Partakers Christian Podcasts

The Normal Christian Journey of Faith - Part 05

Chapter 5: Baptism

The mark of entry to the Christian faith is baptism so it will be something you will want to consider early in your life as a Christian. Sadly and most unfortunately it is a very difficult subject to write about because there are so many different ideas as to what baptism is, who should be baptized, who should do the baptizing and what it means when it is done. Some say that there is no salvation without baptism; some, at the other extreme, say it is only our declaration of loyalty to the Lord and mark of entry to the church. Some baptize babies as soon after birth as possible to make sure they are in the visible, earthly, gathering of those identified with Christ; others say that baptism is the sign of faith and therefore should only be administered to those of adult believing faith. Some demand that those who baptize be in a unbroken chain by the laying on of hands from the first apostles; others are happy that anybody be the baptizer. There is a wide difference of opinion about where the gift of the Holy Spirit fits into the scenario: is it only given at baptism, is it the only truly significant part of the whole thing, or what?
I cannot write about it without tending to give you my views on the subject – good or bad. They may, or may not, be appropriate for your situation according to where you live and the culture of your local church or fellowship. I will try to be evenhanded, honest.
The best place to start is the Bible and, in this case, the Acts of the Apostles with its stories of what happened in the very early days of the church. There we shall see what the apostles thought it was all about and how it should be used and they are more likely to be right than anyone else! Obviously the first place to start is the event that followed Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost. Peter told those who responded positively to what he said, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” In response:
“Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day”.

We hear next of baptism in the work of Philip in Samaria, where the new believers were baptized but did not receive the Holy Spirit until Peter and John visited the area, prayed for them and laid their hands on them.  By now we may well be thinking that apostles are necessary, and only they can ensure that the gift of the Holy Spirit accompanies the baptism and that this is the only way one can receive the Spirit. But in the very next incident recorded Philip baptized the Ethiopian eunuch himself and there is no mention of the Holy Spirit at all, yet the Ethiopian “goes on his way rejoicing” and strong tradition has it that he started the Ethiopian church, so he was not deficient in any way in his appreciation of the Triune God.
Paul comes next. He was baptized by Ananias, but only after he had received the Holy Spirit. Exactly the same order, first the gift of the Holy Spirit and then baptism is evident after Peter spoke to Cornelius and his friends; the matter of interest this time being that they are not Jews.
And so the story goes on. There is no set pattern that is the same every single time. The meaning for us is quite clear: there is no single set pattern that has to be adhered to every single time. We are at liberty to fit in to the culture in which we find ourselves, acting in a way that is appropriate for our situation, keeping the essential ingredients of what should be.
On a purely practical point: where does the water go? Some sprinkle it on the head only, some expect the candidate to be standing in water but not to go completely under the surface while their head is wetted, others insist on putting the whole body under the water. There are good arguments all ways. But in the light of the variety of practice evident in the stories in the book of Acts this must surely be a matter of no great importance.
Perhaps the point at which that advice is hardest to keep is in the matter of whether a baby should be baptized – christened as it is often called – or whether baptism should be reserved for the older believer who understands for him or herself what is involved. Part of the answer must lie in the difference between the more traditional societies where there is a strong corporate nature to life, expressed in the strength of the family bond and the tendency for son to follow father in the same trade, and the modern Western cultures which are much more individualistic in their thinking and where son or daughter are much more likely to take up a totally different trade or occupation than the parent. In the former the baptism of a new member of the family makes reasonable sense because of the assumption that as parent so child. In the latter it makes no sense that I can see!
It seems to me that the Biblical pattern associates baptism with the beginning of the Christian life and the gift of the Holy Spirit very closely. It doesn’t matter which comes first provided all three are present. It doesn’t matter who does the baptizing; there is no special efficacy in the action of the person involved.
Baptism has two aspects to it: one for the person being baptized and the other on the part of the Lord God himself. For the person involved it is a declaration of commitment, an identification with the Lord’s people and a statement of loyalty to them but above all to the Lord himself.
For the Lord it is a declaration that the person is now in covenant relationship with him, that he or she has been given the gift of the Holy Spirit, and is now one of His people: as Peter put it “As you come to him, the living Stone —rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
What a magnificent idea! A living stone, part of a Spiritual house, a priest in that house and able to offer acceptable sacrifices to the living God. Wow!

So what?

It is to me a source of mystery that so many people are so reluctant to go forward for baptism after their conversion. To be sure many churches make a hash of it, either associating it too closely with church membership involving the capacity to vote in church meetings and therefore denying it to young people until they are ‘voting age’; or at the other extreme baptizing babes who can have no idea whatsoever of the glories they are supposed to be entering into.
Don’t be one of the reluctant! If at all possible, unless hindered by physical disability or prevented by a strongly antagonistic society, be baptized. The other really tricky question is whether if you have been baptized as a baby or a child without personal faith you should be baptized again on coming to true and full faith. That, I think, has to be left entirely up to you or the person under consideration.
Be happy and confident in yourself that you have done as the Lord said should be done when he told the apostles “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you”.
Be baptized, be taught, obey.

