Weekly Reflections

As humans we may tend to be captives of our circumstances.

The weather, health, family situation, work and many other factors are capable of being strong influences on one’s personal attitude.

When it comes to the real Gospel in real life, it is ubiquitous. It has application in every situation. Paul examples this in the following verses.

"To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings."

1 Corinthians 9: 22

Paul saw the blessings from the gospel to be so comprehensive that he could accept any situation to be a participant in sharing the Good News.

Today as we conclude our Gospel related series, it is important for us to see that we are to be those who share with others, irrespective of our situation.

The question is how to do we share? Some will no doubt say I really feel inadequate when it comes to speaking to others. Maybe its not as hard as some would make out. Today as in all three services we take communion.

"For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes."

1 Corinthians 11:26

The word proclaim in the original is "kataggellō". Strong describes this word as meaning "proclaim, promulgate: - declare, preach, show, speak of, teach”.

As we gather today we show out the Lord’s death. Then as we go about our normal week day activities, because of our thankfulness to God, we have the privilege to reflect the Gospel, through sharing our normal lives with others. Who knows the opportunity to “speak a word” may even come.

The Bible has a great deal to say about education and there are some interesting passages for us to consider.

In Matthew 10:24-25 we read, “A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the student to be like his teacher and the servant like his master”. In Luke 6:40 Jesus adds that, “Everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher”.

On the other hand in Psalm 119:99-100 it says this, “I have more insight than all my teachers for I meditate on your statutes. I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey your precepts”.

And yet again in John 13 we read in verses 13 to 15, “You called me Teacher and Lord and rightly so for that is what I am. Now that I your Lord and Teacher have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you”.

So what do we make of this? Teaching is first of all being an example, and also an encourager, and also an instructor. Therefore, in some ways each of us is a teacher and of course at the same time, each of us should be a lifelong learner. The role of Jesus as Teacher symbolised that teaching is a noble cause and all of us have the opportunity to be thankful for those who have taught us in God’s way and in God’s truth.

In chapter 4 of the Gospel of John, Jesus talks to a Samaritan woman by the well about living water. Living water is water that is fresh, moving, like a gushing stream or a flowing river. When Jesus refers to the well in vs. 13 and says “everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again”, He is pointing to the fact that nothing in this world will be able to quench this woman’s thirst and fill her life, no matter how much and how often she drinks it. But the water Jesus is offering is “living water”, flowing constantly, so that she won’t go thirsty again. It will never dry up, and why? Because He offers her Himself. Jesus is offering the woman a restored life with God through Him. But how? If we look ahead to John 19:28 we see Jesus on the Cross, and what does He say? “I am thirsty". Jesus, the one who invites the thirsty to come and drink, is now thirsty. He meets the thirst of others as He suffers himself. This is where the human thirst for God is met…at the cross. So let us have an urgency for our friends and neighbours to know about this living water that Jesus offers, so that they too can have their real thirst quenched, and have a restored life with God.

James 4:13-14a says: “Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow.”

Today we look at the way the gospel reshapes and changes our attitudes to our vocation, our work. No doubt we were created to work. In Genesis 1 we read that God created the world and in chapter 2 He creates man “to work it and take care of it.” (vs.15b) But the focus of our work was never to be our own fame and fortune.

In Genesis 11:4 we read that the people wanted to build “a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens (the tower of Babel), so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” But what did God say in chapter 1:28? “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.” Their focus at Babel was on their own plans and desires, not Gods!

As James goes on to say in 4:14b-17: “What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.”

So whose kingdom are you building, yours or Gods? The Gospel of Jesus Christ challenges us to ask!

Have you ever read through the book of Acts looking for the ideal way to proclaim the gospel? Frustrating isn’t it? Sometimes the gospel was proclaimed to thousands in one go (2:14-41); at other times to one man travelling alone (8:26-40). On some occasions it was in response to particular need (3:1-10) or revelation of the spirit (16:9-10); other times it was defending the gospel in front of riotous crowds (22:1-21), courts of law (4:8-12) or even kings and emperors (26:1-29). In marketplaces, synagogues, private homes, and by the river the gospel was proclaimed... and each time the circumstances were a little different. There was one message, but many methods of presenting it, each tailored to the context.

Over the next five weeks we will consider a number of common contexts in which the gospel may (must!) be proclaimed today. But please don’t fall into the trap of passive listening! A preacher can talk about the gospel in the workplace... but they cannot tell you how to apply that to your workplace. Nobody knows your family, your school or uni, your friends and neighbours - in short, your context - quite the way you do. So if the gospel is to be promoted and proclaimed in your life, then you are going to have to prayerfully translate words into actions. In this, you will be following the Apostle Paul, who wrote:

"I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings"

1 Cor 9:22-23

THE GOSPEL

• is the WORD of TRUTH
• is GLORIOUS
• brings RIGHTEOUSNESS (a right standing before God by faith in the atoning work of Jesus)
• brings Jews and Gentiles together
• it means judgment on those who reject it
• it can bring suffering
• it is the POWER of God for SALVATION
• and very much more!

This salvation is not only for the future – it is to be the daily experience of those who have accepted this GOSPEL. It is to bear fruit all over the world in the lives of those who have accepted it – those who belong to Christ. Men and women should be aware of the light shining from the people of God as these people do good deeds and bring glory to the Father in heaven.

As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.

John 17:18

As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.

John 20:21

Go and make disciples of all nations, baptising 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.

Matthew 28:20

Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.

Mark 16:15

These are the words of our Lord Jesus Christ to His disciples.

What am I, what are we, doing to show our obedience to these words?

Jonah eventually went to Nineveh, he preached and the people ‘turned from their evil ways’ and God fulfilled his plan for them – He had compassion on them and did not bring the destruction He had threatened.

But this was not Jonah’s aim or plan. Jonah wanted to see the cruel enemy, Nineveh, completely destroyed.

Which brings me to a question: Do I live my life for my own aims and plans, or for God’s aims and plans to be fulfilled in my life?

Our agenda so often is to please ourselves and find satisfaction in seeking fulfilment of our perceived potential in a better and more affluent life style.

God’s agenda and plan is different – He is working all things for the good of those who love Him, and this good is conforming us to the likeness of His Son. His Son found His fulfilment in doing everything to please His Father – and this was not an easy path to follow. There were not always ‘green pastures to lie down in’ but also ‘the valley of the shadow of death’ to travel through.

God’s plan for our lives is challenging and could be risky. There is no promise that it will be safe, from the human standpoint – but the safety promised is not freedom from troubles, difficulties, disappointments, opposition and even death but is the safety of having God Himself working in us to fulfil His purposes and bring glory to Himself.

Can we believe that a great fish swallowed Jonah and he survived?

Note first that Jonah was not swallowed by a whale. The compilers of the King James Version put “whale” into Matthew 12:40, but a better translation would be “great sea monster” though most recent translations refer to “a great fish”. Note also that biblical scholars did not doubt the Jonah record until the rise of critics and cynics who reject anything supernatural.

Let me give you (in descending order of importance) why we can be confident that Jonah’s story is true:

1. Jesus believed it and referred to it:

   ‘[Jesus] answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.’

   Matthew 12:39-40

2. We believe in the integrity and infallibility of Scripture:

   ‘All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,…’

   2 Timothy 3:16

3. There are historical records of sperm whales (Catodron macrocephalus) swallowing large objects.
4. There have been at least three recorded cases of men having been swallowed by whale sharks (Rhineodon typicus) and surviving. One of these took place in the English Channel where a man survived 48 hours after being swallowed whole by a whale shark and a similar story is on record in the Whaling Museum in Eden, NSW.

   ‘Let God be true, and every man a liar’

   Romans 3:4

   Cedric Gibbs

During the Family Services of February we will be looking at what the book of Jonah teaches us about God’s heart for mission. Many, if not most, of us have known the story line of Jonah since childhood. How God wanted to send him to preach against the city of Nineveh but Jonah had other ideas. And how, when the Ninevites did respond and repent, Jonah was upset because God had compassion on them and spared them.

The story of Jonah tells us more than the tale of a disobedient man of God. It teaches us just how much Jonah’s heart was out of tune with the mission heart of God. About 150 years ago old Frederick Faber wrote a hymn which included these lines:

• There’s a wideness in God’s mercy,
• Like the wideness of the sea;
• There’s a kindness in His justice,
• Which is more than liberty.
• For the love of God is broader
• Than the measure of our mind;
• And the heart of the Eternal
• Is most wonderfully kind.

Jonah found it difficult to comprehend why God would love and forgive the sinful Ninevites. But what about us? How deeply have we grasped the yearning in our Father’s heart to make sons and daughters of lost men and women? It is good that we are gathered here today to praise the Lord, to hear His word and to remember Him. But how ready are we to go to those for whom He died but who have not yet responded to His love and grace?

Prayer can be the one discipline that many Christians struggle with the most. It often gets “chopped off the list” in the rush of a busy day and crowded out with concerns that we wrongly consider we can handle ourselves without reference to God. Fundamentally, we allow ourselves to live in this state because we lose sight of the power and priority of prayer.

James did not have this perspective on prayer. He is reputed to be known as having “camel knees”, because he spent so much time on his knees in prayer. He was passionate about praying and he writes about the centrality of prayer in a believer’s life in James 5:13 where he says:

“Is anyone of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise.”

Prayer is an “all of life” practice. In his commentary on James, D. Edmond Hiebert says this concerning prayer:

“It is the constant turning to God in all circumstances that gives meaning, unity and empowerment to the Christian life.”

How is your prayer life? There is no one way that we must pray. What is important is that we each find the best way to commune with our God in all the circumstances of each day, so that we can in turn experience the power of prayer in our lives. Philip Yancey says: “We learn to pray by praying.” So, we all know what we need to do!

"The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. "For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ."

1 Corinthians 2:15-16 - ESV

What is spirituality? The verse which comes close to defining this is the one above. True spirituality requires three aspects:

1. Regeneration – to be born again.
2. The Holy Spirit has the major role in producing spirituality.
3. Spirituality needs time to develop.

The ministries of the Holy Spirit involve teaching, guiding, assuring, praying, the exercise of spiritual gifts, and warring against our sinful nature.

Ephesians 5:18 says,

“And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit”.

Here is a contrast and comparison between drunkenness and filling by the Spirit. Just as a drunken man is controlled by the liquor, so a Spirit-filled Christian is controlled by the Spirit. He will act in a way which is unnatural to him, (not erratic or abnormal), in a way different to his old life.

Spirituality also needs time to gain knowledge and experience for discerning right from wrong. The pace of gaining spiritual maturity is in proportion to our ability to give control to the Holy Spirit.

We are told that around a billion people in the world do not have reliable access to good unpolluted water. Consequently widespread poisoning occurs.

For us in Australia, we see access to good water as being beyond a privilege; it is for most an assumed right we take for granted. This is understandable for often a feeling of security leads to complacency.

James, in writing his epistle, addresses the issue of complacency in Christian lives. For instance as covered earlier in our series James says… ..

"What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?"

James 2:14

He states that the substance of our faith is indicated by what we do and we therefore need to question whether complacency exists in our lives. James chapter three goes on to indicate that our speech is also a good indication of what truly feeds one’s inner life.

In our opening paragraph mention is made of the fact that many are poisoned by poor water supplies and further, as a parallel to that, we need to understand that our speech may well be spoilt by what is stored in our inner person.

James would have us examine our lives to ensure we are powered by an active living faith. In fact he says, as will be seen next week,

"… the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere."

James 3:17

Good will flow from our lives when we are connected to God’s wonderful wisdom through a pure faith

In James 2 we read about two main messages.

First, we read about the Royal Law in Scripture, “love your neighbour as yourself”

Although we read this in verse 8 of the chapter, we read the understanding and the application of this from 1 to verse 13.

In Matthew 22 Jesus taught us that to love your neighbour as yourself is like loving God with all your heart & mind and soul.

In Galatians 5:14 the apostle Paul teaches us by the Spirit of God that all the commands are summed up in this one, which is, to love your neighbour as yourself.

When we obey this commandment we are doing right and we will not show favouritism and we will be keeping the law.

In what we say and what we do, we need to show mercy and should not judge people, especially in what they wear and the positions that they hold in life.

James also teaches us that faith by itself is dead and we should show our faith by the way we live, in our words and in our actions.

In summary James chapter 2 teaches us to be Christians who put

• FAITH IN ACTION BY
• GRACE IN ACTION AND
• LOVE IN ACTION AND
• MERCY IN ACTION

This will mean that we will show our Christianity to be alive and not dead; therefore we will be God’s grace-givers as we follow the example of Jesus.

As you read the following story you may be saying to yourself - what’s that to do with Christmas?

One of Australia’s great engineers was C.Y. O’Connor. He designed the Goldfields water scheme which involved pumping water from near Perth to Kalgoorlie. The scheme was supported by the government of the day but this did not save O'Connor from widespread criticism and derision. The common and widespread belief was that the scope of the engineering task was too great and that it would never work. This opinion was proved wrong when water finally flowed into a Kalgoorlie reservoir, after being pumped 530 kilometres, on 24 January 1903. Mr. O’Connor’s belief stood vindicated however he sadly took his own life in 1902, prior to the successful completion of the scheme; and there is little doubt that the opinion of the masses had taken its toll.

Isn’t it a little strange, that even after the promised Lord Jesus was delivered, many still treat Christmas with criticism and derision. The very fact that this newsletter is set to be issued on the 25th and 26th of December in the year 2010 is a clear everyday indication that the Saviour has come.

As a result of one’s belief many today drink water in Kalgoorlie.

Jesus may have come as a newborn baby, all those years ago, but He had a stated purpose as recorded in John 7:38

Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.

Our Christmas Day service will conclude with the choir singing “Born in Bethlehem” and this includes the words

“the king is here, given for all men”

If I believe that the King is here as a gift to me, then Christmas has begun to stream its true meaning.

A YEAR 2010 REFLECTION

Moses, in the oldest Psalm (90) in the Bible prays:

"Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom".

The 365 days of 2010 are like a miniature lifetime. Friday the 31st December, 2010 is like our last hours when the doctor says to us, "Time to say your final farewells!". As the lifetime of 2010 passes before our eyes we question, "Did i live it well? Will Christ Jesus say, Well done good and faithful servant".

The good news is that the dress rehearsal of 2010 will be replaced by the New Year of Opportunity arriving for many of us.

A YEAR 2011 RESOLVE

As we move towards the 365 days of the yet unlived year, 2011, may we number each fresh day and resolve to live each one wisely so it counts eternally in our Lord's estimation. Paul, in the last letter he wrote, counsels Timothy on how best to do this. 2 Timothy 4:1

"I give you this charge. Preach the Word. Endure hardship. Do the work of an evangelist. Discharge all the duties of your ministry."

Paul himself had numbered his days since the risen Christ had called him to serve and spend them wisely over those busy thirty plus years and now could say,

"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith, -- finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord will give me on that Day."

May you and I number each day and make them count for Him who will test each one and reward us when we arrive Home. And then the Glorious kingdom with the reigning Christ!

Lately, there seems to be a much greater defence of our traditional Christmas. The media and people generally are pushing back against those who ask for the Christian flavour to be removed from the festive season.

It is remarkable that there would be any denial of Christ’s birth when the following is considered.

Those who adhere to some form of church truth make up the largest religious group in the world. Islam, the group that gives prophet status to Jesus, is the second largest religion in the world and when the numbers of these two faiths are combined, they make up over half of the world’s population. So if over half the world adhere to their truth, the existence of Jesus is affirmed, and this raises the question as to why is His reality being denied?

A good question especially when one considers that in addition to Christ being a fact of history, His coming was accurately predicted, long before his birth. Consider the following Old Testament Scriptures from the book of Zechariah.

"…See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey."

Zechariah 9:9

"… They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son. On that day the weeping in Jerusalem will be great"

Zechariah 12:10-11

The birth, death, resurrection and later ascension of Jesus into heaven, are facts that have been challenged by many, but still stand.

The question is- where do I stand in my belief that Jesus came as my Saviour?

"... you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."

Matthew 1:21

As the people of Israel lamented over their slavery in Egypt, they cried out to their God to save them. They called upon the Lord, that His ear would hear their voices in the midst of their suffering and rescue them from their oppression. And the LORD saw the misery of His people and He acted in great and mighty ways to redeem them from the hands of their oppressors. The people of Israel remembered this mighty, powerful act of God as their great redemption story. How their faithful God was faithful to an unfaithful people, and in His great love and kindness, rescued them, redeemed them out from slavery to bring them into a land of milk and honey. This was their great redemption story. Even in the midst of despair the psalmist declares

“Your ways, God, are holy. What god is as great as our God? You are the God who performs miracles; you display your power among the peoples. With your mighty arm you redeemed your people, the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.”

Psalm 77:13-15

This was their salvation song.

As we come to Christmas and also the end of our series ‘Whispers of Redemption’ we see a baby in a manger. A helpless little child, born into a broken world, that is fallen and captive to the oppression of sin and death. Who is this child? This is our great redemption story. This is the story that we sing about like the psalmist, of how God in His great love and kindness, redeemed us out of the bonds of slavery and the yoke of sin and death by His death and resurrection on the cross. This child who came to give life, life in its fullest measure! This is our salvation song.

May we, even in the midst of the hustle and bustle of December’s Christmas season, like the psalmist, always remember our redeemer and our salvation song. “There is a Redeemer, Jesus God’s own Son, precious Lamb of God, Messiah, Holy One.”

There was a reason why God chose David to take over from King Saul whose decisions and conduct were often marked by disobedience to the LORD. And so God sent Samuel to say: But now your kingdom will not endure; the LORD has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him leader of his peo- ple, because you have not kept the LORD’s command.” (1 Samuel 13:14). So David, the man after God’s own heart, became king over the people of God.

And while King David kept in humble heart contact with God, he experienced the blessing of God. As he wrote in Psalm 26:2-3:

"Test me, O LORD, and try me, examine my heart and my mind; for your love is ever before me, and I walk continually in your truth."

Is that not also the secret of victorious Christian living for you and me – persistently to allow our God to examine our hearts and minds, to keep His love before us, and to walk continually in His truth?

But King David was as human as the rest of us and there is the well-known episode in which his heart strayed and he fell into the sins of adultery compounded by murder. We all know how the prophet Nathan was sent by God to reprove him and how David was both convicted and repentant. Psalm 51 records his prayer of confession and repentance, but note verse 10, the central verse of that Psalm:

"Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me."

Sin will not be defeated in our lives until our hearts are pure and our spirits steadfast. Then, and only then, can we live as men and women after God’s own heart.

There are so many people that come before the courts and plead for mercy, claiming that their actions were engaged in without thinking and out of character. I am sure we have also all seen someone “explode” in anger at some perceived wrong committed against them. These are both examples of how undisciplined and instant reactions can lead to regret, sin and damage to our Christian witness.

The danger of instant and unchecked reactions to a perceived wrong was a lesson that David learned in his own life. In 1 Samuel 25 we read that David learned that he was the victim of an insult. He reacted in anger and intended to take the life of Nabal because of his insult.

But God was gracious and used Nabal’s wife, Abigail, to remind David that God did not need his help to effect justice, that he needed a proper perspective of the incident in the context of his calling to be the next king of Israel and that “two wrongs don’t make a right”.

David was grateful for the Lord’s intervention that prevented something he would have regretted for the rest of his life. We also need to be determined to live without regrets and discipline ourselves not to react instantly. We need to restrain any desire we have to react instantly to a perceived wrong but rather seek God’s prompting and leading in respect of how best to deal with the wrong. Instant reaction shuts God out and doesn’t allow a Godly response to being wronged.

Having the right perspective is essential to properly assessing any particular situation. If you get this wrong then it is amazing how many wrong assumptions and actions can flow from it. Ever had that experience?

The Bible encourages us to have the right perspective of what God wants from us. Often we fall into the trap of immediately thinking of actions, achievements and the like when we think of what is pleasing to Him.

While these may be part of His purposes, this is not where it starts. It starts with our character. Anything else after that is up to God. Samuel had to learn this lesson when he was choosing the second king of Israel to follow King Saul. As Samuel saw each of David's brothers he was impressed by their external appearances and thought they were each in turn to be the next king of Israel. This was not the case and he was reminded that God looks not at the externals but at the heart (see 1 Samuel 16:7). After all, King Saul had an impressive physical presence but he had been a disappointing failure as a king.

While David was the youngest of Jesse’s sons and not even initially presented to Samuel, his heart was one that was pleasing to God. Even at this early stage in David’s life God had already commended him as being a man "after his own heart" (1 Samuel 13:14). David’s depth of character "shouts out" from the many Psalms that he authored. This depth of character was developed and shaped by the many periods of solitude and obscurity when he was away shepherding his father’s flock. It was this depth of character that would later be demonstrated in his fearless defeat of the giant Goliath.

Don’t be fooled by how you have managed your external appearance. Fundamentally, God is concerned with your character and it is the quality of your character that He looks for. May this be a lesson we all take time to consider.

To be witnesses, and to go.

After Jesus had risen from the dead he gave his disciples which we in our generation also accept as his command to us that we are to “go and make disciples of all nations”. Matthew 28:19. In the context of this statement by Jesus He advised us that we do so by His authority which is supreme. Indeed as we read in 1 Corinthians 8:6 that, “It is through Jesus that all things come to us and it is through Him that we live our lives as Christians”.

To make disciples – what does that mean? Clearly it does not mean only that we preach to people, but rather, we nurture people and mentor them in the Christian faith. Our most important responsibility in this is to be an authentic example. We are to be like the apostle Paul, who in 1 Corinthians 11:1 wrote, “Follow my example as I follow the example of Christ”. Therefore, we are to teach disciples to obey all of Christ’s commands. Incidentally, one of the commands of Jesus our Master and our Lord is to love one another and that will be a statement to the watching world that we are His disciples.

In this context of going and being witnesses we have received a statement of fact in Acts 1:8 when Jesus said, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses (wherever you are)”. We are to be witnesses in our home situation, in our local community, in our local church, in our own society and wherever else God leads us to go in Christ’s name.

Therefore, to be a church which goes out means that we cannot be a social club, a holy huddle, a people that thinks what is best for us and nothing else. We need to remember that Christ Himself left His Father and became a human being and lived among us, not separated from us, and not distant from us, but He became one with us. Surely He is our great example.

It is clear from Scripture that we are to reach others in order to disciple them which includes meeting their needs, especially when they have limited resources and are in distress.

I believe that when we look upward to worship God and to exalt Christ and when we look outward in discipling and service that we will grow in our personal Christian lives and in our Christian community life as a local church.

Throughout history the church has gathered together to praise and worship God; to pray, teach and encourage one another, no matter the circumstances. Whether meeting in secret places to avoid the persecuting authorities, or in house churches scattered across a nation, to huge gatherings of thousands publicly declaring their praise - the church has always sought to gather together to give glory to our marvellous God.

We at West Pennant Hills Community Church are part of a lineage of followers of Christ that have gathered together throughout the ages to glorify our God. It is not our gathering together that makes us Christians, it’s not the way that we gather together that makes us followers of Christ, but it is the object of our gatherings that matters.

As we reflected on last week, we are reflectors of the Glory of God. We are made in the image of God and are bearers of His glory. This is something that we DO because of what we ARE.

Again, when it comes to gathering to the glory of God, this is something that we DO because of what we ARE.

We gather together to the glory of God. The gathering of the Church is varied, diverse, and happens all over the world at different times, places and ways…but all to the Glory of God.

Today we open the series “God’s Vision for our Church”. In approaching this subject we will follow two strands as a reflection of the fact that the church is made up of individuals and through God’s empowerment it becomes a synergistic whole.

Individually we live our everyday lives with an influence on all we contact; and then when we gather as a Church, we have a combined impact.

Of course there must be a consistency between our everyday activity and our Church life. Scripture speaks about it this way.

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

1 Corinthians 10:31

When it comes to our gathering, Ephesians gives us some clues:

in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.

1:12

And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

2:22

to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

3:21

As a Church we believe we have an outstanding glorious God and so a natural outcome of our coming together should be an overwhelming corporate outpouring of praise and worship.

However this outpouring of glory to God does not come through the flicking of a switch as we come together, but rather it is meant to be a total lifestyle in which each of us continually bring glory to God. The psalmist sees it this way:

Sing to the LORD, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day.

Psalm 96:2

Declare his glory among the nations, his marvellous deeds among all peoples.

Psalm 96:3

So when it comes to God’s glory His vision is that we should display the wonders of our Lord Jesus Christ both in and out of our gatherings. In essence a 24/7 reflection.

Do you remember that first diamond you bought or owned?

Probably it was associated with an engagement ring. As others were given the opportunity to view that glistening rock, there would have been differences in the way it was viewed. Some may have been wondering about its cost, others would simply acknowledge that is was pretty, and of course all would observe the sparkle.

For full effect the stone had to be viewed in good light. Without light and viewers, the dazzle has no value, even though the actual stone might be priceless. The work of our Lord Jesus Christ is priceless. He gave everything so that we may be eternally connected with Him. Not only was the work of the Lord Jesus Christ valuable but he was seen to be radiant.

The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

Hebrews1:3

Everyone is able to perceive the brilliance of the glory of our God, through Christ.

The individual Christian has the privilege, something like wearing a diamond ring, to also display the brilliance of God.

And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

2 Corinthians 3:18 18

This month we open the series “God’s Vision for our Church” and it all starts with the fact that it is God’s vision for us all to display His glory, 24/7.

I love growing veggies. For a few years now Felicity and I have enjoyed getting our hands dirty in the garden, weeding, feeding, mulching and preparing soil for growing stuff, stuff we can eat. I’ve got to say, I’m not interested in growing flowers and the like (apparently that’s quite typically male); if I can’t eat it, or use it somehow to enhance my food then I’m not bothered by it (unless it brings bees to then pollinate my pumpkins). And as much as I enjoy the preparation process, it has to be said that the best part comes when we get to harvest the veggies and serve them up. I just love it! Whether it’s just in my head or not, there’s nothing better than plucking off some cherry tomatoes to throw in a salad, or digging up some new potatoes to roast up or snipping off some herbs for a pasta; it’s brilliant! And it’s so fulfilling, both in the process of garden to table and the overall whole experience.

In John 4:35 Jesus tells us to “open [our] eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for the harvest”. In a world that is lost in darkness, helpless without God’s grace, and thirsty for truth and love, Jesus bursts in as the light of the world, as the hope for all nations and as the true living water that alone can fill us with His light and love.

As good as my fresh new potatoes might be, the process in my garden of growing and harvesting and eating is no comparison to doing the ‘harvesting and eating’ of God’s will. Jesus said that His (real) food was to do the will of God by declaring that He is the ‘living water’ who alone can quench the soul of our thirsty world.

For those of us who believe this, we are sent into this lost world to declare this good news. But we are not sent alone; Jesus says that He is with us. Not only is He with us but He goes before us, stirring people with His Spirit to seek Him.

James 2:26 says, “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead”. This has been part of a controversial section of the Bible that has at times been misused to promote a ‘Works based faith’. In other words, we are only saved by what WE DO. Is this how the Christian faith works?

Micah 6:4-5 reminds the Israelites of the LORD’s saving grace. When His people were enslaved in Egypt, He heard their cries and redeemed them from the land of slavery. He led them and freed them that they may know the righteous acts of the LORD. In other words that they would see that He was gracious, compassionate, full of mercy and love. What did the LORD ask for in response? Verses 6-7 asks this very question. “With what shall I come before the LORD and bow down before the exalted one?” Burnt offerings, thousands of rams, ten thousand rivers of oil? Even ones own irstborn???...No! Micah 6:8 answers with, “He has shown all you people what is good, and what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

The LORD wants His people to humbly walk with Him, to enjoy the kind of relationship that is demonstrated and pictured perfectly from the beginning of creation in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 2 which is only possible through Jesus. But out of that saving work of God, out of that relationship comes a heart that beats in time with His, a heart that acts justly and loves mercy.

