Positive in the Negative

Saturday, January 31, 2009

It seems lately, that every time you pick up a paper or turn on the TV or radio you are continually bombarded with news of doom and gloom. Whether it is natural disasters, war, climate change or financial meltdowns, the media always seems to present a very negative outlook.

However, what the world would present as a negative, God can use as a positive opportunity to show the love of God.

This can be best demonstrated by a testimony from one of the churches we support in the Philippines. In January '09, the city of Cagayan de Oro was hit by a typhoon. The city was devastated, people were killed and many areas flooded with people loosing their homes and being displaced. Pastor Alex and Cynthia Eduave and their church have used this calamity as an opportunity to show the love of God to those less fortunate. They have provided medicines and vitamins for the children, shelter for the homeless and are feeding for up to 500 people a day. They see it as an opportunity to present the gospel both in kind and in Word and prayer. We as a church have been privileged in some small way to be part of what God is doing in that city. Last Sunday, our special Philippines offering allowed us to send them $2000 to help those in need.

The opportunities to be a blessing occur more in bad times than in good ones. I believe that as a church if we keep our eyes open for opportunities , we too can be used in a mighty way to bring the gospel to our community as they have in the Philippines.

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Simplicity of the Gospel

Sunday, December 28, 2008

This month we will be starting a series on the gospel. The simplicity of the gospel is seen in 1 Corinthians 15:3-5 where Paul states;

“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, …” Of all the things that Paul would share with those that he met on his journeys this message was the one that was the most important and foundational to everything else that he shared.

Christ died for our sins – tells us why he had to die not for his sin because he was perfect but for our sin which had alienated us from God. It reveals God's love for us in sending Jesus and reveals our total inability to save ourselves.

According to the scriptures – this was an action that was not thought up on the spur of the moment or as a last resort but was prophesized long before and recorded. God knew the future and had already planned His response. He shares that with us in the bible so that we can be confident in Him.

That he was buried – you only bury people that are dead, this counters the many different theories, one being that Jesus merely was unconscious and was revived in the coolness of the tomb. No, Jesus actually laid his life down for you and me.

That he was raised on the third day – death, the price Jesus paid for the sin of the world could not hold Him down. After three days the Father regarded the debt of our sin to have been fully paid. He demonstrated this to us by raising Jesus from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit. The empty tomb is our guarantee that as we repent and believe in Jesus we will be accepted by the Father.

We are looking closely at these truths so that we may be fully equipped to be like Paul and share this with those we meet.

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Godly Sorrow

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

It is important for us to grasp fully the difference between godly and worldly sorrow. Paul states in 2 Corinthians 7 that “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.”

Godly sorrow is part of the process that leads us to repentance. It is a work of the Holy Spirit who brings illumination of the word and then conviction which can cause us to be deeply sorrowful about our sin.

Whereas both sorrows are caused by the illumination of our sinfulness by various means, one leads to life and the other causes no change in our understanding & actions and continues to death. Worldly sorrow only considers how it affects us, we may be embarrassed, humiliated even suffer pain or rejection from any disclosure, however our primary concern through all this remains of how it affects me. Godly sorrow, on the other hand, is the realization that our behaviour is sinful and our sin is an offence against a holy God. King David states when confronted by the prophet Nathan as to his adultery and murder in Ps 51:4 "Against you (God), you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight”.

This does not negate the responsibility to the people we hurt by our sin and restitution may be required. However, our sin is primarily against God whose laws we have broken. If we recognize this and turn to God (1 John 1:9) it will lead us to true repentance which will lead through faith to life.

Let us be mindful that we demonstrate the right kind of sorrow when confronted with sin in our lives.

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Mission Complete

Monday, July 07, 2008

A team of 17 has just returned from our annual short-term mission trip to the Philippines. The team, with the help of our partner churches, witnessed over 2,500 people come into the Kingdom of God through successful crusades and home visitation. I was great to distribute 4,000 bibles and establish countless home bible studies.

It was also encouraging to again meet people this year who were saved / healed during previous crusades and are now still following God and reaching out to others.

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Paul's Prayer

Saturday, June 07, 2008

In Ephesians 1 Paul prays for the church. He would pray the same thing for us today.

He prays that God may give us a Spirit of wisdom and revelation. These would be 2 great things to have; Could you imagine how successful we would be in the world with these two insights?

However the purpose Paul says is that “we may know the Father better”
Paul realises that knowing God is the greatest purpose and the greatest benefit open to man. Of all mans endeavours; study, searching and exploring, there is nothing greater than knowing God more and more each day.

We need to pray this prayer for ourselves each day. "God give me insight into who you are and how I can know and serve you better". This is true wisdom.

Continuing in Paul's prayer for you and me is that we would be enlightened. That is, have understanding of three things. Firstly, the hope to which He has called you, then the riches of His inheritance in the saints and lastly, the incomparable great power for us who believe.

The hope to which He has called you includes everything that God has eventually for us. It has a future dimension. That is, to be like Jesus, to be with him ruling and reigning forever. It also encourages us that no matter what we come out of or how bad our past may be, God has nothing but a good plan for us who believe.

