do the worrying,’ she answered.
‘Then make a transference. Try to think of yourself as a child of God and, just as your child puts her trust in you, put your trust in God.’ ”
(e-Sword Bible: Topic Notes: Trust)
Which would you rather have: the health and vitality God offers you or the sickness of the sin you chose to hold on to?
Now Naaman’s sin was human pride and he wished to be seen and treated as an important person (which of course he was). This attitude produced a deadly kind of conceit which has ruined many leaders.
He wanted the prophet to come to him: the great and famous commander of the king’s army.
He was a proud man and you may think:
“Well I’m not like that!”
Ok, you’re not proud like Naaman…
So what is your sin?
What is stopping you from receiving all that God has to bless you with?
As they say in the vitamin supplement ads: “Are you 100%?” Spiritually speaking, of course none of us are. And we would be fools to think otherwise.

What we need is the faith of a child: NOT CHILDISHNESS… but childlike faith: Trusting, simple, direct, looking for benefits because of simple understanding.
Childishness, on the other hand, is as Paul says, something we should be growing away from: I Cor 13:11 “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.”

We need God as a flower needs rain. We need to be open to God as a child reaches up to her Father and says: “Daddy, Up, Up!”

Pastor Russell Walden says: Jesus said "come as a little child" (Mark 10:15). Failing this, you cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Children are quick learners. They are open to new ideas and challenges. A child's approach to life is a study in simplicity. Isn't SIMPLICITY the defining difference between adults and children? The older you get, the more complex life becomes. The older you get, the greater the burdens of life weigh on your shoulders. On the other hand, a child's nature is carefree and uncomplicated. Children laugh easily and forgive readily. Children usually are found begging for an opportunity to help Mom or Dad. Only as they grow and develop into the image of the adults around them do they learn to resent authority and avoid responsibility.”
(From: RESTORATION OF CHILDLIKE FAITH By Pastor Russell Walden: http://www.barr-family.com/godsword/childlike.htm )
So what is this childlike faith like?
It is believing, simple and open to what God has to say as He says it in His Word, the Bible.
Here are some sayings attributed to children that illustrate childlike faith:
Dear GOD, Are you really invisible or is that just a trick? - Lucy
(“Immortal, invisible God only wise…” (From the hymn With One Voice No. 80)
Dear GOD, What does it mean You are a Jealous God? I thought You had everything. – Jane
EX 20:5 “…you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God…”
Dear GOD, Maybe Cain and Abel would not kill each other so much if they had their own rooms. It works with my brother. – Larry

Dear GOD, I bet it is very hard for You to love all of everybody in the whole world. There are only 4 people in our family and I can never do it. – Nan

(There’s a telling point to that one for us all)

“On the first day of school, about midmorning, the kindergarten teacher said, ‘If anyone has to go to the bathroom, hold up two fingers.’ A little voice from the back of the room asked, ‘How will that help?’ ”

http://www.letterfairy.co.uk/sc/cont.nsf/pages/tlf001dscs-6fqc87

“A Kindergarten teacher was observing her classroom of children while they were drawing. She would occasionally walk around to see each child's work. As she got to one little girl who was working diligently, she asked what the drawing was. The girl replied, ‘I'm drawing God.’ The teacher paused and said, ‘But no one knows what God looks like.’
Without missing a beat, or looking up from her drawing, the girl replied, ‘They will in a minute.’
http://www.letterfairy.co.uk/sc/cont.nsf/pages/tlf001dscs-6fqc87
Finally,
Dear GOD, Did you mean for the giraffe to look like that or was it an accident? – Norma
(Goto: http://www.barr-family.com/godsword/ Then click on the ‘Jokes’ link in the frame on the left.)
So don’t be afraid to believe like a child, speak up like a child with a child’s faith for you may be surprised at the heavenly reward! Amen.

...another one for June...

2007-07-18T22:49:00.000+12:00

Die Prophet, Die!

