Episodes
Friday May 30, 2014
Friday Prayers 30 May 2014
Friday May 30, 2014
Friday May 30, 2014
Partakers Friday Prayers!
30th May 2014
We pray together and when Christians pray together, from different nations, different churches and different denominations - that reveals Church unity! Come! Let us pray together!
Order of Prayer Service
Opening Prayer
1 John 1:8-10
Confession
Lord's Prayer
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Prayers for those facing challenging situation
Prayers for those grieving & in despair
Prayers for those imprisoned
Prayers for Churches Worldwide
Prayers for the world
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Time for your own prayers
The Creed
Benediction
Closing Prayer
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
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Thursday with Tabitha - Obadiah
Thursday May 29, 2014
Thursday May 29, 2014
Thursday with Tabitha
9. Obadiah by Tabitha Smith
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Obadiah means “one who serves Yahweh”. We’re not told anything else about the prophet himself. In the course of the prophecy, the fall of Jerusalem (which happened in 586 BC) is referred to as a past event and the fall of Edom (which happened in 553 BC) as a future event. So it is likely that the book was written between these events.
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To understand the background to Obadiah, we need to head back to Genesis, to the account of the brothers Jacob and Esau. These two non-identical twins were born to Isaac and Rebekah. Even from their birth, they showed signs of not exactly getting along. Esau was born first, all red and hairy, and Jacob followed after him, grasping his heel. They grew up to be very different. Esau was a skilled hunter, favoured by his father, whilst Joseph was an introverted man who preferred to stay with his mother in the proximity of the family tents.
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Jacob famously tricked the hungry Esau out of his birth rite and later stole his father’s blessing by disguising himself as his older brother and fooling the elderly, blind Isaac. So Esau swore revenge on his brother and fully intended to kill him. Rebekah helped Jacob to escape and he fled to the territory of his uncle Laban. There he met and married his wives, Leah and Rachel. Esau, who was also called Edom, married several wives, including an Ishmaelite woman (that is, a descendent of Abraham’s first son by the slave girl Hagar).
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Jacob and Esau did meet again some years later, and much to Jacob’s relief and surprise, Esau didn’t kill him on the spot but appeared to have forgiven him. Jacob still didn’t trust him though, and he took his family off in a different direction to avoid having to be in close proximity to his brother’s family.
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Jacob had 12 sons by his two wives and their two servants. His 4th son, one of Leah’s children, was Judah, and from his line the tribe of Judah came into existence. From Esau’s line came the tribe of the Edomites.
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The Edomites lived in the hill country of Seir. This was a mountainous region about 1500m above sea level. Their territory appeared to be impenetrable and they felt quite safe in their high dwellings. In Numbers 20 we read that after the Exodus from Egypt, the Israelites asked the Edomites for permission to pass through their territory along the King’s Highway. The Edomites refused, adding to the tensions between these two tribes. However, in Deuteronomy 23:7-8, God commanded the Israelites that they should not hate an Edomite in view of the brotherly connection between the two tribes.
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Edom was defeated by king Saul in the 11th century BC and subdued again by king David 40 years later. Edom became a vassal state of Israel but it was never completely de-stroyed.
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Fast forward to the time of Obadiah, and we find that the tribe of Judah, the sole remnant of the original 12 tribes of Israel, had been conquered and the capital city of Jerusalem had fallen to the Babylonians. During the conquest of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, some of the Judeans had tried to escape from the city and flee into the surrounding coun-tryside. The Edomites, rather than helping their neighbours and brothers in the time of their distress, sided with the foreign invaders and handed over the fleeing Israelites to the Babylonians. Psalm 137:7 recalls how the Edomites gloated over the destruction of Jeru-salem: Remember, O LORD, against the Edomites the day of Jerusalem, how they said, “Lay it bare, lay it bare, down to its foundations!”
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The main theme of Obadiah is the judgement of the Edomites for the way they betrayed the people of Judah during the Babylonian invasion.