The riches of His inheritance can mean several things but one would be all that we will inherit in Christ. In this present age we merely see glimpses of this but in the future we will experience it all. This understanding of these riches should dull our attraction to what this world may offer.

Lastly, how much power is available for us to draw upon in this present age we live in. Paul tells us it is the same power that enabled God to raise Jesus from the dead and place Him at God's right hand.

If we gained even a fraction of what Paul is praying we would certainly live different lives than we do at present. Is it difficult? - no it is available to all who ask.

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Beloved

Monday, May 19, 2008

Over and over in the new testament we find the word, "Beloved." God calls you His beloved. There is radical amazement in these words. Are you able to define yourself radically as the one beloved by God? The basis of your personal worth is not your possessions, your talent, your reputation, or your achievement. Your worth is anchored in the reality that you are deeply loved by God. When I draw life and meaning from any other source other than my belovedness, I have just swapped the pearl of great price for cheap glass.

Love originates from God. It is a love that causes the human spirit to marvel. When Paul meditated on the love of God, all he could do was to cry out, "how high, how deep, and how wide is this love!" Love is powerful. Love will
change you. Love will charge the atmosphere around you. Love is what you were created for. Confidence in this love will intimidate the enemy. The original purpose of our lives is to discover the truth of our belovedness. God intended for our identity to rest in the relentless tenderness, kindness, and compassion of the One who knows us best and loves us best. God created us for union with Himself. That is the original purpose of our lives. Being the beloved is our identity. It is the core of our existence. No wonder John could declare in 1 John 4:18, "In love, there can be no fear for fear is driven out by perfect love." He understood clearly, "I am the one Jesus loves," as he laid his head on Jesus' breast, touching the heartbeat of the greatest Lover in the universe. Jesus said, "If you've seen Me, you've seen the Father (John 14:9)." Jesus understood fully the tenderness and compassion of the Father's heart because He fully knew He was the Father's Son. He did nothing on His own, but only what His Father told Him. Everywhere He went, He lavished the indiscriminate love of the Father to the moral failures, the irreligious, the politically suspect, the abandoned hopeless types, the cripples the lepers, the possessed, and the sick. What kind of dangerous and naïve love is this? It is a love that loves without limits. It is the lavishing love of the Father whose heart aches for deep and intimate relationship with those called the children of God.

Beloved, you and I represent those same types. We are like those people whose hearts have been awakened to the truth of our belovedness. Like Paul, we can echo, "The love of Christ compels me (2 Cor. 5:14)." "For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:38-39)," our Lover!

Let's live with a fierce longing for more of God and with an unyielding resolve to live in and
out of the truth of our belovedness. Let's live today and give glory to God simply by being ourselves… the beloved.

Taken in part from newsletter of Singing Waters Ministry, Canada by Donna Parachin

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How should I pray to God?

Monday, March 17, 2008

Prayer is by its simplest definition “man communicating with God”. There are many different types of prayer and ways that we can communicate with God. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus challenged those listening with many different principles of the Kingdom one of those concerned prayer.

He presented to the disciples a model in which we could pattern our prayer life.

Broadly speaking this prayer in Matthew 6 shows us 3 priorities which help us in the way we pray.The first speaks of relationship. “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name” we address God as our Father.

God is the one who wants us to see and relate to him as a father. This therefore is the
primary reason why we pray , to develop a relationship with God, everything else will flow
out of this.

Secondly, Jesus commands us to pray about the things of the Kingdom 10 your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” We need to be seeking the advancement of Gods causes not our own.

Thirdly, we look to our heavenly father for natural provision, forgiveness and protection.

11 Give us today our daily bread.12 Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’.

These then are the priorities for our prayer life. Unfortunately as believers we tend to reverse these priorities. We continually seek out God for what we need and want, rather than building relationship. As someone aptly said “we seek the gift and not the giver”.

This month we will be examining our prayer life to reverse those tendencies and help us develop a right relationship with our heavenly Father.

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Fruitfulness

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

This month, both in church and our house churches, we are looking at the subject of fruitfulness. God wants us to be fruitful. He says in John 15: 16 "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to bear much fruit – fruit that will last". This Scripture along with the early verses describes our relationship with God and His purpose for us, to bear much fruit. What is the fruit that God wants to produce through us? Fruit in the bible can be seen both as an internal quality and as an external manifestation. Internally it is the fruit of the Spirit that Paul speaks of in Galatians 5. This fruit "Love, joy, peace, patience etc" develops as we abide in and obey the Lord. There are also 3 other areas that Paul describes as fruit:

- Our involvements in sharing the gospel and seeing people come into the Kingdom.
- Our involvement in giving to those in need.
- The fruit of our lips that confess His name as we obey Him in all situations.

Of course God the Father as the gardener wants to develop all of us to produce the maximum fruit in our lives. He does this by discipline and pruning. As His children we need to understand the difference and to know which one is being applied to us at any time. Let us remember that in all of His workings His attitude towards us is always one of love and nurturing.

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