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The Normal Christian Journey of Faith - Part 04

Chapter 4: Where To

So you are a Christian. Where are you going to is one obvious question with a partly obvious answer. The obvious part of the answer is: to be with Jesus in the second life after this life and after death. We will leave thinking about that to the end of these studies – the most obvious place for it to be. The less obvious answer is to the question: where to in this life? And that is much more difficult to talk about for several reasons. Perhaps the most important is that listeners and readers to this will come from all sorts of countries, societies and cultures all round the world. The dominant word in the Old Testament relating to all this is ‘wisdom’, being wise, but it scarcely figures in the New Testament for the individual believer. However let’s use it and, to some extent, add our own particular twist to what it means.

‘Wisdom’ is the art of living wisely and well. It is not about being clever, or intellectual in a worldly sense. It is perhaps about being wise and intellectual in a Spiritual sense, but not in a way that excludes anybody for what they are. The cleverest person in our fellowship may be full of wisdom, or may not. Some old person who never got far at school at all may be every bit as wise in the way he or she deals with the situations and the people they live in and among as anybody.

But before we get too far in to the subject let’s see what the Old Testament says about it. The book of Job is a good place to start. Not that he knew it all. He asks the very important question: “But where can wisdom be found?” and then goes on in his wonderful chapter 28 to puzzle over it.

“Where does understanding dwell?” he says,
“No mortal comprehends its worth;
it cannot be found in the land of the living.
The deep says, “It is not in me”;
the sea says, “It is not with me.”
It cannot be bought with the finest gold,
nor can its price be weighed out in silver.
It cannot be bought with the gold of Ophir,
with precious onyx or lapis lazuli.
Neither gold nor crystal can compare with it,
nor can it be had for jewels of gold.
Coral and jasper are not worthy of mention;
the price of wisdom is beyond rubies.
The topaz of Cush cannot compare with it;
it cannot be bought with pure gold.
Where then does wisdom come from?
Where does understanding dwell?”
A few verses later he says: “God understands the way to it
and he alone knows where it dwells,
for he views the ends of the earth
and sees everything under the heavens.
When he established the force of the wind
and measured out the waters,
when he made a decree for the rain
and a path for the thunderstorm,
then he looked at wisdom and appraised it;
he confirmed it and tested it.”

At which point we might be tempted to think that Job did not know anything much of what we call science and that we have gained a huge amount of that sort of wisdom since. But he goes on: 
“The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.”

And now he is talking about the sort of Spiritual wisdom that is our birthright as Christians and is the purpose for which we live.
This is Old Testament truth and not quite what we find in the New Testament. Probably the most outstanding verse of the NT on the subject does not even have either of the words ‘wisdom’ or ‘wise’ in it. It is something Jesus said. Can you guess what it is I am thinking about? Here it is: “I am the way and the truth and the life.” In that one simple phrase Jesus answers all the puzzles of Job and the rest of the Old Testament. Let’s look at it in detail.

Jesus says he is the way, thus emphasizing that the Christian life is a journey, not a single event once in one’s life. Most people don’t think of their lives as a journey; they are only concerned with the next few weeks or months, or just possibly years in front of, them. They do not look far ahead and ask the question where am I going? What is my purpose in life? But, as I suggested previously, one of the main reasons for becoming a Christian is the desire to have a purpose in life and a goal to look ahead to. Those who have a purpose to their lives, at least a good purpose, tend to flourish a great deal more than those who just drift along, wondering always what tomorrow will bring but making no real attempt to fashion their tomorrow. There is no better purpose, better way, than following Jesus, than letting Jesus be our way. Which immediately raises the further question: how can Jesus be the way?

We can follow him. Not in everything since he went on to the Cross and the Resurrection. But in our own very small ways we can endeavor to follow the examples he set: reliance on God the Father, deep concern for our own progress in Spiritual matters particularly holiness and love, care and concern for other people particularly his people, and that integration into a web of relationships which can be the glory of our lives in this world.

Two things are necessary for us to progress in these matters: the first is to know Jesus as the Truth of God, using the written word to learn ever more of him as the Living Word; the second is to learn how to do this by reliance on Jesus as the true Life, the Life which alone can teach us the deep spiritual things we need to learn.
If we put all these things together holding Jesus in front of us as the Way, the Truth and the Life then indeed we shall be able to gain true Wisdom and to move far further forward than any of the Old Testament people were ever able to do.

So what?

Once again there are no further specific things we need to do beyond what I have already tried to describe. Read again that crucial verse John 14: 6, think about it, study it, meditate on it, and you will be starting well on the journey of faith, leaning on Jesus, walking in step with the Spirit, moving towards the day when you will see the Lord God and His Son, Jesus, in glory.