I Kings 19:1 “And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, also how he had executed all the prophets with the sword. 19:2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, ‘So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.’ ”
Introduction
Elijah is to die! So he runs.
19:3 “And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.
19:4 But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, ‘It is enough! Now, LORD, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!’ ”

This was not the first time Elijah had to flee for his life! The first time the threat on his life was made by King Ahab; now it is Queen Jezebel. Today he runs to Beersheba the uttermost southern edge of Israel to get as far as he can from these wicked rulers who killed God’s prophets.
You may remember that in chapter 17, which we read two weeks ago, Elijah had to run to Zarephath in the Sidonian countryside and stay at the brook Kidron and then was sent to the poor land where he met with the widow who fed him. Well today, he’s on the run again!
19:5 “Then as he lay and slept under a broom tree, suddenly an angel touched him, and said to him, ‘Arise and eat.’
19:6 Then he looked, and there by his head was a cake baked on coals, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank, and lay down again.
19:7 And the angel of the LORD came back the second time, and touched him, and said, ‘Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.’
19:8 So he arose, and ate and drank; and he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights as far as Horeb, the mountain of God.”
Here again, God provides for His prophet.
Cakes do not bake themselves and jars of fresh water do not appear out of thin air…unless God provided for His prophet as the word of God says!
While the mad and bad Ahab and Jezebel cried “Die prophet, die!” the Lord said “Live my prophet and go and do my work.”
The Wicked Rulers of Israel
Who was Ahab? He was the king who: “did evil in the sight of the LORD, more than all who were before him.” (I K16:30) He was the king who with his wife Jezebel: “set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal, which he had built in Samaria.” (I K16:32)
IK18:17 “Then it happened, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said to him, ‘Is that you, O troubler of Israel?’
18:18 And he answered, ‘I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father's house have, in that you have forsaken the commandments of the LORD and have followed the Baals.’”
Who was Ahab? He was the king who set up a wooden image in the altar and: “did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.” (IK16:33)
God was displeased with him for another reason. He took a wife from the Sidonians; from the family of Ethbaal. (I Kg16:31) Her name was Jezebel which has become the synonym for a wicked, shameless woman.
“The worship of God by symbols had hitherto been the offensive form of apostasy in Israel, but now gross idolatry is openly patronized by the court. This was done through the influence of Jezebel, Ahab’s queen. She was ‘the daughter of Eth-baal, king of the Zidonians.’ He was priest of Ashtaroth or Astarte, who, having murdered Philetes, king of Tyre, ascended the throne of that kingdom, being the eighth king since Hiram. Jezebel was the wicked daughter of this regicide (king killing) and idol priest - and, on her marriage with Ahab, never rested till she had got all the forms of her native Tyrian worship introduced into her adopted country.” (James, Fausset and Brown Commentary, 1Ki 16:29-33 in e-Sword Bible.)

What can Jezebel teach us?

We must be careful to make sure we do not introduce forms of worship that displease God, even if they seem terribly good to us, but do not conform to the teaching of Scripture.

Back to Elijah…
I K19:9 “And there he went into a cave, and spent the night in that place; and behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and He said to him, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’
19:10 So he said, ‘I have been very zealous for the LORD God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.’
19:11 Then He said, ‘Go out, and stand on the mountain before the LORD.’ And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake;
19:12 and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.
19:13 So it was, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. Suddenly a voice came to him, and said, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’
19:14 And he said, ‘I have been very zealous for the LORD God of hosts; because the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.’
19:15 Then the LORD said to him: ‘Go, return on your way to the Wilderness of Damascus; and when you arrive, anoint Hazael as king over Syria.’ ”
What are you doing here….Elijah…?
Notice three things:
1. God speaks to Elijah with a voice. An angel, God’s messenger, speaks to him in verse 5 and 7.
Then, more plainly, the Bible says “a voice came to him” (I K19:12-13) and “the LORD said to him…” (I K19.15)
There is too much detail in the messages for it not to be by a voice.
2. God addresses him by name: “What are you doing here Elijah?”
Has this happened to you? God still speaks to us today. If not, then there is no use in us being here, unless we are just some sort of holy huddle, a club!
Have you heard God speaking to you personally in Scripture, and if so, what have you done about it?
Is there a blessing to find? Is there an evil to face? A sin to avoid?
If you have heard the voice of God in your conscience, have you followed the prompting and obeyed God? Is there someone you should speak up for?
If you have not heard from God recently, I can suggest a Bible reading plan that will help you. It’s a great blessing to read God’s Word…and to thank Him and to pray for His answers to life’s problems and to pray for others. It’s quite an adventure! As the Dilmah man says: “Do try it!”
Elijah’s name means God of Jehovah or God of the self-existent or the self–existent God. The self sufficient God.
God tells Elijah: “I am, as your name indicates, Elijah, the self-existent, self sufficient One who inhabits eternity and who calls you to stand up and to go in my name.”
3. God is interested in what Elijah does and challenges him to fight against evil.
See James 5:17 “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. 5:18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.”