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The first 15 verses of the book are addressed to the people of Edom. God scorns the pride and arrogance of the Edomites, who say to themselves, “who will bring me down to the ground?” (v3), referring to their perceived safety in their high mountain region. But God will bring them down and they will be punished for their evil deeds. The prophet mixes both past tense and future tense verbs when describing Edom’s fate. This is a technique that can be found in prophetic writing, when future events are sometimes described as if they had already happened.
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God’s message through Obadiah is that Edom will be completely destroyed, with not a trace left behind. The main charges against Edom are found in verses 12-14: "But do not gloat over the day of your brother in the day of his misfortune; do not rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their ruin; do not boast in the day of distress. Do not enter the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; do not gloat over his disaster in the day of his calamity; do not loot his wealth in the day of his calamity. Do not stand at the crossroads to cut off his fugitives; do not hand over his survivors in the day of distress."
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The judgement is summarised in verse 15: "As you have done, it shall be done to you; your deeds shall return on your own head."
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The final part of the book relates to the people of Jerusalem. God promises that he will preserve a remnant of his people who will survive the exile and reclaim the land that is theirs, according to his plans and promise. To the devastated people of Judah, this would have been an incredible promise of hope. It seemed, to all intents and purposes, that their future was doomed and that God’s promises to Abraham had come to nothing. But God promises that Judah will become like a raging fire once more, whilst Edom is reduced to stubble. Judah’s time of judgement for her own sin would be over, and then God would judge her enemies.
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The final words of the book, in verse 21, declare that “the kingdom shall be the Lord’s.” The promised land of the Old Testament foretells the reality of the greater promised land, which is the coming kingdom of God. Matthew’s gospel in particular speaks of this prom-ised kingdom, which Jesus ushered in during his time on earth. The whole of the Bible is the story of this ultimate kingdom, reaching its climax in the book of Revelation. The king-dom of God is already here, but it is not yet fully here. That won’t happen until Jesus re-turns.
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In chapter 11 of the book of Hebrews, the writer recounts the names of the men and women of the Old Testament who trusted in God’s promises to them regarding the coming kingdom.
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He then writes in verse 13-16: “These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.”
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This city is the new Jerusalem, the heavenly kingdom. Jesus used several metaphors to try to help his listeners grasp the nature of the kingdom of God. He described it as a tiny mustard seed which grew into a huge tree, or as a tiny amount of yeast which could make a whole batch of dough rise. From tiny, seemingly in-consequential beginnings, something great grows. When all seemed lost to the exiled people of Judah, God says “just wait and see what I will do”. And the glory of the final kingdom is made all the greater by the trial of the journey.
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You and I are invited to be part of this coming kingdom of God. No matter how small and insignificant we might feel in the great plan of God, and no matter how dire our circumstances seem to be, we can be assured that God’s kingdom is coming and we can be part of it. It is surprising and mysterious, hidden and yet revealed, wonderful and awesome. It is something new, something different, something glorious. It is possible for the wisest brains to miss it completely whilst little children understand and embrace it.
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God is doing a new thing and he invites us to come and see. The prophet Isaiah recorded God’s words to his exiled people: “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” (Isaiah 43:18-19)
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Some 700 years after Isaiah, Jesus walked the streets of Jerusalem and declared: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6)
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Even the seemingly obscure prophecy of Obadiah is part of Jesus’ great story. It’s all about him. Between the lines of prophecy about Edom and Judah we see the greater picture of God’s redemption plan and his justice, mercy and grace. When the risen Jesus walked on the road to Emmaus and explained to the amazed disciples how the Law and all the prophets spoke about himself, I like to think that he said a bit about Obadiah.
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We’ve got four more books to look at before this series draws to a close, and there are lots more interesting things to come as we look at Haggai, Zechariah, Joel and Malachi. Join me next week if you can!
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Monday May 26, 2014
Think Spot 26 May 2014
Monday May 26, 2014
Monday May 26, 2014
Think Spot 26 May 2014
Philippians 2:4,21 "Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. For everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ."
Listen to and/or download the mp3 file to hear this challenge to the Church in the 21st century! It will help you into this new week and see your Christ-light shining out!
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Friday May 23, 2014
Friday Prayers 23 May 2014
Friday May 23, 2014
Friday May 23, 2014
Partakers Friday Prayers!