I pray that in WPHCC we are both walking humbly with our God AND acting justly and desiring to see mercy prevail.

Count Zinzendorf, the founder of the Moravians (dedicated to world mission and restoration of apostolic community), was converted in an art gallery in Dusseldorf while reflecting on a painting of Christ on the cross which had the inscription, "I did this for thee. What hast thou done for me?" This picture had been painted by an artist three hundred years before. When he had finished his first sketch of the face of the Redeemer, this artist called in his landlady's little daughter and asked her who she thought it was. The girl looked at it and said, "It is a good man." The artist knew that he had failed. He destroyed the first sketch and, after praying for greater skill, finished a second. Again he called the little girl in and asked her to tell him whom she thought the face represented. This time the girl said that she thought it looked like someone in great suffering. Again the painter knew that he had failed, and again he destroyed the sketch he had made. After meditation and prayer, he made a third sketch. When it was finished, he called the girl in a third time and asked her who it was. Looking at the portrait, the girl exclaimed, "It is the Lord!"

What the little girl said gives the coming of Christ the correct meaning: not that a good man came, not that a wise teacher came, not that a great sufferer came, but that God came. Immanuel, God with us.

Let us reflect and contemplate again and again on the love of God for us. “Amazing love! How can it be, that Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?”

"The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners , of whom I am the foremost."

1 Timothy 1:15

• Some Christians are like wheelbarrows, not good unless pushed.
• Some are like canoes, they have to be paddled.
• Some are like kites, if you don't keep a string on them, they fly away.
• Some are like kittens, they are more contented when petted.
• Some are like balloons, full of wind and likely to blow up unless handled carefully.
• Some are like trailers, no good unless pulled.
• Some are like buzzards, they "get wind" of a foul smell and come quickly.
• Some are filled with the Holy Spirit, and thank God for these!

What kind am I? If I am completely honest, I will have to say all of the above. I am one or more kinds depending on what or who I am faced with. Observe that all the categories above, except the last, describes Christians who are concerned with what pleases them. Although I do not believe scripture tells us to be selfless, as compared to selfish, however, it does exhort us to be unselfish, always thinking of the other person before thinking of ourselves. It also tells us to be matured in our faith. Maturity needs hard work. It needs weathering the storms of life, fighting to keep our heads above the waves. Most impor- tantly, it needs discipline and perseverance. It needs God's grace. May the Holy Spirit grant us these things as He sanctifies us everyday.

"And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves"

Ephesians 4:11-14a

Some of Jesus’ final words on earth were,

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age”

(Matthew 20:18-20).

As a church, this is our call – command, really – to mission. To go.

It’s easy to view this command as “go overseas, go cross cultural, go somewhere other than where you are now.” As a church, we do that pretty well; we have a number of long term missionaries who we support in their work in and for other countries, as well as all the short term missions our people go on.

But I understand that the phrase is more accurately, “as you are going.” In other words, “You already go. You go to work. You go to school. You go to your friend’s house. You go to your extended family. And so, as you are going to these places, make disciples.”

Not many of us are called to go on overseas mission. But all of us are called to be on mission as we are going in our lives.

So... where do you go? And as you go, are you obeying God’s command to be making disciples of Jesus Christ, our great and glorious Saviour?

As I write this Australians are on the eve of a federal election. In fact by the time you’re reading this we will know the outcome of that election. But it strikes me that even before one box has been ticked, before one ballot paper has been counted, before any decisions have been made, God has already determined the outcome.

But what if the party that’s been elected doesn’t look favourably on the Christian faith? What if the Prime Minister isn’t a Christian? What if the Prime Minister is a Christian? Are we to expect an advancement of the Gospel as a result?

I don’t know these answers but…our God is in control!

The early church thrived under a government that was determined to stop the spread of the gospel and Christianity through threat and persecution, yet the good news of Jesus Christ spread across the world as lives were changed and the church grew and grew. Why? God was in control!

Nothing’s changed. The Gospel’s the same and our God is still in control. We ticked our boxes, we placed our ballot papers, we made our decisions, but God determined the outcome. Our call to follow Christ is still the same today as it was on Friday. The gospel hasn’t changed. It isn’t determined by who our Prime Minister is and which party was elected, it’s determined by our Lord and Saviour and true “Prime Minister”, Jesus Christ.

May the Gospel of Jesus Christ continue to grow and thrive in us, and through us as we declare that our God is in control, no matter what!

The nature of the kingdom of God was rather a puzzle for the disciples. Jesus had announced it, described the characteristics He expected from those who were members of it, told the people that it was among (within) them, and provided the surpassing righteousness which was necessary for entering it.

We believe that, though we are in this world, as believers we are part of the kingdom of God. So my question this week is, “Do I really enjoy living in the Kingdom of God, having fellowship all through the week with the King and with my fellow-citizens?” or “Do I just visit the Kingdom on Sundays and perhaps fleetingly during the rest of the week?”

Are we really living in His kingdom, or just visitors? Regular visitors perhaps, but only visitors?

Living in His kingdom demands allegiance to the King and obedience to the command-ments of His kingdom as outlined in the New Testament and perhaps especially in Matthew 5, 6 and 7.

Living in His kingdom also involves fellowship with our fellow citizens – the saints:

• Who may be different, but with us are “one body”
• Whom we are to love, honour, serve, support, comfort, encourage . . . .
• Whom we are to accept and care for
• Whom we are not to grumble against
• Whose burdens we are to bear as they bear ours
• Whose gifts we are to affirm
• Whom we are to be concerned about

And we are to do all this with humility!

Tim Keller summarises this in part by calling us to share our space, our goods and our time.

Am I living in the Kingdom of Heaven in fellowship with all the saints?

As we continue through the Gospel In Life series, tonight we come to the topic of idola-try. It probably seems like an odd topic for us to address; after all, as Christians, we don’t bow down and worship a false god.

Or do we?

Tim Keller, in his book Counterfeit Gods, writes that an idol is anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give. That covers a whole host of things, including very good things, things like work, comfort, sex, money, power and influence, hobbies, doctrinal correctness, relationships, sport and fitness, etc, etc. As he says, the greater the good, the more likely we are to expect that it can satisfy our deepest needs and hopes.

So we need to be honest with ourselves: we do have idols in our hearts. The question is, what do we do with them? Do we keep on worshipping them? Do we try to change our behaviour? Or do we let the gospel change the fundamental orientation of our heart?

We need to turn from the false gods and back to the true God. We must repent and learn to rejoice in Jesus, recognising how He gives us so much more fully and graciously and suitably the very things we are looking for elsewhere.

With the election imminent and political news and discussion dominating the media, perhaps we could raise a question.

We live in a post-Christian democracy where political decisions are made with little, if any, reference to the Word of God. The church, by and large, is regarded as obsolete, ineffectual and not fit to have any say or effect on secular contemporary culture.

The early Christians lived in an oppressive autocracy with no Christian heritage, even fading or faded, of biblical values – and yet they “turned the world upside down” (as the KJV translates Acts 17:6) or “upset the world” as the literal meaning of the word is. It was obvious that instead of acting according to the decrees of Caesar they “obeyed another King, Jesus.”

How and why did they affect the culture – an effect that rapidly spread throughout the Roman empire?

It was not through political means. Was it because they went everywhere “gossipping the gospel” and doing good works?

Is there a lesson here for us?

Many people in our society would view the church as just another community group. It is possible that some may see it like a sports club where a group of people with similar interests come together each week. Others may view the church like a charity where people go and give to help others. And even others may see the church as a lobby group trying to influence society to align with our views?

But what about us in the church? How do we see ourselves? Well we may see the church as a place where we catch up with friends or have the opportunity to serve God or learn more and worship God. While all of those things may be true the New Testament regularly refers to the church as being a family of God. Jesus refers to those that do God's will to be his brother and sister and mother in Mark 3. In 1 Timothy 5, Paul urges Timothy to treat other people in the church like he would members of his immediate family. And throughout the New Testament we read of believers referring to each other as brothers and sisters.

We continue to use this language in the church to this day, but is it equally reflected in our language? Often the way we interact with each other is closer to a social or sports club than it is to a loving family. We need to learn how to love our spiritual families from the way that good biological families show love to each other.

'Little children, let us not love in word or talk, but in deed and in truth'

1 John 3:18.

Many times we are caught in the trap of running to extremes. God's will has been revealed and needs to be understood the way God intended it to be.

The Pharisees had this problem. They even had everyday life defined to the point where it was hard for a person to live. On the Sabbath day, they had problems with different concepts such as "work." On the Sabbath you were to cease from work, and the Pharisees decided to define what God intended by this.

Here are a few examples:

1. You could not turn over in bed more than seven times or that was considered work.
2. If you wanted to borrow something from your neighbour, you could not put your hand through the threshold of the door to receive it, nor could the neighbour do that. This would be considered work. If you both met halfway, it was not considered work.

For the sake of their definitions which they had made law, their extremes, the Pharisees made void the Word of God. We laugh at the Pharisees and wonder how they could have been so ignorant. But if Jesus were here physically today, what would He say of us? Let us not run to extremes; let us seek what God intended and do it. Either extreme of a truth is no longer truth.

(From A Treasury of Bible Illustrations)

So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God.

Matthew 15:6

At the 9:30am service this morning we’re looking into "The Joy of Giving". During our service we’ll look at two characteristics of God for our praise and worship.

Firstly, He is sovereignly God, a firm and unshakable foundation, who was and is and is to come, He is our solid rock. So when it comes to our giving and our money, it should be Him and not our money that we depend upon.

Secondly, He is a generous God. He gives us everything, including Himself upon a cross and so nothing that we have should be held back from Him in return, whether that's our money, our time, our lives or anything that we have. This was the way of our Lord, Jesus Christ!

So that's the journey of the first service today. Let's pray that our gathering brings glory to God and that we come away challenged and changed because of who He is and what He's done.

‘And they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God's will. So we urged Titus, since he had earlier made a beginning, to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part. But just as you excel in everything - in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us see that you also excel in this grace of giving.
I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.’

2 Corinthians 8:6-9

In Christ,

When you work with wood, there is usually some measure of imperfection in each piece of timber that you use. Some will try and avoid that imperfection, or perhaps cover it up. Others will stubbornly work in spite of that imperfection. The sign of a master woodworker, however, is that he or she is able to take that imperfection and incorporate it into the beauty of the overall design.

God is the ultimate master craftsman. He takes our weaknesses and turns them into his strengths; he creates beauty out of ugliness; he uses our imperfections to accomplish his perfect will. And in doing so, he demonstrates his glory. Paul knew this:

'But [the Lord] said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.'

2 Cor 12:9-10

Don't be afraid of your weaknesses; pray that God will use them as an opportunity to show his power. Don't pray for the removal of hardships, persecutions or difficulties (Paul tried this - read 2 Corinthians 12:1-10). Instead, pray that God will bring glory to himself through them as he has promised - this is what is meant by ‘the hope of the glory of God’ (Rom 5:2-3).

And when you do, he will make a thing of great beauty out of you.

Hi, my name is Tim. I am a husband and father. I am a 29-year-old man and thus, if he were feeling kind, our resident demographer, Mark McCrindle, might describe me as a Generation X/Y crossover. (If feeling less kind, he would probably just call me ‘confused’, and leave it at that!) I am a software engineer, and at the same time I am a Bible college student. I enjoy listening to and playing music. I am a geek and a nerd, all rolled up in one over-sized package. I am an extroverted introvert, or perhaps an introverted extrovert - I’m not really sure!

One thing I am sure of: I am a Christian. But what kind of Christian am I? Are there different kinds of Christians? And if there are, is there value in knowing what the differences are? I believe that there is, since it helps us to describe our beliefs to others, as the apostle Peter commands (1 Peter 3:15).

This, in turn, promotes unity. Think back over the things I have just told you about myself. Which ones most helped you to know me better? Probably the ones that you and I have in common, right? When we find we hold things in common with others, it helps to bring us closer to one another. It also helps to anchor our beliefs to what is important, and so stop us from drifting away.

Tonight we start a three week series exploring some of the most important anchors of the Christian church over the last 2000 years, and in the process explain what it means to be a protestant, reformed, evangelical Christian.

As God is the God of all grace, when Jesus came to Earth as Immanuel God with us, we saw God’s revelation of Himself. As we read in John 1:14, “The Word became flesh and lived for a while among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

We sing about the amazing grace of God but I suggest that God’s grace is more than amazing because I believe we can never plumb the depths of His grace. It is indeed indescribable, unexplainable and we are so thankful for it. To think or imagine that the Holy God could come to this world of sin and allow Himself to be taken by His own creation, and humiliated and crucified to die an ignominious death.

When we consider the splendour of God as He reveals Himself through His creation and as we learn of His awesome power and majesty, we are in awe of His greatness, His holiness and His power. In the book of Job we read many stories of the almightiness of our God, of His infinitude as we read in Job 37:22, 23, “God comes in awesome majesty. The Almighty is beyond our reach and exalted in power.” How great is our God!

What is our response to our God and His grace? Clearly our response must be that of worship. That worship will show itself in adoration, praise, honour, glory and thankfulness. It will show itself in humbling ourselves before our mighty God and seeking to do His will. The words of Jesus show us the way to go. “Not my will but your will be done”. Then in practical everyday life within the church and within our wider life experience, we will seek to be like Jesus by God’s grace and live a life of love which will show itself in forgiveness, in service, and in putting the interest of others ahead of our own.

When we consider God’s Word we need to remember that we are dealing with truth unchanged, unchanging. God’s Word is eternal, God’s Word is true, God’s Word reveals His Person to us. In the Bible we read of God’s person, purposes and power. The Bible and its teachings are what we need in all areas in life and godliness.

In our humanity we may well have different interpretations that may be based on our own positions, experiences, training and prejudices. At such times as we have differing views from our fellow Christians we need to be careful not to be judgemental. When we come to a point where we believe that we have the total truth and that everything that we say is the only way to view the Bible, we are on dangerous ground. Each of us can understand this when we realise some of the different views that we now hold compared with those views we held earlier in our lives.

As Kevin Dyer once wrote in a booklet, for Christians there are the fundamentals and there are the priorities and there are the preferences. On the fundamentals, the Bible is clear and unequivocal. On those points our beliefs should be held in common. On other matters we have priorities where we give distinct priority to certain understandings and interpretations. In addition to that each of us or groups of us have different preferences.

For us I trust the Bible is the inherent Word of God. The revelation that He has provided for us by which we respond to Him in worship and through the service of others through loving one another. For us we believe that Jesus Christ is the One and Only Son of God who died for our sins and has provided a way of salvation through faith. It is on this grace and hope that we rest and through which we have fellowship with our brothers and sisters. Overall we acknowledge God’s sovereignty as revealed in His Word and we seek to be Christ’s followers in order to glorify God in all of life.

The prophet Elisha had made himself an enemy – the king of Syria. Elisha had thwarted the plans of the Syrian king in his warring against Israel, so he wanted to take Elisha out of the picture. “So he sent there [the city of Dothan, where Elisha was] horses and chariots and a great army, and they came by night and surrounded the city.”

The following day, Elisha’s servant went out for his early morning walk and saw the great army arrayed against the city. Understandably, he was fearful for his life, asking his master “What shall we do?” Elisha reassures him, saying “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”

I’m sure the servant looked around at that point... and failing to see any army of Israel’s to defend against the Syrians, he probably wondered about the sanity of the man he was serving! Maybe the overwhelming sight of the enemy had done something to his mind?

But Elisha prayed for his servant, that his eyes would be open to see what Elisha saw. “So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.”

The story continues and in the end, peace is made between Syria and Israel (see 2 Kings ch. 6). But don’t miss two important things:

Firstly, Elisha was aware that there is more than just flesh and blood. There is a spiritual reality that should not – must not – be ignored.

Secondly, Elisha was also aware that “those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” In the spiritual reality, God has the supremacy and the victory. Let us then fight in his strength, with his power.

One of the great things about the Bible is that it unapologetically tells the real story of the people of God. It is not a biased memoir, telling only the good stories and the great successes; rather, it is a true revelation, showing us the heroes of the faith in all their glory... and in all their failure.

This morning as we look at some teaching on the topic of parenting, consider the examples of Eli and Samuel. Eli was the priest of God, a good and godly man, but the Scriptures tell us that his sons “were worthless men. They did not know the Lord” (1 Samuel 2:12). The account goes on to say that Eli knew exactly what his sons were up to – sleeping around, exploiting the people, seeking their own gain, making light of God. And as an old man, he finally says something to them, “But they would not listen to the voice of their father” (1 Samuel 2:22-25).

Well then Samuel grew up seeing all of this, so you would think he would, in his own parenting, seek to do it differently to Eli. But we read, “When Samuel became old, he made his sons judges over Israel... Yet his sons did not walk in his ways but turned aside after gain. They took bribes and perverted justice” (1 Samuel 8:1,3).

See, the Bible is real and honest about life. And it recounts stories such as these not as a permission to fail, not as an excuse to sin, but as examples to us:

“Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did.”

1 Corinthians 10:6

“Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction.”

1 Corinthians 10:11

So let’s keep these examples in mind as we come to the teaching of the Word of God today, and let them have their intended effect: to encourage us away from sin and to positively instruct us towards godliness. And let us remember too that God’s grace is sufficient to turn our failures to his good purposes for his glory and praise.

Well it’s that wonderful day again when we celebrate our mothers.

Our mother’s have many great attributes. Coca-Cola recognised that in giving a well known energy drink the name- Mother. Unlike our mums, the original drink required a taste modification and now after a re-launch, this aspect has improved.

Motherhood has always reflected good taste and the big question is why? Indisputably, mum is mum, because she is dedicated to the task by her great love and this makes relating to her, just so easy.

Today in our various services we will hear about real relationships and this will cover learning from Ephesians chapter five, Jeremiah and our “One Another” series.

No matter which service we attend, there is a common thread, as expressed in the following verse:

Ephesians 5:30 “… we are members of His body”

Believing Christians, no matter what race, denomination or meeting habit, have a common love source and direction. As we heard a few weeks back we are to “live a life of love, just as Christ loved us” Ephesians 5:2.

Just as mum is the flavour of the day, so we are called to always be in flavour.

Matthew 5:13 "You are the salt of the earth…”.

Unlike the original drink can of Mother, we are to be known for our authentic good flavour by our attitudes one to the other. Jesus prayed about this in John chapter seventeen.

“Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”(v21).

Have you ever known anyone who regretted that he/she was ever born? There was one who did and also cried out:

• Oh, my anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain.
• Oh, the agony of my heart!
• Is any suffering like my suffering.
• I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.
• I have been deprived of peace and forgotten what prosperity is like.
• I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall.
• My soul is downcast within me.

Our expectations of such a person would probably not amount to much; but in the case of Jeremiah, who goes on record as having uttered as above, we know that he was a great man.

When we consider Jeremiah what do we concentrate on, his weaknesses or accomplishments. What about what he said in the third chapter of the book of Lamentations, verses twenty to twenty five?

".. my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him. The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him;"

Would we be so focussed on his weaknesses that we dare to say of him - pity about his faults for they render him ineffective for God?

You know that is just what some Christians do when they consider others. They pull others down in defiance of the fact that God has made and deeply loves each individual.

As is emerging in the teaching in our Services, whether it be 9.30am, 11.15am or 5.30pm, there is a real need for us to further develop godly attitudes, one to the other.

Let us be those who continue to concentrate on God’s love and power so that we develop His perspective in our lives rather than pick fault with each other.

At the centre of all we believe is the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. From a worldly perspective it is absurd that the horrific execution of a man named Jesus would be so significant. Yet it is through this one event that our sin and rebellion is forgiven, that we have relationship with the one true living God, and that we have the hope of eternal life.

However our lives are so often caught up on the day to day tasks that consume so much of our time. This transformational event of the cross becomes an accepted fact in our otherwise busy lives.

So what a tremendous act of grace that Jesus, before His death instituted the Lord’s Supper. At the last meal with His disciples, with the knowledge of imminent betrayal, Jesus broke the bread and took the cup telling us to ‘do this in remembrance of me’ (John 22:19). We are called to regularly remember Him through this simple yet profound act.

That central truth hits us afresh as we look at “Doubting” Thomas on those two Sundays at Jerusalem. May we remember that the same Lord Jesus Christ actively loves us too.

On the resurrection Sunday evening, Thomas is missing from the upper room. Afterwards, the other ten disciples eagerly tell him that the Lord is risen. He spends the rest of the week still in doubt, depressed and unconvinced. But the next Sunday there is the God of Love, active, seeking his best, standing in front of Thomas, hands and side displayed. Yes, Jesus loved doubting Thomas. What a testimony! “My Lord and my God!”

The result? Thomas obeyed his Master’s orders. Go, make disciples, baptise, teach. He soon went East and planted Christian churches in Parthia (Iran), then sailed to the east coast of India (Malabar) arriving in Kerala in AD 49 where he was killed as a martyr for Christ around AD60. He left a legacy of many churches in the Chennai (Madras) area which continue to witness today. They supported Franklin Graham’s Gospel Crusade just two months ago, in the very place where Thomas planted the seed.

May the same risen and loving Saviour become so real to us that we, too, are changed and live lives that leave an Eternal legacy.

How many fights have been started by the use of a wrong word?

It’s hard to imagine that the word “love” would be involved as a prerequisite of war, but there is a sense in the Christian context where this is true.

Shortly in our Ephesians series we will come to the concept of equipping ourselves for warfare.

Ephesians 6:10 Finally, be strong in the Lord ……
Ephesians 6:11 Put on the full armour of God ……

It is interesting to note that before we come to donning the gear of battle, according to the following verse, love is to totally pervade our lives.

Ephesians 5:2 … live a life of love

Scripture is adamant that before we are able to do anything in the battle of life we are to be filled with love.

As we think of Anzac Day in a couple of weeks, and the many heroes of our fighting forces, let’s pose this question. How battle ready would a soldier be, no matter how well he or she is trained and equipped, if there was no love of country? The answer is obvious!

Before we are able to strike a blow in our Christian lives we must be totally motivated by our love for God and each other.

Ephesians 5:2 live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver... “Who said anything about safe? Course he isn't safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”

This quote from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis reveals a lot about God. He’s not safe, as the Scriptures readily bear out. But He’s good.

A safe God would never enter into human history as a weak and dependent baby. A safe God would never leave the realms of glory and live in the midst of a broken, sinful humanity. A safe God would never entrust His mission for the world in the hands of twelve ordinary men. A safe God would never challenge religious hypocrisy or demand total and singular allegiance to Himself.

A safe God would never allow Himself to be nailed to a cross, especially not on behalf of the humanity that have rejected Him and continuously sin against Him.

But a good God would.

A good God would make “Him [Jesus] who had no sin be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

The God we remember and celebrate at Easter is far from safe… but He is good.

The letter to the Ephesians provides us with a powerful insight into the Christian life. In the first three chapters Paul provides for us an overview of the tremendous privilege that it is for us to be ‘in Christ’. In these chapters we were reminded that we have been blessed ‘with every spiritual blessing’ (Eph 1:3), ‘made alive in Christ’ (Eph 2:5) and ‘you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ’ (Eph 2:13).

The second half of the letter then reminds us of our response to these tremendous riches that have been bestowed on us. In Ephesians 4:17 Paul exhorts us ‘to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness.’ He then proceeds to list a range of sins that we are called to avoid. It is critical for us to recognise that the need to avoid sin is not in order to obtain God’s favour (we already have received it as expounded in chapters 1-3). Rather our desire to avoid sin should come in response to God’s grace extended to us. This should not minimise the need and desire to avoid sin, but should make it even stronger.

For those of us who appreciate poetry, here is one to reflect on:

Beginning Anew

He came to my desk with quivering lip;
The lesson was done...
"Have you a new leaf for me, dear Teacher?
I have spoiled this one!"
I took his leaf, all soiled and blotted,
And gave him a new one, all unspotted;
Then into his tired heart I smiled:
"Do better now, my child!"

I went to the throne with trembling heart;
The day was done.
"Have you a new day for me, dear Master?
I have spoiled this one!"
He took my day, all soiled and blotted,
And gave me a new one, all unspotted;
Then into my tired heart He smiled:
"Do better now, my child!"

Kathleen Wheeler

A cartoon in the New Yorker magazine showed a frustrated father saying to his prodigal son, “This is the fourth time we’ve killed the fatted calf.” Aren’t you glad God the Father does this over and over again in our lifetime? We can trust in His steadfast love because of who He is and because of His past mercies to us.

Lamentations 3:22-23 (ESV)

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
His mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
Great is your faithfulness.

For us as Christians the Bible teaches very frequently, very strongly, and very clearly, that hope through hope is to be our experience in this life. This assurance means that as Christians we view the world and our circumstances differently from those who are without hope and without God in their world. We need to remember that at one time we were just like that ourselves. There are several keys to understanding the Christian hope:

1. Our hope is in God, Psalm 39:7.
2. Our hope is in God’s Word Psalm 119:147.

In the Bible we read that we are those who have hope of eternal life, Titus 1:2. We are told that we have Christ in us, the hope of glory, Colossians 1:27. In 1 Timothy 1:1 we read that Jesus Christ is our hope.

So in these passages we are reminded that the hope we have is for life and eternity. Therefore, we experience now, and at the same time, we look forward to the fulfilment of that hope.

We are also taught in Ephesians 4:4 that as Christian believers we have the one hope that is our hope, that is a common hope because of our faith, and when we think of the importance of faith and love we realise how important also is Christian hope when we read 1 Corinthians 13:13, “Now these three remain: faith, HOPE and love.”

The lessons that we can take from this understanding of Christian hope is that we can live lives of peace and joy. We also learn that we should share this message with those who live without hope and therefore, we will be sharing God’s truth with others and showing this hope in action in our Christian lives.

Finally, we have a beautiful prayer from the Apostle Paul in Romans 15:13, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

One of the strengths of the reformation was the renewed understanding of the concept of ‘by faith alone’. It is clear from the Scriptures that to be in right relationship with God we need to be people of faith.

In Hebrews 11:6 we read ‘and without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.’

In Ephesians 2:8-9 we read, ‘For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast.’

Again we read in Romans 1:17 - ‘For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”’

In all of these Scriptures we learn the importance in coming to God by faith in Jesus Christ as our Saviour.

However, faith is not a one off experience, faith needs to be exercised, renewed and continued. We need to have constant faith, strong and powerful faith and a faith that is with us in the struggles as well as the joys of life.

Sadly it appears that some Christians emphasise almost exclusively the point of coming to faith. However, the Word of God is clear that we are to walk by faith and therefore being people of faith should be the pattern of Christian life.

I remember reading a book titled “Is your God too small?”. It is one that has always stuck with me and represents a solemn warning for all of us to avoid. This same warning is found in Psalm 50:21 where we read:

“These things you have done and I kept silent; you thought I was altogether like you. But I will rebuke you and accuse you to your face.”

In Genesis 6 we see that Noah had a faith that built an ark. Let’s not forget that this was a faith that built the ark when Noah had not seen rain or a flood and did not know when the flood would come. He also built the ark in the face of opposition from the community. That is why he is commended as one of our great cloud of witnesses in Hebrews 11:7 which says:

“By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family.”

To have faith that builds an ark we need to make sure that we have not brought God down to earth, in other words, limited Him to our own experience. If Noah had done this then the ark would never have been built! Take some time to think about how you are relating to God and whether you have made “your God too small”.

History is not simply about the past. It has a present day impact which is often captured by the phrase “history repeats itself”. This is true at both a national and individual level.

Have you recently taken time to consider the spiritual legacy that you are leaving to those with whom you interact? The reality is that we leave a legacy in the lives of those with whom we interact. The question is about the quality of what we leave behind. Do we leave a Godly example that will influence and shape others for good? Do we want our example to repeat itself in the lives of others just like history?

