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YOUR ASSIGNMENT SHOULD YOU CHOOSE TO ACCEPT IT…

Posted in Church, Equip the Saints, Soul Winning, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 25, 2014| Leave a Comment »

LOVE REACHES OUT #4PMreaches out

YOUR ASSIGNMENT SHOULD YOU CHOOSE TO ACCEPT IT…

MY GOD STORY

I was not found in church growing up. I had no knowledge of the gospel. When I was twenty and studying at uni, we had a team of people from the church I am now part of come to the uni and perform some musical items and someone preached. A friend, who was studying in my course, was a Christian and he was connected to this church. When they invited me to come along I considered the invitation and decided to go to the church that coming Sunday night. As I arrived with my friend from uni I was amazed at the size of the church (about 700 people) and the friendliness of the people. I saw other amazing things. People were healed and fell over under the power of the Holy Spirit. Others told their story of how God had set them free from alcoholism, drug addiction and broken marriages. There was something going on here!

At the conclusion of the service an appeal was made for people to respond and give their lives to Christ. Although moved and compelled, I resisted as it seemed too hard for my mind to accept it all so quickly. Later a wise person said to me, “Just pray and ask Jesus to show Himself to you. If He’s real then you will know, if He’s not real nothing will happen and you can get on with the rest of your life.”

Sounded reasonable to me; so I set about asking Jesus to show Himself to me over that next week. Well some things happened. Prayers got answered and as I considered if God was real, I thought that if He was real, then I believed He would be healing people and restoring marriages as I had seen.

The next Sunday I went back to the same church with my girlfriend with me; and I received Jesus as my Lord and saviour! A new life had begun!  I was born again. Over the next little while I joined the youth street work team and began to share my faith with others. The training opened my eyes to understand the reality of heaven and hell. It was frightening to consider the horror of hell. I became more passionate about reaching lost people. My girlfriend (who is now my wife) and I served in children’s ministry then teens group, then after about three years I began working on staff as youth leader. For me there was a very deep sense of being saved from a Christless eternity, and a gratitude for being saved. I wanted to give my whole life to Christ and serve Him forever because of what He had done for me.

Has this love of God gripped your life? Are you apprehended by God for something greater? Are you called? Do you say like Paul, “My life is not my own.”

Matt 20:16  So those who [now] are last will be first [then], and those who [now] are first will be last [then]. [a]For many are called, but few chosen.(AMP)

John 15:16 You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you and I have appointed you [I have planted you], that you might go and bear fruit and keep on bearing, and that your fruit may be lasting [that it may remain, abide], so that whatever you ask the Father in My Name [as [b]presenting all that I Am], He may give it to you.(AMP)

There is a call from God, and there is a response from you. How will you respond? In the parable of the marriage feast the servant goes out to ask who will attend the supper but many refuse to attend, finally the host says to the servant, go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in that my house may be full. (Luke 14:16-24.)

Has the saviour called you? How have you responded? When God has touched your heart with His great love you are marked forever. This world cannot offer the peace and the joy that serving Him can give. All this world has is temporal and will one day pass away, but what is eternal will endure forever.

With His love on board you see the world differently. Ezek 9:4 And the Lord said to him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in the midst of it.(AMP)  How do you see your city?

When you’re called, you have a one track mind – God’s purpose, His kingdom comes first at all times. Nothing puts you off the glorious task of serving Jesus and winning lost people to Christ. I love the single mindedness of Paul in this story in Acts 21:10-14. 10 While we were remaining there for some time, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.

11 And coming to [see] us, he took Paul’s belt and with it bound his own feet and hands and said, Thus says the Holy Spirit: The Jews at Jerusalem shall bind like this the man who owns this belt, and they shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles (heathen).

12 When we heard this, both we and the residents of that place pleaded with him not to go up to Jerusalem.

13 Then Paul replied, What do you mean by weeping and breaking my heart like this? For I hold myself in readiness not only to be arrested and bound and imprisoned at Jerusalem, but also [even] to die for the name of the Lord Jesus.

14 And when he would not yield to [our] persuading, we stopped [urging and imploring him], saying, The Lord’s will be done! (AMP)

Paul knows what he’s called to. The prophet was right, and Paul would indeed be bound in Rome for the gospel, but did not interpret the prophecy to mean don’t go. He had a higher purpose. He intended to take the gospel to the heart of the empire! What are you called to?

Don’t choose Role or title, choose to serve – choose to go for souls. Choose to place yourself under a teacher or mentor or coach who will help you grow.  We Australians have a very independent mindset. It’s unhelpful and anti-biblical. It stems from our nations roots in growing out of a penal colony where there was a disrespect for all in authority. You will need to push that aside if you intend to be a disciple.

Consider the call of God for your life. To what are you called? Can you see the plight of the unsaved in your world and ask what can I do about it? Would you lay down your life for God and His great passion – to reach people with the gospel?

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. How do you know if you are called

2. Can you be called and not be called to a ministry such as pastor teacher etc?

3. Is your life and the result of your years to be more than just family job and pleasure?

4. What do you believe you are called to do for God?

5. What is your next step in your mission?

 

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WHAT DO I SAY?

Posted in Church, Equip the Saints, Soul Winning, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 18, 2014| Leave a Comment »

LOVE REACHES OUT #3AM Love Reaches Out 3 Screen

What do I say?

Right through this year we have been sharing about God’s love. It’s the biggest subject of all! We have been made aware of His loving kindness, His intense desire to forgive, restore, heal and bless those in covenant with Him. That’s you, if you have bowed you heart and your knee to Jesus Christ. But this great love isn’t just for those who currently know Him. The harvest is ripe Jesus said, and we must go out into the highways and byways and tell them of His love.1 Listen, what if no one bothered to tell you? Then where would you end up? Yes, just like anyone who has not turned to Jesus with all their heart; you would be lost for all eternity in hell.

Week one we shared about the reality of heaven and hell. The stark cold hard facts about the horror of hell must surely motivate us to do all we can to save others from the fire.2 As the famous preacher Charles Spurgeon said “If you care not that others are not saved, then you are not saved, be sure of that.” 3

Week two Rhys shared about the great obsession – a love for Christ so large we can’t help share it. His passion for the lost was very evident. Today I want to answer the question – What do I say? What is it that we are to share with others about Jesus? How must one convey the gospel? – I’m glad you asked….

The first thing is that we must have a heart for the lost. I have been praying much for us that God will pour out His fire upon us and He did to the early church.4 Having a heart for the lost is the most sensible thought you will ever have. After all if you have been saved from a burning building, wouldn’t you want to save others if you are able?

Secondly we must be led by the Spirit. Listen to Jesus’ advice the day He departed from the disciples and leave them with the task of filling the whole earth with this message: Acts 1:8  But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.(NLT)     So often in our insecurity we worry about what to say. What if I say the wrong thing? What if I don’t know the answers to tough questions? This insecurity is out of place. If you were about to rescue someone from a burning building, would you worry about what to say? There are no end of methods employed by people. So many tracts, formulas and so called fool proof methods about how to witness; but Jesus said when you receive the Holy Spirit, then you will be my witnesses. So church, be led by the spirit. What does that mean? Pray and ask the Holy Spirit to lead you; then when you are with people, say what comes to your heart. The more you do this the more you will learn what His voice sounds like.

Here is some great wisdom.