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The Normal Christian Journey of Faith - Part 03

Chapter 3: Early Days

What happens in the early days of our life with Christ? Or – what should happen? It is a common experience to feel a sense of great elation, of walking on tiptoe, of being almost outside ourselves, and all that is good and wonderful. But I can think of one difficult and dangerous thing that happens and two things that we should deliberately set out to try and make sure they happen – if at all possible.

The difficult thing, which is a common experience, is to be a particular target of the devil’s attacks. We can see this in the experience of Jesus. He was not converted; he did not have to start to follow himself! He was God and could be no closer to the Father than he already was. But he did have an occasion when this became clear, not only to him, but to all that knew him. I refer of course to the great event which was his baptism by John. Matthew records that: Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”

Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.

As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

All of which is very good and exciting – just like our experience when the hand of God touches us for the first time. But when we read on we discover that Jesus was immediately led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil and had a very uncomfortable 40 days being tempted to use his powers to relieve his own discomfort, to demonstrate to others the huge abilities he had and to short circuit the whole uncomfortable experience that lay in front of him.
Our temptations may be quite different from his though we too in our own small way may be tempted to show off to other people the wonderful things that have happened to us.

We need to be careful and, hopefully, be well advised by other Christians and be swift to accept that advice. That is the immediate possible, or even probable, downside of setting out to follow Jesus.

There are two positive things we should do if at all possible as soon as we can. The first, which I have already hinted at, is to seek the company of other Christians who are now, in a new and more powerful way your brothers and sisters. That means joining a church fellowship as soon as possible. Not necessarily in the formal sense, but certainly in the practical sense. You are now a member of the family of God. You have been adopted into his family. It is a strange member of a family who never goes near it. Unless you are in a very isolated or dangerous situation be careful to seek out the people of God in your locality as soon as possible. I well remember a fellow, when we were in a Muslim country, who was hesitantly lurking at the back of our church as if he did not belong. Fortunately my wife saw how he was behaving and approached him. The first thing we did was ask him to chose a new Christian name by which he could be known amongst us to avoid any unnecessary conflict with his family and other people of the majority religion in that country. He was a very new convert who had been contacted by someone on the phone as he worked at a night time call centre and come to faith in Jesus. So it may not be possible for everyone who reads these notes to openly associate with a Christian fellowship. I am sure the Lord will understand that.

My second positive suggestion is perhaps even more difficult for some readers and hearers of these notes to do anything about. It is that, if possible, you should buy a good study Bible. There are many available in English these days. Some of them are general; others are specific being study Bibles for men or women with particular interests or teenagers etc. In the early days of a Christian life it is probably best to have a general study Bible so that you can slowly learn how the whole scripture fits together and have the more difficult words, phrases and ideas explained to you. Thus you will gain a good knowledge of Scripture without having to work too hard at it. (It will even give you something to read if the sermon gets too boring!) A good study Bible is the best way to start to learn what God says and will say to us. It is his word, his written word and enormously valuable. Through it you will encounter the living Word which is Jesus.

So three things: beware the devil’s interest in you; join up with a local fellowship of God’s people, particularly one which will enable you to talk with other people about your experiences and the scripture and learn from them; if possible equip yourself with what Paul called the sword of the Spirit that you may learn to fight well against the many temptations of life, to rejoice in the many promises that the Lord gives us in his Word and, above all, come to be in a living relationship to the living Word, the Lord Jesus.

So what?

This time there is no separate thing to do here. Those are three important things to do. If you asked someone else what you should do as a young believer you would probably get a different set of priorities. Never mind. Go to these – and the Lord will bless you.

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The Normal Christian Journey of Faith - Part 02

Chapter 2: The Beginning

One day – perhaps long ago, perhaps soon to come – we became, or will become, a Christian. That is a great day for all of us and for some, living in difficult countries, it can be a dangerous day too. It can also be a very misunderstood day. It is fundamentally important that we realize that it is a day when two persons are involved – not just one. We, the human individual involved, are the one that we talk about as having decided to follow Jesus/be born again/give our hearts to the Lord/or whatever way we express it. True enough; but not the whole of the story - not even the most important part of it. God, the Lord, is involved too, particularly in the person of the Holy Spirit. We commit ourselves to following Jesus. The Holy Spirit commits himself to being with us, staying with us, empowering us, so that we can ‘walk in step with the Spirit’ as Paul puts it.

As you may know there is a problem here, which has been argued over in the church for centuries. It is this: ultimately - did we choose him or did he choose us? The labels that have been given to this argument, going back into history, are Arminian or Wesleyan, and Calvinistic. I do not intend to try and make any statement about this except for the wise words of an old landlord of mine. He suggested, very imaginatively, that there is a great triumphal arch that we have to pass under as we approach heaven. If we look up we shall see inscribed on the outside of the arch is “Whosoever will may come!” (He tended to speak in King James version language!). If we pass under the arch and we look back and up we shall see inscribed on the inside of the arch the words “Chosen from before the foundation of the world!”. We shall never be able to add those two statements together as a logical whole yet both of them are profoundly true, thoroughly Biblical, and believing them is of great importance for us.