The account of Noah’s ancestors is one that shows how the Godly influence of others can shape a person’s character in God honouring ways. God worked through Noah’s ancestors to shape his character and prepare him to be a “hero” of faith as recorded in Scripture. Consider today whether you are prepared to take up the challenge of leaving a Godly legacy with each person with whom you interact. You never know how God will use this in the life of another.

We all know a lot about our Lord Jesus Christ – the Old Testament teaching about Him and the New Testament records of His birth, life, teachings, miracles, death, resurrection, ascension, present ministry, future ministry – and much more.

The questions that arise from our study this morning in Ephesians are:

• Do I KNOW HIM?
• Am I getting to KNOW HIM better?

Although we do not see Him, Paul prays that we may KNOW HIM in increasing measure, while Peter (in 1 Peter 1:8) adds to this the expected result – that we LOVE HIM!

The Ephesian believers had faith in the Lord Jesus, and love for all the saints, but Paul kept asking that they would know Him in increasing measure.

This included:

• Knowing the HOPE He brings – and we rejoice in the hope we have!
• Knowing the RICHES OF HIS INHERITANCE IN THE SAINTS – something we probably don’t fully understand now.
• Knowing POWER – the power that raised Jesus from the dead. What do we know of this?

From the consideration in Matthew 5 this morning we are challenged to be lights which burn brightly, ‘giving light to all in the house (the world around us)’. For this we need the power of God to do the good deeds which will bring glory and praise to our God and His Son in this world in which we live.

How much glory to God have I brought about this last week?

The western world sees them largely as irrelevant, followers of myths and legends, naïve, misguided, full of infighting among themselves and out of touch with the ‘real world’.

The Islamic world views them as infidels – “unbelievers” – who need to be destroyed.

The ‘third world’ perhaps doesn’t see them at all, except in those places where Christian believers have brought hope and light through the Gospel.

The early church had significant impact – those in the world complained that they “caused trouble all over the world” or, in the apt phrase used by translators of the Authorised Version, they “turned the world upside down”.

Have believers “lost there saltiness” and been “thrown out and trampled by people”?

HAVE WE LOST OUR FIRST LOVE?

What is ‘our first love’?

• Comfort and affluence?
• Fellowship with other like-minded believers?
• Standing up for what we perceive to be ‘church truth’?
• Peace and well-being?
• All of these?

Is our first love THE LORD JESUS CHRIST – the One who said “I have not come to bring peace but a sword” (Matthew 10:34)? Roland Croucher says, “the church does not realise how unethical a conventionally respectable life may be.”

If we have our first love as our real priority, we would be “salt of the earth” and our life and actions would bring glory to God and cause the world outside to praise God.

The concept of bearing fruit in the Christian life is spread throughout the New Testament. While our ideas about this fruit may be multi-faceted, there is only one Greek word that is used. That work is karpos, and it means fruit. Ordinary, everyday, apples and melons and pears. However, the extended biblical meaning is far more significant.

The idea is that an apple tree doesn’t strive to produce apples. It manages that simply by being an apple tree, soaking up the sun’s rays, and absorbing water and nutrients from the soil. That is its purpose. In the same way, a Christian doesn’t produce spiritual fruit by their own efforts, but because of the Spirit’s energy. We bear fruit because that is our nature.

“The use of the term fruit (karpos) expressly indicates that it is not a question of deliberate, self-determined action on a man’s part. Rather it is that ‘fruit-bearing’ which follows from his turning to God and the power of the Spirit working in him.”

(Brown, The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology)

A branch on a vine doesn’t have the power to produce fruit by itself. Only by being part of the vine can it be fruitful (John 15:4). Our task, therefore, is not to seek after love, joy, peace and all the rest of them as ends in themselves. Our task is to

“continue to live in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness”

(Col 2:6-7)

The fruit will come naturally as a manifestation of holiness.

What a blessing it is to know that as branches of the Living Vine we can produce fruit that glorifies the Vine!

“Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.”

1 Peter 4:10-11

The Holy Spirit has given us spiritual gifts.

We need to be using these gifts on a daily basis and recognising that they come from Him. We need to distinguish what our spiritual gifts are and use them in a way that brings honour to God.

Two questions that we need to ask ourselves:

• What spiritual gift do I feel naturally led to?
• Have I been exercising my spiritual gifts lately?

Have a look at this list to see what direction you feel God is calling you.

Speaking Gifts

Word of Wisdom, Word of Knowledge, Prophecy, Tongues, Interpretation, Apostle, Teacher, Encouragement, Leadership, Evangelist, Pastor-teacher.

Serving Gifts

Faith, Healing, Miraculous powers, Service, Discernment, Helps, Administration, Giving, Mercy. (Eph. 4:11, Rom. 12:3-7, and 1 Cor. 12:1-12,28)

At this time of year the vast majority of the people would acknowledge that Christmas is about the birth of Jesus. The Sydney Morning Herald last weekend reported on research that indicated that over 90% of people believe that Jesus is a historical figure. However while there is common agreement on the historical authenticity of Jesus as a person, there is minimal real, deep, relational knowledge of Jesus as a friend, a king and most importantly as a Saviour. Unfortunately the church is not exempt from having a mere cognitive understanding of Jesus. At times we can know so much about Jesus and even have a deep understanding of complex theological points, yet miss that relationship with our Saviour.

In Ephesians 1 Paul prays that the church at Ephesus 'may know Him better' (Eph 1:17). That is, he earnestly seeks that the believers may really and deeply know God in a personal way. May this be our prayer in the coming year for ourselves, our church and our community.

To see a sky-writer at work always amazes me. Even when driving the car we all tend to sneak a look to see what the message in the sky is saying.

Often the reading of the message is difficult because of breeze and other atmospheric conditions.

A long time ago a very legible message appeared in the sky. The angelic messengers, associated with Christ’s birth, clearly said “peace to all on whom his favour rests”.

We all look for peace but the message delivered in the sky indicated the necessary prerequisite for this. God’s favour.

God’s favour is rather special. Usually, at Christmas time, many respond to a favour received by giving a gift in return. The favour of God is quite different.

Long before any of us were born, God provided an opportunity for each person to receive His favour. The Bible in Romans chapter 5 says in the last part of verse 15

‘how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.’

The birth of Jesus, as celebrated at Christmas time, is God’s long standing favour to all. Like all favours it has to be received to have any value.

To try and understand the abundant provision of God’s favour, one should try to imagine how good it would be to live without the dulling affect of regretted past failure.

Recently through the media, we have been challenged with the thought - “Jesus. All about life”. Unless we connect the message of Christmas with our everyday living we miss the whole point.

To gain the full meaning of our festive season we must understand “Christmas, it’s all about Jesus” and the need for all of us to allow His favour to work in our lives.

In Acts 4:23-37 we read about the way that members of the early church prayed together and the subsequent power that they received by the Holy Spirit.

One of the great lessons that we can learn from the prayer in this passage is the acknowledgement of the sovereignty of God, as the Maker of Heaven and Earth and sea and everything in them, of the revelation of God by the Holy Spirit as recorded in the Old Testament, and of the trust of the Christians in God’s power in their lives.

Furthermore, we are taught about the anointing of Jesus as the Messiah, the Holy Servant. Then we read, “They did what Your power and will had decided beforehand should happen” (verse 28).

Then they boldly asked to be able to speak in God’s name and to perform miracles through the name of Jesus. As a result of their prayer they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the Word of God boldly.

The consequences of the prayer life of these members of the early church were as follows.

• unity of heart and mind
• sharing with one another of all possessions
• powerful testimony to the resurrection of Christ
• they showed much grace
• there were no needy persons among them

The lessons for us:

The power of God, the power of the name of Jesus in the early church is available to us today. We should act on the beliefs that we have in God and the power of the resurrected Christ and therefore, testify to those we meet of Christ in us. We should be generous in the extreme and care for those in our own company and those far away. God’s grace is clearly with us and should be evident through us.

On Wednesday night, Marjorie and I had dinner with some Christian friends. My conversation with one of them was about the increasing number of churches which have split. Some of these are ones we both know and have had fellowship in the past.

I am always surprised with how God often reminds us of the important truths we must always guard and esteem as things of extreme value. One of these is our unity in truth and love. I recently read an article in which the author (Robert Rothwele) reminded his readers of the same thing. I would like to share with you the four commitments Rothwele made:

“First, I will strive not to disrupt the unity of the individual church of which I am a member. This means that I will endeavor never to grumble to my leaders nor join with other members who might disparage them behind their backs (Heb. 13:17). I will submit to the elders in every decision until the day they deny the Gospel itself, which, Lord willing, shall never happen. In other words, I will not make my opinions the standard by which I evaluate my church.
Second, I will maintain contact with my Christian friends who do not attend my church. This necessarily means that the friendships I have with Christians outside of my local church body are friendships with those in different denominations. May I never be unconcerned with how God is moving in other parts of the body of Christ.
Third, I will seek to understand the nonessential doctrines found in other traditions in order that I might respect them and not dismiss them outright. If all believers did this, our thoughts and discussions would be more civil. We might even learn from each other and find a new consensus on issues that might promote visible unity.
My fourth commitment is to pray for the peace and purity of the church. My heart is not yet as broken as it should be over the disunity of the church, and only the Holy Spirit can make me long truly and deeply for Christians to be one again. Without such longing, I will not be motivated to work for the unity of the church.”

I hope you have been blessed with this. I have been.

In Acts Chapter 4 we read a little about the persecution of the early Christians, in particular the jailing of Peter and John as the spokesmen of the Christian believers of that time. Throughout the history of the church there has been persecution and indeed, Jesus told us that because we are His followers we are open to and likely to suffer persecution. In itself persecution for us as Christians is not bad; rather it is our response that matters.

Recently I had the privilege of meeting with 28 pastors from China and hearing their stories of the ways in which local church groups are still suffering persecution for their faith. On the other hand, there is a lot more freedom both throughout the approved Three Self Church and in the non approved house churches. It is delightful to have the freedom to share the Gospel quite openly and it is wonderful to hear of the great progress that is being made in increased discipleship for Christ and in church fellowships being formed.

In Acts 4 we read also of the power that we have in Christ, that is the power of His name and the power of His Spirit. It is such a wonderful experience to know God at work in our lives just as Peter and John experienced in their time. The impression that Peter and John made because of the power of Christ brought a response of astonishment at their faith and courage as neither of those men had been trained in the Scriptures.

The pastors from China that I met recently are delightfully allowing that power to be in their lives and working through them and China is being changed from within. Those Christians that I met gave me great hope for the future that Christ’s message and His power is becoming increasingly evident throughout that vast country.

For us as members of Christ’s body, the church, we will probably in different ways suffer persecution sometimes more, sometimes less. At the same time we have the power of Christ in our lives and therefore, God can allow us to make a difference in our own communities and in the world at large.

May God give us the courage and strength to be authentic disciples of Christ in the ways in which we bring glory to His name, in the way in which we love our brothers and sisters in Christ, and in the ways in which we promote Christ’s message to those who have not responded to His grace.

Following the very public miracle that Peter performs in the temple on a man 'crippled from birth', we read of Peter taking the opportunity to share the Gospel with the audience in the temple. At the beginning of this presentation he directly convicts them of their sin.

In Acts 3:13-15 he tells the Jews:

'you handed him over to be killed and you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. You killed the author of life.'

Peter does not shy away from their sin or try to water it down in any way. Rather he clearly and factually declares it publicly and then calls them to 'repent, then, and turn to God' (Acts 3:19). These days we all too often try to excuse our sin. With our own sin we try to tell ourselves that we are not as bad as others, or we choose to minimise sin's significance. However what we do at the same time is minimise the extension of God's grace to us. The more we recognise our sinfulness, the more we are able to see the greatness of the grace shown to us by a holy God. As a result we are urged, like Peter's listeners to 'repent, then, and turn to God' .

Take a moment to slowly read the following verses of Scripture:

"Long ago, even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes. His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave Him great pleasure."

Ephesians 1:4-5, NLT

Let the truth of these words sink deeply into your hearts today:

• That God loved you and chose you even before He made the world.
• That in Christ, you are without fault in God’s eyes.
• That God’s plan has always been to bring you into His family.
• That God has brought you to himself through Jesus.

“And this gave Him great pleasure.”

Matthew Thorp

How Adam, Eve, and God must have enjoyed their daily fellowship in Eden’s Paradise. (Verdict) - “Very Good”.

Then man’s sin shattered all this. Ever since people have yearned for UTOPIA.

“God has set eternity in the hearts of men”,

Eccl 3:9.

Only God himself can fill this vacuum.

But Jesus did come to our earth, died for us, rose in triumphant victory, then ascended into glory, preparing our new home.

God’s divine plan for our ultimate blessing will be complete when …

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of Heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God.’”

Rev 21:1-3

May our current lifestyle and service reflect His grand design. This must also mean that we love Him and one another, fervently.

Well the ‘Jesus. All about Life’ campaign is officially over. It’s been a huge effort that’s seen churches from all over NSW displaying banners, putting on local events, preaching, teaching and generally celebrating loudly that Jesus is all about life. We’ve seen T.V ads, billboard signs, bus shelter posters, sky writing, a JAAL car racing at Bathurst, and media articles in magazines, papers and online, all declaring this gospel message. What an encouraging time to see the name of Jesus displayed by His church to our state.

During the campaign banners were slashed, T.V ads were mocked and the media took some swipes at the message. There’s been outrage that people could make such a claim that this ‘Jesus’ person is all about life. ‘How arrogant! How naïve! How dare you!’ Still others have heard the Word and responded to Him. And still some others have been exposed to the person of Jesus and a seed has been planted and only God knows what will happen there.

Does it sound familiar? It should, because whenever Jesus is proclaimed in the world, we can expect that we will meet with resentment, curiosity, and fruitful response.

As we look at the early church in Acts in our series on Christ’s Church we come across this time and again, highlighted with Paul in Athens when he testified to Jesus as the Christ and some scoffed, some wanted to hear more and yet others believed.

So now what? Down come the banners, out go the ads from the T.V, off comes the billboard signs and the posters. The media stops its articles, the Bathurst race is over and the skywriting’s blown away…but the message of Jesus remains. ‘Jesus. All about life’. The campaign is over but the message of Jesus remains. It always has, it always will.

Today we begin a new series through the book of Acts that is entitled “Christ’s Church”. Now it’s a well known Christian doctrine that the church is not ours but Christ’s and in fact this has been one of our emphases in our ‘vision 2009’, that we are God’s church and not ours. The book of Acts highlights that we are not only Christ’s church, but that we, the church, are also the ‘body’ of Christ.

This was brought home to me in a profound way when I re-read the story of the Apostle Paul’s conversion in Acts 9. Paul (then known as Saul) had been involved in the vigorous persecution of the church as we read in Acts 7 and 8. This is seen in the martyrdom of Stephen which sparked a wide spread destruction of the church in Jerusalem. Paul was breathing murderous threats to the believers and dragging both men and women to prison. A great number of followers of Christ were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria because of the severe persecution. But when Saul is confronted by Jesus himself on the road to Damascus he asks Him “Who are you?” The answer… “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” Not “I am Jesus and you’re persecuting my followers”, but “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting”. But wait a minute, Paul was persecuting Stephen, men, women, disciples … people! But Jesus says that Paul’s persecution of the church was the persecution of Himself. How? Because the church is the body of Christ!

Luke writes in Acts 1:1 that in his former book (the Gospel of Luke) he had written about ‘all that Jesus began to do and to teach’. What Jesus began, we the church are here to continue.

We at WPHCC are part of the body of Christ. Just as His presence was physically here 2000 years ago, so it is still here in us, the church, today. We have a mission to accomplish as His body and we will explore this further throughout today.

On one of his shows, Larry King asked Mother Theresa, “What’s the first thing you want to say to Jesus when you see Him?” Her response was, “Lord, you have a lot of explaining to do”. A friend of mine commented a few days ago that it seems the world has gone crazy. There are frequent earthquakes, tsunamis, typhoons, flooding, etc. The world questions the existence of a good God, arguing that God can’t be all loving and almighty. If He is all loving, then He can’t be almighty because He couldn’t stop the suffering. If He is almighty, then He can’t be all loving because He didn’t stop the suffering. Christians too may fumble for an answer and meaning, especially those whom tragedy has touched in a personal way.

We can find meaning in a time such as this only when we reflect on it against the backdrop of a greater tragedy which was played out more than 2000 years ago – the most majestic God coming into the world in the lowliest way possible, born as a little baby in a barn, and later to be crucified for a creation that rejected him.

How does one stand before the cross and ask God about suffering when He spared not His own Son just so that we could be saved?

There is only one ultimate, universal answer to all questions we can ever ask. This answer is to be found only at the foot of the cross at Calvary.

Paul gave this answer to us in Romans:

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:1-8 ESV

At the end of Genesis 14, Abram turned down the gift of earthly treasure as reward for his services. Then at the beginning of chapter 15, God comes to him in a vision, saying “I am your shield, your very great reward.” In effect, “You don’t have the earthly riches, but you have me, and I am infinitely greater.”

How does Abram respond to this? Not, as we might expect, with thanks, adoration and worship. He gives an honest, heartfelt response: “O Sovereign LORD, what good are all your blessings when I don’t even have a son? You have given me no descendants of my own, so one of my servants will be my heir.”

Reading it now, we can easily think that Abram responds with incredible ungratefulness! (And, before we judge him for that, we need to ask God to show us where we have the same sort of attitudes in our lives.) But Abram’s response is no deterrent to the abundant goodness of God. God responds by telling Abram that “a son coming from your own body will be your heir” and that his offspring will be like the stars in the heavens.

Abram’s response to this is more admirable: “Abram believed the LORD, and the LORD counted him as righteous because of his faith” (NLT).

What’s incredible to me is that Abram had nothing to believe in except the word of God to him. He was at least 75 years old at this point (Gen 12:4), and his wife was 10 years younger than him (Gen 17:17). There was nothing in this world that could make Abram believe he would ever be the father of millions; hence his earlier despair and ungratefulness. But...

God said he will have a son.

God said he will have offspring as numerous and as uncountable as the stars in the skies.

And Abram believed God’s word.

Where do you need to believe God’s word to you today?

I’ve always been a pretty good kid, not perfect, just mostly pretty good. I never really went ‘off the rails’. I’ve done some silly things that I’m not too proud of but to be honest they’re far outweighed by my generally pleasant nature and good behaviour. This is good right? This is how God wants me to be. Strive to do good, follow Jesus and obey His ways. I’ve always strived to do this…but I have a confession…One night early this year that all fell away. I was off the rails and far from the straight and narrow. I was depraved and wretched in sin. All this in a matter of moments, sitting at my dining room table at home. What had I done? I’d read Romans chapter 5! It was at that moment that the Spirit of God revealed to me through the Word that no matter how good I was at suppressing the symptoms, my much bigger problem was that I was born in sin. I had original sin stamped all over me. I didn’t want it, I didn’t try to get it, I just had it! I’d managed to control the symptoms of this pretty well in my life but in reflection that’s all I’d ever done, masked the bigger problem. I was wretched, an enemy of God with nothing in common with Him and nothing that I could do about it. “Therefore just as one man’s sin (Adam’s) led to condemnation for all, so one man’s (Jesus’) act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all.” 5:18. I could do nothing but Jesus Christ did everything! No matter how ‘good’ I thought I was, I was stained with sin and nothing but Jesus could take that away. How amazing is the love and grace of God that tells me, though I am wretched, He will wipe my sin slate clean and give me new life in His righteousness.

Jesus truly is all about life!

How much rejoicing have you done this past week? Has it been a “rejoicing week” or has it been just the opposite?

Scripture calls on us to rejoice in the Lord (in the wonder of His person and in the wonder of what He has done, is doing and will yet do) – in fact, we are to rejoice in the Lord always – and then to rejoice again! Actually, we are to rejoice evermore! We are also to rejoice in hope, rejoice with the truth, rejoice that our names are written down in heaven and also rejoice with those who rejoice. May we do this as we meet and worship together.

However, the Lord Jesus Himself calls us to rejoice and be glad (the emphasis of this word is ‘to be exceedingly joyful’, ‘to be very happy’ – to the extent of showing our joy by smiling or even jumping about!) and the time for this is when we are being insulted, persecuted and falsely accused because of Him. Peter tells us to rejoice that we participate in Christ’s sufferings – and the early apostles did just that!

Suffering and persecution are usually far from our minds as we meet together and worship week by week, but the teaching of the New Testament is that this is to be expected. Well over half the number of Christian believers in the world today know this as part of their experience.

Are we missing something?

The need for God’s grace is obvious to most of us.

Say we were asked to quickly answer the question “why do we need God’s grace in our lives”. Some may respond, “so that our lives are enhanced”.

Well as true as this answer is, it is interesting to note what the Psalmist says about God’s graciousness and us.

"May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us, Selah :2 that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations. :3 May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you."

PS 67:1-3

When it comes to God’s grace, like His total character, it is boundless. God desires to share His grace with every human. We catch a glimpse of this in the life of Stephen of whom it is said.

"Now Stephen, a man full of God's grace and power, did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people."

AC 6:8

Stephen’s blessing of grace may have been a personal endowment from God but it had its out working among many.

As a Church we are blessed by God’s great grace in wonderful ways and of course this enhances our gathering together but we must never forget that the abounding grace of our God is such that it must overflow to others. We are to be a “going” people.

We are called to go and share God’s grace with others. As the JAAL media campaign takes up we need to be ready to share God’s grace with others as people are prompted to think and discuss- “Jesus all About Life”.

God’s aim is to enhance the realms of His grace so that…

"He will rule from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth."

PS 72:8

• Right attitudes
• Right behaviour
• A pure heart
• Seeing God
• Pleasing God

These are all challenges we have been thinking about recently. We face many more challenges as we look at living out the Christian life in the world. Sometimes we probably think that it would be much easier if we were taken out of the world, or were able to live in a “Christian bubble”, separated from contact with the world. The Lord expects His people to be ‘in the world’ as His heralds, spreading the message of the Gospel to those who have never heard a presentation which they readily understand and which is relevant to their needs – or to those who have never heard about Jesus at all. Jesus says,

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.”

How the hurting and turbulent world needs those who proclaim ‘Peace’ – peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ and the ability to live in peace – ‘shalom’ – which carries the meaning of wholeness and restored relationships as well as the idea of peace.

May we be peacemakers and act out the fact that we are sons of God – bringing the whole concept of peace to those round us, to whom the very idea of peace perhaps seems like some unattainable dream.

I think today it is worth us thinking about what it means for God to be our heavenly Father. And in this, as always, Jesus provides our ultimate example. The story of Jesus as told by Mark starts like this:

Mark 1:9-11 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when He came up out of the water, immediately He saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on Him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

Do not miss the words of God, His Father, to Jesus: “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

This is before Jesus has healed the sick, preached the Scriptures, challenged hypocrisy, declared the kingdom of God, recruited men who would follow Him and lead the church, died for sins, been raised again, or anything that we consider as core to His life and purpose.

So far, all He had done was lived as a child of Mary and Joseph, as a brother to His siblings, as a carpenter in Nazareth, and as a Jew by ethnicity and religion. He had lived a ‘normal’ life.

And it is in reflection on His normal, everyday life that God says to Him, “When I look at who you are and how you have lived your life... I am pleased, well pleased. You bring me great joy. You are my Son, who I love and cherish.”

Let this be an encouragement to us all on this Father’s Day. We don’t have to do anything ‘special’ to know that we are God’s beloved sons and daughters.

One of the last directions that the Lord left with His disciples and with us was ‘The Great Commission’ found in Mark 16:15, ‘Go into all the world and preach the Gospel’.The same message is to be found in Mathew, Luke and Acts.

Some will say that they have never felt the call to the mission field so it doesn’t apply to them. John North suggests that the real meaning of the Lord’s direction is ‘As you go in the world preach the Gospel’. So it is every true believers responsibility to communicate the message of the Gospel whenever an opportunity arises. We live in a world where some of the people we rub shoulders with daily are heading for a Christless and lost eternity.

May we ever keep in mind that for some people we may be their last stop before hell.

“Some others save with fear pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garments defiled by the flesh.’

Jude 23

Lord lay some soul upon my heart,
‘and Love that soul through me,’
That I may only do my part,
To win that soul to Thee.

May God the Holy Spirit give us all a heart for the lost.

Have you ever fallen asleep at your work place?

I know I’ve wanted to!

If you were caught sleeping on the job, how would that look?

It would look -

• Bad on the company
• Bad on the clients
• Bad on your performance
• And bad on your boss

Paul is talking about a spiritual sleep that the Romans are in and he is trying to wake them up out of their slumber.

This is all the more urgent, for you know how late it is; time is running out. Wake up, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is almost gone; the day of salvation will soon be here.

Romans 13:11-12

Time is running out for me to show God’s love to people, and I know too many people that don’t yet know the love of Christ.

I don’t want to be caught sleeping on the job, because I don’t want to miss out on any opportunity to share Christ with people.

I have been challenged this week to ask myself:

‘If I say that I am looking forward to Jesus’ return, why am I am not living like He is on His way?’

It’s a challenging thought!

In this morning’s Family Service we consider some references in the Psalms to the sufferings of Christ. Psalm 22:1 begins with words which our Lord cried from the Cross: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” If only we could grasp the profound implications of that cry, the reality of what it meant for the Sinless One to become our Sinbearer, then we might well agree that this is the most solemn cry in Scripture.

Many preachers and poets have tried to express the depths of meaning behind that cry of abandonment, but few have done so more powerfully than Elizabeth Barrett Browning in her poem “Cowper’s Grave”:

Deserted! God could separate
from His own essence rather;
And Adam’s sins have swept between
the righteous Son and Father;
Yea, once, Immanuel’s orphan’d cry
His universe hath shaken;
It went up single, echoless,
“My God, I am forsaken!”
It went up from the holy lips
amid His lost creation,
That of the lost no son should use
that cry of desolation.

Tonight as we continue our study in the book of Romans, we come to what John Stott calls Paul’s ‘recipe for love.’ He finds twelve ingredients:

1. Love must be sincere [sincerity].
2. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good [discernment].
3. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love [affection].
4. Honour one another above yourselves [honour].
5. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervour, serving the Lord [enthusiasm].
6. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer [patience].
7. Share with God's people who are in need [generosity].
8. Practice hospitality [hospitality].
9. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse [good will].
10. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn [sympathy].
11. Live in harmony with one another [harmony].
12. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited [humility].

Romans 12:9-16

After exploring each of these, he concludes:

What a comprehensive picture of Christian love Paul gives us... Christian churches would be happier communities if we all loved one another like that."

(The Message of Romans)

Amen. May it be so.

Romans is a magnificent letter which clearly describes how we are reconciled with the holy God of this universe. In the first two and a half chapters we are reminded that ‘there is no one righteous, not even one, there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God’ (Rom 3:10-11). Yet in the midst of this great and wretched sinfulness God extends His grace to us. ‘This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus to all who believe … and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus’ (Rom 3:22,24). The following chapters consider this new standing that we have in Christ. What a wonderful thing to reflect upon the nature of our underserved salvation!

Then at the beginning of Romans 12 in verses 1 and 2 he states ‘In view of God’s mercy’ – that is in view of all that God has done in the believer’s life which Paul has spent eight chapters explaining – ‘offer your bodies as living sacrifices’. The call upon Christians to live holy lives is not in order to be saved but rather because we have been saved. We are to live a life that reflects the new standing that we have in Jesus. May we live lives that are holy and pleasing to the great God who saved us.

Pre- Christian Times: The Tabernacle

God commanded His people to build a portable tent containing His throne, a gold Ark with a Mercy Seat - "so I may live among you ". He wanted to be right in the centre of their daily lives – guiding, protecting, feeding them until they reached journey’s end.