  1. Share your God story. We used to call it your testimony, but that word seems old fashioned now. This is your story about what Jesus means to you. It’s the story of how you know Jesus is real and/or what He has done for you. Never be ashamed of your story. It is your eyewitness account and it’s irrefutable! Some people may say they don’t believe the bible but very few people will ever say to you that they don’t believe your story.
  2. Ask questions. Ask people, “What do you think about Jesus?” or “Why don’t people go to church?” Then Listen. Really Listen. You value people when you listen to them. Then they will give you permission to speak to them and they will listen. Listen for the personal stories. When people share their pain, you know you’re on the right track. They are opening up. You care about them and you have the answer! Jesus is always the answer.
  3. What is the Gospel message? In one word – Jesus. In one sentence: Jesus died for you. In one brief explanation it is this: God is Holy. That means He is perfect in every way, without any sin or wrong doing. Also He is just and that means He must make a judgement to punish any and all wrong doing. Imagine if an earthly judge were to let someone off from murder because they had done good things as well. It’s unthinkable, and so we see that God being good and just must punish us also for the wrongs we have committed. Romans 3:23 says we have all sinned and come short of the glory (standard) of God. And further more Romans 6:23 says the wages (or the penalty) of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life. But God so loved mankind that He sent Jesus, His only begotten Son, to die in our place, instead of us so that our penalty would be carried by another.  At his point it’s helpful to share a metaphor – a story in modern context to illustrate how this works. – For example. Say you went through a red light and you received a ticket in the mail and your fine was $300. But you don’t have the money, and so you might be forced to go to gaol. Then I come over to your house and I notice the ticket and I take a note of the number. Later I call the Police or Fines Victoria and pay the fine for you without you knowing. Later again, you call the Police and ask is there any way to pay off the fine and you are told, “No, it’s paid! Someone called Craig came and paid the fine for you. You’re free to go. Now you’re happy! You were guilty and you didn’t pay. Craig was innocent of that crime and he did pay. It’s like that with Jesus.    Repentance is an old fashioned word that means a change of mind. A person must have a change of mind first before they can believe in Jesus. They must change from saying, “I don’t need God.” to “I am a sinner and I need God’s forgiveness.” There must be a realisation that I can’t make it on my own. Without Jesus I am done for. This realisation is a free gift of God as a revelation and is granted to people in order that they can believe. We must pray for people we are sharing with, that God will touch them with His grace and give them this gift. The message of the gospel must include the advice that only by faith can this free gift of salvation be received. A person must believe that Jesus died for them and that He rose again.5 When a person has changed their mind, then encourage them to believe that Jesus died for them, and lead them in a prayer surrendering to Jesus. The words are not as crucial as the intent of their heart to leave the old life and come to Jesus and begin a new life.
  4. In general sharing with others may graduate through these various kinds of communication:
    1. Use teasers. For example, drop into a conversation statements like, “My pastor is a tremendous communicator.” Or “Have you ever wondered how some people can be so evil like these ones that shot down the Malaysian plane?” or “No I can’t go to that event on Sunday, I’m going to the most exciting place in town.”
    2. Give the gift of prayer. “Can I pray for you?” Whenever a person shares a problem or trouble or pain, then ask this very innocuous question.
    3. Use tracts. There’s one we have given out to day and it’s also available on the website and the face book page.
    4. Use an invitation card. Be inventive and use those in lots of different ways.
    5. Tell your God story. Tell it often, tell it in short and long forms.
    6. Share the gospel message as outlined above.

Next month we will be sharing about prayer. It is so very important to pray for your lost friends and loved ones. It is God’s work of the Holy Spirit to draw people to the Father. Yet here must be a preacher to communicate His message. This month is all about communicating this message and next month will be about praying for them.

How are these messages affecting you? You are either moved or unmoved. I am praying for you and for myself that God moves us to reach this community around us because the majority of them are truly lost. Will you join me?

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Does the plight of lost people get to you?

2. Have you ever felt like you were not getting through to someone? What can you do about that?

3. How much are you relying on the Holy Spirit to assist you?

4. Still it does take a long time for some; right?

5. How much is God’s work and how much is our work?

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EVERY WORD IS A SEED

Posted in Church, Equip the Saints, Soul Winning, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 12, 2014| Leave a Comment »

LOVE REACHES OUT #2PM Love Reaches Out 3 Screen

EVERY WORD A SEED

In 1996 Two members of this church and I travelled to China to preach the gospel. It was my second trip to China. That was a tough job as we didn’t speak Chinese. But we had thousands and thousands of gospel tracts. So as we went from city to city doing what was illegal in that country, we placed tracts in letterboxes, on car windshields, on top of walls, in bicycle carry baskets etc. until we got rid of about 5000 every night. Then one night we got caught, the police interrogated us and detained us under house arrest in our shabby motel for two days. Finally they deported us with stern warnings.

Still in spite of being caught we distributed multi thousands of gospel messages in the language of the readers. I wonder how many people read a tract and heard the gospel and found Jesus Christ? In China today, this is what is happening: The Nation has 1.3 billion people living there, The Christian population of this strongly communist nation is approximately 12% or 163 million. There are now more Christians in China than in the United States, and the growth rate is 5% per annum.

EVERY WORD IS A SEED

VIDEO TESTIMONY – JULIE MELLOR

When you leave a bible, a tract, a testimony, a conversation with someone who is not saved; it is a seed and that seed has power to grow.

EVERY WORD, EVERY ACT OF KINDNESS IS A SEED.

Mark 4:26-29

26 Jesus also said, “The Kingdom of God is like a farmer who scatters seed on the ground. 27 Night and day, while he’s asleep or awake, the seed sprouts and grows, but he does not understand how it happens. 28 The earth produces the crops on its own. First a leaf blade pushes through, then the heads of wheat are formed, and finally the grain ripens. 29 And as soon as the grain is ready, the farmer comes and harvests it with a sickle, for the harvest time has come.”

One night in Brisbane we were witnessing on the street and we approached an aboriginal man who unleashed a tirade of swear words at us. Just then two plain clothes police came along and arrested him for indecent language and took him away. We could have thought that that was strange and the event was over, nothing was accomplished. However one of our team, Brian, was of aboriginal decent and he happened to come across this man some weeks later and asked, “What was all that about?” The first man explained that his four year old son had just died and he felt anger and pain and blamed God. Brian explained what we were trying to say that Jesus is the answer to this kind of pain and this man received Christ as his Lord and saviour.  Sometimes your attempts to share your faith may seem fruitless, but every word is a seed and it may bear fruit later.

Drop seeds into conversations, if people react negatively don’t feel you have to argue the point. Spend time with hungry open people. If people are belligerent and offensive just keep the conversations brief and do acts of kindness.

My neighbour across the street was resistant to the gospel, I began sharing with him 12 years ago. He followed a religion practiced by Native American Indians. I would take him meals my wife had cooked. Sometimes I went over and mowed his lawn. He would get mad and say stop mowing my lawn and try and pay me back with a box of chocolates. So when I knew he was away I would mow his lawn anyway. If he never came to Christ I would still love and serve him – it would not matter if he thought I was just a sucker doing his work for him; to me it was a seed of love. However recently when he became very sick we visited him in hospital and shared the gospel with him. We prayed for his healing and he also prayed to receive Jesus as his saviour. His response was amazing!

EVERY WORD, EVERY ACT OF KINDNESS IS A SEED.

In my very first outreach I organised as a new Christian, I ran a coffee night at uni where I was studying. It was a Friday night and I had about half a dozen Christian friends from church come along and we served free coffee to students and shared our faith with them. At the end of the night I was a bit disappointed as no one seemed to get saved. Being a new Christian I was really into instant results!! Later as I was chatting to one of the friends from Church, Vincent Bonici, He said he had prayed with a guy called Rob and led him to Christ. Get an address? No! How can I find him to help him grow in God? I don’t know God will look after him I guess. I was a bit annoyed. All I knew was Rob was a mechanical Engineering student and he was Malaysian born. I waited outside the Mechanical Engineering building every lunchtime for weeks to try and catch someone who looked like Rob. Guess what? I found him! Later he came to church. Now he’s an INC pastor in Adelaide Hills. But the story doesn’t end there!

Rob led a friend to Christ who is Mark Hands, later Mark became part of our youth ministry in Brisbane (as did Rob) and later again Mark became the principal of one of the INC Christian schools and now has a Christian business and coaching ministry at the Gold Coast. Mark led Andrew to Christ who became a big part of our youth ministry in Brisbane also. These are just the ones we know about….. I wonder who has been saved and touched by God’s love through all these people who have experienced major life change because of the coffee night that I thought wasn’t very successful.

EVERY WORD, EVERY ACT OF KINDNESS IS A SEED.

What are you going to do this week to reach out to people who need Jesus?

Sometimes we have all given up trying to share about Jesus because we got a negative response or we just thought it’s all too hard. One time I when I was new Christian I drove past a man who I knew was a father of my school mate loading up a trailer with furniture at his office. I heard he was going bankrupt. It was midnight and I was tired and I sped off home. God prompted me to go back and tell him Jesus loved him, but I was too tired and it was late. The next day he committed suicide! It took me a long time and many tears to get over that one.

Listen to the Holy Spirit and try real hard to obey Him.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

  1. Have you ever felt like giving up when it comes to sharing your faith?
  2. Have you ever thought your sharing about Jesus was a complete waste of time?
  3. After hearing some of these stories and learning about seeds from God’s word do you think any differently now?
  4. Will this change the way you approach sharing your faith?
  5. Did you ever think how many lost opportunities you have missed?

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ARE YOU GOIN’ WHERE I’M GOIN’?