That there is this 2 person aspect to what happens when we become a Christian is clearly expressed in the common Biblical term ‘covenant’. A ‘covenant’ is an agreement, a will or a testament, between 2 people. The origin of the term is in an agreement between 2 kings, as is seen in the book of Genesis. In the rather strange Genesis 14 we read about a war between 2 sets of kings, 4 of them against 5 of them. To call the guys involved ‘kings’ is to suggest they were more important than they deserved. Abraham is able to go out and defeat the 4 kings with only 318 men of his own. So ‘clan chiefs’ or ‘local warlords’ might be more accurate descriptions. To give themselves any strength at all they had to work together. They were in covenant with each other. And it was that idea of ‘covenant’ that the Lord God uses in the next chapters to express the relationship between himself and Abraham. So it is with us. When we commit ourselves to following Jesus we enter into covenant with the Lord God, and, more importantly, he enters into covenant with us

This has some significant implications. We cannot decide to be Christian this year, but not in 5 years time when the commitment does not suit us so well. God is involved. Of course we may appear to walk away from this commitment, but what will God think, say and do if we try to do so? The writer to the Hebrews warns us “See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.” And goes on to point out that when the Israelites, travelling through the desert, thought they could give up on God he punished them for 40 years, thus warning any who would think they could give up on God in the present day that there may be implications.

To set out to follow Jesus is a life-time commitment. Probably few of us who have started out on that track took that fact adequately into account at the time. But we need to do so now and settle down to our life with Christ, which we will discover is a deeply rewarding way to live anyway.

Of the various words I used to describe the event of becoming a Christian the most Biblical one is to be “born again”. But we need to be careful here. In common language the phrase has come to mean not much more than “start again”. So in our present day language middle-aged men buying a motorbike after not having had one for many years get called “born-again bikers”. But the word used in John’s gospel means either of 2 things with equal force: “born again” or “born from above”, and bikers are never “born from above”! As we set out to follow Jesus we receive this new birth from above, from heaven, from the world of the Lord God, from the world of spiritual realities.

Many words are used in the Bible to describe what happened. Perhaps the most important are the words ‘righteousness’ and ‘justification’. Unfortunately they are rather difficult words, easily misunderstood in the English language. In the Bible they both come from the same basic roots in both Old Testament Hebrew and New Testament Greek. In English ‘righteous’, or ‘righteousness’, sound the easiest to understand. But unfortunately there is no equivalent verb. If there was it would probably be ‘righteous-ify, so we might say we have been ‘righteous-ified’ instead of ‘justified’ – but there is no such word.

I’m going to invent it for these notes! Then what does righteous mean? It sounds like being right and is sometimes used that way in the Bible. Paul said that he was ‘as for righteousness based on the law, faultless’ clearly meaning he had always been a good boy! But there is a deeper meaning hiding in the way Paul usually uses the word. It is about being accepted by God. Of course, to be accepted by God implies that you have been a good boy or girl – but we haven’t – so how do we get to that stage where Paul says ‘This righteousness is given through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ to all who believe.’ The answer is in that word: ‘given’. It is not something we have earned but something, a status before God, that we have received because of, and only because of, what Jesus did on the Cross.

On the day that we became a Christian we were probably a mass of excited emotions. We knew something very important had happened but we didn’t quite know what. Well, here it is. Because we stated that we believed in Jesus – even if we didn’t know very well what it was we believed about him – a great transaction had taken place: God had granted us the status of being accepted by him, of being ‘righteous-ified’, or justified. Yoiks, hooray and hallelujah!!!

So what?

There is nothing we must rush out and do as a consequence of being righteous-ified. The whole force of righteous-ification is that it is not something we do, or have done, but something that has been done to us. To be sure as a result of being righteous-ified we shall set out to live differently, to think differently, to bend our wills in a different direction –and all that is what I am going to try and offer some help and some suggestions about in the rest of this series of studies. Perhaps for the moment the most important thought to cling on to is that you are “born from above”. Something totally magnificent, totally unexpected, with no equivalent in this world has happened to you – if you have set out to follow Jesus. Think on it!

 

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The Normal Christian Journey of Faith - Part 01

Chapter 1: Before we begin

 

This series of studies attempts to say some useful things about how the journey of a Christian life is likely to work out. In fact, there are of course so many ways this may happen that to try and say something useful is quite rash – but here goes nonetheless.

Before I start I need to define what I mean by “Christian”. Many people, in many parts of the world, think of themselves as Christian because their passports say so, or would say so if they had one. They have been born into a Christian family, in a Christian community, so they, and other people, think of them as Christian. But being a Christian in this sense is not the same as following Jesus, consciously, and determinedly. When I say Christian I mean those who have positively decided that they will follow Jesus, owe allegiance to him, and are practicing Christians, associating themselves with other Christians of the same way of thinking.