This tent was only a Shadow or visual teaching example to show them how to live with a real and holy God each day.

When God lived on earth for 33 years.

"The Word became flesh and made His dwelling (tabernacle) among us. We have seen His glory……full of grace and truth"

John 1:14

Jesus Christ was the real, true authentic ‘tent’ and He did live amongst the people 2000 years ago. He did die for our sins, rise as conqueror over death and now reigns in heaven.

Post Christian times - 2009.

This same God still yearns to meet up with anyone who has an unsatisfied vacuum in their life. Such a person doesn’t rush off to church or buy a Bible to see if Christianity can fill this void. But they will look carefully at someone they consider to be a Christian to see if they have what they feel is missing in their own life. You and I are always God’s 'Tent of witness' for them.

"You show that you are a letter from Christ, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the Living God …..on tablets of human hearts."

2 Corinthians 3:3

As the hymn pointedly says-

You are writing a Gospel, a chapter each day.
By the deeds that you do and the words that you say
Men read what you say, distorted or true,
What is the Gospel according to YOU?

One may well ask, have Christians today become self-centred? Of course a basic human instinct is to satisfy our need, so this is something we all battle.

Today, Church shopping is a topic much discussed. Folk move from one local church to another in pursuit of some particular fulfilment of their needs.

Perhaps part of this is that some do not wish to commit to authority in the local church. Maybe they prefer to have the freedom to do what they want without anyone exercising spiritual oversight over them. Personally I have noted, with church-shoppers, that they are ever ready to see the faults in others, but not themselves. They use the faults of others as an excuse for what they do.

Self based attitudes are not conducive to the unity in the body of Christ or to the revival needs of the Church. Repentance and renewal amongst God’s people are vital elements.

Today Mark McCrindle speaks at the Family Service from 1 Thessalonians 5.

This Scripture makes it clear regarding the required quality of God’s people.

"May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it."

1TH 5:23-24

Our leadership group has introduced the concept of WPHCC 2009 and the idea here is to keep our immediate priorities in focus. Here is a précis of WPHCC 2009:

• We are to worship the Lord God and serve Him only (Luke 4:8)
• See our community as His Church and we must bring glory to Him
• Our gatherings are to celebrate the individual’s joy of everyday worship and all are to feel welcome
• All individuals are to be seen as equal and because all need Jesus, we are moving to be a more “going” church
• Locally and globally we are to grow spiritually and numerically.

So far in our current Generate series we have learnt that Ethel is no lady and last week we saw the need to square off against the giant. If you have missed the talks, then visit our website and follow the series that way.

Tonight we go on and learn about the deal with the slithering deceiver who would offer us a quick trip to riches and enjoyment, or not! Then next week we are in the sticky stress of gossamer produced by the biggest web weaving spider of them all.

Speaking of stress I am reminded about the Holmes-Rahe stress scale which emerged in the 1960’s where the chief two sources of stress were then seen to be the loss of a loved one and divorce. Modern opinion is that drug and alcohol related problems now rise to second place on the stress scale. Problems with our sexuality have moved to be higher on the list. Our modern world with all of its deceits has added stress upon stress.

A number of folk, after last Sunday night’s service, commented that we do indeed live in a world of deceit and stress. One person put the poser “how does the average battler have any chance against the odds of today’s darkness?”. Well the only known cure for darkness is light and we as Christians are called to walk in the light.

"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin."

1 John 1:7

As we walk in His light and respond to His Word, John also suggests 1 John 2:5:

"But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did."

Yes the Generate series might be dealing with tough issues but as His people, not only does he equip us to handle our own pressures, but he desires us to reach out to others and share the light we have.

"You are the light of the world."

MT 5:14

Tonight we have the opportunity to look at what the Scriptures tell us about sex and our sexuality.

There seems to be three main ways of viewing this:

• Sex is god (which is the view of culture)
• Sex is gross (which is often the view of the church, in over-reaction to the cultural view)
• Sex is a gift

It is that last view which is the biblical stance. When we look at God’s original intention for sex, recorded in Genesis 2:18-25, we see that it is to be:

• Within heterosexual marriage (context)
• For oneness and not causing shame (content)

So then, as we consider this topic and as we pursue the worship of God in all of our lives, here are some questions for you to think about:

• Which of the three views most influences your thinking about sex?
• What can you do to develop or strengthen a healthy perception of sex as a good gift from God to be saved for and enjoyed within marriage?
• What attitudes and/or actions in regards to sex and your sexuality do you need to confess to God and renounce, that you might experience his grace and mercy?

(Proverbs 28:13)

One of the realities of our Christian life is that we can ask all of our tough questions of God and we can wait for His responses but then still not fully understand His purposes. Habakkuk claimed of God that “His ways are eternal"(3:6) which tells us that we should not expect to fully understand God’s purposes.

This is not a bad thing but it does test our attitude towards God. Are we prepared to trust Him? At the point where all is said and done and we still don’t fully understand God’s purposes this is where we need to end up.

Habakkuk is an illustration of this trusting attitude towards God and His ways. After all of his questioning of God and his waiting for a response he had a choice to make. He made the choice to trust God even before the promises God had made were fulfilled. In effect he was prepared to shape his present attitude in light of the certainty of future fulfillment. In other words his attitude did not arise out of his present circumstances but in the reality of the future fulfillment of God’s promises. In Habakkuk 3:16-19 we find out that the keys to Habakkuk’s attitude were his respect for the Lord, his rest in the Lord, his rejoicing in the Lord and his reliance on the Lord.

These are 4 keys we should look to follow in all of life’s circumstances as we strive to have the same type of attitude of trust as Habakkuk.

Scripture tells us that at the culmination of creation, man and woman stood before each other and before God naked and unashamed (Genesis 2:25). There was full disclosure between them; no secrets, no lies, no hiding. As soon as sin entered the world, however, they started to hide from each other and from God (Genesis 3:7-10). They lived a secret life.

Tonight we start a series that challenges and exposes our secret lives and that calls us to live ‘in the light as he is in the light’ (1 John 1:7). It calls us to open, honest, real life shared with one another and God, and a doing away of the ‘everything’s fine’ Christian facade we too often and too easily put up.

Because this is the thing: we are only fooling ourselves. Everyone knows our lives aren’t perfect; God sure does. And to hide it only makes it harder to find and receive the healing we need.

But when we refuse to keep our secrets any longer, when ‘we confess our sins, [God] is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness’ (1 John 1:9).

It is our prayer that through this series – and through the example of Andrew and Renee’s baptisms this evening – that we would leave behind a life of secret sin and instead live in the forgiveness and acceptance of God and His people.

Ever had a time when you were exasperated by your circumstances and could not understand what God was up to? Many people today are in that position as have many in the past. In fact around 600 BC there was someone called Habakkuk who felt like this.

He cried out to God with the “why” question. As far as Habakkuk could see God was doing nothing to deal with a particular situation, but he was wrong. God was indeed in control and active but not in the way Habakkuk was expecting.

God responded to Habakkuk’s cries with these words (1:5):

“Look at the nations and watch - and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.”

The story of Habakkuk is the story of his progressing from asking God the question “why” to worship, as he understood that God was indeed in control and truly working in ways he couldn’t imagine.

The journey for Habakkuk began with him being real enough with God to ask the question “why”. But asking this question is not enough. It is only when it is combined with a submissive spirit and an expectant faith that it will lead to a greater understanding of God and worship of him.

Be courageous enough to be real with God in the same way as Habakkuk.

Perhaps one of the biggest challenges that we face in a western society is a love of money and possessions. It is actually so embedded into our culture that it is sometimes hard to recognise the full extent of the way it impacts our priorities. However when we consider our attitude to money and possessions in the light of Scripture it identifies our love of the world.

1 Timothy 1:15 reminds us

‘Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world the love of the Father is not in him.’

In a society where we are constantly exposed to marketing messages trying to stimulate a desire for more possessions, we need to seek to grow in our love for the Father to reorder our priorities. In turn this will lead us to have a heart of generosity.

‘Stand up straight, you’re slouching!’

‘You’re just standing around, get into it!’

‘Stand over there in the corner!’

‘I can’t stand sitting next to you!’

‘You can’t stand up in the aisle, sit down!’

‘Careful, you’ll break the overhead projector stand.’

Can you guess who was responsible for each of these quotes, drawn from some not so pleasant childhood memories? Here’s the options in random order; football coach, bus driver, Rally leader, my Mum, girl in class, teacher.

I’m sure you spotted what was common to each - apart from me getting myself in trouble, that is. Yes, the word ‘stand’ is in each sentence. It’s certainly a versatile expression in English, isn’t it? The dictionary on my computer lists 32 different ways to use the word. And a search in a Bible program brings up numerous instances.

As an action, we take it pretty much for granted. But for those who’ve been seriously ill, injured, dizzy or weak, simply standing up on one’s two feet seems like a major achievement. We are delighted when a baby is first able to stand unsupported. We cheer when an injured sportsperson finally stands up to keep playing (well, if they’re on ‘our’ side we do, anyway). Standing is usually the first move in any course of action. It’s what we have to do before we can go anywhere.

For a church that has a vision to go, to reach out, to be relevant, to serve the community - both locally and globally - we first have to stand. Strongly. It almost sounds like a paradox, doesn’t it? But that’s what Paul told the first century church in Colosse (2:7). They had to let their roots grow down into Christ and, as they did, they would ‘overflow in thankfulness’. Their going would be determined by how solidly they were standing. And the same goes for this Church in 21st century West Pennant Hills.

Current news reads this way. “The World Health Organisation has raised its pandemic flu alert level to five, signalling that a global swine flu pandemic is imminent. A phase five alert means human-to-human transmission has happened in at least two countries”.

Obviously what is required is for every individual to be responsible to halt transmission.

In our 11.15 am service this morning we commence a study in the book of Ezekiel. Later in this series we will see that God has always required each individual to be responsible.

"I will judge you, each one according to his ways, declares the Sovereign LORD"

Ezek 18:30

Earlier in this chapter, generational responsibility is being discussed, and God makes it clear that each generation has to face their own responsibility.

"The son will not share the guilt of the father, nor will the father share the guilt of the son"

Ezek 18:20

It is natural for those of us who are older to want to protect the younger from irresponsibility. Yet we often forget that as young people age, they must be progressively equipped to meet their individual responsibilities. Ultimately everyone must be so equipped that they are able to give their own answer to God; for each person is to be judged according to their individual ways.

Ezekiel was given, by God, the dreadful responsibility to tell Israel of their grave situation. His chief equipment was a direct knowledge of God himself. According to Ezekiel 1:28 he saw

".. the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD."

Bill Grosser, as he speaks today at the Family Service and Generate will show us how each one of us should be self accountable and encouraging of others to take up their individual responsibilities.

In an account recorded in John 5:16–30 Jesus explains to a crowd His authority and status as the Son of God. In this passage Jesus not only answered the challenge to His authority and identity but also outlined an example for us to follow.

In verse 30 Jesus claimed to have been “sent” by the Father. Likewise, we are also “sent” as Jesus’ ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20). As such, Jesus is then our perfect example of someone who was “sent” with part of what we should be striving to emulate being how He describes in this passage His dealings with the Father. In this passage, Jesus:

• Outlined a strong communion between Him and His Father, as well as a dependency and obedience. We need to emulate this in our own relationship with God.
• Described a complete unity between Him and His Father. We ought to be living this out in our dealings with one another.
• Explained that it was the love between Him and His Father that was the source of His activity. We share in this love and can be equally confident that God will reveal to us His will and enable us to act in communion with Him.

We need to seek God’s help to follow this example in the coming week.

Just a little over a week ago, on Good Friday, Dr Peter Jensen, the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, was quoted as saying

“We can at least debate with atheists” but he goes on to say his concern is that “It’s hidden secularism which suggests that God and religion are not proper subjects for discussion”.

Here is the leader of a major Church and his expectation is that Christians will be engaging in debate with atheists and like him, concerned about secularism.

In our Generate services we have been thinking about Luke’s gospel and the following words of Jesus have been highlighted

"I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.

Luke 4:43

Jesus was ever busy sharing His good news. In Luke chapter 9, Jesus sends out His disciples and then later in Chapter 10 He sends another seventy to share that the Kingdom of God is near. Obviously the expectation of Jesus is for us too to be engaged in going.

As we go, we need to be equipped to share in debate with those who will oppose. As well as a clear understanding of the Word of God we need an attitude of peace to prevail against the heat of any fervency of contention.

"When you enter a house, first say, `Peace to this house.' If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; if not, it will return to you.

Luke 10:5-6

What do we do about those who refuse to engage the things of God? Well Jesus, the very source of pure relationship told the seventy to say in Luke 10v9 “the Kingdom of God is near”. Everyone is interested in relationship and the love of God is overwhelming.

We have the choice to go or sit. Some believe that in this age of declension we are only called to remain faithful; but truly Jesus calls us to be ever faithful in going. In any case Jesus did not see the opposition as limiting. It was the lack of going that concerned Him. We know this by what He said

"The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.

Luke 10:2

The death, burial and resurrection of our Lord – all three are important, as Paul reminds the Corinthians:

"Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you … By this gospel you are saved … For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that he appeared to [others]"

1 Corinthians 15:1-5

Without His atoning death the Old Testament prophecies would not have been fulfilled and the price of our sins would not have been paid. Without His burial there might be doubt about the reality of His death and the resurrection to follow. Without that resurrection Scripture would not have been fulfilled and we would not have the assurance of His triumph and the new life He shares with us.

This morning we will consider those with whom the Lord met on Resurrection Day and see how He ministered to each at their point of need so that joy replaced sorrow, healing replaced guilt, certainty replaced bewilderment, and courage replaced fear. What the risen Christ did for them He can do for each of us.

This evening at our special Generate Service when our young friends are baptised they will identify with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection:

"We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life."

Romans 6:4

In Romans 15:8-9 we read that Jesus confirmed the promises made to Abraham and his descendants to bless them and through them to bless all nations, so that all of us can glorify God for His mercy.

Sadly, many people choose their own way, and dismiss Christ’s way. However, it’s also tragic when God’s people create barriers to others knowing Him. This takes away from God’s glory, and obstructs others from seeing Him. We see this in the example of the children of Israel who were called to be a blessing to other nations, but often failed.

When Jesus announced his mission in Luke 4, with references to God helping a Phoenician widow and Syrian leper (both Gentiles), the people from his home synagogue tried to push him off a cliff. They wanted their own people to be blessed, but not other nations.

In Luke 5 (this evening) and Luke 7 (next week) we’ll see that Jesus valued the outcasts. He responded to the faith of a cripple and also addressed a “sinful” woman to bring forgiveness and restoration. The Pharisees were not happy. Jesus responded “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

His mission only excludes those who think themselves too good to repent and change. Are we participating in His mission, or obstructing it? God will be glorified as we follow Jesus’ example and mission, as expressed in WPHCC’s 2009 vision (my summary) to:

1. Express the Body of Christ together - with open arms - under Christ’s headship.
2. Value the dignity and equality of each individual.
3. Be missional – both locally and globally.

After a long nights fishing, Peter was tired & disappointed. What had he & his mates caught for all their hard work…nothing! They’d given up for the night & were washing their nets when Jesus jumps into Peter’s boat & asks him to put out a little from the shore. I can only imagine it’s Peter who is a little put out by this request but, tired & exhausted he obliges & Jesus continues to teach.

Jesus finishes & maybe Peter was glad that he could finally head back to shore & catch up on some rest but Jesus asks Peter to put out into even deeper water, & if that’s not enough, he tells him to let down the nets for a catch! This is the last straw for Peter. “Master, we’ve worked hard all night & haven’t caught anything.” You can almost hear the inner monologue “Easy for you to say Jesus, you’re not the one who’s been out all night without sleep who’s exhausted from throwing the nets in & out & in & out until your arms are weak & sore & your back aches. You’re not the one who’s just finished washing the nets & you’re not the one who’ll wash them again if we throw them in now. It’s not even a good time of day to fish? You’re not even a fisherman. What would you know? You’re just a carpenter!”

It’s at this point that Peter catches himself & realises again who has asked him to throw in the nets. Peter stops, swallows all his pride & obeys. “But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” Without knowing why, without knowing what will happen, when it doesn’t even make sense! Because you say so I will…Would you?

Every day we hear more news that reinforces the economic downturn – whether it is the reduction in the sharemarket, the increase in unemployment or the reduction in consumer spending. At times the provision of our needs can be based more on our financial security and our employment than upon the faithfulness of God. As a result when things get difficult we can become uncertain. In the same way after the Israelites had been wandering the desert for 40 years, they come to a point in Numbers 20 when they run out of water. The community becomes very anxious that they may die of dehydration and they end up blaming Moses for leading them out of Israel. However they neglect to remember the many times that God had provided for them over and over again during the previous 40 years as they wandered through the desert. In the same way during this time of economic uncertainty we should take comfort in the provision and faithfulness of God based upon His character that we find in scripture and His faithfulness to us in our own lives.

Numbers 17 records that God proved His choice of Aaron to be the High Priest of Israel in an unusual way. The heads of each of the twelve tribes brought Moses a staff which he laid before the Lord in the Tabernacle overnight. Eleven of these remained dried out wood but Aaron’s staff sprouted and budded, blossomed and produced almonds. Now why did God choose this method to vindicate Aaron’s role?

Perhaps because real fruitfulness is decisive evidence of God’s approval. Jesus said that we can size up people by their fruit – “By their fruit you will recognise them” (Matthew 7:16). He also said that our relationship with Him must be real for us to be fruitful –“If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:4).

Here are questions that each of us can ask ourselves:

• Is my life bearing fruit for God?
• Is the ministry in which I am involved (and we should each be involved in something!) bearing fruit?
• Is this local church bearing fruit?

Here is the purpose of Paul’s prayer for the believers in Colosse:

‘And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God…’

Colossians 1:10

May our fruitfulness increase to God’s glory.

We have all been saddened and touched by the loss of life, property and possessions in the devastating bush fires in Victoria over the past couple of weeks. As we write this reflection in the relative comfort of our home in a treed and leafy suburb, with rain presently falling, our thoughts and prayers are very much with those who have lost virtually everything including family, friends, home and livelihood. We have witnessed amazing examples of 'Good Samaritan' deeds of love and kindness as thousands of Aussies have reached out to help their neighbour in their deep need. Many unknowingly carried out the command of Jesus to, 'Love your neighbour as yourself'. People and organisations such as the Australian Red Cross and the Salvation Army have shown astonishing generosity in giving money, possessions and time to support the survivors of what is now being called the worst natural disaster in the nation's history. This is 'love your neighbour' in action.

It was less than a month ago on Australia Day that we were encouraged to celebrate what we have and are as a nation. Now we are being called to mourn, and rightly so, as we think about and pray for those who are grieving loss of life, property and personal effects. Never before have we heard these words from news reporters repeated so many times, "our thoughts and prayers are with them".

We sometimes do not know how best to help in these disasters, however, we can take the opportunity to:

• pray for the thousands who are suffering
• give something - money, possessions, time
• pray that our nation will turn to God - not because of natural disasters but because people see the hand of God in the help, support and love coming their way and come to a relationship with Him who loves us
• thank God for the wonderful generousity and love shown by Aussies and the swiftness of the government in making help available
• pray that the conscience of the looters will prevent their thieving actions which is causing further distress to those suffering.

The selflessness of the Lord Jesus is truly amazing.
He lived a perfect human life. This meant there was no need for Him to be baptised. His death was not due to any personal demeanour.
What Jesus accomplished was totally aimed at bringing glory to God and eternal benefit to those who acknowledge Him as Lord.
Luke in writing about the baptism of Jesus says; Luke 3:21

"When all the people were being baptised, Jesus was baptised too."

This one, described as Wonderful in the Old Testament extraordinarily identified himself with the many; and was baptised too. The already quoted text goes on to say

“And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: 'You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.'"

At the baptism of Jesus, heaven connected with earth, the Holy Spirit descended and the Father confirmed both His love for and pleasure in, the Son.
In tonight’s service we talk about baptism. Yes there will be a call to baptism. We will also think about baptism in the context of the many of us who have already responded. Galatians 3:26

"You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptised into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ."

God the Father, Son and Spirit were united in love and appreciation at the baptism of Jesus. We may have been baptised but is our love and appreciation of the Lord Jesus growing with our understanding of how wonderful it is to be identified with Christ.

The selflessness of the Lord Jesus is truly amazing.

He lived a perfect human life. This meant there was no need for Him to be baptised. His death was not due to any personal demeanour. What Jesus accomplished was totally aimed at bringing glory to God and eternal benefit to those who acknowledge Him as Lord. Luke in writing about the baptism of Jesus says in Luke 3:21

"When all the people were being baptised, Jesus was baptised too."

This one, described as Wonderful in the Old Testament extraordinarily identified himself with the many; and was baptised too. The already quoted text goes on and to say

“And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: 'You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.'"

At the baptism of Jesus, heaven connected with earth, the Holy Spirit descended and the Father confirmed both His love for and pleasure in, the Son. In tonight’s service we talk about baptism. Yes there will be a call to baptism. We will also think about baptism in the context of the many of us who have already responded. Gal 3:26-27

"You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptised into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ."

God the Father, Son and Spirit were united in love and appreciation at the baptism of Jesus. We may have been baptised but is our love and appreciation of the Lord Jesus growing with our understanding of how wonderful it is to be identified with Christ.

Numbers 9:15-23, the passage for this morning's Family Service, tells us how God guided and led the children of Israel through the desert to the Promised Land. They needed God to guide them through the trackless wasteland. At times we too need God's guidance as we face questions like "Is this the right time to make a move?" or "Is this the right direction to go?" Wise King Solomon tells us in Proverbs 3:5-6 how we can experience God's guidance in our lives.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will direct your paths.

Looking to God to guide is not a reason for failing to use the faculty of reason He has given us, but Solomon's words raise some fundamental questions:

• In making this decision am I trusting God to show me, or am I relying only on my own ideas?
• How can I, with my limited understanding, foresee all the consequences of my decision? Surely my heavenly Father knows and sees far more than I do.
• Am I prepared to let God control my decisions? Whose will do I seek for my life my own or God's?
• Do I really believe that the God who controls the universe can best control the directions of my life?

This morning we will explore the ways in which God directs his children and "makes [their] paths straight."

Tomorrow we will celebrate 221 years since the First Fleet landing of 1788 and subsequent settlement of our island continent. Over those many years Australians have celebrated, acknowledged and in some instances even mourned the 26th of January.

A quick search of the web will list numerous celebrations and events that will be held tomorrow. The government has even encouraged us to do something 'Australian' tomorrow by having a barbecue, visiting the beach, holding a lamington drive, listening to Kylie and celebrating our democratic freedom. Recent polls show that an overwhelming proportion of Australians now view the celebration of our national day as a significant and important event. Formal ceremonies will be held throughout the country (our son-in-law will receive his Australian Citizenship tomorrow) and the presentation of many community awards will take place. Celebrations now include a strong festive aspect with special events encouraging participation of entire families. So as a nation we know how to celebrate.

As God's people we have much to celebrate.

"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again. Rejoice."

Phil. 4:4.

We celebrate who God is and rejoice in what He has done for us. As we celebrate, think about and remember our national day tomorrow, let us also take time to celebrate our freedom in Christ and how about we also say a prayer for our nation.

The vast majority of historians agree that a man called Jesus walked on the earth about 2000 years ago. Most agree that he was a good person, and that he eventually was executed on the cross. The point most will disagree with in the Gospel accounts is at the resurrection. However does it really matter? Is it significant if others don't believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead? Well throughout the New Testament we see many passages that insist that the bodily resurrection of Jesus is absolutely crucial. Whether 1 Corinthians 15:17

'if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins'

or in 2 Timothy 2:18 when Hymenaeus and Philetus are condemned for claiming the resurrection has already taken place, the resurrection is absolutely crucial in our Christian faith. The encouragement for us as Christians is that the knowledge of a risen Saviour is the assurance of our own resurrection to eternal life.

Good news is in short supply these days. There is a super-abundance of news available to us and we have easy access to it from all sorts of news media - newspapers, radio, television, magazines, internet and even mobile phones - but not much of it would we classify as good.

Currently, news from the economic sphere is most unpleasant, as is news from the political sphere in so many countries where wars, riots, persecutions and brutality are the order of the day. We could go on to think of news from the moral sphere, the social sphere the ecological sphere . . . very little there is we would consider good.

What a contrast is the Christmas message! There is GOOD NEWS!

GOOD NEWS
OF GREAT JOY
FOR ALL THE PEOPLE
A SAVIOUR HAS BEEN BORN!

This is the news all the people need to hear!

As we think this Christmas time of the GOOD NEWS may we be moved with concern for the huge number of people in the world now who have not heard the GOOD NEWS - and may we be moved to greater involvement, by prayer, perhaps by giving and perhaps even more, by going, so that all the people may have great joy as they hear the GOSPEL,

THE GOOD NEWS OF THE SAVIOUR.

Take a moment to pause and read some of the most familiar words of Scripture:

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."

John 3:16-17

Read them again, slowly, in the Amplified version, letting the richness of these words sink into your heart:

"For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life. For God did not send the Son into the world in order to judge (to reject, to condemn, to pass sentence on) the world, but that the world might find salvation and be made safe and sound through Him.

This is what we celebrate and proclaim tonight in our Carols in the Park program, the love of God for all people, and His desire to save them and bring them into eternal life with Him.

Tonight (indeed all of our lives, but in a particular way this evening), we have the privilege of showing God's love to members of our community, inviting them into relationship with us and ultimately with Him. So lets bask in the glory of God's love for us... and then extend it, just as He did, to the world.

In the record of Jesus' birth told by Luke, the angels declare that they bring "good news of great joy that will be for all the people" (Luke 2:10). Now it's easy to skim over those words, especially when they become so familiar and even trivialised in the annual remembrance of Jesus' birth. But slow down and read them again:

The angel said to the shepherds,

"Do not be afraid...
I bring you good news... of great joy...
that will be for all the people."

How can the birth of one tiny baby, all those years ago, be such good news?

Space limits a full response to that question, so let's just look at the name of that baby: Jesus. It means "God saves." And he is given that name "because he will save his people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21).

Sin, simply, is the failure to live up to the perfect standards of a perfect God. And we are helpless to do anything about it. Having failed to meet God's standards (and, when we're honest with ourselves, we know we have), there is no way that we can achieve again the perfection (or 'holiness') that makes possible a relationship with God.

Except for Jesus, who will save his people from their sins.

In Jesus, God deals with our sin and makes a way for us to come back to him and the fullness of life he offers.

Now that is good news of great joy for all people. Including you.

It is impossible to think what more could be written about the how, why, when and where of choices both secularly and spiritually. Authors go to great lengths in their quest to give us accurate and meaningful help in making choices.

Many of the choices we make in our daily lives we make subconsciously, that is, we don't have to think too much about them because they are part of what we do every day. However, that does not apply to every choice we make. Many choices, which may be life changing, require us to spend much time in prayer, thought, discussion and ultimate decision. When Joshua was leading the nation of Israel into the Promised Land, he required them to make one of those 'big' decisions and he gave them few choices. In Joshua chapter 24:14-27 he declared that the people had to decide whether they would obey the Lord, who had proven His trustworthiness, or obey the local gods. Joshua himself had made a commitment to God and was willing to set the example of living by that decision. Would the people decide to follow the Lord their God in the same way?

The 'big' decision we have to make has only two choices to accept or reject Jesus the One who was crucified on a cross when He died for us. If we come to Him in faith we will be forgiven and we are then to follow Him in loving obedience.

When we choose to live for and follow our Lord Jesus Christ we do not go our own way but must allow Him to control us.

As our children grow we look for a maturing, and of course, a diminishing selfishness.