Posted in Church, Equip the Saints, Soul Winning, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 6, 2014| Leave a Comment »

LOVE REACHES OUT #1AMreaches out

In this life, how do you see yourself? As a pilgrim? As a foreigner journeying through to a better and eternal future? a Or does this world so fill your vista that you hardly think of eternity? Listen to this amazing verse: Eccles 3:11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He also has planted eternity in men’s hearts and minds [a divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun but God alone can satisfy], yet so that men cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.

Ultimately what matters is people. Everything else is temporary. 2 Cor 4:18 Since we consider and look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are visible are temporal (brief and fleeting), but the things that are invisible are deathless and everlasting. All your stuff that you worked so hard for, all the possessions, the house, the cars, the clothes etc. will all vanish in a puff of smoke one day; and all you have left is you and your loved ones.

What will you be doing in a million years from now? Seriously! If you say, “I’ll be in heaven.”, then how glad are you about that? You could be in the other place. Eternity is such a long time!! It’s all a bit hard for the human mind to comprehend; right?

What we have been learning in the messages preached all year is that God loves you so much and His magnificent loving kindness has come and rescued you, redeemed you and set you free. It’s a natural step to see that God loves each and every person on the planet and some know that and some don’t know that yet. John 3:16  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.(AMP)

All around us are precious people who are perishing. In Australia, we are an especially heathen bunch. Although 61% write on the census that their religion is Christian, only 13% attend any kind of church monthly or more often and of those we can only guess the percentage that is born again. Some estimates of the Born Again population are as low as 5%. Perhaps attending church is a poor measure of whether a person is born again. We should rather choose the measure that one of the greatest preachers in history used: “Have you no wish for others to be saved? Then you’re not saved yourself, be sure of that!” ― Charles H. Spurgeon. What’s our percentage now?

As you look around at your loved ones, work mates, neighbours, do you consider their eternal destiny? Does it drive you to prayer and cause you to consider how to share the answer to life with them? If not, then let’s look at the scriptures and see the convincing reality of what lies before us in heaven and hell.

Hell is real

Luke 6:19-31

19 There was a certain rich man who [habitually] clothed himself in purple and fine linen and [m]revelled and feasted and made merry in splendour every day.

20 And at his gate there [n]was [carelessly] dropped down and left a certain [o]utterly destitute man named Lazarus, [reduced to begging alms and] covered with [[p]ulcerated] sores.

21 He [eagerly] desired to be satisfied with what fell from the rich man’s table; moreover, the dogs even came and licked his sores.

22 And it occurred that the man [reduced to] begging died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried.

23 And in Hades (the realm of the dead), being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far away, and Lazarus in his bosom.

24 And he cried out and said, Father Abraham, have pity and mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.

25 But Abraham said, Child, remember that you in your lifetime fully received [what is due you in] comforts and delights, and Lazarus in like manner the discomforts and distresses; but now he is comforted here and you are in anguish.

26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who want to pass from this [place] to you may not be able, and no one may pass from there to us.

27 And [the man] said, Then, father, I beseech you to send him to my father’s house—

28 For I have five brothers—so that he may give [solemn] testimony and warn them, lest they too come into this place of torment.

29 But Abraham said, They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear and listen to them.

30 But he answered, No, father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent ([q]change their minds for the better and heartily amend their ways, with abhorrence of their past sins).

31 He said to him, If they do not hear and listen to Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded and convinced and believe [even] if someone should rise from the dead.

Rev 21:8 But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars–their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.(NIV)

Matt 13:49-50 49 This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous 50 and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (NIV)

Rev 14:11 And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no respite (no pause, no intermission, no rest, no peace) day or night—these who pay homage to the beast and to his image and whoever receives the stamp of his name upon him.

All these verses clearly show that eternity without salvation is horrifying and inconceivably worse due to the fact that it goes on for ever and ever without respite.

General William Booth founder of the Salvation Army church movement was quoted as saying as he trained his preachers and Christian workers. “If I could, I would dangle you over hell for 5 minutes to see the cries of the damned.”   People without a Knowledge of God and even some Christians find this truth so shocking that they fall into wrong believing saying that God could not be as cruel as to send people there forever, or that God will give people a second chance. Some have believed in a purgatory, where people work off their sins and eventually make it to heaven; but all these ideas are false.

Listen again to William Booth – “Not called!” did you say? “Not heard the call,” I think you should say. Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear Him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father’s house and bid their brothers and sisters and servants and masters not come there. Then look Christ in the face — whose mercy you have professed to obey — and tell Him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish His mercy to the world.”

When you hear these pleading words, do you think that’s how they spoke in an era long ago, or do you think that’s outdated language and form that doesn’t work today; or is it just that we have fallen so far from biblical truth in our generation that we fall for soft wishy washy beliefs about God that are not supported by scripture?

Heaven

Heaven on the other hand is awesomely wonderful. Imagine infinite joy! Life with a capital L.

Rev 21:4-5 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”  He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!”

Rev 22:3-4 No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him.  They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.  There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.

John 14: 2-3 In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

Matt  25:20-21 And he who had received the five talents came and brought him five more, saying, Master, you entrusted to me five talents; see, here I have gained five talents more.

21 His master said to him, Well done, you upright (honorable, admirable) and faithful servant! You have been faithful and trustworthy over a little; I will put you in charge of much. Enter into and share the joy (the delight, the [c]blessedness) which your master enjoys.

Convinced that people without Christ are going there?

One error I find many Christians fall into is that somehow good people will get into heaven. They believe that most people around them are going to make it somehow because God is loving and merciful. This view is dangerous especially to those around them who are not born again yet. Let me ask you a very simple question. If there was any way at all that a person could make it to heaven on their own, did Jesus need to come and die on the cross?

Jesus Himself stated very clearly: John 14:6 Jesus said to him, I am the Way and the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father except by (through) Me.(AMP)

Jesus was moved by the plight of broken people. His heart for lost people will become our heart too if we walk with Him. Look at His reaction in the gospels Matt 9:35-38 And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news (the Gospel) of the kingdom and curing all kinds of disease and every weakness and infirmity. 36 When He saw the throngs, He was moved with pity and sympathy for them, because they were bewildered (harassed and distressed and dejected and helpless), like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then He said to His disciples, The harvest is indeed plentiful, but the laborers are few. 38 So pray to the Lord of the harvest to force out and thrust laborers into His harvest.

What should be our reaction? Perhaps some may be so deeply concerned that they become a certified bible carrying, tract giving, bible bashing preacher to everyone around them, and it isn’t very fruitful. That’s overboard and that’s not love in action. The sad thing is that many Christians are the opposite, there’s almost no evidence of witness in their lives, it’s like they want to enjoy the benefits of salvation and not care that all manner of people around them are perishing.

So how are we to live?

  • Recognise the truth that faith in Christ alone saves a person from eternity in hell.
  • Decide to pray for those people in your world who do not know Jesus yet, that God will have mercy on them and show them the truth.
  • Love people, serve them and share your heart with them at every opportunity.
  • Trust that the Holy Spirit will lead you to people and will give you the words to say.
  • Share your testimony and the God stories that give evidence of God at work among us.
  • Invite as many people as you can to join you church or UC group or a family picnic or a night at the movies or the church trivia night etc. etc.

This month we are focusing on the “How To” of sharing your faith. We will be equipping you with practical help to know how to share your faith, what to say to people who are far from God and how to begin a great conversation about your testimony and how God loves the person you’re speaking to. In all our Urban Connect groups we will be helping you to learn skills about sharing your testimony, and what the gospel message is that we need to share with people.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Do you think Spurgeon’s measure of whether a person is born again or not is a fair one? (Whether you care that others are lost)

2. How do you see non Christians?

3. What about people of other faiths, are they lost too? (Acts 4:12)

4. If Jesus really is the only way to heaven, why do so many other faiths exist?

5. If Jesus really is the only way to heaven how should we live?

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WHEN EVERYTHING GOES WRONG.

Posted in Church, Equip the Saints, Preaching messages, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 22, 2014| 1 Comment »

LOVE UNCONDITIONAL #4PMdepression

When everything goes wrong…..

They say bad news comes in threes, but for some people it seems to just keep on coming…

Everyone feels overwhelmed at times, so how do you handle that when it comes?

One good friend of mine arrived home to see his house going up in flames. His reaction? God is good!

Ps 61:2 From the end of the earth will I cry to You, when my heart is overwhelmed and fainting; lead me to the rock that is higher than I [yes, a rock that is too high for me].