23rd May 2014
We pray together and when Christians pray together, from different nations, different churches and different denominations - that reveals Church unity! Come! Let us pray together!
Order of Prayer Service
Opening Prayer
1 John 1:8-10
Confession
Lord's Prayer
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Prayers for those facing challenging situation
Prayers for those grieving & in despair
Prayers for those imprisoned
Prayers for Churches Worldwide
Prayers for the world
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Time for your own prayers
The Creed
Benediction
Closing Prayer
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
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Thursday with Tabitha - Habakkuk
Thursday May 22, 2014
Thursday May 22, 2014
Thursday with Tabitha
8. Habakkuk by Tabitha Smith
This week we’ve reached the book of Habakkuk. There’s an awful lot of wisdom and truth packed into the three short chapters of Habakkuk’s prophecy.
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As a brief recap to the historical context, Judah was under the control of the Assyrians at this time in history. The Assyrians were still powerful but their grip on the empire was showing signs of weakening and there was a growing awareness of the rising threat of the Babylonians. In Judah there had been a succession of very evil kings including Manasseh and Amon, and then a brief period of spiritual revival under king Josiah. Generally, the people of Judah were not following God as they should have been. They had been distracted by the pagan nations around them and they were joining in with idol-worshipping practices. Their false prophets were claiming that there was no need to worry because God would not judge his own people. So the nation was living in a state of spiritual blindness.
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We don’t know much about the man Habakkuk himself. The way he writes his prophecy is unusual. It reads like a personal diary or journal and it takes the form of a conversation between Habakkuk and God. The intended audience was the people of Judah, but they are not directly addressed. The time of writing was around 620 BC so Habakkuk was a contemporary of Zephaniah and Jeremiah.
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The book opens with Habakkuk crying out to God with a desperate question. The Message translation says it like this:
“God, how long do I have to cry out for help
before you listen?
How many times do I have to yell, “Help! Murder! Police!”
before you come to the rescue?
Why do you force me to look at evil,
stare trouble in the face day after day?
Anarchy and violence break out,
quarrels and fights all over the place.
Law and order fall to pieces.
Justice is a joke.
The wicked have the righteous hamstrung
and stand justice on its head.”
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So Habakkuk asks the age-old question - God, why don’t you do something? Why are the bad guys getting away with it?
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God comes right back at him with an answer he isn’t expecting. This would also have been something of a nasty surprise to the people of Judah who would have read Habakkuk’s words. God tells him that he is raising up the Babylonians (also known as the Chaldeans) to be his instrument of judgement on the people of Judah. The Babylonians were a nation of awesome and ruthless military power and an invasion by their army would have been an utterly terrifying prospect. God paints the picture of the dreaded and fearsome Babylonians setting their faces towards Judah.
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Habakkuk replies to God with a sense of disbelief about what he’s just heard. He asks God how he can possibly use such an evil nation as the Babylonians to judge another people who are less evil. Habakkuk then sits and waits for God’s response. God replies again and tells Habakkuk to write the vision down as a mark of its importance and the certainty with which it will come to pass.
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In the oracle that follows, God reveals to Habakkuk the bigger picture. He says in effect, yes, the Babylonians will come and yes, they will be my instrument of judgement on Judah. BUT, they will go too far in their punishment of Judah and so they too will be judged and held accountable for their deeds. The Babylonians are described as those who plunder, cheat and kill unscrupulously. They get drunk and take pleasure in the sadistic humiliation of their defeated enemies. Well, says God, they will reap the due rewards of their deeds and they will be judged.
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In Habakkuk 2:16, God declares to the Babylonians: “The cup in the Lord’s right hand will come around to you, and utter shame will come upon your glory!”
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The second chapter ends with the words “But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.” I imagine Habakkuk sitting, or perhaps lying face down, in stunned silence at the revelation he has just received.
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In the final chapter we see Habakkuk going on an amazing journey of spiritual growth. God’s words have seized his faith and imagination and he now pours out a dramatic description of the image of God he sees, coming in awesome power and majesty to judge the earth.