When it comes to Christian growth our expectations should be similar. Yet at the instant of conversion some are filled selflessly with the freshness of God's love, but with time even though they appear to go on, loose their first love. This is portrayed as follows...

You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.

Revelation 2:3

Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love.

Revelation 2:4

In many ways this year WPHCC has been challenged to move to a renewed vitality. Paul indicated to Philemon and the church that met in his home that we do not grow in understanding unless we actively share our faith.....

I hear about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints. 6 I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.

Philemon 1:5-6

Strong faith brings glory to God as described in Romans 4:20,

Abraham... was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God

At Generate this evening we commence again our Men/Women series. Right from the outset we will see that the whole purpose of creation is to bring 'Glory to God' as is confirmed in Revelation. Revelation 4:11

"You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.

All of our differences whether caused by selfishness, gender, prejudice, misunderstanding or whatever must give way to a growing faith; which touches others to God's Glory.

A DVD shown in our services, a couple of Sundays back, moved many of us.

Do you remember it as it revealed that the Ata people were making strides to bring the good news of the gospel to other tribal groups?
Let's recall the history associated with this

• Linda and Paul, moved by the Holy Spirit, are called to live amongst this group and participate in translating God's Word into Ata
• the Word of God then stimulates faith amongst the people
  • Romans 10:17...faith comes from hearing the message
• their faith brings power and God's love into Ata lives
• Ephesians 3:17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love..
• then love abounds to reach out to others
  • 1 Thessalonians 3:12 May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else...

Well that's the ATA people, what about us?

This Christmas we are changing our emphasis. Our programme this year will not be about us; but rather its designed to be a time to reach the community.

We start with the Children's celebration on Sunday 7/12/08, then Carols in the Park on 14/12/08. A shorter programme this year featuring music through community singing, choir and orchestra. Our Christmas Day service has as a prelude the special evening on 21/12/08. The Family Services during the holiday period are designed as a reach out.

The culmination of all this comes in the second term, next year, when LifeWorks begins. By then, through God's power and love, our prayer, preparation, invitations, warmth and interest in others will see many sign on for this life changing ten week course.

All of this only happens when we like the Ata people allow, as a high priority, God's love and power to abound in our lives.

"Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"

Mark 11:9

The Passion Week which was the last week of Jesus' earthly ministry was a pivotal point in His time spent here. Jesus had lived an amazing life - which was shown by the way He used His power. The 'son of man' had served others - met people where they were at, reached out to them, and 'came to seek and to save what was lost'.

But now as His time on earth was coming to a close, the acclamation of whom He really was came to the surface. People had seen that He was awesome by what He had done. He had told the disciples that He had come 'to serve and give His life as a ransom for many'. Peter had realised that He was 'the Christ, the Son of the living God'. But as He rode into Jerusalem, it became clear that He was more than just a miraculous man. As the events unfolded, it became blatantly obvious that He was not just a servant - but He was also King, Judge, and Priest.

As children of God, we have gained a remarkable benefit by the fact that Jesus is God and has these attributes. We have victory due to the King's rule over the sin that can so easily entangle us. We have righteousness debited to our account by the Judge who can wipe the slate clean. And we have access through Him our great High Priest. Therefore, we can join together with the crowd that welcomed Him into the city, and shout praise to Him in the name of the Lord.

If you were to ask someone who knows you what you were like, what would they say? What kind of impression do you leave on people? What kind of characteristics do you display? What kind of life do you live? Do you live such a life that makes others desire to be the kind of person you are and are drawn to your life?

In his letter to the Church in Galatia, Paul tells the congregation there that their lives are to be filled with the Fruit of the Spirit; Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self Control. Not just to look good on the outside, but to exude it from the inside out.

But we are, by nature, ingrained with sin and our natural default setting is sinfulness. This is in contrast to what the Holy Spirit wants.

If I am an apple tree, as hard as I may try, if I am not watered and cared for but am dried out and withered and dead, I will not grow an apple. Even if I know what an apple is like and that I am supposed to grow it. But if I (like Psalm 1 says) am seeking the Lord in my life and meditating on the Word day and night then I am like a tree planted by streams of water that produce fruit in and out of season.

The key to having the Fruit of the Spirit in our lives is not to focus on the fruit but on how we can let God grow the fruit in our lives. Jesus said "I am the vine, you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."

While on holidays recently, I read the book Crazy Love by Francis Chan. This book talks about the crazy love of God for us? and then about the crazy (in the eyes of the world) kind of life we should be living in response.

There was one question he asked that really stopped me in my tracks. He asks,

"What are you doing right now that requires faith?"

It's a question worth thinking about, certainly one that has got me thinking and re-evaluating my life and I would encourage you to do the same.

So? What are you doing in (or with) your life that requires faith, that you will only pull off if God comes through?

The wise and the great have always told their societies that change is the only permanent expectation.

The first such documented statement can be traced to Heraclitus of Ephesus, a Greek philosopher who lived 400 years before Christ and wrote:

'There is nothing permanent except change.'

On the eve of the 21st century the Queen told the Commonwealth in her 1999 Christmas message:

'As I look to the future, I have no doubt at all that the one certainty is change - and the pace of that change will only seem to increase. That is true for all of us - young and old.'

All of us are aware the roles of men and women in society are in a state of flux. Some of us embrace the shifts and welcome them, but others of us feel confused, uncertain of our position and maybe even fearful as we look around. Where do we turn for guidance to enable us to handle the changes in a godly way?

The Apostle Peter tells us that:

"[God's] divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness"

2 Peter 1:3

May the Holy Spirit enable us to find guidelines in the Scriptures and apply them in our 21st century society which, on the surface at least, appears so different from the ancient worlds into which the biblical message was spoken. For in a society of change we are still the sons and daughters of an unchanging God.

At our Generate service, over this and next Sunday, we will continue our considerations of the Holy Spirit and in particular we will think about the "Purpose of the Holy Spirit" throughout time.

It is interesting to note that as J. Oswald Sander's looks over time in his book "Spiritual Maturity" he poses the question- why the "discrepancy between the spiritual power wielded by the early church and that exercised by the church of our day"?

He answers his own question by saying "that we cannot have the fruits without the roots". To continue his thoughts he concludes that these roots related to the power associated with the beginning of the church on the day of Pentecost. Powerful roots associated with the coming of the Holy Spirit.

There are obvious dangers in any church being taken up with the roots of their heritage rather than remembering the foundational power of our God.

Paul in writing to the Ephesians speaks of this power:

Ephesians 3:16

"I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith."

Paul goes on to remind us that when Christ, through the Spirit, dwells in us, the possibilities are great:

Ephesians 3:17

"..so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge-- that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."

May these roots of love and united power lead WPHCC to a mighty filling.

One of the greatest truths about God is that He is personal.

I can think of nothing more disappointing than to find out that the only God of the universe didn't really care about me, apart from ensuring that I would spend eternity in Heaven.

This thought distresses me because it couldn't be further from the truth yet it seems to me that so many Christians live their lives as if they were alone, still separated from God.

Now if we know our Bibles, we would agree that God the Father cares for us; we would even go so far as to say that Jesus cares for us also, after all He said He would never leave us! But what about the Holy Spirit does He care?

I'm not sure why we don't often think of the Holy Spirit in that way, maybe because He's often referred to as an it or what, however, when thinking of the Holy Spirit, we need to think who. The Holy Spirit is our companion, our friend, our comforter.

If we begin thinking of the Holy Spirit as being a real living being, it's not too great a leap to imagine this living personal God living, not only with us, but in us.

And there we have it one of the greatest truths of the Bible. The Holy Spirit is personal; living in us, caring for us and sharing our lives.

The last couple of weeks of turmoil have raised this question in many of our political structures:

1. Who is the greatest to lead our State government and its ruling party out of chaos?
2. Who is the greatest to lead the nearly-hung parliament in Western Australia?
3. Who are the greatest to provide our local governments?
4. Who is the greatest to lead our federal Opposition?

"Who was the greatest?" was the argument occupying the disciples in Mark 9:33-34 as they followed Jesus through Galilee. His instruction to them then and His teachings at other times are not likely to resonate with our political elites.

"Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, 'If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.'"

Mark 9:35

"Jesus called them together and said, 'You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all...'"

Mark 10:42-44

And then the Lord reminded them who was setting these criteria of greatness:

"...For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

Mark 10:45

As a 19th century poet put it:

"This is true greatness - to work unnoticed and to serve unseen, To seek nothing but a living Christ in glory, and myself His servant down here."

Some members of our congregation have received a blow this week with the tragic loss of a young girl from Pacific Hills. Although she wasn't a member of this congregation, she was a member of our family, God's family, and to some of our congregation a close friend. Psalm 13 records these lyrics:

"How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts? And day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? Look on me and answer, LORD my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death, and my enemy will say, "I have overcome him," and my foes will rejoice when I fall. But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the LORD's praise, for he has been good to me."

How raw, how honest, how real are these words to those who are experiencing grief. These times don't make sense to us, they're confusing and seem void of God and this Psalm tells us that...this is okay, that this is the 'normal' way to feel during these times BUT we need to be honest with God and pour out our hearts. God may seem hidden but the psalmist first has to work through the anguish to once again realise that God's love is unfailing, His salvation is worth rejoicing about and that the LORD is truly good.

Last Week I was speaking with a lady in a shop at Beecroft. She was enamoured with Jesse who was in the pram, his smile and occasional giggle. She then told me that she had an adopted son who was given a hard time at school because he had a Lebanese background. He was now 37 and somewhere in Australia trying to "find himself". She was not aware of his whereabouts and was clearly upset. What is it about fathers that we seek to honour on father's day? Is it their ongoing need for socks and underwear each year? Or is it something more tangible and more specific that only a father can give to his children? In today's message we come across the story of a prodigal son; and more importantly for today his waiting father. The father of the wayward son rejoiced because his son who was previously lost had now been found. Our heavenly Father is keen for all His children to have a "found" status. Scripture clearly tells us in 2 Peter 3:9 that the Lord is "not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance". The prodigal did repent, and the father patiently waited for it to happen with an eager hope and expectation. As fathers today we too want our children to know the Lord. At times our patience is tested and refined. There are several skills and abilities we need to cultivate along the way to become a compassionate and waiting father. Fathers young and old take up this quest simply because they love their children just like God our Father loves us.

One of the two TV shows that Felicity & I regularly watch is All Saints. Tragically on Wednesday one of the actors of All Saints took his life. This guy played a character named Dan, who had gone through so much trouble in his life but always managed to get through it with a smile & an optimistic outlook on life. Just this season, Dan had recovered from a serious illness, got engaged & then his Father died, witnessed his best mates in a serious car accident; & finally he managed to get married, looking towards happily ever after.

But this is all TV. This is all just an act. This was just his character. The man behind the character was not happy, was not okay, but to us he seemed fine. What was projected was not the reality of the person.

This tragedy must alert us to the fact that as a community here at West Penno, we can also all too easily 'project our character' to each other without allowing ourselves to be real with one another. Jesus said "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, & I will give you rest." Paul then shows us that we can participate in fulfilling the law of Christ & instructs us to carry one another's burdens. James calls us to ask each other for prayer when we are in trouble & to confess our struggles together.

The Church is not immune from 'character projection,' so in love, let's fight to make West Penno a safe place where we can come & bear each others burdens as a broken community committed to healing together.

"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says."

James 1:22

This verse is one of the most central verses to the whole letter of James. Almost everything else that James says in his letter can come back to the idea of this verse - to put into practice what we believe.

And yet... how well do we apply it?

At one of our Intermission (Young Adult) gatherings, the idea of the 'half life' of conviction was discussed. The idea is simple: when we are challenged by God's word and convicted by His Spirit, it weighs heavily on us, to compel us into action. But a week later, if we still haven't acted on it, the strength of the conviction is half what it originally was. Another week later, it's halved again and so on until it's basically non existent... and no action is taken. At this point, despite our best intentions, we find ourselves as mere listeners to the word of God.

Do we deceive ourselves by thinking that intending to take action is sufficient for our obedience? Are we merely listening to the word? Or are we actually doing what it says?

Reflection on past days brings to mind the problems of a world lacking unity. How easy it is to see things from a selfish point of view. The following quotes are taken from a common news report in which the current Georgian conflict is being discussed. "Russia says "... Georgians are the aggressors in the conflict"" "Georgia says "Russia has invaded a sovereign neighbouring state and threatens a democratic government elected by its people"". What a difference a point of view makes! However when it comes to a point of view, God has a unique stance for He loves everyone with equality. Ephesians 6:9 says "there is no favouritism with Him". It is interesting to note how much discussion about the need for unity occurred at our recent Stocktake and flowed over into our Elders' Retreat of last weekend. Any group of people will possess variations in opinion but in the case of the Church this is not an excuse for disunity for we are called to have a likemindedness which is based on the approach of our Lord Jesus where it is said of Him in Philippians chapter 2:7, He, "made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant". This Sunday night at Generate the challenge from James chapter 2 is clear. If God's grace, mercy and love means anything in our lives, there will be an absolute rejection of favouritism.

Do these words of Paul strike a chord in your mind as you think of the daily life in Sydney? Life is filled with choices - every day we make perhaps hundreds of choices - little, inconsequential ones, ordinary ones and, occasionally, life changing ones.

Many choices are easy, almost automatic: many others are made only after careful consideration and still others are made under the influence of the all-pervading advertising culture in which we live.

Proverbs speaks about the disastrous lives of those who hate knowledge and do not choose to fear the Lord (1:29) because the fear of Lord is the beginning of knowledge and it is fools who despise wisdom and discipline (1:7).

Living in the light of the Word of God - rather than by the words of advertising and the contemporary culture - is a continual challenge to us in all the choices we make. Moses' last words exhorted the people to "Choose life!" after he had reminded them of the consequences of their choice - life or death, blessings or cursings (Deut. 30). Joshua followed this during his final days by encouraging the people to "choose for themselves this day whom you will serve" and gave his promise that "as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

May all our choices, the very significant ones and also the ordinary, common ones, be guided by our 'fear of the Lord', that is, our reverence for Him and our desire to honour and obey Him in every part of our lives.

This week at the Generate service we start a seven week series on the book of James. This is the book that the great German theologian and reformer of the 16th century, Martin Luther, famously referred to as an 'epistle of straw' as he thought there was no evangelical manner about it and that it failed to mention the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ...well...this opinion doesn't seem to take into account the fact that the author, James, describes Jesus as 'our glorious Lord' (2:1) and that he has also given himself over to Him as his 'servant' or 'slave' (1:1). You see the encounter that James had with his half brother, as Paul mentions in 1 Corinthians 15:7, was an interaction with a glorious, risen from the dead, Jesus Christ. James, who at one point is described as a non believer in this messiah as John 7:5 tells us, has turned around to proclaim that Jesus is his glorified Lord and Master. The affect of a real encounter with the real resurrected Jesus had a real affect on the life of James, and he is very passionate and desirous that this will have an affect on his readers too.

Of course then one of the questions we need to ask as we journey through this practical epistle is...

...how has 'our glorious Lord Jesus Christ' had an affect on me and you?

"My conscience is captive to the Word of God.... Here I stand, I can do no other"

Martin Luther

As we draw to a close our series on the Book of Joshua, I'm amazed and at the same time challenged by the way that God's people then followed Him in absolute obedience. Obediently, they submitted to Him and to the instructions and the commands that He had given them. And as a result of their faithful obedience and commitment to loyally follow His ways, God fulfilled His promise to them of access to the land 'flowing with milk and honey'.

For us as God's people, the same principle applies today. Obedience to God and what He has revealed to us through His Almighty and Wonderful Word is of paramount importance for us to please Him. His Word truly is "a lamp to our feet and a light for our path".

Sure, we will always struggle with sin in our life - just as God's people in Joshua struggled and at times were found wanting as a result of going their own way. In these times the Word of God is there for us to draw strength from. God's Word reminds us that sin and death have already been conquered, the battle already won, all through the ultimate sacrifice 'once for all' provided by our Saviour the Lord Jesus. So, we need to keep our eyes firmly fixed on Jesus, and live in obedience to what God has revealed in His Word.

The importance of the 'wisdom' literature should never be under-stated in relation to understanding the concept of 'the fear of the Lord'. While current concepts of 'fear' and how it relates to the Lord may leave people a little confused, an understanding gleaned from this integral section of Scripture is of vital importance.

Underpinning the Biblical concept of 'wisdom' is that of 'the fear of the Lord', with the latter being expressed and understood in 3 main aspects. 'The fear of the Lord' that leads to wisdom starts with my vertical relationship with the Lord Himself. Following out from my attitude toward the Lord is the second aspect that needs consideration; that of my moral conduct. My behaviour has to be explicitly linked with my attitude toward God, while taking into consideration my own weakness and moral poverty as fallen man. This third aspect, that is, the acknowledgement of my own inability, rounds out our understanding of what it means to have a fear of the Lord. The man or woman who grasps these things begins the journey of living out the practical expression of wisdom.

As the financial year ended this week, many of us were thinking about tax-planning issues; buying those end-of-year deductions, delaying invoices, bringing forward those July expenses ...all in an effort to maximise our end-of-year financial position.

One of the most attractive and simple strategies is paying some additional funds into superannuation now to provide for our future retirement. This is wise advice often touted and worth careful and thoughtful consideration. And Australians seem to agree, as we now have over $1Trillion invested in superannuation for our retirement and this will help sustain many of us into our retirement.

But as a Christian, who daily watches people take meticulous care planning and providing for their future on earth, I am caused to wonder whether those same people take the same care planning for eternity. One careful planner said, "'I have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat drink and be merry.' But God said, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you.'" (Luke 12:19-20)

Like this fellow, it is too easy to neglect the spiritual in favour of the temporal, and discover this error only when it is too late. And so I ask myself, What about my life? Where are my 'spiritual superannuation contributions' going? Where am I investing my life?

Jesus gave perhaps the best financial advice ever, when he said, "Where your treasure (investment) is, there will your heart be also" (Luke 12:34). So at the end of the 2008 financial year, let us rejoice in the eternity that God has provided for us, and resolve to continue to invest there every cent that we have.

The word church does not mean a place one "goes to"; instead, it signifies what God's people are.' - Marva Dawn

The way we use words and language can have a profound impact on our attitudes and behaviour. Plenty of people express dissatisfaction with 'church' - it's boring, irrelevant, too long, too formal, etc. And what these people are referring to are the public services of the church - what we do on a Sunday as we gather. This common understanding of church is what prompts us to debate styles and structures and services, and to 'church shop' until we find a service that we like.

But all of this is an erroneous understanding of church. Church is not something we do or that we go to; church is something that we are. As Christians, saved by Jesus, we are collectively the body of Christ - the expression and representation of Jesus in this world. Understanding the word 'church' in this way should be revolutionary. Critiques like church being boring or irrelevant become obsolete, and changes to things like our Sunday services are fundamentally superficial. Church is not about those things; it is about our relationships with each other as we gather to declare the glory of God expressed in the person and work of Jesus and about how we collectively continue Jesus' work in this world as His body.

Church is not something we do, it is something we are. My prayer is that we would do less doing and more being.

Warren Wiersbe says in one of his expositions that, "The best defense against false teaching is true living. A church filled with growing Christians, vibrant in their faith, is not likely to fall prey to apostates with their counterfeit Christianity. But this Christian living must be based on the authoritative Word of God. False teachers find it easy to seduce people who do not know their Bible but who are desirous of 'experiences with the Lord'. It is a dangerous thing to build on subjective experience alone but ignore (God's) revelation." It is important for us as Christians in church community to know what we believe and why. We need to understand the importance of knowing God's Word and relying upon it completely.

In John 10 Jesus refers to Himself as the 'gate for the sheep'. He refers to thieves as those who come only to steal and kill and destroy, whereas Christ came that they may have life and have it to the full. By following the Word of God as God's revelation to us in individual and church life we should be strong in our obedience to the true teaching of the Bible and not be swayed by cleverly invented stories.

In this matter we should encourage one another in what we are taught. Even in our church we should test everything against the Word of God and hold strongly to that which is reflective of the Word of God.

As Christians in our local church at West Pennant Hills, we would be among those who are perceived to know the truth and indeed to be established in the truth, but that is no guarantee that we will always remember the truth and apply it in our everyday lives including within the context of church life. As the Apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 3:1, "It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you". Our Lord Jesus often repeated Himself as He taught the people, and He was the Master Teacher.

One of the important lessons from 2 Peter 1:12-21 is that as human beings we die having finished our race on Earth, but the Word of God lives forever. Our experiences of being close to God may fade but the Word of God continues. The world in which we live is significantly engulfed in spiritual darkness but God's Word is always certain, bright and comes directly from God Himself.

The Word of God was written to common people like you and me and not exclusively to theological professors. The Word of God can be read, understood and applied, led by the same Holy Spirit who inspired it. Bible teachers and ways of viewing Christian life have their place but the authority of God's Word should always rule in the conscience of the individual Christian believer.

We should encourage one another to love God's Word and to live God's Word. A particularly powerful passage to highlight this understanding is Psalm 119.

When I was a teenager listening to the 'hit parade' there was a song around that had the above words in it. It was not so much about slowing down but about 'feeling groovy' which I can't really explain!! Here we are half way through the year and I am sure many of us in the past week have said words like, "here it is June already, where has the year gone?" Beth and I have just recently celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary and we have said, "where have the last forty years gone." In most respects the time has passed very quickly and yet in some other respects when we think of how much we have done in that time it can seem quite a long time. I think that today we 'jam-pack' so much into our days and nights that the time does seem to fly past very quickly and that makes us not wonder so much where the time has gone. It wasn't always this way. I like the quote that says, 'one hundred years ago if you missed the stage coach you didn't get too concerned you just caught next month's coach, whereas today if we miss one section in a revolving door we get all agitated."

When here on earth, Jesus in His very busy schedule took time to 'slow down'. He would often go off on His own away from the crowds and even away from His disciples to take time out. Mark 1 v 35, 'Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where He prayed'. Psalm 46 v 10a exhorts us to, 'Be still and know that I am God.' We should share in the blessings of daily slowing down and taking time out to know and exalt our God.

Some lead us to believe that our ability to go forward comes from being able to properly assess our own self worth. There is also the suggestion that it is a help to have some status. Well the Bible sees things a little differently.

Psalm 37:11 says... But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy great peace. While Jesus himself said in His sermon on the mount in Matthew 5:5 "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth." In Peter's first epistle, chapter 5, we learn that it does not matter who we are, the greatest power one can have comes from placing oneself under God's mighty hand.

Imagine that: a might greater than any human resource!

For any source of power to be of use, there has to be a proper connection. So how do we hook up to the might available under God's mighty hand?. Well first of all we connect to God through humbly accepting His grace as is available to us through the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 5:5b God gives grace to the humble)p> Next we need to realise that there is a need for our connection to God to be a constant part of our life, including when things are tough. 1 Peter 5:7 tells us to "Cast all your anxiety on Him, for he cares for you".

So 1 Peter chapter 5 makes it clear, it does not matter who we are, the best way forward is to recognise our need of God's power and humbly accept His grace.

As we come to church this Sunday, what is our expectation?

It would be expedient if we heard great teaching. A sense of praising God out of great singing would be a worthy outcome. A display of unity would be a wonderful evidence of the power of the love of Christ. There is so much we could and should expect through our coming together. How sad it would be if our gathering failed to bring us into contact with God himself. During His life on earth, our Lord was very keen to be in contact with His Father. He often rose early, to speak to His Father, to ensure a continuity of connection.

In John chapter 17 we read that the Lord Jesus actually prayed about our connection with the Father when he said in verse 11

"I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father protect them by the power of your name- the name you gave me- so that they may be one as we are one"

Yes! the Lord Jesus saw the need for us to be connected with God. Peter in writing the text we will cover in our Family Service sees the need for all of our service to be connected with God's strength. He says in 1 Peter 4:11b

"If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides".

Wouldn't it be good, if we had the common expectation, for every heart to connect with God through our gathering today?

Why would the Holy Spirit devote a whole book of the Bible to the story of the military adventures by which Israel took possession of their Promised Land? And what do those ancient records have to say to us?

Israel had been rescued out of Egypt 40 years earlier with all the great events of the Exodus - the ten plagues, the Passover, the crossing of the Red Sea, the destruction of Pharaoh's armies and so much more. But four decades later they were still not in the Promised Land - which was God's real purpose for them. All they had experienced was 40 years of wandering around in the desert and struggling with enemies.

Our spiritual experience as Christians can mirror those Israelites. We believe that Christ died to save us, we are covered by the blood of the true Passover Lamb, we have been baptised and publicly identified ourselves as Christians like the Israelites who "were all baptised into Moses in the cloud and in the sea" (1 Corinthians 10:2). But if our Christian life is still a wilderness experience of defeat and struggle, we ask is this all that there is? Or has God got something better in mind for us - not only in heaven but while we are here on earth?

Just as God rescued the Israelites from Egypt to bring them into Canaan, so God rescues us from our slavery to sin to bring us into a life of Christian victory. But the Israelites had to learn to claim their victories - and so do we. God's promises are there, but they need to be experienced in our lives. As we learn lessons from the book of Joshua in our Generate Services may God help us to live the life He intends for us.

This week, just prior to our Mothers' Day celebrations, the Sydney Morning Herald has run two front page articles of concern regarding parenting.

The first on Tuesday is headlined "Parents, children becoming strangers" and this article comments on parents with children in boarding school not seeing their children for almost up to a year. One paragraph cites the following comment from the head of PLC at Croydon "lack of quality time spent with children- largely the fault of parents' long working hours- is corroding family values".

On Wednesday the headline was "Children of busy parents boarding in the same city" and it opens with the phrase "Tired of fighting the Sydney traffic and with little spare time, busy working parents are sending their children to boarding schools despite living in the same city". This morning's key text from Proverbs 6:20 says

"My son, keep your father's commands and do not forsake your mother's teaching"

As people of my generation think about our mothers, on this their special day, we give thanks for the time they shared with us.

Parents must spend time with their children for there are matters of guidance and teaching that can not be delegated to others. Time impoverished parent-children relationships can not be augmented in any other way other than by a greater parental presence. Face to face communication can not be bought or substituted by riches of a material nature.

It may be old fashioned, but it is well proven that fatherly guidance and motherly teaching, as mentioned in the above proverb, are essential.

The Bible seems to give some conflicting advice about marriage. Solomon tells us that "He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favour from the LORD" (Proverbs 18:22), though we may be left wondering if this was true for each of his 700 wives. Apparently not, for "As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been" (1 Kings 11:3-4).

At the other end of the scale, the Apostle Paul tells us that "... he who marries ... does right, but he who does not marry ... does even better " (1 Corinthians 7:38) and from his confirmed bachelor state seems to regard marriage as a concession to human weakness "...for it is better to marry than to burn with passion" (1 Corinthians 7:9). But Paul's views on marriage came from his deep commitment to being as free as possible for the Lord's work, and there have been many men and women down the ages who have followed his example.

Yet most of us find marriage partners and settle down to raising families and there is much in Scripture to encourage this. It was the Creator Himself who said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him." (Genesis 2:18) and the Holy Spirit later confirms that, "Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work ... A cord of three strands is not quickly broken" (Ecclesiastes 4:12).

Let's see from the Bible what God considers a good marriage and then show this broken world marriages as God intended them to be.

For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when He was betrayed took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said, 'This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.' In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.' For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.

1 Corinthians 11:23-26 (RSV)

To remember is to bear in mind, and not to forget. Every Sunday in almost every church in the world is a remembrance Sunday, as people remember the events of the first Good Friday and the first Easter Sunday. The words differ slightly, but not much. The worshippers eat the bread and drink the wine of communion, and hear again the words that Jesus spoke on the night before He died - and the eating and the drinking are to be 'in remembrance of Me'.

