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Saturday Oct 29, 2022
Saturday Oct 29, 2022
The normal (Christian) journey of faith
Chapter 8: The work of the Spirit
First we need to look at what Jesus said, particularly in His great teaching address to the disciples on the night before He was crucified, about Him and His work. He began by telling them that He, the Holy Spirit, would be with them – and us, for ever. In John 14:16,17 He says, “the Father will give you another advocate to Help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth.”
Jesus was the first advocate, a legal term for someone speaking on one’s behalf in a court of law. The Greek word here is tricky so it has been translated in many different ways; the main ones in English being: Comforter, Counselor, Helper or Friend. If you put them all together you will get something of the force of what Jesus was saying. He goes on to say in John 15:26, “When the Advocate comes, Whom I will send to you from the Father —the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—He will testify about me”. And in John 16:7–14, “I will send him to you. When He comes, He will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgement: about sin, because people do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and about judgement, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.
I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; He will speak only what He Hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that He will receive what He will make known to you.” The first part of that is quite difficult to understand but the second part is clear – the work of the Holy Spirit in the first part is to tell the world, everybody, the truth about spiritual matters and the second part is to inform us very particularly about Jesus. Above all the Spirit is a teacher.
Secondly, Paul talks about the Spirit as the motivating and driving force behind all that the Christian does. So He says in Romans 8:2–6, “through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us - that is you and me - who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on What the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace” and he goes on to say in verse 9, “You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ”. In 1 Corinthians 2:10 he says “The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.” The summary of all he means by these things is found in Galatians 5: 25 where He instructs us “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit”.
To summarize all that: as I said at the beginning the Spirit is the motivating and driving force behind all that the Christian does of a spiritual nature. He is also the informing source of all spiritual knowledge. It explains why it is a common experience that someone will hear many a sermon and talk about the faith and it makes no sort of sense until one day they become a Christian and it all suddenly makes perfect sense. That is the work of the Spirit flooding into the thinking, and the life, of the new convert.
The third work of the Spirit is to divide out amongst the believers in any fellowship, however small that fellowship may be, the different gifts that they need to carry out the work of “making 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”. Paul says in Romans 12:6–8, “We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.” These are wonderful gifts both for the community of believers and for the wider community in which they live.
The fourth work of the Holy Spirit is in evangelism. John’s record of the life of Jesus says that in his first meeting with all the disciples after his resurrection Jesus said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven”. That is both a tremendous privilege and a tremendous responsibility. This charge was given originally to the small group of disciples but it is valid for us too, as all John’s statements were designed for his own local church fellowship and thus for the wider church. It is our responsibility to asses the relationship of those outside faith to their sins and to the only one who can forgive sins and thus to call them into the Kingdom, or not.
The fifth work of the Spirit is in leading the Lord’s people in worship. Paul lists gifts that make this possible in 1 Corinthians 12:7–11 as follows: “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and He distributes them to each one, just as He determines”.
Those were the gifts of Paul’s day but we can add more for our day. For instance some now have the gift of leading worship with a guitar or a keyboard or other musical instrument. That is not a matter of simply being able to play the tune. Sometimes technically highly competent musicians lack the gift of leading a congregation well while someone, technically less proficient, can lead the worship in a wonderfully God honouring way. That is a Spirit given gift.
Paul tells us to, “eagerly desire the greater gifts.” But goes on to say, “I will show you the most excellent way. If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal,” as a warning about being too concerned with such things. And that warning is very necessary these days.
There has been a great upsurge in interest in the more startling gifts of the Spirit in recent years. This is particularly true of speaking in tongues and the interpretation of them. Churches vary enormously in their attitudes to speaking in tongues. Some do not expect them to be used at all; others sometimes go so far as demanding them of every convert as the sign of true conversion even although Paul has made it plain that they are a gift for some – not for all.
I come from the former background so I am very wary of them – excuse my bias. This I would say: be careful. If you are in an environment where there is great excitement about tongues ask yourself ‘am I excited because I am in a big crowd of people who are all very excited, or am I excited because I am in the near presence of the Lord himself’. There is a difference!
So What?
As a Christian, the Holy Spirit is the Lord’s gift to you at the time of your conversion. Expect to have him teach you about Jesus, to be a strong active presence in your life, to grant you a gift, or some gifts, for the building up of the fellowship you are in and to grant you some gifts for the enrichment of your own spiritual life. As you develop these things in your life you will find that you can be truly said to be walking in step with the very Spirit of God himself. Enjoy!Click or Tap here to listen to or save this as an audio mp3 file~
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Wednesday Oct 26, 2022
Wednesday Oct 26, 2022
Chapter 5: Baptism
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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Tuesday Oct 25, 2022
Tuesday Oct 25, 2022
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.Click or Tap here to listen to or save this as an audio mp3 file~
Monday Oct 24, 2022
Monday Oct 24, 2022
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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Sunday Oct 23, 2022
Sunday Oct 23, 2022
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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Friday Oct 21, 2022
Friday Oct 21, 2022
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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Thursday Oct 06, 2022
Thursday Oct 06, 2022
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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Tuesday Oct 04, 2022
Tuesday Oct 04, 2022
Glimpses 56 -
Donna from Detroit, Michigan
This is the story of Donna, from Detroit sharing about her encounter with Jesus! Come and hear!
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Monday Sep 19, 2022
Monday Sep 19, 2022
Correct thinking leads to correct action!
Outline
- Introduction
- The Church - 1 Timothy 1:4-11
- Timothy - 1 Timothy 1:18-20
- Paul - 1 Timothy 1:1-3 & 12-14
- God
- Conclusion - So what?