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In Habakkuk 3:16 - “I hear, and my body trembles; my lips quiver at the sound; rottenness enters my bones; my legs tremble beneath me. Yet I will wait quietly for the day of trouble to come upon people who invade us.”
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Habakkuk is overcome by strength-sapping, gut-wrenching fear when he thinks about what lies ahead but he chooses to sit and wait for God to do what he has promised.
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So in 3 chapters we have seen Habakkuk go from earnest and desperate questioning of God to a position of awestruck faith and certainty in God’s sovereignty. Habakkuk’s prayer to God has not changed God, it has changed Habakkuk.
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We’ll come back to the very final prayer of chapter 3 in a moment. But what have we learned from Habakkuk so far?
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Firstly, that it is OK to ask God questions and to cry out to God about what we see happening in the world. When we don’t understand we need to ask God to help us. The answers God gives us may not be what we expect!
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Secondly, we learn again that God is sovereign and in control of all the events of history. He is just and good and he will not leave any evil unpunished. Nobody is getting away with anything.
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Thirdly, we learn that God can use even the most evil people and the most terrible circumstances to bring about his plans. God does not engineer the evil - people are responsible for their own decisions and actions, but God is always in control of the events of history. Joseph summarises this principle well at the end of the book of Genesis when he addresses his brothers: “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” (Genesis 50:19-20)
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The crux of the book of Habakkuk is found in Habakkuk 2:4 - “the righteous shall live by his faith”. This verse is quoted no less than 3 times in the New Testament by different authors to illustrate different aspects of the life of faith (You can find it in Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11; Hebrews 10:38).
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Habakkuk learns that the secret to finding security and true joy in life is to trust in what God has promised. Faith is not a feeling, it is a deep confidence in what God has said. The writer of Hebrews expresses the same truth in Hebrews chapter 11:1: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
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This does not mean that faith guarantees comfort or safety. Faith may have to survive in situations of complete desolation and want. And this is the place Habakkuk is able to reach at the end of his prophecy. In his final prayer he says: “Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.” Habakkuk 3:17-18
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So Habakkuk says, if God never does another good thing for me, and never provides me with any other provision for the whole of my life, he is still absolutely worthy of my praise for the rest of eternity.
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And this is the key for us too. If God never blessed us with another thing in the whole of our earthly lives, Jesus would still be enough to rejoice about for the rest of eternity. We have more than enough to give thanks to God for to allow us to find joy in all circumstances. If we can trust in his purposes, even when we cannot fathom them at the time, we will discover the way to irrepressible hope and strength, which is the essence of joy. It doesn’t mean we’re always happy, or that we cannot mourn and weep when terrible things happen. Distress and sorrow are absolutely appropriate responses to evil and disaster. But joy is a deeper undercurrent that can co-exist with even the deepest sorrow. It is the knowledge, in the depths of our souls, that God is good, there is hope, death is defeated and Jesus is alive. There is purpose and meaning in our lives because we are made to live in relationship with God for eternity.
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Like Habakkuk we will then discover that God can lift us above our earthly perspective and give us a glimpse of the bigger picture. As Habakkuk says in his final words of the book: “GOD, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places.” (Habakkuk 3:19)
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Monday May 19, 2014
Think Spot 2014 05 19
Monday May 19, 2014
Monday May 19, 2014
Think Spot - 19th May 2014
I wonder what your last week was like! I know for me it was full of trial and yet with a deep-seated trust that God was in control, despite the events and discouragements I was undergoing! Our car had to go in for repair. The water pump had given out again! Aggh! The repairs? Just a little under what we had spare (thanks to generosity of others which had come in that week!) Also I managed to be in severely ill on the Wednesday night through until Saturday.
So, whether it was a week for you to forget or a week for you to remember, we now enter a new week! Throughout Scripture, we are commanded to trust God! One of the natural outcomes of trusting God is joy - often an unspeakable joy that bubbles within you! A joy resulting from overcoming all that life throws at you, and overcoming those hurdles! It involves taking a daily commitment to follow Jesus Christ and not just a one off. It takes commitment, not comfort, to throw off hindrances and barriers. True joy results from being willing to allow the Holy Spirit to work in you, transforming you into the image of Jesus Christ, to the praise and glory of God the Father.