On Friday we remembered the dead of two world wars and of other wars as well. Most of us cannot remember them in the days when they were alive on this earth - but then we can't remember Jesus Christ in that way either. Yet we believe that He is alive - and that all those who died in Christ are alive in Him. Alive now - and that one day we shall see them again. We can say thank you for that, and give praise to God for it.

Let me just share with you two quotes which may or may not make it into tonight's message:

'If we acknowledge that the Pharisees were the respectable, pious people of the time, then we have to admit that Jesus had little patience with respectable, pious people.'

William C Placher, Jesus the Saviour

'The Pharisees were the good, faithful, religious people of their day. And it is good, faithful, religious people of every era who find themselves in conflict with Jesus.'

William C Placher & Beverly Roberts Gaventa, We Are the Pharisees

I find these quotes disturbing. Not because of what they say in and of themselves, but because of what they say about me. There is far too much Pharisee in me. I need to remember Paul's words in Philippians chapter 3. After listing all his reasons for "confidence in the flesh," he says,

'But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage [more literally, faeces - which gives a fair indication of what Paul really thought!], that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ - the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.'

I'm completely in awe...& boggled, the more I comprehend the holiness of God. In awe because God alone is God; there is none like Him, He is perfectly pure, perfect & completely separate in comparison from anything at all in the entirety of our universe ... & beyond. And boggled because, though that is true, He is mindful of us as Psalm 8:4 tells us 'What are mere mortals that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?' When we are, at the core, the complete opposite of the list just mentioned.

But God's holiness is more than just a characteristic of God, it's more so His very nature. In fact I would go as far as to say that Holiness defines Him better, & more significantly, than say love, grace, compassion or any other attribute that we can assign Him (not to exclude any of those from Him) but why? Let me explain with two quick points:

1. God says this about Himself. For example, in Leviticus 11:44-45 twice He proclaims 'I am holy'.
2. At no time throughout scripture is any other characteristic given to us in threefold. You will not find God is love, love, love, or joy, joy, joy or forgiving, forgiving, forgiving, but when the heavenly creatures in the books of both Isaiah (Ch 6) & Revelation (Ch 4) call out about the Lord, what do they cry? Holy, holy, holy!

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty
The whole earth is full of his glory.
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty
Who was ...
and is ...
and is to come ...

At this morning's Family Service we begin our studies of Peter's letters. 1 Peter 1:3-5 gives us seven reasons for praising God.

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!":

1. Motivated by His "great mercy"
       - praise God for His mercy
2. He "has given us new birth"
       - praise God for the new birth
3. Resulting in "a living hope"
       - praise God for our hope
4. "...through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead..."
       - praise God for the resurrection
5. "...into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade..."
       - praise God for our inheritance
6. An inheritance "kept in heaven" for us
       - praise God for the promise of heaven
7. Through faith we are shielded by God's power until we get there
       - praise God for His power that will see us through

This morning we are looking at the Ten Commandments, the law given by God to His people at Mt Sinai, and then tonight, we are considering the grace of God expressed to us through Jesus. Law and grace... how do these things go together? Does law make us right with God? Or is it grace? And if it is grace, why do we have the law?

When we look at the whole story of the Israelites, we see that God had chosen them by His grace to be His people long before He gave them the law. It was because God had graciously chosen them that He then gave them the law. Their covenant relationship existed because of grace; the law was given as a sign of God's grace in their lives. Living by the law was to be the result of God's grace extended towards them, not the cause of that grace.

This is still true for us. We are saved by grace, so it is not that we have to live by God's holy and perfect law; it's that we get to. And this law was summarised by Jesus in this way:

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbour as yourself.'"

Matthew 22:37-39

It's a fascinating fact that the early church paid little attention to what we now call Good Friday. When we look at the book of Acts we read that the early church began to meet on the first day of the week for the breaking of bread. Why the first day of the week? Because that was the day of Jesus' resurrection! Another remarkable characteristic of those early communion services was that they were celebrations. The tone was one of joy and gratitude, rather than sorrow and repentance. Why? Simple! Jesus wasn't dead. You only mourn the dead not the living.

This was the message that was proclaimed as recorded throughout the book of Acts. Jesus was crucified...but was resurrected back to life by God.

This faith of ours is futile and to be pitied if Jesus was not indeed raised again. The disciples were witnesses of this and their lives are proof of this. Paul's life is proof of this. The growth of Christianity throughout history is proof of this. We too are meant to be proof of this. So are we? Have we, like those just mentioned, had a real encounter with the real living Jesus to ensure a real change in our lives? As we celebrate Easter, we don't forget or downplay the death of Jesus. God's Son was brutally killed for us. But it was because of His resurrection that we now have true life, life to the full.

It is "grand finals" time for the summer sports - with plenty of expectation (pages and pages in the papers and hours on the radio and television) - and then celebration by the winning teams and their supporters.

There was expectation and excitement in Jerusalem - the word had got out that Jesus, recognised by many as the Messiah, was coming to the city for the Passover. He had done many wonderful miracles, had taught in an interesting and yet authoritative way, and was now coming to claim His kingdom. That called for great celebration!

So, with waving palm branches and excited shouts the crowd went out to greet Him.

"Hosannah to the Son of David,
Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord,
Hosannah in the highest!"

was the chorus they sang.

But, the celebration was short-lived. Within a week the crowd was chanting,

"Crucify Him, Crucify Him!"

And it is only because He was crucified that we have, not only the expectation of being citizens of His kingdom but the celebration of being His own people - His brothers and sisters!

HOSANNAH!

In the story of Jethro and Moses as found in Exodus 18, we learn many lessons that are relevant to us today. At some stage in his life, Jethro had come to know Yahweh, the God of Israel. Moses had married Jethro's daughter and now in this passage we see one of the blessings of that relationship. Moses shared with his father-in-law the story of the journey in Egypt and from Egypt to the desert. We read that Jethro was delighted to hear of all the good things the Lord had done, so he wanted to praise the Lord God and also to sacrifice to God.

Then in a practical way, he observed Moses fulfilling his responsibilities as judging issues among the people of Israel. Jethro realized the great burden that this had become because Moses was trying to do it alone. Jethro encouraged Moses to select godly men and allow them to judge many of the cases and Moses himself would only need to deal with the most difficult issues. Moses did this as he saw that it was good advice.

On so many occasions it is so important for us to allow and to train others to support us in our responsibilities either with our children or with any area of ministry in which we serve. We need to ask for God's clear direction in this matter and so it is important to select only the right people to assist us in these ways. Therefore the most important qualification of delegating the responsibility to such people is that the person is godly and trustworthy and has the right motivation.

Such a method of doing God's work will allow for fellowship and growth as together we can do even more than the combination of our individual capacities.

In Exodus 16, our passage for this morning, God's provision for His people is obvious: in the desert, with not a Woolies or Coles in sight, God feeds His people, day in and day out (and does so for 40 years!)

But as I've meditated on the text, what actually stands out to me more is God's graciousness towards them. One of the thoughts I had was that at this point, the Israelites didn't even have the Law to keep or the sacrificial system in order to please God. The only reason why they were even alive and in relationship with him was God's grace extended to them.

And what impressed itself upon me was that God gives grace upon grace. When the water was bitter, God cleansed it (Exodus 15:22-27). When they had nothing to eat, God supplied bread and meat (Exodus 16). When there was no water at all, God provided it (Exodus 17:1-7). And in each case, He did so not in response to their prayers of faith, but in response to their complaining and whinging! What amazing grace!

This grace is still expressed by God to us all, and it's still just as amazing. The words of the apostle Paul are just as valid to the ancient Israelites as they are to us: "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Today as we gather again as the community of God's people, let's remember and give thanks for God's graciousness towards us - past, present and future.

"Mum, I hate school". One wonders how many times that has been uttered down the years?

The answer may well be, about as many times as a parent has retorted; "don't be silly, school years are the best of your life". Why do parents respond so, for surely they are able, each one, to think of some bad school experience?

Well it seems no matter what our age, there is a tendency for all of us to long for some time in the past. Certainly this is the case in Exodus chapter 14 where the Israelites were once terribly afflicted by being slaves of the Egyptians and now God has set them free. In this new found freedom, a scary situation arises and they indicate that they would have been better off continuing as slaves rather than "face off" against the difficulty of going forward.

To go forward can be a great struggle.

How then did the Israelites manage to go forward? Well along with the many lessons one could learn from the thirteenth and fourteenth chapters of Exodus, a "stand out" is found in the following verse:

"The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still."

Exodus 14:14

God acknowledged that the people had a fight to go forward on their hands; but He gave them the choice to continue their struggle or quieten down and allow Him to work.

So what is it for you?

• pine to go back,
• struggle on
• or to be still in the confidence of God's help?

In a western world full of excess & affluence we very rarely need to sacrifice anything. If we do it's normally a relatively small or temporary thing. But when we do it's normally for the gain of something else.

The Israelites in Moses' time were told by God to sacrifice a lamb or goat at twilight and to sprinkle its blood over their doorframes in order that God would pass over their house & not take the life of their firstborn. It would be this act that would ensure their freedom from bondage and slavery and release them into the promised land that they had hoped for.

They didn't deserve it. They didn't earn it. But God did it. God gave them instructions & fulfilled His promise to them & all it took was sacrifice.

Israel's story is our story, but the sacrifice is Christ. We're taken from bondage to freedom by the sacrifice of God's Lamb without blemish, a perfect human life.

We don't deserve it. We can't earn it. But God still did it! Sacrifice is key to understanding our story. Consider where we'd be without it.

I've got a confession...it's a little bit embarrassing but...I've got an obsession at the moment & so does Felicity. It's Jamie Oliver, that cheeky, fresh faced, English, celebrity chef! We've stumbled across his "Jamie at home" series and have since bought the cookbook, DVD, & now make it a ritual to, once a week, make one of his meals, sit back & watch an episode. We love it! We've not had a dud meal yet! All the ingredients are straight from his backyard (envious acreage in the green rolling farmlands of England). So to add to our Jamie fanaticism we've decided to grow herbs. We bought all these great herbs to cook with & they're growing really well so far...but not as good as they could because, well, we're renting. So these herbs are in pots, decent size pots but pots all the same. What I'd love to do is plant them straight in the ground, into the rich soils full of all the natural goodness & endless space for the roots that these plants need to grow to their full potential. Even better than that, I'd love to plant them somewhere right near a natural flow of water so that the roots would be consistently feeding on both the wonderful soil & drinking from the nourishing water. Then our herbs would be sensational!

God knows this. God made it like this! God made us like this! God tells us that our relationship with Him works like this too. Psalm 1 paints this picture perfectly. Just quickly stop & read it now. The thing that stands out to me about this tree is that it's planted! Not just appeared there but taken from somewhere else & put near the stream. How is this replanting possible? By delighting in the Word of the LORD, meditating on it day and night! If we just stay in the pot our roots can only go so far, but if we plant ourselves by the streams by drinking of the water's of God's word then we are rooted into something so much richer, deeper and nourishing for this life.

Are you settling for the pot? Are you stunting your growth, potential and intimacy with God by being content with a lousy engagement with God's Word? Or are you planted near the streams, drinking from the LORD and enjoying a healthy and robust relationship with our God. God wants us to get out of the pot & into the ground!

In Romans 7 the Apostle Paul describes the internal struggle of a person wanting to do good but baffled by his experience:

"I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do"

v 15

Through the centuries commentators have debated their understanding of Romans 7. Some say Paul is describing himself as a mature believer struggling with sin. Others that Paul is describing himself as a devout Jew trying to live by the law. Yet others that Paul is not really describing himself at all, but a theoretical person hypothetically struggling with sin.

My response to this scholarly debate is to say, "Get real!" For in the actual world of Christian experience, in all honesty who of us has not run up against the realities of this chapter? In the living of everyday life, who of us has not battled the fact of

"the sin that so easily entangles"?

Hebrews 12:1

And all of us need to come to terms with what Paul is teaching. We will not find the answer to victory over sin by trying harder to keep the rules:

"...the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin"

v 14

Nor will we triumph by looking deeper within ourselves:

"...nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature"

v 18

The answer lies in our Lord Jesus:

"Who will rescue me...? Thanks be to God - through Jesus Christ our Lord!"

vs 24-25

and finding that

"through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death"

Romans 8:2

Come and explore these great truths at our Generate Service this evening.

We had been going through a difficult patch in the mission hospital where we were serving. Even with government subsidy, the hospital ran on a tight budget and people who could do repairs had to come a long way, so when equipment broke down there were inevitable delays.

Nobody ever expected practising medicine in the tropics to be easy, but that week the steriliser would not sterilise, the operating theatre lamp had fused and the theatre air conditioner was not working. Any operations would be done with an aide holding a big battery torch over the surgeon's shoulder while the surgeon tried to avoid perspiration dripping into the operation site.

Although each missionary staff person had come with a strong sense of the Lord's call to the work of that hospital, the strain of these and other problems were beginning to show. Some conversations were becoming a little terse and some interpersonal relations a little strained. The strong sense of unity and purpose that normally marked our community was wearing a little thin.

And then the Lord spoke to us - not through thundering from heaven or manifesting in dreams or visions, but through a Christian brother who came to visit and was asked to share at our weekly Bible study. He spoke on one sentence from one verse, "It is the Lord Christ you are serving" (Colossians 3:24) but as he expounded that basic truth all the "problems" that had been irritating us fell back into perspective.

Today as we dedicate ourselves to another year of service in the fellowship of this local church, let us be struck again by Whose we are and Whom we serve.

At first God needed a man to rule creation and to work and take care of the ground of Eden.

"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them"

Genesis 1:27

But when our first parents fell and "...sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, ..." (Romans 5:12) God initiated His rescue plan.

He chose Abraham and his descendants to be His covenant people through which "...all peoples on earth will be blessed..." But after 400 years of their stay in Egypt, government policy had reduced Abraham's descendants to ruthless servitude and cruel oppression.

Now God needed a man to lead His people out of bondage. A baby boy under sentence of death, was hidden by his mother, found and adopted by the Princess Royal, and raised in privilege as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. Yet the grown-up Moses turned his back on benefit and became God's man to lead His people out of Egypt and give them God's law.

Through the centuries of Old Testament history princes and prophets came and went, wars were won and lost and the Jewish people went into and out of exile and returned to their land - all in preparation for the next great stage in the drama of redemption.

Then "...when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman,... to redeem..."(Galatians 4:4) and proceeded to show the wonder of divine arithmetic:

For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

Romans 5:19

Have you ever been taken with somebody's eminence to the point that when you are in their presence you become a bumbling cringing mess?

Many of you who know me well know that I have a technical background. I love complicated gadgets.

Way back when I was a teenager I was taken up with the very complicated teaching that prevailed profusely around the tabernacle. The typology was fascinating, enthralling and engrossing. This was to the point of causing me to overlook the wonder that God lived amongst His people.

Reaction to the reading of the book of Exodus should be mind blowing as one reads of God's wonderful character, His acts of redemption and the fact that this Holy God dwelt with His people.

The fact is that God's holiness is so absolute that under this old and temporary covenant it took extraordinary measures, including animal sacrifice, for God to dwell with His people.

If that's not enough, what about when we come to the new covenant as described in the New Testament. For it took the infinite immensity of God's grace to totally satisfy the demands of His holiness through Christ's perfect sacrifice so that God the Holy Spirit could live in the life of every Christian.

Yes! God lives in the life of every Christian. A prime truth of the Christian faith is that we can be close to God.

Maybe to avoid the consequent challenges that this brings, we may tend to fill our minds with less important concepts.

Let 2008 be a year where each one of us seek out a closer relationship with God, or as the writer to Hebrews would say as reordered in chapter 12

'Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus'.

If you haven't already done your Christmas shopping by now then you're in a spot of bother. I know that because I'm currently sinking in that very boat. Paddling backwards against the tide of frantic Christmas shoppers. What makes it worse is that when you leave it this late you have to contend with the hustle and bustle of crazed parents, dizzy and tired with their arms full of bags, yelling at their children who are screaming for the latest Barbie accessory or Transformer figurine...hope my wife's listening. I gotta tell ya, if I hear one more Christmas carol sung by over enthusiastic, excited children through the PA in my local supermarket I'm going to re-enact the turning of the tables!!!...

But amongst all the calamity, there in the corner, sits a lonely, silent, overlooked scene that somehow manages to restore some kind of calm in the storm. Three well dressed men carrying gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, huddling around a small wooden trough that nurses a little baby who lies sleeping, so tender and mild. A proud mother and father look on, in awe of this wonderful, heavenly gift. This serene moment captured in "The Nativity" may not be historically true, it may not even be entirely theologically true, but there's always something about it that draws me in. I can't help but look at this scenario and think "here's the meaning". It's traditional, it's normally Catholicised but...it's good...because...it's God. Imagine that! God in our shopping centres! God amongst the push and shove. God amongst the great unwashed... God with us! I tend to forget that sometimes. I tend to do what the shopping centres do and place God in the corner, out of the way when it comes to public affairs. I tend to forget that God's already right in their amongst it all. He always has been, He always will be, that's His style...I've just got to realise it more often.

There is the temptation in many churches to get caught up in managing weekly events. We can spend our time organising children, youth or church programs. We have to organise meetings to manage our hospitality, pastoral and prayer ministries. Rosters are generated for maintenance, cleaning and welcoming. Music is practiced for Sundays, and time is spent preparing sermons. All this activity combined with everything else that fills our lives can leave us tired and exhausted. As a result we can get so caught up in the institution of church that we miss loving the people in church. We can manage programs but forget people.

It is interesting that when we read through the Gospels that Jesus' overriding emphasis is on people. Showing them love, healing them, teaching them the grace of God and ultimately dying for them on the cross to give them eternal life. This focus is true not only in the Gospels, but also in the epistles. Although Paul spends slightly more time providing us with a loose framework for church, he more significantly focuses on people.

May our love for people always take priority over our church programs and structures.

As the Apostle Paul explains being justified (being made "just as if I'd never sinned") by faith in Romans 3-5, he takes up the example of Abraham in chapter four. How did Abraham get right with God?

It was not by his works for Abraham often failed. But when God promised that a son would come from his body and his offspring would be as numerous as the stars, "Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness" (Genesis 15:6; Romans 4:3).

It was not by religious ritual because his faith was credited to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:6) and some 15 years would pass before God instructed him to be circumcised (Genesis 17:10,23-25).

It was not by keeping rules because centuries would pass before God gave His law on Mount Sinai through Moses (Exodus 20-21).

So can you and I be as righteous as Abraham? Yes, because we do not earn God's righteousness, nor do we attain it by rituals, nor do we reach it by keeping rules. As Abraham did, we dare to believe God and He counts us righteous. "Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring..." (Romans 4:16).

What a wonderful provision is God's justification - by faith alone, by grace alone, to God alone be the glory!

If you walk into many bookshops you will find an ever increasing array of books competing with each other to tell readers how to approach life and what to do. It seems pretty obvious that people are looking for answers to how they should live.

Today's text (Colossians 3:1-4:1) provides an integrated analysis of how Christians should live. Paul outlines the characteristics we should exhibit and the qualities in relationships that we should experience. He explains that these characteristics come directly from the fact that Christians have new lives "in Christ". For Paul, this means that we should exhibit the same characteristics and qualities that Jesus exhibited in His time on earth.

Paul summarises the litmus test for a Christian's conduct to be this (v 17):

"And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus..."

Do you want a rule of thumb to test what you should do? Here it is: do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus. In other words, only do what you could legitimately do openly representing the Lord Jesus. After all, that is exactly what we claim to be doing by calling ourselves "Christians".

The election has come - and gone! We now know most of the individual results and the overall result, and we will be spared the endless hours of discussion and speculation on the television, radio and in the press. We have probably grown weary of analysis of opinion polls and the forecasting of results by political commentators.

Have you ever thought about the fact that so much time and energy is put into speculating about other future events such as forecasting the results of sports competitions - cricket, rugby, football, horseracing etc. etc. All this forecasting may be meaningful to those who are interested, but has no effect on what actually counts - the final result!

While all this forecasting activity is sometimes well-informed - it is purely speculative. When the Lord Jesus Christ (in Whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and of knowledge. Col. 2:3) spoke about future events, He spoke with complete assurance and with complete accuracy!

• He said - the Holy Spirit would come - and it happened!
• He said to the disciples - they would receive power and be His witnesses - and they were and are!
• He said He would build His church - and He is doing that!
• He said that the manifold wisdom of God would be shown by the church - and it is!
• He said His followers would be His brothers and sister, adopted as God's children - and they are!
• He said "I will come again" - and He will!

He prayed "Father, I want those you have given Me to be with Me where I am, to see my glory" - and we will be there and see His glory! In fact, we are raised up with Christ and seated with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages God might show the incomparable riches of His grace expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus!

Our future is certain!

Real Christianity works from the inside out - and this is what makes it different from every man-made religion. The religious human mind always wants to concentrate on what is on the outside: words that are said, rituals that are performed, efforts that are made to improve, rules that are observed, and so on.

The human problem is an internal problem: "For out of the heart come evil thoughts [and the list of sins that follows]. These are what make a man 'unclean'..." (Matthew 15:19-20). The solution to the problem must work from the inside out.

The Christian life begins with an internal act of faith: "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved...". The Christian life is maintained by the Spirit of God inside the believer: "...through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death" (Romans 8:2).

The Christian life is nourished by Holy Scripture, but when the Bible has a real effect in our lives it does so from the inside out: "For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12).

If we are not being changed from the inside out, we are not really being changed at all. Let us echo David's prayer in Psalm 51:10 - "Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me".

And let us not fall into the trap of evaluating our fellow believers only by what we can observe externally. In our dealings with one another let us remember that "Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7).

Recently I was at a "Change Management" workshop organised by the company I work for and it was attended by Heads of different units from all parts of the world, being a multinational company. One of the exercises we had to do with a learning buddy was: "What are your motivators at work?". By His divine arrangement, I was paired with Shema (not her real name), a Pakistani Muslim. An interesting and door opening conversation followed.

Shema asked: "What are your motivators? What values do you hold that drives you at work?" That was the question each of us had to answer. I took the opportunity to share about my God driven values, being a follower of Christ and it was timely to plant some seeds on this ground. The spiritual door was ajar. Shema was quite amazed at my passion for people development and the values that drove me to enjoy my role as Head of Learning & Development. I knew I had knocked at her spiritual heart. Reciprocally, I asked the same question, "What is your belief system or faith? How does that motivate you at the workplace?" She answered: "Traditionally I am born a Muslim and I have to follow all the rituals but I have my own philosophy and that is to work hard at my career and to get to where I want to be." We exchanged examples on our values.

Shema hardly had time for her family because she was so focused at work. God immediately reminded me again of my "real job" and that is to be a kingdom professional in the marketplace for Him. That is, to be ready to answer any questions that people asked about my faith, to be a shining star in a world of darkness and a window for the world to see Jesus in me. I recalled my conversion some 28 years ago, left a tradition that never offered any eternal truth and a philosophy that was self-centered into a life that fully entrusts in the mysteries of Christ. I thanked God for Shema for keeping my calling alive and the spiritual radar fresh.

Are you still trapped in your tradition? Did you come out of your traditional beliefs and a philosophy that is shaped by the world? If yes, then we may need to renew our relationship with Christ. For that reason, many of us may not have gone through a clear conversion growth and living as an inconsistent yo-yo Christian. May I challenge you to continue to seek after the mysteries of Christ that you can't find elsewhere except through a personal relationship with Jesus.

What I learned from the above encounter was not to be conformed to the pattern of the world but to consistently use every opportunity to counter the "belief system' of the world with the truth and supremacy of Christ. Paul reminded the Colossian believers "See to it that no-one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ." Colossians 2:8

This week I was reading Origen who was discussing prayer and providing advice to his readers on some practicalities of prayer. He discussed such things as whether you should raise your hands in prayer, whether the head should be covered during prayer, whether you should sit during prayer, what things may be added to your prayer list etc. This in-depth discussion continued some many pages in great detail on the many questions. And although some of the lines of thoughts were not that relevant to us today, they nevertheless caused me to consider my own prayer-life. This is, and always is, a challenge for me.

In our cultural generation I think that often when we get down upon our knees to pray we are more concerned about ruining our designer jeans than nurturing and developing an effective prayer-life. I say this with tongue-in-cheek however, it is true that our wealth and busy-ness distract us from more pressing eternal matters of prayer and intercession for the members of the body who are in great need.

As a wealthy people, the analogy of the camel passing through the eye of the needle is a relevant one for us today. Like the camel in Jesus' parable, the camel must be stripped of its worldly goods that it carries upon its back in order to enter through the gate of salvation. The principle being that wealth and worldly goods can keep us from God's purposes for us - this is also true in prayer. The challenge for you and me is to honestly ask God to reveal to us those things that hinder our prayers, and then place them aside so that they do not prevent us entering the gate of effective prayer.

On a positive note, we also need to discover that thing that causes or motivates us to get on our knees before Almighty God. Often the Lord uses suffering to bring about fervent and intense petitioning from us - at other times of refreshing it is a revitalised love for God and appreciation for His person. Most of us would prefer the latter to be the motivating factor in our prayer-life, so let us pursue that, and cherish & nurture intimacy with our God.

The funny story is told of a family who were making their way along the highway headed towards their holiday destination when they were pulled over by a highway patrol car. "How long have you been driving without a tail light?" asked the policeman. The driver jumped out, ran to the back of his truck and gave a long and painful groan while putting his face in his hands. "Come on now," the officer said, "you don't have to get all upset and take it so hard. It isn't that serious." "It isn't?" cried the motorist. "Then I suppose you can tell me what happened to my caravan?"

It would seem in this humorous story that the driver was so focused on his goal of arriving at their destination and enjoying the family holiday that he didn't think to look back and check on the caravan.

There may be times when it is necessary that we look back, however, we are encouraged in Hebrews 12 to look forward to the goal that is ahead and 'fix our eyes on Jesus' on whom our faith depends. He was willing to die a shameful death on the cross because of the goal He strove towards of knowing the joy that would be His afterwards.

When we face hardship and discouragement it is easy to lose sight of the goal. If we keep looking back we are likely to stumble as we take our eyes off the finish line. Be encouraged to always look forward fixing our eyes on Jesus.

I remember a popular gospel tract from my youth. With the title of "Put your captain's name in it", It told the story of an ungodly sea-captain who lay dying in his cabin in mid-ocean. Neither the first or second mate had a Bible or knew how to pray. They searched the ship for a man who could pray or who had a Bible but the only one they found was the cook's boy, young Willie Platt.

Willie read to the Captain from Isaiah 53 and when he got to verse five: "He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and by His stripes we are healed" - the Captain said, "Stop, my boy, that sounds like it; read it again".

He read it again and said: "Captain, when I was reading that verse at home, mother made me put my name in it. May I put it in now?" The captain agreed.

Reverently and slowly the boy read the verse: "He - Jesus - was wounded for Willie Platt's transgressions - He was bruised for Willie Platt's iniquities" - and so on.

Then the captain said: "My boy, put your Captain's name in the verse and read it again". Then the lad slowly read the verse again: "He was wounded for John Coutts' transgressions; He was bruised for John Coutts' iniquities, the chastisement of John Coutts' peace was upon Him, and by His stripes John Coutts is healed".

That was how Captain Coutts found peace with God. But can you put your name in Isaiah 53:5 and say "Jesus was wounded for my transgressions; he was crushed for my iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought me peace, and with his stripes I am healed"?

SUBMISSION is neither natural nor easy for any of us.

One of the favourite scripture passages of some husbands is Ephesians 5:22-24. They conveniently forget that there is no word translated 'submit' in verse 22. It is brought over from verse 21 which reads, 'Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ' . In other words, submission is to be the lifestyle of ALL Christians, not merely wives.

Where do we all have an equal opportunity of doing this?