Not every Christian can identify the moment in which they turned round and set out to follow Jesus. For some it happened so gradually they cannot pin down the time any more than to say that day, or that week, or that month. That does not matter – they have set out to follow Jesus, which is all that matters. Then there are some fortunate few who cannot remember the day when they did not love the Lord even as a young child and they grew up following him from before their days of memory. Great for them and a tribute to their parents!

It would more accurate if as I wrote these notes I used the phrase “following Jesus” rather than “Christian” but it would be intolerably clumsy to keep on doing that so I will say “Christian” and mean “following Jesus”.

Even before we became Christian, in any of these believing senses, certain things will have been true of us. All of us, everyone who ever lived, have a tension within us. This is an essential part of being human and quite inescapable. We are, you are, I am, made in the image of God, but we are also sinners.

We are told that we are made in the image of God in Genesis chapter 1 “God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” Then Adam and Eve sinned in the famous story of the garden of Eden as recorded in Genesis 3 “the Lord God said, The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil” and Paul, in Romans 5 summarizes what all the Scripture acknowledges with the statement “sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned”. That is us.

Some people like to think that there is a dividing line between good and evil people (and they, of course, are on the right side of that line!), but it is not so. The dividing line between good and evil runs through each one of us. Some of us are, hopefully, more on the right side of that line than the wrong side, but it is still there, through each one of us. Failure to recognize that has led to many disastrous moments in history. Politicians have often assumed that people are essentially good so you have only got to put them in the right environment and all will be well. Everyone will live in peace and harmony with everyone else.

Sadly that is not true. It never has been true and it seems to have become increasingly obvious that it is not in the 20th century. Nazis and Communists have assumed that they can make the world work as they want. But they failed and have continued to fail. Muslim extremists fall into the same trap. On the other hand much of the modern western world proceeds on the assumption that progress is happening always and inevitably. That is true of our technology and science but not of our social and spiritual skills where we seem to be going backwards. There is much good in human beings but there is also a strong tendency to evil. This is the base from which we all start.


Why then do we, why does anyone, become a Christian? There are at least three main reasons.

1. From a sense of sin. This is the old classical way to start. Many preachers in this society seem to assume that this is the only way so they pick out the Scriptures that mention sin, or can be bent that way, and preach what they call “a Gospel sermon” whether it applies to the people listening to them or not. It is certainly true, very true, that the purpose of the death of Christ on the Cross was to deal with sin, your sin, my sin. Jesus was both human and divine. He was human so he could substitute for us, dying on our behalf. He was divine so his death was sufficient and effective for all of us. So Paul says in Romans 3:25 “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood —to be received by faith.” But people are unable to understand these words and take them to heart unless they have an idea of God as the pure and holy judge before whom they will eventually have to give an account of their life on earth. If they do not realize that, if they have not been taught that, they will not understand what is being talked about.

2. From a sense of lostness. Peter talks about people being redeemed from an empty way of life (1 Peter 1:18) Many people will feel that the way they are living is empty and is not satisfying and will cast around looking for a better way to live. They want to be good people – drink, drugs, partying, sex, material goods do not satisfy them. They want a reason to live differently, to live the way they want to live but they have a strong sense of needing a reason to break out from their currently unsatisfying life styles. If this is the way they think they are ready to hear a sensitively presented account of the Christian life. Follow me – said Jesus. If they hear that call they embark on a life of faith which is a journey through life – hence the title of this series of studies.

3. From a desire to progress. Unfortunately there is a strong tendency in many churches to present the Christian life as the solution to all one’s problems: practical, social and financial. Some preachers say become a Christian and you will meet all the right people, you will make your fortune, the right partner for you will miraculously appear. I call this unfortunate because such teaching runs directly counter to the whole teaching of the Bible. Jesus is, amongst many other things, our example. He only met the “right” people at his trial; he had no where to lay his head so he did not have a fortune; he had to live a celibate life in a society where marriage was expected. If you are looking for progress in a purely human sense it is a good idea not to become a Christian! Be careful not to believe the false promises of some preachers!

Of these three motives for becoming a Christian 1 and 2 are acceptable; 3 is not. In the New Testament Paul emphasizes motive 1, escape from sin; John emphasizes motive 2, desire for purpose in life; Peter is strong on both.

These are, I think, the main things that lead people to seek to follow the Lord Jesus. There are others: to some are given dreams and visions of him seen in the night; some fear the judgment, some desire not to be left behind when he returns, and so on.


There is something else worth noticing about what often happens to people before they become Christians. God has a lovely habit of speaking to us before we become one of his people. This can be, and often is, in small and scarcely noticed ways that yet can have a major effect on us. For me it was when the family friend who was invigilating an exam that I, a young boy at the time, was taking stopped to pray with me before the exam, which was not something to be expected within the world in which I lived and had a lasting effect on me.

So what?