Ps 142:3 When my spirit was overwhelmed and fainted [throwing all its weight] upon me, then You knew my path. In the way where I walk they have hidden a snare for me.

God knows exactly how you feel. Heb 4:13 And not a creature exists that is concealed from His sight, but all things are open and exposed, naked and defenceless to the eyes of Him with Whom we have to do.

14 Inasmuch then as we have a great High Priest Who has [already] ascended and passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession [of faith in Him].

15 For we do not have a High Priest Who is unable to understand and sympathize and have a shared feeling with our weaknesses and infirmities and liability to the assaults of temptation, but One Who has been tempted in every respect as we are, yet without sinning.

16 Let us then fearlessly and confidently and boldly draw near to the throne of grace (the throne of God’s unmerited favor to us sinners), that we may receive mercy [for our failures] and find grace to help in good time for every need [appropriate help and well-timed help, coming just when we need it].

 

David calls out to God in the depth of his despair.

Ps 6:6 I am weary with my groaning; all night I soak my pillow with tears, I drench my couch with my weeping.

Ps 42:5 Why are you cast down, O my inner self? And why should you moan over me and be disquieted within me? Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall yet praise Him, my Help and my God.

6 O my God, my life is cast down upon me [and I find the burden more than I can bear]; therefore will I [earnestly] remember You from the land of the Jordan [River] and the [summits of Mount] Hermon, from the little mountain Mizar.

7 [Roaring] deep calls to [roaring] deep at the thunder of Your waterspouts; all Your breakers and Your rolling waves have gone over me.

8 Yet the Lord will command His loving-kindness in the daytime, and in the night His song shall be with me, a prayer to the God of my life.

9 I will say to God my Rock, Why have You forgotten me? Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

 

Ps 116:1 I love the Lord, because He has heard [and now hears] my voice and my supplications.

2 Because He has inclined His ear to me, therefore will I call upon Him as long as I live.

3 The cords and sorrows of death were around me, and the terrors of Sheol (the place of the dead) had laid hold of me; I suffered anguish and grief (trouble and sorrow).

4 Then called I upon the name of the Lord: O Lord, I beseech You, save my life and deliver me!

5 Gracious is the Lord, and [rigidly] righteous; yes, our God is merciful.

 

Does it surprise you that a person who was such a great and accomplished leader went through such a time of deep depression?

My darkest moments

I wasn’t when my I was sick, it wasn’t when others in my family fell ill, it wasn’t when I lost money in a bad investment…. It was when I thought I had failed God.

Jesus knows and cares about your darkest days. He carried the weight and the pain of it all. The cross is the place where Jesus bore all the difficulties and troubles that weigh down your soul.

Isaiah 53:3 He was despised and rejected and forsaken by men, a Man of sorrows and pains, and acquainted with grief and sickness; and like One from Whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we did not appreciate His worth or have any esteem for Him.

4 Surely He has borne our griefs (sicknesses, weaknesses, and distresses) and carried our sorrows and pains [of punishment], yet we [ignorantly] considered Him stricken, smitten, and afflicted by God [as if with leprosy].

5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities; the chastisement [needful to obtain] peace and well-being for us was upon Him, and with the stripes [that wounded] Him we are healed and made whole.

When you are feeling overwhelmed then it’s time to turn to Jesus and receive His love. When you consciously acknowledge that He carried all that weight for you, then cast all your cares upon Him because He cares for you. Meditate on what He has done for you at the cross. Meditate on how much He loves you and how He knows your situation and how you feel. Roll your burden onto Him and enter into His rest.  (Read and mediate on Hebrews 4)    If you believe you cant handle your feelings go to see your doctor for further advice. Try also this website – http://www.beyondblue.org.au/ 

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Why are feelings so difficult to handle – they are only feelings?

2. Can a person who suffers with depression still achieve great things?

3. Would you say King David suffered with depression?

4. Did Jesus know these down feelings?

5. How can we receive the answer from God when we feel down?

 

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GOD’S OUT TO GET YOU… WITH LOVE

Posted in Church, Equip the Saints, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 21, 2014| 1 Comment »

LOVE UNCONDITIONAL #3AMchesed_etymology

God’s insatiable desire to love you in spite of you can never be quenched.

If I could ask anything of God today it would be that He would reveal to you His mighty loving kindness.

Psalm 69:16

Hear and answer me, O Lord, for Your loving–kindness is sweet and comforting; according to Your plenteous tender mercy and steadfast love turn to me.

Today I want to reveal to you a secret in the word of God – the revelation of God’s Chesed – His loving kindness, and how it is His everlasting passion to do good to those who are in covenant with Him in spite of their faults and failings.

King David knew and understood God’s loving kindness and how it was there for him as part of God’s covenant promise to him.

Ps 18:50 – strong deliverance came to David through God’s loving kindness.  Vs50  He gives great [a]deliverance to His king, and shows loving kindness to His anointed,
To David and his [b]descendants forever.(NASB)

Ps 31:7 – When in great trouble and adversity, David rejoices in God’s loving kindness. Vs7 I will rejoice and be glad in Your loving kindness, Because You have seen my affliction; You have known the troubles of my soul (NASB)

Ps 51:1 – After great failure, deal with me according to your loving kindness. Vs 1 Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your loving kindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, Blot out my transgressions.(NKJV)

King David deeply understood the loving kindness of God. 127 times loving kindness is mentioned just in Psalms alone. The phrase “Your mercy and loving kindness endures forever is mentioned 43 times.

Chesed is a Hebrew word commonly translated as “loving-kindness,” “kindness” or “love.” Chesed is central to Jewish ethics and Jewish theology. Many Jewish thinkers view chesed as the primary virtue. Chesed is valued by religious Jews of all denominations. It is considered a virtue on its own, and also for its contribution to tikkun olam (repairing the world)

“Loving-kindness” is used as an English translation of chesed, originating with the Coverdale Bible of 1535. Although some consider it to be a somewhat archaic translation,[1] it remains one of the most common translations.[2] “Love” is often used as a shorter English translation. Daniel Elazar has suggested the translation of “covenant-love.”[8] “Grace“[9] and “compassion“[10] are also occasionally used as translations of chesed. In Greek Eleos (often understood as mercy or pity) is the word used by the Septuagint to translate “chesed” into Greek. Chesed has also been understood as linked with the Greek word agape and its Latin   equivalent, caritas (charity).

Chesed is the core ethical virtue ascribed to God.

A statement by Rabbi Simlai in the Talmud claims that “The Torah (The first 5 books of the bible) begins with chesed and ends with chesed.” This may be understood to mean that “the entire Torah is characterized by chesed, i.e. it sets forth a vision of the ideal life whose goals are behaviour characterized by mercy and compassion.” Alternatively, it may allude to the idea that the giving of the Torah itself is the quintessential act of chesed.[12] The following are actions undertaken in imitation of the qualities of Chesed:[13]

  • love God so completely that one will never forsake His service for any reason
  • provide a child with all the necessities of his sustenance
  • leading a child into covenant relationship with God
  • visiting and healing the sick
  • giving charity to the poor
  • offering hospitality to strangers
  • attending to the dead
  • bringing a bride to the chuppah marriage ceremony
  • making peace between a man and his fellow

In the Torah loving kindness is epitomised by Exodus 34:6-7  And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord! the Lord! a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in loving-kindness and truth,

7 Keeping mercy and loving-kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but Who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children, to the third and fourth generation.(AMP)

 

When Miles Coverdale, translated the bible in 1535 it is one of the words he used in the Psalms to translate the Hebrew chesed into loving kindness when it refers to God’s love for his people Israel.