Fighting/Opposing Evil
When I read what happened to Elijah and how he did such hard things, I think: “You’re a better man than I am, Gunga Din.”
I don’t fight against evil much. I want the word of God to do that in your hearts, for sure, but I am able to do that in a fairly safe environment and do not risk having my house burnt down or have threats made against me like Salman Rushdie who had to flee for his life. Or Sadhu Sundar Singh who was badly treated and nearly killed for his faith in Jesus Christ. Or the many Christians who suffer for Christ in some Muslim countries and others with suppressive regimes like China and Myanmar.
As for standing against evil systems or governments, I am not sure I have the bottle for it. I prefer to support those who do it on my behalf.
Last time, we looked at I Kings, we tried to answer the question: What is a prophet? A prophet is:
“One inspired or instructed by God to speak in his name, or announce future events…”
(http://dict.die.net/prophet/ )

It was as the widow of Zarephath said: I K 17:24 “Now by this I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is the truth.”If you make a study of the whole of Scripture you will discover that: “The title (prophet)…has a general application to all who have messages from God to men.”

Sometimes that message is not easy to hear, so it’s not easy to say. Wise Nathan, David’s prophet tells the king a story in order to accuse him before God of murder and adultery.You may have heard of the phrase, “Don’t shoot the messenger.” Well, that is exactly what happened in Elijah’s day.
The prophet Elijah had messages from God, the self-existent One, the self-sufficient One, to men: to needy, sinful, weak, foolish men.
Quite a calling! Elijah is the one in the middle. Like a priest who is to take God’s message to men and to take men’s requests to God, Elijah had the hard task of facing the most evil couple to lead the nation of Israel up to that time. [(I K17:1, I K16:29-34 (see Mathew Henry Commentary)]

There are times when evil must be eradicated and there are times when it must be fought with good. “Overcome evil with good” says Paul in Romans 12:21. Jesus said: Lk 6:27 "But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 6:28 bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you.”
But what Elijah did at the end of chapter 18 was not that.
How can we explain Elijah’s actions in killing the prophets of Baal?
Not Personal
He had the prophets of Baal killed, but it was not personal vengeance. His case is different in that it was not a personal evil that he faced. He faced no personal evil from the prophets of his day toward himself but he knew that ISRAEL faced a national evil.
Now he was God’s appointed national prophet. All Israel would suffer if he did not get rid of the false prophets. What they were doing was an affront to Almighty God.
It was not a personal thing at all.
By God’s Command
Secondly, the prophet Elijah was commanded by God to do the killing. It was not his own value judgment. I see no sign that he wanted to do it or revelled in taking men’s lives. If a prophet gave a false word in those days, he was to be executed. Deut 13:1-4 sets out the details of that commandment.
Only after the wickedness had been removed did the rain returned to the land of Israel.
It was God’s time for judgment; a cleansing for Israel of all that was leading them astray and a warning to Ahab and Jezebel until they too received their come-uppance in 2 Kings chapter 9.
In NT terms, the beloved disciple says in 1JN 4:1 “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”
Jesus says we are to beware of them: MT 7:15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.”
In Acts 5, two members of the church were judged and died as a result of lying or bearing false witness.
In Acts 13, a false prophet, by way of punishment, was blinded by the Apostle Paul. We sometimes forget that God judges false words harshly if they are going to do a lot of harm. Think about the damage these prophets of Ahab and Jezebel were doing to God’s people Israel. They promoted worship of the false God Baal.
1 PT 4:17 “For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?”

Elijah’s Problem
So, if Elijah was able to deal with those false prophets why was he now afraid to face Ahab and Jezebel?
Had no one told him that the people of God would be strong? That they would know their God and do exploits?
Well he did know that because we see how he had prayed and stopped the rain from coming and how he prayed and it rained again and how that the prophets service to the widow brought her son back to life again! “The people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits” is not only a truth known to the prophet Daniel. (Dan 11:32)
So why run away now? Elijah? What are you doing here, Elijah?
God could ask us the same question.
Why are you running away from your calling?…running away from your responsibilities?
We are not always keen to risk everything for God. We are often keen at the beginning and make great promises but later fail to live up to them.
Elijah suffered great lapses in his courage though he still had a faith in God.
As Jas 5:17 says: “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. 5:18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.”
See here this great contrast and use it in three ways:
Use it:
1. To realise how far you have forsaken God’s call on your life.
2. To see that while we fail we can ask God’s forgiveness in Christ and get back to what He has called us to do.
3. Help someone else who may be discouraged or lost.
Jas 5:19 “Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, 5:20 let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.” Amen.

...And here is the next one...