Whether as you listen to, or read, this you are a follower of Jesus, or not, it is important to get our thinking about who we are and where we stand before a pure and holy God straight. We are made in the image of God but we are sinners in His sight. As a consequence of that we need a better direction in life. Those two facts make the essential and only correct starting point for our thinking.
Secondly we have the opportunity to be the messenger for one of those little events that the Lord God can put in someone else’s way as he did for me through my invigilator’s prayer. Only more than 20 years later did I learn that the wife of the man who prayed with me was ministered to as a young girl by my grandmother. That was a wonderful part of the circle of faith.

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Partakers Prayers - COVID19 Corona Virus

 

G'day! Today we are praying together once again, a prayer concerning the Corona Virus / COVID19 Pandemic. I am sure each of us knows somebody who has contracted this virus, and quite possibly succumbed to it and died because of it. Come! Let's pray together!

O great God, as you know,
we are in the midst of this wretched COVID-19 global pandemic.
O Great Comforter,
embrace those grieving the loss of loved ones and wipe their tears.
We don’t know the right way to combat this pandemic,
but we know and trust that you do.
Therefore, give wisdom and courage to all those involved
in its treatment, prevention, cure and vaccine,
including our government and leaders.
May the vaccines be distributed diligently, justly, quickly and efficiently.
We thank you O God that they were prepared by wise people.
We thank you for all those caring for others during this time –
carers, nurses, medics and others.
May you O God, give them courage and wisdom.
Amen

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Psalm On Demand - Psalm 66

Psalm 66

For the Chief Musician. A song. A Psalm.

66:1 Make a joyful shout to God, all the earth!
66:2 Sing to the glory of his name! Offer glory and praise!
66:3 Tell God, "How awesome are your deeds! Through the greatness of your power, your enemies submit themselves to you.
66:4 All the earth will worship you, and will sing to you; they will sing to your name."

Selah.

66:5 Come, and see God's deeds- awesome work on behalf of the children of men.
66:6 He turned the sea into dry land. They went through the river on foot. There, we rejoiced in him.
66:7 He rules by his might forever. His eyes watch the nations. Don't let the rebellious rise up against him.

Selah.

66:8 Praise our God, you peoples! Make the sound of his praise heard,
66:9 who preserves our life among the living, and doesn't allow our feet to be moved.
66:10 For you, God, have tested us. You have refined us, as silver is refined.
66:11 You brought us into prison. You laid a burden on our backs.
66:12 You allowed men to ride over our heads.
We went through fire and through water, but you brought us to the place of abundance.
66:13 I will come into your temple with burnt offerings. I will pay my vows to you,
66:14 which my lips promised, and my mouth spoke, when I was in distress.
66:15 I will offer to you burnt offerings of fat animals, with the offering of rams, I will offer bulls with goats.

Selah.

66:16 Come, and hear, all you who fear God. I will declare what he has done for my soul.
66:17 I cried to him with my mouth. He was extolled with my tongue.
66:18 If I cherished sin in my heart, the Lord wouldn't have listened.
66:19 But most certainly, God has listened. He has heard the voice of my prayer.
66:20 Blessed be God, who has not turned away my prayer, nor his loving kindness from me.

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Partakers Bible Thought - Conversion of Paul Acts 9

 

Paul's Conversion (Acts 9)

1 Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. 3 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. 6 “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” Acts 9:1-6

The conversion of Saul (his name was changed to Paul later) is one of the most notable in the history of the Church. Certainly within the Bible itself. Indeed the conversion of Saul/Paul, was celebrated yesterday, 25 January, in parts of the Church around the world. Luke tells us the story three times. But was Paul's conversion special? Many people say "I have not had a Damascus Road experience". There were, it is true, special events on that day, which make Paul's conversion unique. However are they in any sense so special that they constitute an example for us today?

Download or listen to the mp3 to discover more, as we look together at Paul’s conversion experience.


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Partakers Bible Thought - Watch out Noah - Genesis 7

Watch out, Noah!!

Genesis 7:11-24

"Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out,· men and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds of the air were wiped from the earth." Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark." Genesis 7:23 

I wonder if you have ever been in a flood. I remember when as a boy growing up in rural Australia. Sometimes it would be dry for months and then suddenly rain would come, and come and keep on coming for days on end and the entire landscape would be flooded with water. One particular time, we were totally isolated from everyone, and nobody else was to be seen as far as the eyes could see. It was as if my family and I were the only people on earth, just like Noah and his family were.

Noah - How and why?

But how did Noah and his family happen to be in this ark and saved from dying in the flood? So let us put the passage before us into its context. Some time before, God had created the world and humans. Shortly after that man went against God's commandments and sinned against Him. This sinning process continued down through the generations of people.