The theological importance of the word chesed is that it stands more than any other word for the attitude which both parties to a covenant ought to maintain towards each other. It combines the twin ideas of love and loyalty, both of which are essential. Yet it must convey the idea of the steadfastness and persistence of God’s sure love for his covenant-people. The etymological core of the word is ‘eagerness, keenness,’ God’s loving-kindness is that sure love which will not let Israel go. Not all Israel’s persistent waywardness could ever destroy it. Though Israel be faithless, yet God remains faithful still. The continual waywardness of Israel has made it inevitable that, if God is never going to let Israel go, then his relation to his people must in the main be one of loving-kindness, mercy, and goodness, all of it entirely undeserved. For this reason the predominant use of the word comes to include mercy and forgiveness as a main constituent in God’s determined faithfulness to his part of the bargain. It is obvious, time and again, from the context that if God is to maintain the covenant he must exercise mercy to an unprecedented degree. The loving-kindness of God towards Israel is therefore wholly undeserved on Israel’s part. If Israel received the proper treatment for her stubborn refusal to walk in God’s way, there would be no prospect for her of anything but destruction, since God’s demand for right action never wavers one whit. Strict, however, as the demands for righteousness are, the prophets were sure that God’s yearnings for the people of his choice are stronger still. Here is the great dilemma of the prophets, and indeed the dilemma of us all to this day. But this much is clear: when we try to estimate the depth and the persistence of God’s loving-kindness and mercy, we must first remember his passion for righteousness. His passion for righteousness is so strong that he could not be more insistent in his demand for it, but God’s persistent love for his people is more insistent still. The story of God’s people throughout the centuries is that their waywardness has been so persistent that, if even a remnant is to be preserved, God has had to show mercy more than anything else. It is important to realize that though the Hebrew chesed can be translated by loving-kindness and mercy without doing violence to the context, yet we must always beware lest we think that God is content with less than righteousness. There is no reference to any sentimental kindness, and no suggestion of mercy apart from repentance, in any case where the Hebrew original is chesed. His demand for righteousness is insistent, and it is always at the maximum intensity. The loving-kindness of God means that his mercy is greater even than that. The word stands for the wonder of his unfailing love for the people of his choice, and the solving of the problem of the relation between his righteousness and his loving-kindness passes beyond human comprehension. One may describe His loving kindness as aggressive kindness, goodness and mercy toward us.

Excerpts from – Bibliography: N.H. Snaith, Distinctive Ideas of the Old Testament, London (1944).

An example of God’s pursuit of Israel is in Hosea.

Psalm 57:10

For Your mercy and loving–kindness are great, reaching to the heavens, and Your truth and faithfulness to the clouds.

Psalm 59:16

But I will sing of Your mighty strength and power; yes, I will sing aloud of Your mercy and loving–kindness in the morning; for You have been to me a defense (a fortress and a high tower) and a refuge in the day of my distress.

Psalm 63:3

Because Your loving–kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You.

Psalm 66:20

Blessed be God, Who has not rejected my prayer nor removed His mercy and loving–kindness from being [as it always is] with me.

Psalm 69:13

But as for me, my prayer is to You, O Lord. At an acceptable and opportune time, O God, in the multitude of Your mercy and the abundance of Your loving–kindness hear me, and in the truth and faithfulness of Your salvation answer me.

Psalm 85:10

Mercy and loving–kindness and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

Psalm 86:5

For You, O Lord, are good, and ready to forgive [our trespasses, sending them away, letting them go completely and forever]; and You are abundant in mercy and loving–kindness to all those who call upon You.

Psalm 86:15

But You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in mercy and loving–kindness and truth.

Psalm 89:2

For I have said, Mercy and loving–kindness shall be built up forever; Your faithfulness will You establish in the very heavens [unchangeable and perpetual].

Psalm 103:4

Who redeems your life from the pit and corruption, Who beautifies, dignifies, and crowns you with loving–kindness and tender mercy;

Psalm 103:11

For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great are His mercy and loving–kindness toward those who reverently and worshipfully fear Him.

Psalm 106:7

Our fathers in Egypt understood not nor appreciated Your miracles; they did not [earnestly] remember the multitude of Your mercies nor imprint Your loving–kindness [on their hearts], but they were rebellious and provoked the Lord at the sea, even at the Red Sea.

Psalm 106:45

And He [earnestly] remembered for their sake His covenant and relented their sentence of evil [comforting and easing Himself] according to the abundance of His mercy and loving–kindness[when they cried out to Him].

Psalm 107:8

Oh, that men would praise [and confess to] the Lord for His goodness and loving–kindness and His wonderful works to the children of men!

God’s loving kindness is everlasting. He is persistent in desiring your ultimate good. He longs for righteousness but as soon as we turn to Him, He abundantly pardons and then goes into overdrive with mercy, protection, provision, deliverance, peace and life. As you read the Psalms from now on; every time you read loving kindness, stop for a moment and recognise God’s intense desire to love you and show you mercy and kindness.

Never again feel lost, abandoned, alone or without hope. Remember God’s loving kindness. Remember His intense desire to bless you with kindness. As you turn your heart to Him he will abundantly provide for you.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1.  Describe in your own words what you think the Hebrew word Chesed means.

2. So often Christians think that God has abandoned them, or doesn’t care about them because trouble has come their way. Why would that be?

3. But nothing could be further from the truth. God longs to show kindness to those He is in covenant with. List all the ways God shows kindness to us.

4. What qualifies us to receive this kindness?

5. Compare Ephesians 2:4 (AMP)  with this idea of Chesed or covenant love and it’s persistence.

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BROKEN LIVES MADE WHOLE

Posted in Church, Equip the Saints, Preaching messages, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 8, 2014| Leave a Comment »

LOVE UNCONDITIONAL  #2AMLove Unconditional

WHEN YOU TRULY KNOW GOD LOVES YOU TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY, YOU ENTER INTO A LIFE OF STRENGTH AND VICTORY WHERE YOU EXPERIENCE HIS GRACE AND PROVISION AND ABUNDANT LIFE.

Humanity is broken.

We live in the lucky country, but many struggle with low self-esteem, depression, loneliness, rejection, sickness, financial trouble and substance abuse.

Jesus is the answer, He is the hope of every person who puts their trust in Him. Yet we often see God as far away, aloof, non-caring, too busy running His vast universe to ever notice me let alone care for me. Yes, they have heard that Jesus loves them, but does that cliché answer their current pain? Often as I talk to people who have not met Jesus yet they see God as a judge who will punish them for their wrongs. They see God as the rule maker and the fun taker. While 70% of Australians believe there is a God, most have never experienced His powerful healing and rescuing love.

How do you see God? Deep down in your heart where your inner thoughts reside, how do you think God sees you? I once saw God as if He were a person busy at His desk and with piles of papers on the desk and He seemed oblivious to my presence. Or does He seem like a loving Father with arms outstretched waiting for you to jump right up onto His lap?

Mental illness is very common. One in five (20%) Australians aged 16-85 experience a mental illness in any year. The most common mental illnesses are depressive, anxiety and substance use disorder. These three types of mental illnesses often occur in combination. Almost half (45%) Australians will experience a mental illness in their lifetime [1].

Suicide in Australia

Every day, at least six Australians die from suicide and a further thirty people will attempt to take their own life [5]. While suicide accounts for only a relatively small proportion (1.6%) of all deaths in Australia, it does account for a greater proportion of deaths from all causes within specific age groups. For example, suicide is the leading cause of death for young people aged 15-24 [6]. Australians are more likely to die by suicide than skin cancer.

Men are at greatest risk of suicide but least likely to seek help. Attempted suicide is also an important issue with estimates that in Australia over 60,000 people a year attempt to take their own lives, the majority being women.

Depression

Depression has a high lifetime prevalence – one in seven Australians will experience depression in their lifetime [1]. Depression has the third highest burden of all diseases in Australia (13.3%) [3] and also third globally [8]. Burden of disease refers to the total impact of a disease measured by financial cost, mortality, morbidity and other indicators. The World Health Organisation estimates that depression will be the number one health concern in both the developed and developing nations by 2030 [8].

Rates of depression are slightly higher in women with depression, affecting one in six (17%) compared to one in 10 (10%) men experiencing depression in their lifetime. http://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au/docs/Factsandfiguresaboutmentalhealthandmooddisorders.pdf

God loves everyone equally. His love is complete. He is a loving heavenly Father. However you must receive it to experience it.

WHEN YOU TRULY KNOW GOD LOVES YOU TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY, YOU ENTER INTO A LIFE OF STRENGTH AND VICTORY WHERE YOU EXPERIENCE HIS GRACE AND PROVISION AND ABUNDANT LIFE.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. (ESV)

1 John 4:9-11 9 God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. 10 This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. (NLT)

James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect ([a]free, large, full) gift is from above; it comes down from the Father of all [that gives] light, in [the shining of] Whom there can be no variation [rising or setting] or shadow cast by His turning [as in an eclipse]. (AMP)

 

If He put His Spirit inside us what does that say?

I stood at the altar 35 years ago and said to Chris, I choose to live with you until one of us dies. It’s a big deal to live with someone. You probably couldn’t live with just anyone! However God says, I want to make my home within you!

John 14:23 Jesus replied, “All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them. (NLT) AGAPE love. The love that gives expecting nothing in return. This love not conditional from God’s point of view, but it is from ours.