2007-07-18T22:44:00.000+12:00

Trusting God to Provide

1 Kings 17: 8-24: “Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying,
17:9 ‘Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.’
17:10 So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, indeed a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, ‘Please bring me a little water in a cup, that I may drink.’
17:11 And as she was going to get it, he called to her and said, ‘Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.’
17:12 So she said, ‘As the LORD your God lives, I do not have bread, only a handful of flour in a bin, and a little oil in a jar; and see, I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.’
17:13 And Elijah said to her, ‘Do not fear; go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake from it first, and bring it to me; and afterward make some for yourself and your son.
17:14 For thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘The bin of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil run dry, until the day the LORD sends rain on the earth.’
17:15 So she went away and did according to the word of Elijah; and she and he and her household ate for many days.
17:16 The bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry, according to the word of the LORD which He spoke by Elijah.
17:17 Now it happened after these things that the son of the woman who owned the house became sick. And his sickness was so serious that there was no breath left in him.
17:18 So she said to Elijah, ‘What have I to do with you, O man of God? Have you come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to kill my son?’
17:19 And he said to her, ‘Give me your son.’ So he took him out of her arms and carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his own bed.
17:20 Then he cried out to the LORD and said, ‘O LORD my God, have You also brought tragedy on the widow with whom I lodge, by killing her son?’
17:21 And he stretched himself out on the child three times, and cried out to the LORD and said, ‘O LORD my God, I pray, let this child's soul come back to him.’
17:22 Then the LORD heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came back to him, and he revived.
17:23 And Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper room into the house, and gave him to his mother. And Elijah said, ‘See, your son lives!’
17:24 Then the woman said to Elijah, ‘Now by this I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is the truth.’

Introduction
Today’s sermon is called “Trusting God to Provide.”
Our reading tells a story about God’s provision, a poor widow and a prophet called Elijah.
Elijah, you will remember, is the one who appears at Jesus’ transfiguration
Elijah represented all the Prophets of the OT, while Moses appears to represent the Law.
You will find that story in Mark chapter 9.
Strange Directions
Elijah lived in “interesting times.”
Being chased out of his own country into the desert of Sidon by the wicked idolater Ahab, and his devilish wife Jezebel, Elijah is in a dreadful position.
But God was providing for him. At the beginning of the chapter we are told how, in extreme conditions, God was caring for His prophet.
God protected him from death at the hands of the king and queen by sending him away.
God fed him by means of ravens and watered him at the brook Cherith.
Then when the drought took full effect, God told Elijah, I will have “a widow…to provide for you.” (9)
Hearing such a message in his distress may have put off a lesser man.
“I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.”(9) What?
Elijah might have thought: “So you are sending me to a place where there is a famine and to the lowest person in the food chain there, and they are going to provide for me? Obviously, Lord, you know what you are doing, because I certainly don’t!”
If we are given directions from God that we cannot understand, or that seem strange, we must discern whether we are going to use our reason or faith in order to do what God wants. In other words, we may be asked to do something that is not logical or sensible to us, but is nevertheless God’s will for us.
It was not logical to go to a poor widow during a time of famine to get food and lodging, but it was God’s will for Elijah.
It was not logical for Abraham to offer up his only son Isaac as a sacrifice, yet it was God’s will for them both. (Gen 22:2)
It was not logical for Jesus to allow himself to be arrested in Gethsemane, as He could have called down twelve legions of angels to rescue Him. But then He would have missed the will of God for Him and our salvation would have been forfeited. (Mt 26:53)
It was not logical or reasonable for Jesus to submit to His death on the cross, yet it was by that means, and that means alone, that we have our full and complete salvation from sin and death.
I Cor 1:21 “For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.
1:22 For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom;
1:23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness,
1:24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
1:25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”
The Wisdom of the Widow
So Elijah obeys God and goes to Zarephath to meet the widow.
Elijah meets her at the gate of the city.
Elijah has the directions (the word of God) and she has the means to begin the miracle. She has gathered the sticks for the fire and she has a little flour and a little oil. She has some means. Now she needs God’s help, for she has obviously run out of hope (see v. 12)…she said she was going to go home and bake their last meal and then die with her child; a heart rending position to be in, for sure.

She has little but we can learn from this that if we begin with what we have and offer it to God in faith He will provide what we lack.

So Elijah is in no better position than he was with the ravens to feed him. (v.1-7) He still has almost nothing and is totally dependant on the will, and word and provision of God.