All of these things being done daily in your life lead to what I am convinced is the key to the reality of a successful Christian life - that key being joy. As you grow closer to Jesus, living in peace, trust and obedience, then your spiritual life will be your natural life and your natural life be your spiritual life! Your joy will abound and shine a light giving people a reason to ask "Where do you get all your joyous hope from?". You will then be able to· share Jesus as your source of joy. A joy that is anticipatory, expectant and true! Joy comes from putting Jesus first, others next and then yourself! Go practise it this week! ~~ You can show this joy by singing, laughing, smiling, shouting praises to God, lifting hands in worship', and crying, but that is only the external part of joy. True joy also incorporates an internal joy. Real joy is when you can believe in: the mountain top when you are in your deepest valley. Abundant joy is being surrounded by darkness and still believing in 'the light'. Anticipatory joy is when amidst total confusion you still believe God has a plan of love for you. It was this type of joy that Jesus had, when in the garden praying, the night before he was betrayed, when full of mixed emotions and anguish he said "Not my will, but yours, Father!"
As sons and daughters of God, we have many reasons to be full of joy. Yet how often we forget! Here are some reasons for joy!
- Psalm 51v8 & 12 - Oh, give me back my joy again; you have broken me-now let me rejoice. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you.
- Jeremiah 15:16 - When I discovered your words, I devoured them. They are my joy and my heart's delight, for I bear your name, O Lord God of Heaven's Armies.
- Luke 15:8-10 "Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Won't she light a lamp and sweep the entire house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she will call in her friends and neighbours and say, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost coin.' In the same way, there is joy in the presence of God's angels when even one sinner repents."
- 1 Peter 1:8-9 - You love Jesus Christ even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls.
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Sunday May 18, 2014
God Came to Town
Sunday May 18, 2014
Sunday May 18, 2014
The day God came to town!
Ezekiel 1:1-4, 24-28 to 2v2
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Introduction
I wonder if there anybody here that is 25 years old? Anybody turning 25 this year? How about those who wished they were turning 25 this year? Imagine you are a 25 year old and being trained for the family business. Then suddenly your enemies invade your city and take you away to a foreign land. That's what happened to Ezekiel 5 years before this passage of Scripture, when the Babylonians, led by Nebuchadnezzar in 597BC took 3000 Jews back to Babylon. This was the first deportation.1. Ezekiel - who was he and how did he get there?
- His name means "God is strong" ·
- He was training to be a priest
- Now 30 years of age, if he had been in Jerusalem, he would have been ministering in the Temple.
- He was married to the woman who is described as the "delight of his eyes".
2. How does Ezekiel describe this vision of God?
2a. God is Holy 2b. God is Universal- Omnipresent ·
- Omnipotent ·
- Omniscient ·
- God is Mission minded ·
- God is Personal.
3. What is our response in 21st century Britain?
3a. We Evangelize- What is evangelism? ·
- Why evangelize?
Conclusion
When you are faced with a crisis or some trouble, how do you react? Are you like the ancient Israelites that Ezekiel was sent to? Do you trust in the holy, all-powerful, all knowing, personal God or do you trust in other things?- God is coming again! ·
- Be Holy and be obedient!
- Live a life worthy of the Gospel of Jesus Christ
- Trust fully in the God of your salvation
- Go tell somebody!
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Friday May 16, 2014
Friday Prayers 16 May 2014
Friday May 16, 2014
Friday May 16, 2014
Partakers Friday Prayers!
16th May 2014
We pray together and when Christians pray together, from different nations, different churches and different denominations - that reveals Church unity! Come! Let us pray together!