1 Cor 6:19 Do you not know that your body is the temple (the very sanctuary) of the Holy Spirit Who lives within you, whom you have received [as a Gift] from God? You are not your own, (NCV)

See God as the perfect parent.

Matt 7:11 If you then, evil as you are, know how to give good and advantageous gifts to your children, how much more will your Father Who is in heaven [perfect as He is] give good and advantageous things to those who keep on asking Him!(AMP)

God’s first priority is for us to receive His love. If someone truly knows that they are loved by God then insecurity, fear, unbelief is smashed. God is on your side, He has made provision for your every need through the cross.

As you receive His love you will be set free from insecurity, low self image, fear, low expectation etc by receiving a revelation that God’s love so big and so complete!   John 10:10 I have come that they will have life and life abundant. Deut 28:13 I will make you the head and not the tail. Above and not beneath. Ps 17:8 You are the apple of His eye. Rom 8:31 If God be for you who can be against you?

How then can one experience such love and acceptance and favour?

  • Meditate on these scriptures. (Also read 1 John 3 & 4)
  • Imagine the cross and see His love poured out for you as He died for you.
  • Watch the face of the heavenly Father as He turns away from Jesus when He became Sin for us. Jesus complete rejection and judgment that was meant for us.
  • Thank Him for this love.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Have you ever prayed for a revelation of God’s love? – Why not do it right now?

2. Love means doing the highest good for another. Describe what God did for us through Jesus Christ.

3. There are 5 love languages; Touch, words, gifts, acts of service and time. What’s your love language?

4. Do you feel loved if the love expressed to you is not in your love language?

5. Can you acknowledge God’s love for you even if you may not be feeling loved?

 

 

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HE LOVES ME; HE LOVES ME NOT.

Posted in Church, Preaching messages, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on May 31, 2014| Leave a Comment »

LOVE UNCONDITIONAL #1AMUnconditional-Love

FEELING LOVED?

How big is God’s love for you? So high, so wide, so great, so deep is God’s love for you. Ephes 2:4-6 But God—so rich is He in His mercy! Because of and in order to satisfy the great and wonderful and intense love with which He loved us,

5 Even when we were dead (slain) by [our own] shortcomings and trespasses, He made us alive together in fellowship and in union with Christ; [He gave us the very life of Christ Himself, the same new life with which He quickened Him, for] it is by grace (His favour and mercy which you did not deserve) that you are saved ([a]delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ’s salvation).

6 And He raised us up together with Him and made us sit down together [giving us [b]joint seating with Him] in the heavenly sphere [by virtue of our being] in Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed One).

So often we judge God’s love by our own human viewpoint. We feel that God doesn’t love us when we suffer loss or go through tough times. When we take this view that God doesn’t care or doesn’t love us then we lose faith, we cannot believe that God will answer our prayer. We feel lost, alone, separated from hope and we doubt ourselves, sometimes we even go to the place of self-hatred thinking that if God doesn’t care for me, then I must be worthless. Why do you need this message about God’s love for you? Let me tell you it is the biggest key for a full and overcoming life as a Christian.

We need a revelation of God’s unending, unyielding, unconditional, unqualified, unlimited, unbeatable LOVE for you and me. When we get this revelation, we smash unbelief and doubt. We soar in confidence that God works all things together for good to them that love Him and are called according to His purpose.  We say goodbye to a low self-esteem and walk around knowing He watches over us. His eye is on the sparrow, so much more is His every thought about you and for your good.

Key verse for the month – Isaiah 49:15-16 Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yes, they may forget, yet I will not forget you. 16 Behold, I have indelibly imprinted (tattooed a picture of) you on the palm of each of My hands.(AMP)

Ps 103:14 For He knows our frame, He [earnestly] remembers and imprints [on His heart] that we are dust. He gets how hard it is for us in this sin soaked and selfish world, He was in all points tempted like as we are, so He is an high priest who can be touched by the feelings of our weaknesses.(Heb 4:15)

HE CARES – always and at all times. Receive it! Meditate on it!

But, you say, why did I suffer? Why did I go through so much trouble?

Romans 8:31-37

31 What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? 32 Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? 33 Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. 34 Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honour at God’s right hand, pleading for us.

35 Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?36 (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”[o]) 37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.(NLT)

STORY

The death of Stephen

54 Now upon hearing these things, they [the Jews] were cut to the heart and infuriated, and they ground their teeth against [Stephen].

55 But he, full of the Holy Spirit and controlled by Him, gazed into heaven and saw the glory (the splendor and majesty) of God, and Jesus standing at God’s right hand;

56 And he said, Look! I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at God’s right hand!

57 But they raised a great shout and put their hands over their ears and rushed together upon him.

58 Then they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him, and the witnesses placed their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.

59 And while they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, Lord Jesus, receive and accept and welcome my spirit!

60 And falling on his knees, he cried out loudly, Lord, fix not this sin upon them [lay it not to their charge]! And when he had said this, he fell asleep [g][in death].

This story contrasts the cruelty of religion with the love of God. Who would choose to be Stephen? Perhaps the first Christian Martyr. Was there a wife left grieving? Or children left without a father? We will never know, but what we now and what God wants us to see about this tragic event is what Stephen experienced at this time.

Those who stoned Stephen basically committed murder because they did not like what he believed! Religion is cruel and hate filled. Religion says, “You must do this and this to be accepted” Religion says, “You have no right to challenge the status quo.”  But in the midst of this hatred and violence the love of God shone through.  Stephen experienced all the following:

  1. An opportunity to share the gospel with a large number of people
  2. An overwhelming sense of God’s presence and protection –  55 But he, full of the Holy Spirit and controlled by Him, gazed into heaven and saw the glory (the splendour and majesty) of God, and Jesus standing at God’s right hand; 56 And he said, Look! I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at God’s right hand!
  3. The act of forgiveness for his assailants
  4. The initiation of Saul’s conversion.

Do you think Stephen felt abandoned by God? No, in no way. When he reached heaven and began his experience of eternity he could see the eternal significance of what took place that day. Saul’s later conversion, millions experiencing the power of the word of God through Paul’s writings. The church scattered by the mounting persecution so that it invaded all the known world. Spreading out far and wide.

When you think back over your life do you look at the tough times and ask God where were you? Perhaps we will never know the whole picture in this life about why things happen, but we know this, All things work tether for Good to them that love God and are called according to his purpose.

How can I convince you about His unending love for you? Do you want life on your terms or God’s terms? Can you say you are smarter than God and know what is best for you and for His plans and purposes? Humility allows us to fully trust God knowing His ways are perfect and all His ways are just. His love for you is unending and fully complete. He that spared not his only son, will he not with Him freely give us all things?

What Now you say?

How can I receive a revelation of this amazing love?

  • Meditate on these scriptures. (Also read 1 John 3 & 4)
  • Imagine the cross and see His love poured out for you as He died for you.
  • Watch the face of the heavenly Father as He turns away from Jesus when He became Sin for us. Jesus complete rejection and judgment that was meant for us.
  • Thank Him for this love.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Is it necessary to feel God’s love?

2. Can you feel your mother’s love right now? What about if you think about all that she has done for you? Is it getting a bit easier now?

3. If God wants the best for you, how can you cooperate with that?

4. What was the main point in this message concerning the story of Stephen’s death?

5. Can you trust God when things seem to be going the wrong way for your perspective?

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A WORD TO THE WISE – GUYS

Posted in Church, Culture Watch, Equip the Saints, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on May 10, 2014| Leave a Comment »

LOVE HONOURS #2AM – MOTHER’S DAYLove Honours A

A WORD TO THE WISE – GUYS

Who do we celebrate? The hall of famers we celebrate as guys is often the sports heroes that have distinguished themselves with amazing achievements and courage to persevere.

Just think who we talk about the most – who we honour as our legends…

Maybe golfer Adam Scott who could possibly be world no. 1 within weeks.

What about The Don, Don Bradman, with a monster Test average of 99.94, more than 50% better than the closest retired batsman Graeme Pollock’s 60.97.

And even though he retired in 1948, Don Bradman is still the only Australian batsman to pass 100 first-class centuries with 117, the closest Justin Langer with 86, Darren Lehmann 82, Mark Waugh 81, Steve Waugh 79, Matt Hayden 79, and Stuart Law 79.

Maybe Marjorie Jackson who in the 1952 Olympics created history as the first Australian woman to win the sprint double – the 100 and 200.

Or in 1956 Olympics when Betty Cuthbert went one better with the 100, 200, and relay and eight years later added a fourth gold with victory in the inaugural 400.