As Genesis tells us "that every inclination of the thoughts of man's heart was only evil all of the time." So God, in holiness, repented of his decision to make man and decided to wipe all living things from the earth. However one man, Noah, had continued to walk with God and was righteous. God, then commanded Noah to build an ark so as to keep him, his family and all types of creatures alive during the flood. Noah, whom the writer of the book of Hebrews tells us was a righteous and godly man, obeyed God and built the ark, gathered the animals, and entered the ark of safety with them and his family. So that is the background in which we come to today's passage. The story of the flood is one of the more well known stories of the Old Testament, and is particularly popular with children. But with it comes a series of messages that we learn from this section of the Bible in the 21st century?

God is a Judge

The first message we see is that God is a judge. The flood demonstrated that God is a righteous and just God, who will not tolerate evil. The flood showed that God means what He says: He gave man 120 years to repent, they did not, so they were judged. This judgment tells us that God is true to His Word. The flood was complete; God's judgement was complete.

The waters "rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered ... Every living thing that moved on the earth perished."

It is hard for us to conceive how such a great amount of water came to cover the earth. How the flood happened is a mystery. However God's judgement is not a mystery. We have seen here that the basis of God's judgement is the response of man to the revealed will of God. It is a thoroughly just and convincing thing. No doubt that when the waters of the flood started to appear everyone left outside the ark were panic struck and their mouths gaped open as they stopped in disbelief at the justice of God's judgement and feeling very sorry that they hadn't listened to the words of God through Noah.

God is a Deliverer

Our second message that we can refer to is that God is a deliverer. In fact, the ark is typical of our salvation through Christ in many ways. God designed the way of salvation, long before God revealed to Noah the judgment. Noah was saved because he fulfilled the requirements for salvation as given by God; the way of salvation provided a refuge from the judgement of God upon the world; the Lord "shut Noah in" to His salvation, a salvation that nothing or no one could take away. As the rain fell, Noah was safely in the ark. The rest of the world, however, could only watch as "for forty days the flood kept coming on the earth."

Noah, however, as the floodwaters grew, could look back on all the work he did in obedience to God and realize that it was not for nothing. He could look back at all the persecution that he suffered as he built the ark and count it not worth comparing to the glory of his salvation. He must have felt greatly honoured to receive from God deliverance from a judgement that he, as a sinner, deserved also. As the rain fell, he probably pondered God's mercy to him, asking, "Who am I, that I should be saved?"

New Testament Reflection

So far we have seen that God is both a judge and a deliverer. But what does that have to do with us, living several thousand years after the event? What possible connection is in there for us? Well, lets have a look at what the New Testament has to say about this episode in history?

Firstly Jesus quoted it in Mt 24:39, when He talked about the end of the age, when He will come again. In verse 37, He compares the flood with the coming of the Son of Man. There will again be two groups of people. There are those that are like Noah, who are prepared and saved; and those who are unprepared and lost. Secondly, Peter backed this up in his second letter, and added that the next judgement will not be with water, but fire for the destruction of all ungodly people (2 Peter 3:5-7). The godly people, will have a new home of righteousness to look forward to.

So What?

So let us recapitulate and then conclude. Firstly we have seen that God is a righteous judge. God, in His pure holiness, cannot tolerate sin and disobedience, and needs to judge it. He judged the earth with a flood several thousand years ago.

Secondly we learnt that God also delivers or saves. All through out history, even in the most ungodly times, God has always kept a remnant or group of people for Himself, and has always had a spokesperson ready to speak for Him. We learn this throughout the Old Testament, in the story of the people of Israel.

Thirdly we discovered what the New Testament teaches us about it. Jesus and the Apostle Peter, both referred to it. The writer of Hebrews, tells us that Noah was a man of faith, who lived in holy fear and was the heir of righteousness to a new world following the flood.

How then can we conclude? Today, as in the days of Noah we have 2 groups of people. Those of us who are Christians, who are His children safe in the arms of Jesus, and those who don't know about God's grace and mercy and are lost in the flood of sin. Some of us here today, have been Christians possibly only a couple of days or perhaps for decades. What are we doing, knowing that the judgement of Christ is coming? Are we like Noah, and obeying God and his commandments? Working out our faith, with fear and trembling. Are we showing people and telling the lost that God loves them, cares for them, and is coming back again to judge the earth with fire and righteousness. That is our work and mission as Christians.

Maybe you belong to the second group of people and you are not a child of God and safe in the 'ark' of Jesus. It is God's will for you to be safe, for He desires that nobody should be lost. You are still lost in the flood of sin, and do not yet know God as your Father? Sin is not obeying what God has revealed to be true. I implore you to turn to Him today! No-one knows when the next judgment day will be, just as in the days of Noah. It could be now, tomorrow or in another hundred years. No one knows when that judgment will be, only the all knowing and all wise God. The time for you to turn to Him is now. All you have to do is believe, accept that Jesus is God, and follow Him trusting that He will save you and then you will be safe in the God's modern ark. If that is you today, please do see one of the leaders or myself afterwards and we will be very happy to talk with you further! Thank you

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Partakers Bible Thought - Living in the Joy of Salvation