Order of Prayer Service
Opening Prayer
1 John 1:8-10
Confession
Lord's Prayer
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Prayers for those facing challenging situation
Prayers for those grieving & in despair
Prayers for those imprisoned
Prayers for Churches Worldwide
Prayers for the world
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Time for your own prayers
The Creed
Benediction
Closing Prayer
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
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Thursday with Tabitha - Zephaniah
Thursday May 15, 2014
Thursday May 15, 2014
Thursday with Tabitha
7. Zephaniah by Tabitha Smith
This week in our series on the minor prophets we are looking at the book of Zephaniah. Zephaniah was a contemporary of Jeremiah, Nahum and possibly Habakkuk and his prophecy was written during the reign of king Josiah of Judah. Josiah reigned between 640–609 BC. The prophecy includes reference to the future destruction of Nineveh, capital of Assyria, so it was likely written before the date of this event, which was 612 BC. The little territory of Judah was the only surviving part of the original people of Israel. The northern kingdom of Israel had been overthrown and Judah was under the control of the Assyrians.
King Josiah was a good king who undertook significant religious reform in Judah, trying to turn the people back from worshipping idols to worshipping their God. Josiah’s father, Amon, had been a wicked king, and his grandfather, Manasseh, was one of the worst kings in the history of Judah, doing evil in God’s sight and turning the people away from God. The king before Manasseh was called Hezekiah. We read his story in the book of Isaiah.
Zephaniah 1:1 provides us with Zephaniah’s family history. This is traced back as far as his great, great grandfather, Hezekiah. It is possible that this was the same king Hezekiah, meaning that Zephaniah came from a royal family.
One of the main themes of the book is the coming of the Day of the Lord. This is a phrase that appears many times in the Bible, referring to a day of judgment that would bring terror for God’s enemies and blessings for those who belong to God. Many prophetic oracles in the Bible have an element of immediate historical fulfilment in the day they were written, and another more distant application in a time yet to come. Zephaniah’s writings are no exception.
In Zephaniah 1, the prophecy launches straight into a devastating description of coming judgement. This is portrayed as an apocalyptic event, reversing the very order of creation and sweeping away both man and beast. But the focus zooms in very quickly to the people of Judah and Jerusalem, and in Zephaniah 1:4 we learn about some of the things the people of Judah were doing to incur such judgment: they were worshipping Baal, worshipping the heavenly bodies, pretending to worship God but trusting instead in the pagan god Milcom. They were turning away from God and ignoring him entirely.
God levels two main accusations against his people. The first is one of syncretism. This means mixing acts of service to God with pagan religious elements. In chapter 1 verse 8 the king’s sons and officials are described as wearing foreign clothes, probably associated with other religions, and in verse 9 the curious reference to people ‘leaping over the threshold’ probably refers to another pagan custom. You can read about the possible background to this practice in 1 Samuel 5:1-5.
The second accusation of God against his people is that they have become complacent in sin. The Judeans had started to think that God didn’t really involve himself in their daily lives, so it didn’t really matter how they lived. They had reduced God in their minds to a distant, impotent deity. The prophecy describes God going through Jerusalem personally, with search lamps, to find these complacent people and punish them.
The second half of Zephaniah 1 contains a fearsome description of the Day of the Lord as a day of great darkness, distress, wrath and ruin. Nothing will be able to protect human beings, not all the wealth they have collected. They will be reduced to nothing.
Thankfully, the book doesn’t end there! In Zephaniah 2 the people of Judah are told that repentance is still possible. This is surely good news after the terrible picture painted in chapter 1. The people are warned that the day of judgement will come quickly so they need to gather together and repent, to humble themselves and seek God.
“Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land,
who do his just commands;
seek righteousness; seek humility;
perhaps you may be hidden
on the day of the anger of the Lord.”
The word ‘perhaps’ might initially suggest that Zephaniah has doubts about whether God can indeed forgive any of the people. But in fact, this statement shows that Zephaniah understands and respects God’s sovereignty. God is able to forgive, but whether he does or not is entirely up to him. Any mercy he shows to the repentant is still entirely undeserved grace.
The rest of Zephaniah 2 contains a series of oracles of judgment against the nations that surround Judah, the enemies of God’s people. The cities of Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod and Ekron are Philistine cities to the west, along the Mediterranean coast. Moab and the Ammonite territory lie to the east. The Cushites originate from Ethopia and Egypt in the south, and Assyria lies to the north. The comprehensive description of judgment extending to the four corners of the known world includes the promise that God will return parts of these lands back to Judah and there is a hint of restoration to come.