Rome 1960 and the magnificent 1500 run by Herb Elliott. And Sydney 2000, when Cathy Freeman stopped the nation with her 400 gold.

Heather McKay who won 16 successive British squash Opens from 1962 to 1977.

Rod Laver won two Grand Slams, 1962 as an amateur, and 1969 as a pro, the only two-timer, Margaret Court won her Grand Slam in 1970.

Kay Cottee was the first women to sail single-handedly and non-stop around the world, it took her 189 days in 1988 and was named Australian of the Year.

Cadel Evans’ 2011 Tour de France win is right up there, with thanks to Phil Anderson for hanging in there in the early days to give Australia some recognition.

Jimmy Carruthers in boxing, The Americas Cup win in 1983, for John Bertrand, Queensland’s seven-year State of Origin domination from 2006 deserves special mention, so too the 1991 and 1999 Rugby World Cup victories.

I could go on!

But for most of us there’s someone right here at home we need to honour as a person of real courage and perseverance. – Your mother and /or your wife!

Let’s face it who could put up with you for this long without bringing out the knives or turning into a blubbering mess with sheer frustration?

A couple of weeks ago our guest speaker Marcus Ardern mentioned how his friend Ray Comfort when he had his first child, was struggling with sleepless nights and frustrating times and wrote to his mother and said thanks for not drowning me in a bucket when I was a baby!

Three times in the gospel story Jesus refers to the commandment that we are to honour our father and mother, making it a high priority in the journey of pleasing God. Ephesians calls it the first commandment with promise, saying Honour your Father and mother that your days may be long in the earth. I haven’t figured out yet if your days are longer because your father and mother didn’t kill you or if there’s a blessing of God that comes upon an honouring child that gives them long life!

Today being mother’s day throws the spotlight on the importance of honouring our mothers and just as importantly helping our kids to honour their mothers. Men, is there honour in your home? To put perspective on this subject of honour, what we are teaching this month is that Love Honours. That means that we see a tremendous importance of honour as a kingdom value and that value flows across the church and the home. Where there is honour, there is the blessing and favour of God; hence the reference to longer lives when we honour father and mother.

Let’s take a look at this scene from that famous Australian movie called “The Castle” The movie is meant to be a comedy and quintessentially Australian culture or perhaps we should say Bogan culture. (The scene is about the dinner table conversation where Darryl Kernigan, the dad, is appreciative of mums cooking and the kids see a great example of valuing the mum’s effort)

Sadly such a scene might seem make believe in many homes around the nation in recent times where getting everyone together at the dinner table seems like a lost art. I love this scene because Dad leads the way in valuing mums effort as simple as it may seem. This is honour and it comes from love. Let’s rehearse again what honour is: Honour means to value, to give weight, to esteem, to count as precious, to give worth and recognition to. In contrast to that, dishonour means to be familiar, to take for granted, to count as being worth less, to ignore and to be rude.

Where is the put down in your home? Is there a culture in your home of devaluing words directed at mum? In so many homes around the nation, not only do we see hurtful and harmful words spoken to wives and mothers but we see open violence perpetrated on an increasing scale. The definition of family violence includes verbal abuse, – “Family and domestic violence is any violent, threatening, coercive or controlling behaviour that occurs in current or past family, domestic or intimate relationships. This includes not only physical injury but direct or indirect threats, sexual assault, emotional and psychological torment, economic control, damage to property, social isolation and any behaviour which causes a person to live in fear.” – DHS Victoria. http://www.dhs.vic.gov.au/for-individuals/children,-families-and-young-people/family-violence/what-is-family-violence

Is there dishonour in your home? Guys, do not tolerate it. Do you treat your wife with honour? Do your children and teens treat their mother with honour?

Romans 12:10 Love one another with brotherly affection [as members of one family], giving precedence and showing honour to one another.

MY STORY – Growing up I had no dad, and so I had an attitude that I needed to help my mother because it was hard for her. Nevertheless I dishonoured her a few times, like when the police brought me home one day for riding a motorbike on the road unlicensed at 14 years of age. In my home I have watched over the conversations so that my four sons kept their words honourable towards their mother.

Ephes 5:33 However, let each man of you [without exception] love his wife as [being in a sense] his very own self; and let the wife see that she respects and reverences her husband.

1 Pet 3:7 In the same way you married men should live considerately with [your wives], with an intelligent recognition [of the marriage relation], honouring the woman as [physically] the weaker, but [realizing that you] are joint heirs of the grace (God’s unmerited favor) of life, in order that your prayers may not be hindered and cut off. [Otherwise you cannot pray effectively.]

THE JESUS STORY

Of course we would expect Jesus to honour His own mother, but where would we see hat example? Perhaps in the story at the cross.

John 19:25-27 But by the cross of Jesus stood His mother, His mother’s sister, Mary the [wife] of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.

26 So Jesus, seeing His mother there, and the disciple whom He loved standing near, said to His mother, [[b]Dear] woman, See, [here is] your son!

27 Then He said to the disciple, See, [here is] your mother! And from that hour, the disciple took her into his own [keeping, own home].

 

WHY WE MUST LOVE AND HONOUR OUR WIVES AND MOTHERS

A study on women’s work responsibilities in May 2103 showed they put in a huge effort! http://tinyurl.com/leblfoo

Wondering why you’re tired all the time? It could be that you’re overworked. Not necessarily by your employer, but by both the paid and unpaid hours you’re putting in to get stuff done at home and in the office.

Australian women are still spending around twice as many hours on child care and household duties than men, even once women increase their time in paid employment.

A fact sheet prepared by the Australian Institute of Families Studies for the National Families Week conference this week breaks down the gender differences between mothers and fathers when it comes to paid and unpaid work.

It found these differences are particularly obvious during the childbearing years, with the biggest divide in the average time spent on paid work, parenting and household tasks occurring between mothers and fathers of children under five.

Mums working full-time with a youngest child under five were found to be spending an additional 3.6 hours on child care and 2.4 hours on housework a day. For part-time mums, the figure extended to 4.9 hours on child care and 3.5 hours on housework, while those not in paid employment were spending 5.7 hours on child care and 4.5 hours on housework.

So for those mums working an eight hour day in paid employment, factor in the child care and household work and she’s working a 14 hour day. That’s not including commuting time, and the extra unpaid overtime she may be putting in at the office. All up, that means she’s working a 70 hour week – also not factoring in any additional duties completed over the weekend.

Unsurprisingly, the report found working mothers were more likely than any other group to feel pressed for time, with 62% of such women declaring they’re almost always, or often, rushed or pressed for time. Just 6% of employed women with children reported they’re rarely or never rushed for time.

Dads step up only slightly when mums are in full-time work, spending 2.6 hours on child care and 1.8 hours a day on housework compared to the 2.1 hours on childcare and 1.3 they spend when mums were not working.

In households with a mother, father and children under 12, Dads were found to rarely be undertaking the child care tasks alone – with mums staying home more often when their kids were ill, while dads were getting involved during more-shared tasks, such as getting the children ready for bed.

Still, despite feeling pressed for time, Australian employees are generally satisfied with employment flexibility, according to comments made by AIFS’ Senior Researcher Dr Jennifer Baxter in the report.

“Employed men and women reported quite high levels of satisfaction with the flexibility they had to balance work and non-work commitments,” she said.

“Around six in ten employed men and women reported being very satisfied about their job flexibility. The most satisfied were those who said they could access flexible start and finish times.”

 

DISHONOUR IN YOUR HOME?

What does a put down look like?  Sometimes we don’t realise what power our words have. We may use words that devalue the gift that God has given us.

See if any of these statements have filled the air in your home, whether from your lips or your kids.

“Oh that’s rubbish! Where did you get that from? You’re an idiot!”

“You spent how much? What do you think I’m made of money? #Expletive#”

“Come on, hurry up. I’ve been waiting for hours! We are going to be late. If you’re not ready in five, I’m going without you.”

“I hate spaghetti bolognaise, do I have to eat it? We have it nearly every night”

“No I’m not watching that #expletive# If you want to watch that go and find yourself another TV set.”

“No I don’t want to go and see your mother this weekend. It’s so boring there I nearly died last time, make up some excuse.”

Guys, you’re the head of the home. You’re in charge of the culture that is set there. Even if your home has been broken through separation, don’t bow to common culture but keep honour there. Bring value to your mother, and your wife and help your kids to bring honour to their own mother. In the next two weeks we are going to look at how we would bring honour where father or mother has been unworthy of it.