 

Sermon - 1 Peter 1:3-9

1 Peter 1:3-9 - Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Introduction

1. God the Joy Giver!

The Joy Giver!

a. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ v3
b. his great mercy he has given v3
c. resurrection of Jesus Christ v3
d. Jesus Christ is revealed v7

2. Living Out Joy!

a. New birth v3
b. Living hope v3
c. Inheritance v4
d. shielded by God’s power v5
e. Salvation – future v5
f. Rejoice v6

3. Faith!

a. Faith’s genuineness v7
b. Faith’s love v8
c. Faith’s belief v8
d. Faith’s joy v8
e. Faith’s outcome v9

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Conclusion

So with all that said, let’s briefly recapitulate before we conclude.
Firstly we looked at a God who is to be praised; a God who is merciful in giving new life to those who respond personally to His call. As evidence of this new and living hope, He sent His Son who came to earth as a human, lived, died and was resurrected to new life. This Son ascended to be at His right hand once more. This Son, Jesus Christ will be coming back again one day. Meanwhile, all those who place their faith and hope in Jesus Christ, will be shielded, safeguarded and protected by God Himself. Indeed, their salvation is assured and safeguarded. But if they were to die, they would be still shielded and safeguarded by God, because their salvation was assured and they would be in His presence. God shields and safeguards His people.
Secondly we then looked at this new life or new hope in more detail. This new hope is living, dynamic and the believer has a glorious inheritance and salvation. This is given by God and God alone from his twin wellsprings of grace and mercy.
Then lastly we looked at Faith’s genuineness, Faith’s love, Faith’s belief, Faith’s joy and finally Faith’s outcome which is the salvation of the soul.
With that said, how are we to conclude tonight? How are we, in the 21st century, to respond and react to Peter in this section of his letter? For those of us who would call ourselves a Christian - a sojourner of Jesus Christ – you believe in Him and have placed your faith in Him for new hope, new life and salvation of your soul. I wonder what trials including alienation and persecution you have undergone in the past, are undergoing at the moment or will persevere through in the future. I don’t even know how I will suffer and grieve in the future.

I do know who has the answers to our trials and testing. It is my God and your God. Our God of love – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He knows the answers and I have to trust in Him. Are you currently undergoing any sort of trial - run to God! He will listen! He is your protector, your guard and your empowerer! Remember He lives within you! He loves you! He cares for you!

He is a personal God who has your best interests at heart! As Christians we worship and serve a God who knows intimately about personal suffering. Our God isn’t an inanimate and passive carving, to be placed on a shelf or a wall which is immune to the suffering of the world. No! Our God is a personal, dynamic and active God who knows the suffering we ourselves endure – because He Himself has suffered. He is an intimate, dynamic, responsive and living personal being who has shared in our sufferings through Jesus when He died on a cross 2000 years ago. This same Jesus who was resurrected and raised to new life and witnessed by our author - the Apostle Peter! WOW! The ineffable God made known to humanity in the man Jesus Christ.
As part of our new hope and new life as Christians, as sojourners of Jesus Christ, we await that glorious day in the future when He has come again. That day when Jesus Christ will take your face in his scarred hands, and wipe away your tears. Wipe away your tears – tears of pain released and tears of ineffable and inexplicable joy! WOW! You and I will know then, that it was all worth it – the sufferings and trials that we have endured in this life, in order to enter the new life to come. Amazing! WOW!
On that final day, when your faith is tested, will it be proven to be genuine? Let this faith of yours always seek to give praise, honour and glory to Jesus and Him alone. May it be a faith being worked out by you living a life which is worthy of Him alone – which is seen by those currently not in the faith. Your genuine faith being expressed with inexplicable joy to those outside.
As Christians it is an imperative that we go and show our new life, new hope, empowered and safeguarded by God’s power alone. Persecution may come and we will in some quarters even now be rejected. But we persevere. As Christians, we have good news for the world – it is up to us to go out living in the joy of salvation. We will be alienated by some, but also embraced by others. God is for us – who then shall we fear? God is a mission God – Peter clearly knows that – and because He is a mission God, we too are also on a mission. We have to take risks in order to continue this mission. History is filled with churches that failed to adapt and take the mission opportunities available to them. Will we be like that? I for one certainly do not hope so. We need to be reaching out, including those forgotten people – the people who cannot get out of their own homes for what ever reason. Helping those people who are already Christians and helping those who are not yet Christian, to find this living hope in God.
God is a tri-unity of Love... The Father loves the Son and the Spirit. The Son loves the Father and the Spirit. The Spirit loves the Father and the Son. We as a church are also to be a community of love. A love which mirrors that of the God of love... A love which looks not to its own interests but to the interests of others... Let's go love... Encourage others - not just your friends or those you like... Let's go encourage others enduring all sorts of tests and trials, just as Peter has done to this group of spiritual sojourners... God loves you... Let's reflect the God we claim to love, follow and obey...

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