We have a great opportunity in the church of which we are members. The elders of a church have a serious responsibility in making decisions which affect the church at present and it's future direction. They know and consider things of which we are not aware. We, as members of that church, ought to willingly submit to their leadership and wholeheartedly support them.

We will then please our Lord by obeying what He instructs in Hebrews 13:17.

Of course, elders ought to listen to the views and concerns of members of the church and take these into consideration in making their decisions.

Am I willing to submit or will I be a rebel? The choice is mine.

Isaiah 1:3

"An ox knows its owner, And a donkey its master's manger, But Israel does not know, My people do not understand."

Going your own way instead of God's way is just plain stupid!

Even an ox knows that the one who owns it has the right to tell it where to turn and what to do. Even a donkey knows that it gets the food it needs from its master's feeding trough. Yet, how easily we forget these most basic truths in our desire to be our own masters.

How frustrated God must get when we ignore the fact that He is our Maker and Lord. How ridiculous it must seem to Him when we think that our own feeding trough is better than His - that life will be better when we go our own way than it is in the path of His blessing - the path of obedience.

Think of how good your inner life is when you choose God's way over your own way. And think of the stresses and frustrations you bring on yourself when you choose to ignore God.

He wants us to enjoy being His people, but sometimes we choose to live in disobedience.

God's message to you today? Don't be foolish, but be wise in bringing your life back under His total leadership. His way is the only way worth living.

Written by John North of Ambassadors For Christ.
You can hear John weekday mornings at 6.05am on FM103.2 and in their Audio Lounge.

After God told King Hezekiah that He would add 15 years to his life (Isaiah 38:5), Hezekiah could spend the next 15 years counting down to the day of his death. Would you really want to know what was going to happen to you in 15 years time?

I went into the office of a friend some years ago and hanging on the wall was a sign which asked:

When things go wrong, do you go wrong?

Life is easier to manage when everything is going smoothly, but when crises strike we don't always find ourselves obeying the biblical instruction to "as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience" (Colossians 3:12). When things go wrong we sometimes find compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience replaced by indifference, unkindness, arrogance, roughness and impatience.

Isaiah 36 and 37 tell us how King Hezekiah managed a major crisis threatening the very survival of Judah and Jerusalem.

Note how he:

1. "...went into the temple of the Lord" (Isaiah 37:1) - getting into the presence of God opens the resources of heaven when earthly resources are inadequate;
2. asked the prophet Isaiah to pray (Isaiah 37:4) - reminding us of the value of sharing with godly fellow-believers who will support us in prayer; and
3. "...spread it out before the Lord" (Isaiah 37:14) - not that the Lord does not know the details but Scripture tells us "....in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God" (Philippians 4:6).

   As the old hymn puts it:

   O what peace we often forfeit,
   O what needless pain we bear,
   All because we do not carry
   Everything to God in prayer!

   Cedric Gibbs
   Click to read Colossians 3 | Isaiah 37

This morning our passage in Isaiah 14:12-14 gives us a vision of Satan, his rebellion and his fall. Whatever other damage he caused before the creation of humanity, we know that he then caused the fall of the human race (Genesis 3).

Satan's judgement was predicted in Eden (Genesis 3:15) and accomplished at the cross as Jesus announced: "Now is the time for judgement on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out" (John 12:31).

How does Satan still cause so much trouble in the world after Christ triumphed over him and his cohorts by the cross (Colossians 3:15)? We can only conclude that God is still working out His purposes and allowing satanic activity within the limits He has set. Some theologians compare this cosmic situation to that of Europe in the final stages of World War II. Hitler was a defeated foe from the time of the successful D-day landings in June 1944, but the defeat was finally consummated only in May 1945 when victory in Europe was complete. Between those two dates there was massive destruction and suffering and death.

But we know the time is coming when Satan will be captured and confined to the abyss for a thousand years (Revelation 20:1-3) while our Lord Jesus reigns with His saints. And we know that one last mad attempt at rebellion when the thousand years are over will result in Satan's final doom when he is cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:7-10).

Who would want to follow such a fallen and fallible master? Rather let us daily renew our commitment to the victorious Lord Jesus Christ "who is able to keep [us] from falling and to present [us] before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy..." (Jude 24).

One of the books most influential on my generation in our student days was "Your God is too small" by JB Phillips. Its popularity was second only to Phillips' paraphrase of the New Testament which became the version most referred in our Christian activities on campus.

Phillip's book alerted our young minds to the very limited concept of God held by most of us and introduced us to a broader understanding of the greatness of our God as revealed in Scripture. We learned to ask each other (and ourselves) "How big is your God?"

An enhanced appreciation of God's greatness helped us develop our prayer lives as we realised what ancient Israel knew:

"What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the LORD our God is near us whenever we pray to Him?"

Deuteronomy 4:7

It was a special encouragement for those of us who were getting our university education with a view to full time Christian service. Frightening prospects melted away when we laid hold of Scriptures like Deuteronomy 7:21:

"Do not be terrified by them, for the LORD your God, who is among you, is a great and awesome God."

May our Family Service Bible passage this morning remind us afresh just how "great and awesome" is our God.

"You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world."

1 John 4:4

With what do we associate the word "power"? Maybe it's the power of a mighty river, a flood, a strong motor or maybe the powerful influence of a government or group leader.

Jesus assures us that the power to fulfil His mission is available to us. John reaffirms this in the verse above. We are indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

1. The Spirit within. (1 John 3: 23-24)

Much controversy surrounds the person and power of the Holy Spirit. The debate causes many Christians to completely ignore this vital area of a relationship with God. Paul warned that in the last days there would be many "having a form of godliness but denying its power" (2 Tim 3:5).

2. The world without. (1 John 4:3)

The devil is at work. In opposition to the Holy Spirit's work within us is the spirit of evil. The antichrist is not just a powerful evil to be revealed in the end times: the spirit of antichrist is in the world already. "The god of this world" (2 Cor 4:4) opposes Christ. Further, our "enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour". (1 Peter 5:8). We must test every spirit to ensure it is of God and not of evil.

3. The Spirit overcomes.

His (God's) power is greater (1 John 4:4). The Bible assures us of victory. Trust and experience this power for yourself (1 John 5:4-5). The world says "Seeing is believing" but God says, "Believing is seeing!" The same Lord who provides our salvation is adequate to keep us in life, but His power is limited by our faith. The Spirit is within us, when we accept Him, but does the Spirit control us? We might have faith in Jesus but do we live by the faith of Jesus (Gal 2:20).

I was listening to a sermon by Rick McKinley (www.imagodeicommunity.com) and he made a comment that has stuck with me. He said something to the effect that men, if we have a child, we are fathers; we cannot dodge or deny that. The question is though, what kind of fathers are we?

As Christians, we have a perfect heavenly Father. Now we can't be perfect like God, but the life we live with our kids will communicate a powerful message about what God is like. So, seeing as this is called a 'weekly reflection,' I thought I'd take the opportunity to ask some questions of us dads that get us reflecting on our fathering.

Answering yes (or no) doesn't automatically make you a good (or bad) father, but it may highlight some things to change or at least think about.

In your fathering...

• Are you physically present for your kids?
• Do they get your undivided attention?
• Do you hug them?
• What kind of example are you setting for them in life generally, but also more specifically as a man, husband and father?
• How are you leading them in their spiritual development?
• Do you pray with and for your children?

To many the imminent APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) conference is just too much bother. For others it will generate protests with the distinct possibility of violence.

The official APEC website cites their intent as "the premier forum for facilitating economic growth, cooperation, trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific region". Why does this intent for mutuality generate such potential turmoil?

Similar conundrums occur when we consider religion. Islam tradition cites the Prophet as saying 'Don't wish for confrontation with your enemy, instead always ask for peace from God.'

For Christians, we may become lost in gaining a balance between mission and enjoying God's peace. A feature verse in our considerations this Sunday morning is Mark 8:34b

"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me".

Following Christ may well lead us into unexplored territory. The way forward may be beyond the comfort zones of our well trodden paths and known traditions. Yet wasn't His path the way of new promises as now set out in the New Testament? Even those close to Him, like Peter, objected to the way ahead when Jesus introduced in Mark 8:31b the fact that He "was to be killed and after three days rise again". In the goodness of God, the plan was for Jesus to die for all.

Just as Christ's self denying path to the cross was a vehicle of God's goodness so our "fellowship" needs to become a reflection of God's goodness, not our purposes.

Through the goodness of God we are motivated and powered to achieve His purposes. Although this may require effort, by design, it is to be accomplished in context with the "Peace of God". Phil 4:7 says

"the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus".

When we place our lives in the context of Christ, even when this is beyond our human understanding, then God's peace becomes the guardian of our hearts and minds.

In the book of Acts we learn about the ways in which the early church was established and that remains a great example to us today. Sadly, too many church communities see themselves as being just part of a denomination or as a group of churches that have developed a certain way of thinking and acting which has gone far beyond the basic principles of what the Bible teaches.

It is really helpful for us to return to the Biblical basis of a church community. In Acts 3 and 4, we learn that the believers gathered together and spoke in the name of Jesus and members were bound together with a common spirit and purpose and a desire to be disciples of Christ.

What does that mean for us today? As individual Christians and as a church community, we should be witnesses to the name and to the power of Jesus. This is the way that the world will know that we are His representatives and that we are following His example. Furthermore, this will be the basis of our fellowship and our service as part of our worship. Most significantly, when we operate in the name of Jesus we will be glorifying God as those who have been called to be His people through the atoning sacrifice of Christ Himself.

Our local church should therefore reflect the character of Jesus who was known for His love, His obedience to the Father, and as one who was full of grace and truth. What would our church be like if we followed His way as we should? Let us consider together, how we can put into practice these teachings from the Word of God so we are an authentic and vibrant community of faith.

Right now a lively topic of general conversation is "will mortgage interest rates go up this week". By the time you read this on Sunday we'll all know the answer and in the main, plans will be in place to handle the outcomes.

A number of our folk in this church were married in the 60's during a time of restricted money supply and the question then was not about interest rates but rather "how can we get a mortgage?".

It just seems as if there is always something to worry about!

In Mark chapter 8 Jesus has great concern for the welfare of those gathered to listen to His preaching. They had been with Him for three days and by now were hungry and He planned to feed them. The worry of his disciples is expressed as follows.

MK 8:4

"But where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them?"

With a sigh we could say "life is full enough of its worries"; or we could take up the thought in Matthew 6:24

"do not worry about your life".

We need to be clear that Scripture does not teach us to be reckless and disregard proper concerns. This comes through in Mark chapter 8 for even after the Lord performed a miracle and fed the multitude, care was taken in collecting up all of the left overs.

As Christians we are called to trust God. Our reliance is upon Him and His provision. Perhaps then a more important question is: "when I over stress does this indicate that my faith is at a low ebb and worry has replaced my relationship with God?".

Why do the authors of the gospels (other than perhaps John) focus soooooo much of their attention on the miracles of Jesus and more specifically the healing of Jesus?

Is it because Jesus wants us to see Him as the Son of God? Yes, this is true, but would this not perhaps have been more effectively communicated if He calmed more storms; walked more often on water; taken more coins from fishes mouths; cast more nets and caught more fish; transfigured more often for the general public?. Surely if He had done more of these types of miracles publicly, this would have been a better way to communicate His Sonship. For example, when he spoke His sermon from the back of Peter's boat while the multitudes thronged on the shoreline, wouldn't it have been the best ever ending to His sermon if after His conclusion he stepped out of the boat and walked on water to the other side of the lake. Now that would have been very cool! However, to the contrary, Jesus generally confines these types of miracles for the disciples only. For the public he restrains Himself to healing and feeding them. At least this is what the writers of the gospels show us. So why is it so? I think that Jesus did this to reveal to the people a side of God that was gentle, compassionate, and empathetic. The Jews knew very well the "God of Armies" but now we have the healing Son - One who feels our suffering and pain; One who lives in this world as a man; not a distant thunderous One atop Mt Sinai, but One close to us, among us, feeling with us in this suffering world. And more than that, our suffering does not escape His tender attention - He longs deeply to relieve this world of the corruption, disease and suffering that plague and dog us - and Jesus repeatedly demonstrated this to the multitudes that came to Him through His healing. In Jesus we have a Saviour who brings life, hope, healing and wholeness. Glory be to Him!

Selwyn Hughes quoted the following words, as uttered by one of his Bible teachers.

"Don't be surprised to discover that many Christians are far more interested in interpretation of the Bible than the application of it."

Jesus, in the Bible reading for this morning's service, is discussing this issue with the Pharisees. He says to them in Mark 7:9

"you have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God."

He went on to point out that we all need to get past a mere ritualistic form of doing the right thing and concentrate on a clean up of our lives.

The age in which we live is one that has a focus on outcomes. Today's people are not so much interested in form but rather wish to participate in results. Unless we as God's people are able to show meaningful life related outcomes from our faith, interest by others in Christianity will be low.

The words of Jesus are timeless and are particularly relevant today. Therefore we must heed His instructions and live in a way that displays the goodness of God through the power of life that He alone can bring.

John the Baptist was a great man; in fact, Jesus says of him "among those born of women there is no one greater than John" (Luke 7:28). And yet, this great man finished his days in prison (see Matthew 14:1-12). What's going on there?

John was someone who was not afraid to declare the Word of God - even at great personal cost to himself. See, John stood up to Herod and told him, point blank, that what he was doing with his brother's wife was wrong. He didn't back away from the confrontation - even though it probably would have been easy to do so. And so, because he had the courage to call Herod to live in God's ways, he found himself in prison, where he was ultimately beheaded.

John lived out the reality of 2 Timothy 1:7 - "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline." For myself, far too often I live timidly. John didn't.

And yet, he had the same Spirit that I now have. That's a real challenge to me.

What about for you?

There is an African parable that goes like this:

Every morning in Africa when the sun comes up, a gazelle awakens and knows that it must run faster than the fastest lion, or it will perish. Every morning in Africa when the sun comes up, a lion awakens and knows that it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will go hungry.

It doesn't make any difference if you are a gazelle or a lion. Every morning in Africa when the sun comes up, you had better be running.

Did you feel like that when you got up this morning, a feeling of dread that makes you think you are running around on a wheel and getting nowhere? For those of us who are older, we feel we must walk a little faster, let alone run!

Jesus said to his disciples:

John 14:27 (ESV)

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid."

Jesus left his disciples, and all believers, a legacy when He ascended to the Father - PEACE. The peace that set apart Christ's innermost being is now ours. This is the peace that allowed Him to sleep through the storm, and to submit Himself into the hands of His Father.

Tabletalk magazine has this to say:

" ...God ordains this monotony, making the Christian life a spiral, not a wheel. Though life can seem wearingly repetitive, we do not just spin our wheels as we endeavour daily to serve the Lord. Our faithfulness in mundane tasks (and grand ones) moves us forward toward a great reward".

In life we have so many opportunities to make decisions about so many things, but only one decision has eternal consequences. Do we, or do we not, accept the Son of God as our Saviour? Today's topic, "Some people believe, others do not", is as valid today as it was in the time Jesus walked this earth.

It is God's desire that nobody will perish, but He leaves the decision up to each individual.

As believer's we have a serious responsibility to spread the good news of God's provision for man's salvation so that all mankind has the information needed to make an informed decision. It may be to our neighbour, school friend, workmate or perhaps our own relatives.

The hearer of this news must then make their own decision whether to accept or reject the information. There is no middle ground as the default is to "reject". The time to accept is limited by our life on earth which can end, without notice, at any time.

The eternal consequences are in direct relationship to the decision made. We can be challenged as we contemplate our effectiveness in spreading this "Good News", and by considering our response (decision) to the "Good News" that has been spread to us.

"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life and only a few find it."

Matthew 7:13-14 (NIV)

It is God's wish and our prayer that all who we come in contact with will "find it".

Just bring God all your bitterness
And the hurts of the past
For He has nailed it to the cross
And will cleanse your troubled heart
He will not turn you away
When you come and confess your sins
He will forgive and set you free
And come and live within
For He will heal what hurts inside
The pain that floods your mind
As you press on through with God
No longer will it bind
Jesus came and set you free
From what you were before
A transformation He can give
When He forgives, heals and restores.

Our study in Mark chapter four today brings us to an understanding of the Parable of the Sower.

Sometimes perhaps we have blamed preachers (sowers) for a poor harvest, but to adopt this line of thinking is to misunderstand the parable, ignoring the fact that God is not willing that any should perish but all should come to repentance. He sends rain on the just and the unjust alike.

The parable is concerned with the fact that the seed falls on all types of soil, the hard heart, the shallow heart, the uncluttered heart and the responsive heart.

We also need to recognise that the growth of seed is not just initial germination at the time of conversion. The parable has so often been applied only in respect to gospel planting, yet the whole of Christian life is one of continual and progressive response to faith, based on the word of God applied to our life and daily living, "For the just shall live by faith".

Let us apply the word of God to every aspect of our life so that like the person in Psalm 1 we shall be like the tree planted by rivers of living water, bringing forth fruit in its season, its leaf does not wither. Whatsoever we do shall prosper.

As this election year passes we will grow even sicker of the muck raking tactics of some politicians.

Perhaps due to my dulled memory I wish for the parliamentary debate of yesteryear. This was a time when eloquent statesmen pursued clever debate. Speaker quality and the relevance of argument were prized whilst one's putting down of the other carried little weight.

Still maybe things have not changed so much, for put downs have been around for thousands of years. Fancy our Lord, whilst He was here on earth, being called a repulsive pile of rubbish. In this it was inferred that He was from another race.

Learn more in today's morning service and then tonight we will see the way in which the Lord had cross-racial compassion.

Yes our Lord, by the free will He has given each one, is rejectable. Yet His arguments by claim and action are irrefutable.

Just as we have to make political selections this year, we need to make wise choices like the following.

When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.

Matthew 7:28-29

Jesus' actions and social behaviour shocked the Bible teachers and theologians of the day - the Pharisees and experts in the law. He welcomed sinners, ate meals with tax collectors and sinners (modern Australian idiom would perhaps say 'scabs and scum') and was even accused of being a glutton and a drunkard. Having classified Him as a friend of tax collectors and sinners, the religious establishment wrote Him off as being a credible religious teacher.

Yet in all His actions and behaviour He was showing exactly what His Father's attitude is - He loves the sinners and calls them so as to invite them into the Kingdom of Heaven. At the same time He hates their sin and wants them to repent and believe the good news so that they may be forgiven, restored and made whole.

His holy character enabled Him to enjoy social interaction with sinners - and even to touch lepers! - without becoming contaminated Himself.

Sadly, how few of His followers today could be labelled with the description "friend of scabs and scum."

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

Matthew 6:19-21

The Pharisees believed the Lord materially blessed all He loved - so being able to store up treasure on earth proved that God's favour was on you. Many Christians are today being taught to have the same ideas and believe that God must deliver them prosperity, health and wealth. But the Lord Jesus said that "treasures in heaven" should really be our aim and that heaven is where our treasure and our hearts should be.

Nearly 200 years ago there were two Scottish brothers named John and David Livingstone. John had set his mind on making money and becoming wealthy, and he did. But under his name in an old edition of the "Encyclopaedia Britannica" John Livingstone is listed simply as "the brother of David Livingstone."

And who was David Livingstone? While John had dedicated himself to making money, David had knelt and prayed. Surrendering himself to Christ, he resolved, "I will place no value on anything I have or possess unless it is in relationship to the Kingdom of God." The inscription over his burial place in Westminster Abbey reads, "For thirty years his life was spent in an unwearied effort to evangelize."

On his 59th birthday David Livingstone wrote, "My Jesus, my King, my Life, my All; I again dedicate my whole self to Thee." (Billy Graham in "Breakfast with Billy Graham". Christianity Today, Vol. 41, no. 6)

As the son of a recruitment consultant, I have a vague idea of how a job application process works. An advertisement is placed giving the details of the position, the required qualifications and the remuneration scheme. This advertisement is designed to attract the appropriate candidates to apply. After applying, the candidate goes through various stages of interviews and profiling to determine whether they are the best person for the job, and then the successful person is employed.

Random musings? Perhaps.

As we look at the start of Jesus' earthly ministry, and specifically the calling of His disciples, we are immediately struck by the bizarre method that our Saviour employs to get people to join His team. We have everything from fishermen (our modern-day check-out clerks) to tax agents (think Transit officers) being called, but this isn't the crazy part. Jesus simply tells them, "Follow me."

Think about what a Seek.com.au ad would look like for a follower. "Positions vacant: Jesus Follower. Guaranteed position, unlimited vacancies, immediate start. No previous experience necessary. Remuneration: incalculable. Just follow."

Aside from the miraculous simplicity of the Gospel message, a thought occurs: God doesn't use Seek.com.au, does He? How does he advertise? - Through us.

Are you attracting Kingdom candidates?

Mother's Day as we know it in the 21st Century originated in the United States of America.  On May 9, 1914, by an act of Congress, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day.   President Wilson established the day as a time for

"public expression of our love and reverence for the mothers of our country."

As well as remembering Mothers, may we today reflect upon the ultimate expression of God's love for us,

JESUS

In Matthew 5, 6 & 7 we have what we call, 'The Sermon on the Mount'. In this sermon, the Son of Man sat on the side of a hill and shared truth with His disciples. This teaching of Jesus was so different to that of the religious authorities that we read in Chapter 7:28-29,

"When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at His teaching, because He taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law."

Jesus did not say that the law was not good. Indeed, in Chapter 5 verse 17 we read,

"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them."

In this sermon we see the spirit of the law as having greater impact than the letter of the law. Sadly, too many Christians interpret the letter of the law according to their own whims and wishes, rather than allowing the Spirit of God to teach them how to interpret the law that He has given them.

In this sermon, and particularly in the Beatitudes in Chapter 5:3-12, we see the place of grace as an expression of God's character. Indeed, we see the way in which grace and truth are combined rather than having 'truth' separate from grace.

As Christians in our local church, we are not only to know God's Word, we are to live it according to His way. As we live the Word of God, we will love it and as we love it, we will live it more authentically.

"Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot wash it away."

Song of Songs 8:7

Our studies in the Song of Songs have noted the exalted terms in which Solomon writes of married love. But over and beyond all human love is the love of the God who Himself is love.

"Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. ... because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins."

1 John 4:7-10

The story is told of a medieval monk who announced he would be preaching next Sunday evening on "The Love of God." As the shadows fell and the light ceased to come in through the cathedral windows, the congregation gathered. In the darkness of the altar, the monk lighted a candle and carried it to the crucifix. First of all, he illumined the crown of thorns, next, the two wounded hands, then the marks of the spear wound. In the hush that fell, he blew out the candle and left the chancel. There was nothing else to say.

The love of God is greater far than tongue or pen can ever tell;
It goes beyond the highest star, and reaches to the lowest hell.

(F.M. Lehman)

It could be said that the Psalms of David give an insight into his inner thoughts and feelings as he experiences life which was observed and recorded in the historic records of his public life.

A writer, Andrew Miller, says:

"There may be troubles on every side as to the circumstances through which we are passing but amidst them all the heart is calm, peaceful and quietly expressing all to God. Faith looks only to HIM; trusts only in HIM. 'The secrets of the Lord are with them that trust in Him.' Psalm 25".

In our reflections of our Psalm today telling of David's response to the betrayal of his kinsmen to Saul and under the life threatening experience of being hunted by him, let us learn to know that 'God is our Helper' (v4) and in spite of circumstances to 'Praise your name, O Lord for it is good' (v6).

Maybe we don't feel threatened by a sword, although our lives may be at risk from illness or in some other way, however, we should never forget that across the world today many Christians are under threat for the sake of the Gospel and we need to pray that they may find, in God, the resolve and strength that David found and that he expressed in Psalm 54.

Relationships are rather like a garden - cultivate them correctly, tend them carefully, feed them regularly and they flourish and bloom. Take them for granted, ignore them and starve them and they wither away. Holy Scripture gives us specific instructions about two important relationships.

First and foremost, our relationship with the Lord Himself. When the Lord sent a letter to the church at Ephesus (Revelation 2:1-7) that church would have appeared a model congregation to the external onlooker - unwearied in their hard work and perseverance, intolerant of evildoers, testing false leaders and exposing their error. But the Lord is no external observer, He is the Lord who "looks at the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7).

And there below the surface He found what He held against this church: "You have forsaken your first love". Nor was mending the situation a simple matter or just an optional choice to improve their devotional habits. He called for them to "Remember the height from which you have fallen. Repent ...", and failure to do so would have serious consequences.

Second, there is our marriage relationship. Malachi reminded the people of his day that the Lord Himself acts as the witness "between you and the wife of your youth ... your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant". Here is a God-endorsed relationship for us to nurture, cherish and deepen throughout our lives together. And with divinely delegated authority the prophet left the following instruction: "So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth" (Malachi 2:14-15).

Let us walk with the Lord with the love that marked us when first He drew us to Him. Let us live with our spouses with the love and closeness that marked us when first we committed ourselves to one another.

"Up from the grave He arose."

Jesus' resurrection was not just a "spiritual" experience in which He continued to live on in the hearts of the disciples. The New Testament eyewitness writers unanimously affirm that the very tomb in which Jesus had been buried was empty a few days later. He later appeared to many people in different places and circumstances at different times. We are persuaded to believe in the resurrection by the clear testimony of Scripture and by the inner witness of the Holy Spirit working in our lives. The message of the gospel is that Jesus died on the cross for the sins of mankind and that He rose from the dead. The sacrifice that Jesus made was acceptable to God and His resurrection proves that His claims are true. 1 Cor. 15: 1-8.

'The grave now is empty the stone is rolled away
And Christ is alive in my heart
Death which he conquered in me has no part
For Christ is alive in my heart
Yes - Christ is alive in my heart'

To some the prominence of today is that it is April Fools day. The origins of this are uncertain, but revolve around the change of calendar in 1582 when Pope Gregory X111 ordered a new calendar (the Gregorian Calendar) to replace the old Julian calendar. New Years Day moved from April 1st to Jan 1st, but many people refused to accept the new date, or did not learn about it and continued to celebrate New Years Day on April 1. Other people began to make fun of these traditionalists, sending them on 'fools errands' or trying to trick them into believing something false.

To the political activist, today is about peace and marching. The idea started in the mid 70's when there was widespread concern about the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Indeed many from the established churches embraced this idea as they viewed Jesus as the 'peace bringer'.

But to the Christian, today is Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week. But what a week! On this Sunday we see Jesus being cheered by the crowds; on the Friday where we see Jesus being jeered by the crowds and taken to a hill and crucified. The world may ask what went wrong; why was this happening? The writer to the Hebrews gives us a glimpse of an answer

"(Jesus) who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God"

Hebrews 12:2

But that is not the complete verse. It starts with the exhortation,

"Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith;"

May we today focus on Jesus.

For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know Him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.

1 Corinthians 1:21 NIV

Speak out about Jesus to enough stubbornly unbelieving friends, and you'll understand the wisdom of this verse. Some unbelievers will respond with anger, others with sweet reason, but you'll quickly get the message that what they believe makes all the sense in the world, and what you are preaching is utterly ridiculous.

When you feel frustrated about speaking out for Jesus, don't give in to a desire to go along with the crowd. Don't ignore the faith in your heart and exchange it for worldly "wisdom". In the end, you'll find that's anything but wise, and it will take you to miserable places God's true wisdom doesn't go.

But God's seemingly foolish wisdom not only brings you a peace filled life with Jesus on earth, it offers a heavenly eternal reward. Though your scoffing friends may deny your testimony on earth, eventually they will not deny their eternal options. One day, in judgment, God will make their own foolishness plain.

So don't be a pest, but keep on showing them Jesus. Some day, that scoffing may turn to faith because you weren't foolish enough to give up.

Lord, keep me as a faithful testimony to You, wherever I go.