However, before the people get too complacent again, Zephaniah 3 contains a hard-hitting denouncement of the city of Jerusalem, the capital of Judah. The people of God need to learn that they are not immune from God’s judgment of sin and they are just as accountable, if not more, than the pagan nations around them. The charges against the judges, officials, prophets and priests of Judah are pretty damning. They are corrupt, polluted, defiled.
“The Lord within her is righteous;
he does no injustice;
every morning he shows forth his justice;
each dawn he does not fail.”
So judgment is inevitable and unavoidable. God must be just and repay sin with punishment. But there is good news to come. Zephaniah 3:9 suddenly introduces a startling promise of hope. God says that there will be a day when he will change the speech of his people and make it pure again. The people will call out to God once more, they will serve him and he will restore them. A picture of unity, peace and holiness follows.
The last 6 verses of the book contain the most glorious and beautiful image of God delighting and rejoicing over his restored people. The judgement is finished, the shame is gone and restoration is possible. God does not delight in judgment, he delights in being in the midst of his people.
a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing.
This final prophecy seems to refer to a future time of unity and peace for God’s people. In the short term, Judah was punished and judged when the Babylonians overthrew the Assyrians. Jerusalem was taken, and many of the people were carried off into captivity. After the exile, there was a degree of restoration and some of the exiles returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the city and its walls. But the picture of complete peace and restoration was not yet fulfilled. The gathering of all God’s people, the salvation of those who are lame and broken, and the rehoming of the outcast, is something we can still look forward to.
So what do we take away from the book of Zephaniah? We are reminded of the reality of the Day of the Lord that is still to come. Jesus warned that this day of final judgment would come suddenly, like a thief in the night, and many will be unprepared. We don’t want to be like the complacent Judeans, thinking that God wouldn’t involve himself in the reality of human affairs. Jesus is coming back!
The humble people amongst the remnant of Judah hoped that their repentance might not be too late. They threw themselves upon God’s mercy. For us, living in the light of Jesus’ cross, it is because of Jesus that we can know with assurance that we do not need to fear this coming Day of the Lord. If you have believed and trusted in Jesus, there is no “perhaps” about it. Jesus has taken upon himself the judgment that would have been yours and mine and we can be certain that there is no more condemnation.
The Day of the Lord will be a day of stark contrasts. This day will be terrible for those who have lived lives separated from God, in denial of him or in opposition to him. But for those who have humbled themselves and chosen to live under his authority, it will be a day of great joy, when God comes to dwell in the midst of his people. God will sing to us, his people! He will rejoice over us. What an amazing thought! The choices we make now have eternal consequences.
I’ll finish with the words that James writes in his New Testament letter: "You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, 'He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us?' But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, 'God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.' Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you!" (James 4:4-10 ESV)
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Monday May 12, 2014
Think Spot - 12 May 2014
Monday May 12, 2014
Monday May 12, 2014
Monday Think Spot - 12 May 2014
Go!
We have a new week! Monday
is here! Does Monday, the first day of the week, fill you with dread, banality,
doom or gloom! So many people see it as such, hence the term Monday-it is! But
it doesn’t have to be that way!
It’s a new week! A new opportunity to start afresh with work, home and yourself! Have you prayed today, dedicating your Monday to God? Let the Holy Spirit who is within you, lead you into this Monday and into this week and see what adventures you do together to the praise of God the Father and God the Son! What happened over the weekend? Was it good? Then tell others what happened! Was it a less than good weekend? Tell God about it, hand it over to Him, and then don’t let it spoil this new week!
Go into this week, determined to let your light shine to others – shining about your relationship with God the Father, through Jesus the Son of God in the power of God the Holy Spirit who lives within you! Go be a light for Jesus Christ into this new week. God loves you, so go tell and show others that God loves them too. Go show the God you serve to others – to those inside the Church as an encouragement and those outside the Church as evangelism.. Thank you and have a great week!
May God the Father bless
you!
May Christ the Son take care of you!
May the Holy Ghost enlighten you!
Amen
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