1. Is there Honour in your home?

2. Instead of thinking “My home is doing OK” Let’s think of ways we can improve the Honour in our homes.

3. What conversations need to change in your home so that people honour one another and especially children honour parents?

4. What example do we set to our children as we practice Honour for those in authority like police, politicians, and teachers?

5. How does honour look in your home when discussing church leaders?

 

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WHAT IS HONOUR?

Posted in Church, Equip the Saints, Preaching messages, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 4, 2014| Leave a Comment »

LOVE HONOURSLove Honours A

It has been wonderful to share so many messages on LOVE so far this year.

I hope and pray that you are being changed and your behaviour is different as you apply God’s word that you are hearing. If we say, “That sermon was interesting, but I’m doing great I don’t need to change anything, I’m truly loving,” then we are deceiving ourselves. Instead why not come to God and say, “Breathe on me Lord change my heart, let me be different.”  If January’s messages, called LOVE SEEKS, touched your heart; you will realise Love begins with God who is seeking for us to be restored and loved. In February, the message called LOVE ROMANCES was all about our love for God and how we will express that in our own lives and especially here at church in the praise and worship times at the beginning of each service. In March the theme was LOVE ANOTHER and we spoke about how we express God’s love to one another. Last week’s church picnic was a time of outworking that love. In April we unpacked the story of LOVE LIMITLESS and just how huge God’s love for us really is, and also for lost people. As that touches us, we are set free and valued, and then compelled to reach lost people.

May’s theme is LOVE HONOURS

We are part of a Kingdom. Jesus our King is building His kingdom on earth, and we are living in Kingdom values. Jesus asked us to pray; your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.(Matt 6:10) The word Kingdom is used 158 times in the New Testament. One of the values operating in the Kingdom is Honour. So what is Honour? Honour means to value, to give weight, to esteem, to count as precious, to give worth and recognition to. The Kingdom runs on Honour. Without honour there is a big blockage in the flow of life and blessings in the kingdom.

To contrast to that, dishonour means to be familiar, to take for granted, to count as being worth less, to ignore and to be rude. In our Ausssie culture sometimes dishonour is an art form. “Hey Morrie, you’re late for the BBQ, where have ya been ya dirty bludger?” This is not kingdom stuff, God calls us to give honour where honour is due (Rom 13:7) So where is honour due?

Honour is due to the godly appointed people who have purpose in the kingdom. We give honour to those in authority, to one another, and God honours us when we walk in humility and love. Let’s take a look at honour in the scriptures and see how it works.

Firstly see how Jesus honours the Father; Jesus answered, I am not possessed by a demon. On the contrary, I honour and reverence My Father and you dishonour (despise, vilify, and scorn) Me.(John 8:49) The Father Honours the Son; For when He was invested with honour and glory from God the Father and a voice was borne to Him by the [splendid] Majestic Glory [in the bright cloud that overshadowed Him, saying], This is My beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased and delight, (2 Peter 1:17) Again the Holy Spirit Honours Jesus; He will honour and glorify Me, because He will take of (receive, draw upon) what is Mine and will reveal (declare, disclose, transmit) it to you. (John 16:14)

Let’s read a story from the Old Testament about honour.

1 Samuel 25:1-44

Now Samuel died, and all the Israelites assembled and mourned for him, and buried him at his house in Ramah. David arose and went to the Wilderness of Paran.

2 A very rich man was in Maon, whose possessions and business were in Carmel. He had 3,000 sheep and 1,000 goats, and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.

3 The man’s name was Nabal and his wife’s name was Abigail; she was a woman of good understanding, and beautiful. But the man was rough and evil in his doings; he was a Calebite.

4 David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep.

5 And David sent out ten young men and said to [them], Go up to Carmel to Nabal and greet him in my name;

6 And salute him thus: Peace be to you and to your house and to all that you have.

For a full chapter go to – http://tinyurl.com/lesbq9l

In this story David is not yet King, but it has been prophesied that he will one day rise to lead Israel. Nabal has a bad attitude towards David. He ignores the fact that everyone in Israel knew that David slew Goliath and saved Israel and that he had been warring against the Philistines ever since and keeping Israel safe. Nabal did not know or did not care that David and his men had kept Nabal’s shepherds and livestock safe against the plundering armies of Philistines.

So when David’s men ask Nabal for some food and water for his troops, Nabal abuses David’s men and tells them to get lost. Nabal, whose name means foolish lives up to his name and dishonours David, saying David had issues with King Saul. David plans to kill Nabal and all his men, but before he can get to them, Abigail, Nabal’s wife, hears what has happened and nearly has a fit. She hurries to meet David, bows very low at his feet and gives him a whole lot of food. She asks forgiveness for her husband’s foolishness. She covers her husband, saves his life, and the life of all Nabal’s men, and gives honour to David, saying he was called of God and had been the Lords instrument in fighting the Lord’s battles. When Abigail later tells Nabal that he was nearly wiped out by David, Nabal is paralised with fear and ten days later the Lord smote him and he dies. David then takes Abigail as his wife.

Here’s the lesson. Nabal, the fool, has a wrong attitude, it stops him honouring David, a man in whom God had obviously placed His blessing. His outcome was an ignominious death. Abigail, who is a virtuous woman, honours God’s servant David and not only saves many lives; but ends up as the Kings wife to live out her life in nobility.

I recently went to a church pastors Conference in Brisbane. It was a lesson in honour. From start to finish I was honoured and valued and so were any senior pastors who attended. It was a beautiful and showed a culture in our movement that is very healthy. Last Sunday night Pastor Marcus Ardern was our guest speaker and he shared a story or two about honour. Here’s what he said:

STORY

Marcus Ardern shared how as a bible teacher one church said to him, “We will see if we can squeeze you in to speak but we are not sure whether we want you.” Marcus replied, “Well I won’t come because God can’t bless you because you’re not hungry, you be sent away empty handed. If you won’t say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord,’ and receive me as a servant of God, I can’t feed you. But if you honour me for my master’s sake, not me, it’s totally different.” At another place he went to speak, it was a Maori church in New Zealand and they brought out the mats they had for King Korakeethi, they brought a king size bed from somewhere else, and gave him all this great food, Marcus said thank you so much for honouring me, They replied, don’t be so proud, none of it’s for you, it’s for Jesus.” Do you get it?

Honour in the church works up, down and sideways.

We are to honour those over us in the Lord. Let the elders who perform the duties of their office well be considered doubly worthy of honour [and of adequate [a]financial support], especially those who labour faithfully in preaching and teaching.(1Tim 5:17)

We honour one another; Show respect for all men [treat them honourably]. Love the brotherhood (the Christian fraternity of which Christ is the Head). Reverence God. Honour the emperor.(1 Peter 2:17)

As leaders we honour those under us;I warn and counsel the elders among you (the pastors and spiritual guides of the church) as a fellow elder and as an eyewitness [called to testify] of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a sharer in the glory (the honour and splendour) that is to be revealed (disclosed, unfolded):

2 Tend (nurture, guard, guide, and fold) the flock of God that is [your responsibility], not by coercion or constraint, but willingly; not dishonourably motivated by the advantages and profits [belonging to the office], but eagerly and cheerfully;

3 Not domineering [as arrogant, dictatorial, and overbearing persons] over those in your charge, but being examples (patterns and models of Christian living) to the flock (the congregation).

4 And [then] when the Chief Shepherd is revealed, you will win the [a]conqueror’s crown of glory.(1 Peter 5:1-4)

 

Be careful not to give dishonour to one another and to leaders; because when we do we shut down God’s flow of favour and blessings.

And coming to His own country [Nazareth], He taught in their synagogue so that they were amazed with bewildered wonder, and said, Where did this [u]Man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?

55 Is not this the carpenter’s Son? Is not His mother called Mary? And are not His brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?

56 And do not all His sisters live here among us? Where then did this Man get all this?

57 And they took offense at Him [they were repelled and hindered from acknowledging His authority, and caused to stumble]. But Jesus said to them, A prophet is not without honour except in his own country and in his own house.

58 And He did not do many works of power there, because of their unbelief (their lack of faith [v]in the divine mission of Jesus).(Matt 13:54-58)

Let’s take note here, no honour – no favour – no miracles.

Respect is earned but honour is given and is not about the person as an individual but is about who they represent.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Discuss what  honour looks like in the presence of an earthly king or queen.

2. What are some of the attitudes that stop is from honouring those in authority?

3. Why do you think people in Nazareth couldn’t honour Jesus in the passage above?

4. Discuss how familiarity blocks honour.

5. How can we practice honour in our church in a better way?

 

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