1 Timothy 1
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope,
2 To Timothy my true son in the faith:
Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
Timothy Charged to Oppose False Teachers
3 As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer 4 or to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. Such things promote controversial speculations rather than advancing God’s work—which is by faith. 5 The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. 6 Some have departed from these and have turned to meaningless talk. 7 They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm.
8 We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. 9 We also know that the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, 10 for the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality, for slave traders and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine 11 that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.
The Lord’s Grace to Paul
12 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service. 13 Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. 14 The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. 16 But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life. 17 Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
The Charge to Timothy Renewed
18 Timothy, my son, I am giving you this command in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by recalling them you may fight the battle well, 19 holding on to faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and so have suffered shipwreck with regard to the faith. 20 Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme.
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Monday Sep 12, 2022
Monday Sep 12, 2022
Developing A Strategy to Persevere (Hebrews10:26-39)
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Introduction
As Christians living in Britain in the beginnings of the 21st century, we are relatively removed from the original recipients of this letter. We know that the original readers were around probably before the fall of Jerusalem in 70AD. That this group of Hebrew Christians, due to the sufferings and persecution they were enduring, were thinking of abandoning their faith in Jesus as Messiah due to the suffering and persecution they were enduring. Many of our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world do suffer for the sake of Gospel and are systematically persecuted for their faith in Jesus Christ.
In 21st century Britain, we don't have those kind of physical sufferings and persecutions because of our faith - yet. But as I read history, and read of the persecution of the Church down through the ages, I can see signs of persecution coming even to us in this country. So, just as the writer speaks to this group of Hebrew Christians, so he speaks to you and I. I, of course, don't know your personal circumstances. I don't know where you are at in your Christian life. You may be persevering joyfully or you maybe struggling with some aspect of life and thinking of giving it all up. You may not even call yourself a Christian, as you are at the stage of investigating what all this Jesus talk is all about.
Wherever you are at, whatever stage you are at, there is something in this passage for you. I know that classically these passages are seen as warnings, but I also see them as active encouragements - in this case, to persevere. Persevere by being obedient. Persevere by remembering who you are and what you have done. Persevere by looking forward to being with Jesus Christ permanently and forever.
Part 1 - Just Stop! - Persevere in obedience (v26-31)
26 Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice that will cover these sins. 27 There is only the terrible expectation of God’s judgment and the raging fire that will consume his enemies. 28 For anyone who refused to obey the law of Moses was put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 Just think how much worse the punishment will be for those who have trampled on the Son of God, and have treated the blood of the covenant, which made us holy, as if it were common and unholy, and have insulted and disdained the Holy Spirit who brings God’s mercy to us. 30 For we know the one who said,
“I will take revenge. I will pay them back.”
He also said,
“The Lord will judge his own people.”
31 It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Part 2 - Do Remember! - Persevere by remembering (v32-34)
32 Think back on those early days when you first learned about Christ.[j] Remember how you remained faithful even though it meant terrible suffering. 33 Sometimes you were exposed to public ridicule and were beaten, and sometimes you helped others who were suffering the same things. 34 You suffered along with those who were thrown into jail, and when all you owned was taken from you, you accepted it with joy. You knew there were better things waiting for you that will last forever.
Part 3 - Hope Confidently - Persevere for reward (v35-39)
35 So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you! 36 Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised.
37 “For in just a little while, the Coming One will come and not delay.
38 And my righteous ones will live by faith.
But I will take no pleasure in anyone who turns away.”
39 But we are not like those who turn away from God to their own destruction. We are the faithful ones, whose souls will be saved.
Conclusion - Perseverance of the Christian
You are to keep your eyes focused on Jesus Christ, and be willing to obey God. As a Christian, persevere in your relationship with God. Obey Him and follow Him. Ask questions humbly of Him and expect Him to answer, particularly if you don't understand something. Persevere in your prayers, your relationships with God and with other people. God will persevere with you, turning you gradually into the image of His Son, Jesus Christ. God will not abandon you, but you are free to abandon Him. If you did abandon Him, He would still continue to call you back to Himself. Jesus Christ is to cover our entire life, permeating and being involved in every aspect.
By doing so, this is showing an acceptance of Him, and not a rejection of Him. For when we sin and disobey in anyway at all, it is some form of rejection of Jesus as Lord of our life. The more you sin, the less sensitive you become to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. So when you realise you have sinned, be quick to humbly ask for forgiveness. So I challenge you with this: if He who was without sin, became sin, for you, then you are to live a life worthy of Him and your status of freedom from sin in Jesus Christ. One day, Jesus is coming again. He will take your face in his hands and in the words of Revelation 21, will wipe the tears from your eyes, embrace you and you will be with Him forever! That's if you would call yourself a Christian.
But if you would not call yourself a Christian here today, there are all sorts of excuses you can make for not accepting Jesus. I hear them all the time. I just need a little bit more evidence. I just need a little bit more of this or a little bit more of that. An example to disprove these kind of excuses is that of Judas Iscariot. He lived with Jesus Christ, ate with Jesus Christ, travelled with Jesus Christ, yet gave it all up for a short-term gain of money. For him, there was never enough evidence, even though he had all those experiences with the earthly Jesus Christ. There is no other way, no other sacrifice you can make, to ensure that you are will be in the presence of Almighty God - except through Jesus Christ's sacrificial death on the cross. He will continue to call you and urge you to accept Him, until one day it will be too late, and your opportunities will have passed.