The widow also is in no better position than Elijah unless God intervenes.
Why do you suppose that she did what Elijah told her to do?
What made her not just a needy widow but a wise widow?
He was a Jew; she was not; she was a Sidonian, unused to hearing such demands from someone who by all accounts was a stranger to her.
So why did she do what she was asked?
After all, he asked her to prepare a little cake for him FIRST, (v13) and only after that to prepare food for her child and herself.
Was she not more inclined to care for her child and herself FIRST as she said she was going to do? (12) A mother is very protective of her children when they are threatened.
Why did she do what Elijah asked then?
What turned her from a poor, needy widow into a wise widow?
She heard and obeyed the word of God.
‘As the LORD your God lives, I do not have bread…” (12)
She says “Your God,” she does not say ‘my God.’
Not her God, your God, Elijah!
And yet Elijah’s God had spoken to her. The pre-evangelism was done by God Himself. God prepared her heart to listen and to obey.
She understood that the God of Israel had done great things on Israel’s behalf, that He is the living God.
She did what she was asked because she heard the word of God.
13 “And Elijah said to her, ‘Do not fear; go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake from it first, and bring it to me; and afterward make some for yourself and your son. 14 For thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘The bin of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil run dry, until the day the LORD sends rain on the earth.’
Now she could have told Elijah not to be so silly. In her circumstances she could have remained bitter, and told him to go away and let her and her child die. For that was the alternative; and she knew it well. She had nothing to lose and here was a man who spoke with authority in the name of the God of Israel whom she respected.
Those who come to God must believe that He exists and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Heb 11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”
It was when she had nothing, nothing to lose that is, that the widow became wise and trusted God. Sometimes we may go through hard times before we come to see our need of God.
When she came to see that she had nothing left, she was open to hear the word of God and she chose to trust God for her salvation.
The song we sang earlier says:
“Jehovah Jireh, my Provider His grace is sufficient for me.”

It was when she had nothing, nothing to lose that is, that the widow became wise and trusted God.

We can have no doubt that on hearing the word of the prophet she diligently sought God in her heart.

As she went to prepare the fire, she was busy, busy seeking God in her heart…
As she mixed the last of the little flour and oil that she had, she diligently sought God in her heart.
As she laid out the unleavened bread on the griddle (*1) to bake it, she diligently sought God in her heart.
She was greatly rewarded. Not only was she and the child saved from the famine, but later, her boy was brought back from the dead by the ministry of the prophet Elijah. Her response is found in verse 24: ‘Now by this I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is the truth.’
So what did she discover? Did she discover what Spurgeon says?: “Let us, then, put the question on the right footing. The ground of faith is not the sufficiency of the visible means for the performance of the promise, but the all-sufficiency of the invisible God, who will most surely do as he hath said.” (Spurgeon: “Morning and Evening,” Evening, June 8^thon Num 11:23)
What will it take for you?
God expects no less, and, expects no more from us.
When we hear the word of God, we must act on it.
When we hear the word of God, we must believe God.
It is by faith that we are saved and that by the word of God. Because it says in Rom 10:16-17 “But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, ‘Lord, who has believed our report?’ 17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
It is God who is the rewarder of all those who diligently seek Him.
Some say ‘I have tried that. I went forward at a meeting years ago, I bowed down and prayed in my room many years ago. It did not work for me…’
As G. K. Chesterton said, “Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried.” (Gilbert K. Chesterton: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/g/gilbertkc102389.html)
It is those who DILIGENTLY seek Him who are rewarded, not just those who casually seek God, but who work it out in their hearts that they will determinedly follow Christ and Christ alone for salvation.
ACTS 4:12 “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
15 “So she went away and did according to the word of Elijah; and she and he and her household ate for many days. 16 The bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry, according to the word of the LORD which He spoke by Elijah.”
As you think about your need, do not be anxious because God is even more gracious than that. He has by His own plan and provision made a wonderful way of salvation from sin and provided a way of escape from sin and death which is pictured in a meal.

Just as the wise widow, her son and Elijah ate for many days so the Lord has provided food for us which has lasted down through the churches history providing for all the faithful until today. It is called the Lord’s Supper.

As we prepare our hearts to receive it, let us remember that it has no magical powers, but is given for us from Jesus own hands to sustain us spiritually.

The Apostle Paul says: “For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you…” (I Cor 11:23)

It is spiritual food from Christ Himself.

As we put our trust in Jesus Christ and what He has done for us as He went to the cross, died and was buried and rose again for our justification, He will come again to take His own to Himself.
All is prepared, come by faith and eat. Amen.

Notes: 1. “a frying pan with a handle and a slightly raised edge, for cooking pancakes, bacon, etc., over direct heat.”

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?r=2&q=griddle