Dr David Jeremiah in one of his articles in the magazine 'Turning Point' tells the following story:

"Rumours of a financial disaster flew through the YMCA Convention in Carlisle , Pennsylvania , and a sense of foreboding gripped the delegates. Telegrams began arriving with alarming reports of banks and financial institutions failing across the country. Many of those attending the conference were businessmen and their fears were soon confirmed - it was the beginning of the Financial Panic of 1871.
One of the delegates, Erastus Johnson, deeply troubled, studied his Bible looking for comfort. Finding Psalm 61:2, he bathed his heart in its words, then turned this verse into an instant hymn which was sung repeatedly by the YMCA delegates in their sessions. It soon spread across the nation. Entitled "The Rock That Is Higher Than I," the chorus is a simple prayer: O then to the Rock let me fly, to the Rock that is higher than I!"

Perhaps we are caught in a state of panic, overwhelmed by family needs, financial needs, failure or impending perceived disaster. When our heart is overwhelmed, let us flee to the Rock that is higher than us, the Rock of Ages.

"O then to the Rock let me fly, to the Rock that is higher than I!"

As you read through the third chapter of Matthew's gospel, it is tempting to start to feel sorry for John the Baptist. He had spent so much time in the desert with a seriously unappetising diet and itchy clothes telling everyone about the coming Messiah. His cry was, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." When people started wondering whether John was actually the Messiah being talked about, he humbly proclaimed his own inadequacies in comparison to the coming King. We are told that people from all over the region went out to the Jordan to repent and be baptised. The atmosphere must have been one of simmering excitement and anticipation, and so much more so for John himself.

Imagine the expression on his face when the awaited King walked down to the river. Imagine the joy in his voice as he said,

"Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world!"

And imagine how low his jaw must have dropped when Jesus walked up to him and asked to be baptised.

The world must have been turned upside down for John, enough so that he had to check to make sure Jesus was being serious. But Jesus assuaged all of John's concerns by saying,

"Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfil all righteousness."

Then John agreed and went ahead with the baptism of the Son of God.

What an honour to not only baptise Jesus Christ, but to be present as heaven opened, the Holy Spirit descended and the voice of God proclaimed His pleasure with His Son. And what an honour to have this same Christ take up your very own call: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."

Poor John? I think not.

When we think of generosity we would very rarely think straight away about God, and yet in Him we have the most abundant resource of generosity ever known to mankind. We know that God is Love (1 John 4:16) yes, but even that word "love" isn't a very good description of God when we come to our general understanding of the word "love". If we start to add a bit of flesh to this concept then we start to widen our scope of our God and His very natured character.

I like to look to the fruit of the Spirit to expand my thoughts on who God is, because if these are the fruit of having the Spirit, as explained by Paul in Galatians 5:22, then we can safely state that these are also intrinsically a part of the character and nature of God.

We've already stated that God is Love, yes, but let's continue. He's also Joyful, Peaceful, Patient, Gentle, Good, Faithful, Kind and Self Controlled as well. Now where's this leading in regards to God being generous? Well God is the perfect example of all of these traits (and more) and in His wonderful and amazing generosity He chose to share all of Himself with us. God gave Himself to us in creation.

Donald Miller, the author of "Searching for God knows what" puts it like this:

"The most selfless thing God could do, that is, the most selfless thing a perfect Being who is perfectly loving, could do, would be to create other beings to enjoy Himself"

That highlights the first of the two most generous acts in history. First, the creating of us to be in relationship with God to enjoy Him, and the second, the giving of His Son Jesus Christ in His life and Death to restore that very relationship we were created for in the first place.

Our God is so generous and we owe Him nothing less than our entire lives in response to this wonderful, wonderful generosity, born from His Love.

Even though our bank account may be paltry, we do expect those entrusted with its keep to exercise due care.

Probably in most of our cases, what will be more significant is what we owe. Our home mortgage, our car loan and so on. Similarly we do expect that an accurate account of "what we owe" will be kept.

We expect those, in whom we place our trust, to be faithful stewards.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4:2

Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.

In this verse "those who have been given a trust" is readily translated as the one English word, steward. Now what is interesting is that a steward is to behave in a faithful manner.

Frankly most of us would not care if our account balance statements came flamboyantly dressed up with colour and graphics. We would prefer a faithful representation of the state of our account.

God trusts us as His stewards to be faithful to Him. Some may feel that they are not blessed with the brilliance of another. Well what God looks for is a return based on what we have (and by the way we can all be heavy borrowers on the Bank of Heaven through the work of our Lord Jesus Christ). Each one has something to offer to the Christian effort. It may just be, as we will cover in the morning service, a matter of giving a helping hand to assist another along.

Well in this aspect of helping others, we are all called to be faithful stewards, brilliance is not required.

Ever notice the ease with which natural athletes play their game. As a spectator of great sport, one may well say- "that is not like me".

For some it may be a struggle to play any sort of sport, but one can be sure that all of us have ability in some area of life.

What is interesting is that he and she, who have lots of ability and play sports at a top level, know a different struggle. Their elite skills bring them face to face with top competition but even in this they have the great coaches to equip them for the battle.

When it comes to living the Christian life, our struggle should only be due to the strength of the opposition and not to do with the limitations of self at all. It is great to remember that the capability of our opposition is somewhat less than the might of our power equipping God.

Why then do we struggle with being good disciples and stewards of our Lord Jesus Christ? Well often it is because we lose our connection with our super coach, the indwelling Holy Spirit. You see, according to Galatians 5:22, He brings to our lives gifts like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

If our relationship with God is strong, then the outcomes of our life take on the nature of the Holy Spirit's gifts. We then begin to enjoy the Christian life rather than struggle against the limiting nature, the power of self.

John 3:16 is one of the best known verses in the Bible:

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

As we think this morning about 'being generous with what we've got,' that's a verse we cannot forget, for two reasons:

The first reason is that sometimes (most of the time?) we don't want to give. We want to keep our money for ourselves. After all, we need it, don't we? And so when God calls us to give, it can feel like, "God, you're just asking me to give up too much."

You may not articulate it quite like that, but that may very well be what you feel. I know I feel it. But you know what John 3:16 tells us? It tells us that we can never out-give God. When it feels like God is asking you to give up more than you're prepared to give...let God's generosity towards you shame you and drive you towards repentance.

That last sentence has some strong words in it, I know. I don't apologise for them, but I do want something to be clear: God doesn't want us to give out of guilt. But he does want us to be overflowing with love and generosity towards others, just as he was in the giving of his Son.

And that leads us to the second reason: when we give what we have, especially to those who we would consider as 'undeserving,' we are reflecting the character of our God. We are being Christlike. And in so doing, we bring glory to God as we, with our lives, point people towards Jesus.

There are Christians who find it embarrassing that the Song of Songs is in the Bible. Some ignore it, others look for ways around their embarrassment by "spiritualising" it so that, instead of being a God-given song about human love in marriage, it is considered to be an allegory. Jewish commentators saw it as a picture of the love of the LORD for Israel; Christian scholars have seen it as a picture of the love of Christ for His church.

Nor are secular men and women likely to understand and appreciate the message of the book. Without the Spirit of God a person looks at the Song of Songs and reads a story found in a thousand soap operas: a story of lust and passion. Conditioned by the media and mores of a sex-sodden age the romance of the Song of Songs is befouled, the sex demeaned, and what God presents as beautiful and holy is made into something dirty and sinful.

We as Christians cannot escape this world. We live in it, we work in it, we are touched by it in a thousand different ways. But let us neither demean nor deflect the message of the Song of Songs. The Holy Spirit guided its inclusion into the canon of Scripture to portray for us God's message of romance, of ideal human love and marriage. We are given example and instruction for the preservation and development of the most intimate relationship experienced between human beings. In a world where marriage is increasingly discredited and marriages break down in increasing numbers we need, and need desperately, the message of Solomon's Song.

I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

Philippians 4:11-13

The strength we need - and it does take strength - to be content comes from Christ.

Recently, I was listening to an American pastor talk about his experience of a trip to India. He commented on how everywhere he looked, he saw signs of the worship of idols - altars, statues, incense, sacrificed chickens, and such. The worship of idols was pervasive, obvious, seemingly universal.

He asked one of the local Christians, with whom he was staying, if she had ever been to America. The response surprised him: "Yes I have, but I don't ever want to go there again. There is so much idolatry in your country."

We are surrounded by idols, and - probably without realising it - we worship them as much as (if not more than) we worship the one true God. Our idols in the West are the things we own and our religion is materialism. Our holy sanctuary, our place of worship, is the shopping centre (Castle Towers, Parramatta Westfield, Macquarie Centre, etc) and we dress up in our nice clothes to go there. Our homes are filled with religious icons - big TVs, new cars, the latest gadgets. And we're bombarded with religious propaganda through TV, radio, magazines and newspapers, so that we're constantly receiving the message, "Your life, your identity, your religious practice, is not complete unless you buy this, have that, get those things."

All this stands in contrast to the command of God:

"You shall have no other gods before me"

Ex 20:3

Or the words of Jesus:

"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."

Mt 6:24

As we spend the next few weeks considering the topic of our money and our possessions, I think it's worth asking the question at the outset: Who or what is really the god of your life? And if it's not the God revealed in the Bible and who took human form in the person of Jesus Christ, the next question is: What are you going to do about it?

See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven?

Hebrews 12:25

Remember the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster? The opening of the records of the Soviet Union made public a chilling description of how it came about. (University of Pacific Review, Winter 1991).

The two electrical engineers in the control room that night decided to "play around" with the machinery, performing what the Soviets later described as an unauthorised experiment. They were trying to see how long a turbine would "free wheel" when they took off the power.

Taking the power off that kind of a nuclear reactor is a difficult, dangerous thing to do, because the reactors are very unstable in their lower ranges. In order to get the reactor down to that kind of power, where they could perform the test they were interested in performing, they had to override manually six separate computer-driven alarm systems.

One by one the computers came up and said, "Stop! Dangerous! Go no further!" And one by one, rather than shutting off the experiment, they shut off the alarms and kept going. The result was a nuclear fallout that was recorded all around the globe, from the largest industrial accident ever to occur in the world.

The instructions and warnings in Scripture are just as clear. We ignore them at our own peril, and tragically, at the peril of innocent others.

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.

Ecclesiastes 3:1

So in 2007 let us:

• Take time to work - it is the price of success
• Take time to think - it is the source of power
• Take time to read - it is the fountain of wisdom
• Take time to be friendly - it is the road to happiness
• Take time to laugh - it helps to lift life's load
• Take time to worship - it is the highway to reverence
• Take time for God's word - it brings Christ near and it washes the dust of earth from our eyes
• Take time for God - it is life's only truly lasting investment

But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, "You are my God." My times are in your hands...

Psalm 31:14-15

For more than 4000 years the promises of God were narrowing and focussing on how God's Messiah would arrive.

He would be a descendant of Eve:

And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel. (Genesis 3:15)

He would be a descendant of Abraham:

... and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me. (Genesis 22:18)

He would be a descendant of David:

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; From his roots a Branch will bear fruit. (Isaiah 11:1)

He would be born of a virgin:

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)

He would be born in Bethlehem:

"But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times." (Micah 5:2)

And there would be tragic consequences:

This is what the LORD says: "A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because her children are no more." (Jeremiah 31:15)

With the birth of Jesus every promise comes together. Now, as the proverb says, "Once is happenstance, twice is co-incidence, three or more and you had better believe there is a plan behind it!"

And that's why we celebrate Christmas:

For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God. (2 Corinthians 1:20)

For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6

• May the Christmas presents remind you of God's greatest gift-His only begotten Son.
• May the Christmas Candles remind you of Him who is the light of the world.
• May the Christmas tree remind you of another tree on which He died for you.
• May the Christmas cheer remind you of Him who said, "Be of good cheer."
• May the Christmas feast remind you of Him who is the bread of life.
• May the Christmas bells remind you of the glorious proclamation of His birth.
• May the Christmas carols remind you of His glad tidings which we are to proclaim to all mankind.
• May the Christmas season remind you in every way of Jesus Christ your King.

A couple of weeks ago we watched Ian Thorpe make his decision to drop out of competitive swimming because he had lost his motivation to maintain the training schedule. If we ever feel the same way about the race of the Christian life, Hebrews 12 invites us to "run with perseverance the race marked out for us" and tells us of the resources God has provided.

Firstly we have the example of the Son of God in verses 1-4. We can "fix our eyes on Jesus" and "consider him ... so that [we] will not grow weary and lose heart."

Then we have the assurance of the love of God in verses 5-13. When hardship and discipline come our way, we can recognise them as the evidence of God's love as our heavenly Father works in our lives to produce "a harvest of righteousness and peace".

Finally we have the power of the grace of God in verses 14-24. We can look back at the bad example of Esau and, as The Message paraphrase puts it: "Watch out for the Esau syndrome: trading away God's lifelong gift in order to satisfy a short-term appetite. You well know how Esau later regretted that impulsive act and wanted God's blessing-but by then it was too late, tears or no tears."

And we can look up at the glory of the heavenly city which is our eternal destination. Just as athletes endure the disciplines of training, and the perseverance and effort required for every race, to stand on the winners' podiums and receive their medals, so we run the race of the Christian life to find our place in "the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God" along with the angels and the redeemed of all the ages.

At one time, Jesus said to the Jews who were persecuting him:

"You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life"

(John 5:39-40)

They are challenging words if we slow down enough to reflect on our own lives.

In our evening Generate services, we've been doing a series on discipleship and over the past few weeks, have looked at the spiritual practices of prayer, Bible study and fellowship. We could add other practices, such as tithing, evangelising and being involved in ministry. These are all things that we, as Christians, are regularly instructed to do, and to varying degrees, most of us do most or all of them.

And that's all fine and well. But, like the Jews Jesus was talking to, do we focus so much of our time and attention and effort on doing spiritual practices such as these that we actually end up missing Jesus? Do we do those things because they are what we think we should be doing as a Christian, or because through them we find Jesus?

As we close out this series tonight, and as we approach Christmas, it's my hope and prayer that we focus less on what it means to look like 'a good Christian' and focus more on Jesus the Christ.

At a recent School Board meeting, Mr Stephen Trew, from our Church, shared an important insight from Joshua 5:13-15. Joshua asked a man with a drawn sword in his hand a question; "Are you for us or for our enemies?" The answer was strange. The man said,

"Neither, but as commander of the army I have now come".

Joshua then displayed great reverence and asked another question,

"What message does my Lord have for his servant?"

Joshua assumed that this man was either on his side or against him. That is the way we so often think, even as Christians, particularly in modern church life. Joshua's question is wrong and Joshua learnt that lesson in this short story. We are not to expect people to be on our side, but rather we are to be on God's side. We are here to do God's work in God's way. In this way we will understand that we are here to fulfil God's purposes and not to have others attend to our wishes or preferences.

As a church, therefore, we should be a teaching and learning community that allows the Word of God to live richly in our hearts and minds. It means that our basic assumptions are that we are here to do God's work and not to have our own agenda, and therefore, compete against the agenda of another.

In essence, what we are to do, is to honour and obey God and therefore, to worship Him and serve Him only. This was the command in Old Testament times, in New Testament times and ever since, including for us today.

Warren W Wiersbe on "fellowship":

This word fellowship is an important one in the vocabulary of a Christian. It simply means "to have in common." As sinners we have nothing in common with the holy God. But God in His grace sent Christ to have something in common with men. Christ took on Himself a human body and became a man. Then He went to the cross and took on that body the sins of the world as 1 Peter 2:24 tells us:

"He himself bore our sins" in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; "by his wounds you have been healed."

Because He paid the price for our sins, the way is open for God to forgive us and take us into His family. When we trust Christ, we become "participants of the divine nature". 2 Peter 1:4:

"Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires."

The term translated "participants" in Peter's epistle is from the same Greek root that is translated "fellowship" in 1 John 1:3:

"We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ."

What a thrilling miracle! Jesus Christ took on Himself the nature of man that by faith we may receive the very nature of God!

As you walked in the door today did you notice the words in the big picture frame describing our purpose?

"to build a community of believers who are committed to glorifying God by making effective followers of Jesus Christ"

We know this to be biblical because Jesus said in Matthew 28:19

"go and make disciples of all nations".

Disciple was a term used initially to describe Christ's closest followers, the Twelve, but recently Peter and Sophia McCrindle reminded some of us that now God expects every Christian to be a disciple. Somehow one thinks that the concept of the universality of discipleship has been lost, somewhere along the line.

Well if we were to measure ourselves to see how we are going, in across the board discipleship, what test would we apply. What about?John 13:34-35

"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

Disciples of Jesus are expected to be displaying love and of course for that to be seen action is required.

Oh! Why then did we become known as Christians. Well it goes back to Acts 11:26

"The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch"

So it looks as if to being a Christian follows on from first becoming a disciple.

Let us all accept the challenge of being disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ.

In our Generate service today we will discuss encouragement, discipling and mentoring; so let's take a ten question reality check.

1. Have you been encouraged by our young people recently through their involvement in camp work and short term mission?
2. Are you rejoicing in the effort that is being put into our Carols in the Park event?
3. Have you recently thanked God for the PlayTime activity?
4. Have you prayed over our language classes?
5. Have you thanked God for and/or prayed for the Kids' Church and its leaders?
6. Who have you encouraged recently?
7. Are you one who helps with the discipleship of others?
8. Have you ever wondered how the development of a leadership team occurs?
9. Have you ever mentored (taken an active role in the ministry development of another)?
10. Is all of the above part of being an active member at WPHCC?
Trevor Young

In Matthew 13:15-17, Jesus says that the people's hearts are hard, and their eyes closed. The disciples however, are blessed to see something that righteous men have longed to see. God is on the move! Just as the Spring-thaw whispered Aslan's presence after Narnia's long dark winter, the disciples saw in Jesus the signs of God's kingdom breaking through.

Jesus was speaking in the context of his explanation of the parable of the sower. He's not just interested in acceptance of His words, but a harvest. The disciples are encouraged not only to see the kingdom come, but to be a part of it. This required preparing their hearts so that it wasn't closed (like hard ground), self-seeking (rocky) or worry-full (thorny), but rather was ready to obey (like good soil). We too can be people who produce a rich harvest that glorifies God. Our yieldedness to God determines our productivity (30, 60 or 100-fold).

God's word is being planted all around the world, but there are many people who accept God's word, but don't go on and bear fruit. In the parable of the weeds (Matt.13:24-30), there's a warning that the one field can hold both weeds and wheat, but at harvest time the unfruitful weeds will be burned. Hebrews 6 provides similar exhortation that we be people who persevere to the end in fruitful living.

Solzhenitsyn (quoted in The Call, Os Guiness (2003), p53): "The secret of a great life is often a man's success in deciphering the mysterious symbols vouchsafed to him, understanding them and so learning to walk in the true path."

May God open the eyes of your heart today, and produce eternal fruit through you this week.

In our Generate services we've had a blast working our way through the book of Philippians and this evening we'll wrap it up with that absolute gem of scripture, Chapter 4. Last week we considered what our lives would look like if we lived them in the light of our heavenly future, perspective, and destiny. Chapter 4 gives practical encouragement to this end. Paul says that every good thing is to be not only on our hearts and minds, yet also displayed in our lives.

There's a brilliant new song going 'round the traps at the moment titled 'Nervous in the Light of Dawn'. Often when I hear these words being sung I consider how true it is that so many in our world are just that - nervous in the light of what the future holds.

I encourage you, friends, to consider that for the believer, being 'nervous in the light of dawn' need not be an option - rather - because we have a hope in Christ Jesus of a heavenly eternity, and because we have the POWER and PRESENCE of the living God in our lives, we have the ability to face each day of our lives with JOY, PEACE, and ASSURANCE that there is nothing in life that cannot be dealt with, for our good, by the hand of God (think of Romans 8).

Moreover, IF we do live rejoicing in this assurance, what are we doing about it? If we are given a peace which transcends understanding for the storms of life - why aren't we sharing it? If we see others we know and love and care about who live nervous in the light of dawn, what holds us back? Are our lives a reflection of the saving work of Christ Jesus in them?

Friends, let us never be ashamed of the work of our Lord when we get a chance to encourage a non believer. Let's value our salvation each day enough to want to share it. And while we live this life, let us with assurance claim that we can:

"Rejoice in the LORD always! Again I will say it, rejoice! ...The LORD is near"

What a splendorous thought. Bless You.

What do you think of that old expression "be hearty". Some dictionaries describe this as living in a sincere, cheerful and enthusiastic way.

Some folk seem to find it very easy to live in a hearty manner, yet others of us just struggle. Of course struggles are understandable given our many everyday pressures and this says nothing of those bigger life related problems that do come our way.

Of course, a great source of encouragement is the magnificence of our Lord Jesus Christ. This clearly comes through in our Sunday morning services as we study the book of Hebrews.

What is interesting is that the book of Hebrews instructs each one of us to be encouragers and this is clear from the following verse.

But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.

Hebrews 3:13

We all have a role in offering each other encouragement. Encouragement is a daily activity to which we are all called so that everyone will be helped to stand against the many pitfalls that lead to a lack of heartiness.

In preparing for the evening service's series on Philippians, I have been blessed to discover many things about this little "Epistle of Joy". A resource that I've found particularly useful is J. Sidlow Baxter's "Explore the Book". In his chapter on the letter to the church at Philippi, he suggests that when reading Philippians, we encounter a "fourfold revelation of Christ". He adds that the four chapters accurately represent these four ideas. Here they are:

• Chapter One deals with Christ our life. The key verse is 22: "For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain."
• Chapter Two's key verse is verse 5: "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus". It focuses on Christ our mind.
• Chapter Three is all about Christ our goal. Verse 10: "I want to know Christ".
• Finally, Chapter Four centres on Jesus Christ our strength. Verse 13 sums it up: "I can do everything through him who gives me strength".

  Sidlow Baxter closes by saying this: "Once this fourfold Christ of Philippians is seen, the little epistle gleams and flashes with an altogether new luster - it becomes a gem precious beyond all words."

  Jamie Watkins
  Click to read Philippians

This month we start a new series looking at "Hebrews" written about A.D. 65 to struggling Christians. Note how the writer zeroes on to Christ, the bedrock of their Christian faith.

God has spoken by His Son..

1. Whom He appointed heir of all things
2. And through whom He made the universe
3. Who being the radiance of God's glory
4. And the exact representation of His being
5. And sustaining all things by His powerful word
6. When He had provided purification for sons

   Then the triumphant climax -

7. He sat down at the right hand of the majesty in heaven (Hebrews 1:1-3)

Question: "Does life have meaning or purpose?"

Hebrews Answer: "What more can God say?"

Action: Let's live as Christians who really live out what we say we believe, God's Son will be "Heir of all things".

Of all the events of Joseph's life, these are the two aspects of his faith on which the writer to the Hebrews comments:

By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions about his bones

Hebrews 11:22

The way his family had treated him did not make him abandon his faith but strengthened it. Though he lived all his adult life under the ungodly influence of Egypt, this did not weaken his trust in God. He had no written Bible but Joseph knew what he believed-that God would one day deliver his people from Egypt.

How strongly do we believe the promises of God, especially His word about the future that awaits us?

"But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness"

2 Peter 3:13

And Joseph knew where he belonged-in Canaan, not in Egypt. In spite of his eminent position in Egypt, he did not regard it as his home. The Egyptians would have buried him with great honour and pomp, but Joseph preferred a significant burial in Canaan to a magnificent burial in Egypt.

Are we so comfortable in this world with all that is provided for us that we forget that this is not our real home but "our citizenship is in heaven" (Philippians 3:20)?

It took more than 300 years, but Joseph's faith was rewarded. Exodus 13:19 tells us that in all the haste and chaos of the exodus from Egypt, Moses collected Joseph's bones and took them with him. Joshua 24:32 records how the bones were buried in the ancestral grave at Shechem.

For centuries in Central Asia a story's been told about the 'Father of Blessings'. No one knows where the 'Father of Blessings' comes from or where he goes, this stranger just travels incognito from village to village, blessing people. This 'Father of Blessings' tradition is at the root of much of the remarkable hospitality Central Asians extend to strangers. They sincerely welcome strangers and grasp their hands to greet them and hold onto them until they're blessed.

History reveals that before the Apostle Thomas took the message of Christ to India where he died, he brought news of Jesus to Central Asia and the basis for this folklore is, in fact, the stories that Thomas told about his Lord. Today, the persecuted church in this region is finding that this is the key to opening the Bible for these people to recognise the one who can truly bless them. There are several passages in Scripture that link to this figure including Genesis 32, where Jacob wrestles God and holds him until He's blessed.

When people in Central Asia hear this they are gripped by the Bible-it relates to their culture. Something so often thought to be 'Russian' or 'Western' suddenly sounds Central Asian. Christians speak of the 'Father of Blessings' and suggest they know Him and explain that they too can know the true 'Father of Blessings'.

How do you relate to our culture and society? Do you criticise and condemn, or create and craft ways of sharing Christ? How can we as WPHCC reach into this community to show the Love of the "Father of Blessings" and His Son Jesus Christ...even IF we're persecuted for it?

As we look at some aspects of Isaac's life, we need to remember his birth. Isaac was born to Abraham & Sarah as the result of God's promise to them. However, when God told them that it was their bodies that he would use to give them this son, their faith faltered. They both laughed at the thought that a man approaching one hundred years, and a woman past child-bearing age could conceive and have a child. God then replied with the telling words, "Is anything too hard for the Lord?".

This statement is just as true today as it was then. If something is in God's plan, He can make it happen. Are we having problems in our personal life or our family life? Do we have a vision of what we could do in our service for God, but then falter, and think it won't happen? Be encouraged and remember God's words to Abraham and Sarah "Is anything too hard for the Lord?"

Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them.

Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father...

But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.

But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate.

How much do I trust God?

How far do I trust God?

Abraham experienced many occasions when he trusted God - and received great blessings (the promise of countless descendants, the promise of the land, righteousness, the great blessing of his son, Isaac). He also had times when his faith did rise to the challenge presented by threatening circumstances.

Was he a slow learner?

When he was about 115, God tested his faith in a strange and confronting way. But his faith now held firm - he had learned that blessing and joy came from trusting God completely. He trusted that God would restore his son, Isaac, even if he was to be killed as a burnt offering, because God had promised that Isaac would have descendants that would inherit the promised land.

He learned to trust God completely.

His faith was "top quality" - 100%!

What grade would you give to the quality of your faith?

Is our God a trustworthy God?

How many challenges to your faith have you experienced this last week? Has you faith enabled you to be content whatever the circumstances? (Phil. 4.11) Has your faith enabled you to give thanks in all circumstances? (1 Thes. 5:18)

Abram and Sarai were righteous - because they believed God and had righteousness credited to them (Rom. 4:23) - but they were still in the process of becoming holy. God did not write them off when they failed to trust Him completely in all circumstances, but He encouraged them along the way as their lives showed more of the characteristics of His holiness as their trust in Him developed. They were rewarded with the promised son!

God always rewards true faith!

Interesting things happened during Abraham's hundredth year! Laughter became part of their lives!

Our Generate Service studies in Job have shown how he came to feel that God would not speak to him. In Job 33 his fourth counsellor, Elihu, wanted to assure him that this was not so:

"For God does speak-now one way, now another-though man may not perceive it" (14).

Elihu's first way was,

"In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men..." (15).

In Muslim countries nearly every conversion testimony begins with a dream in which God spoke, perhaps because the spiritual bondage of Islam is so strong that this is needed to soften hearts and prepare people to hear and respond to the gospel.

Elihu's second way was,

"Or a man may be chastened on a bed of pain with constant distress in his bones, ..." (19).

It denies Biblical teaching to say that all illness is of the devil and is never God's purpose in the life of an individual. God can use physical illness to get unbelievers to look up to Him or to teach believers spiritual lessons.

But said Elihu, there is a third way:

"Yet if there is an angel on his side as a mediator, one out of a thou