God Will Bring You Through

Hebrews 12:1-2

Looking unto Jesus. In that first verse it talks about the witnesses from times past who have exercised faith in God. It’s interesting in verse four that it says that He is the author and finisher of our faith. This means no one here can boast of the faith they have. This also means that God in His love and mercy will fulfil His purposes in us. He is building His church in His way and His time. I want to briefly look at the life of one of those witnesses and we will come back to that verse in Hebrews 12: 2 before we partake of the bread and wine.

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In a macro sense we are living at a time which is crucial for you and for me.

Exodus 14:10-13

That last verse God has impressed on my heart particularly of late. It was categorical what God said to them: ‘he Egyptians whom you have seen today, you shall see them again no more forever.’

Exodus 14:29-31

They had reached an impossibility where God, out of nothing, found the way forward for them. In any situation we find ourselves in life, we can choose the way we approach it in our spirit and mind.

Numbers 13:1-2

And so we then have a list of twelve of the tribes, preceded by the nominated persons from each of the tribes:

Numbers 13:4-16

I’m sure those people, when they were called together by Moses, got on well each other. Interestingly, in verse 16, Moses called Oshea, the son of Nun, to Jehoshua. That means that meaning of his name went from ‘he saves’ to ‘the Lord saves’. There came a part in mine and your life where we tried to save ourselves. And then there came a point where God drew close to us and he saved us.

The way God is opening up things for us in our lives is going to be tremendous when we put God first and realise that the faith we have is for Him. There is no pecking order of faith, it is all of Him. Jesus, who exemplified faith, coming to do what Father wanted, was the ultimate sacrifice in fulfilling everything that Father wanted. What we’re going to see through these verses is that the faith God has given us has been given for a reason: to glorify Him in our lives. When you look back on the impossible situation you are in now, you will see how God has got you through it.

Matthew 9:36-38

Do you do that? Do you look upon people and ask God that that person would become someone who goes into the fields so that glory might be brought to God’s name as they harvest in God’s land Or do you look at people and despise them and ensure that you remain above them? When Jesus looked at anybody in these multitudes He had compassion on them. We have to be 100% sold out for God. We are living at a poignant time for everyone here; it is God who is bringing things about.

Numbers 13:17-25

The twelve of them witnessed the same thing. Some went to different areas obviously to ensure that they covered the extent of the Lord. It’s apparent later that Caleb witnessed the people of Anak; the giants.

Numbers 13:26-27

Who sent them into the land? God did. Moses was under instructions from God.

Numbers 13:28-29

So this is the report from all twelve of them.

I just want you to see what was told to the children of Israel, by God, before they got to this stage.

Exodus 3:17-18

If they had really listened to what God had said they would have known that God would deliver the land unto them.

Numbers 13:28-29

It was known that that would be the case. So you can see, from a known number of facts, from a known viewpoint of those facts, it is possible for you to respond to what God is saying to you either the right way or the wrong way. What is it going to be? These twelve witnessed similar things. They all had the same God and knew that what God had promised they were now moving into. They also knew that they simply had to go and occupy the land and God would deliver it unto them.

Numbers 13:30-14:10

I am triple confident that the God whom we serve, that the One who has shined the glorious light of the Gospel into our hearts, is more than able to bring us through the difficulties in our lives. I think that what is now going happen, as we rest on God’s word, He will show us that He is the God of miracles and of faith. We will start going outward to help those in need. Jesus Christ is the answer for you and me. I am excited to know that what God is doing in our midst is something that will be fulfilling His purposes so that His glory will be exemplified and so that there will be others that He will drawn into His Kingdom.

I know that God has been making Himself known to you more than ever before. I think that, as you and I are open to God moving through His word, others will be drawn. Jesus is set down at the right hand of the throne of God because He has perfected God’s purpose. That purpose was that you and I should be people who know that God brought us out of the tyranny of sin. He set our feet upon a rock and has got us to a point in our lives when He is saying ‘let’s go forward together’. At the end of the difficulty you are facing now you will be grateful towards God, because you will be able to see that it was He that provided the way. Caleb knew that they could possess the land. What Jesus Christ did on the cross means that He has opened the way completely for you and for me to fulfil His purposes in our lives. He is a wonderful God.

What is it that the Lord is prompting you to do in His kingdom? Now is the time for it to happen. It is important that you and I approach circumstances with the right spirit.

There were ten people writhing in an attitude of doubt and disbelief. And then there was Caleb and Joshua with a completely different spirit. You have the spirit of Caleb and Joshua. It’s God’s spirit. It’s a miracle that that has happened in your life. What are you doing with it? It is a crucial time and it is a wonderful time as God is moving in our midst. We look, and will always look, unto Jesus and lift up His name.

The Foolishness of God

By Rev. Trevor Dearing

The foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of man. Throughout the Bible God has chosen people who, to the world, appear to be a foolish choice because they are ignorant or despised. But His foolishness is wise because, through these base people, we can see that the works they do and the words they say are from God, not of their own power. We have to flow with the foolishness of the Holy Spirit, but in order to do that we have to become weak and put our faith in the blood of Jesus Christ and the cross.

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During my ministry I have preached about everything I know about the nature and attributes of God. When I was praying God said to me: “Trevor, you’ve never preached about my foolishness. So I thought to myself that I couldn’t go in front of a group of Christians here and tell them that God was foolish. But then, my mind went to this passage:

1 Corinthians 1:18-2:5

As I meditated upon this passage I realised that we cannot be saved from our sins unless we flow with God’s foolishness. I began to see that we cannot be used in our ministry or bring others into the kingdom unless we flow with God’s foolishness. So, Abraham was called to go and leave his country and he said in modern English: “Ok Lord God I will go. Where am I going?” God replied: “I will not tell you until you get there.” Abraham set off. Now Abraham didn’t have a natural son and there came a day when God promised him that Sarah would bare a son. Sarah was past it. And Abraham realised that he wasn’t doing too good either. Sarah laughed at the promise, but the baby was gone.

Later on Moses was sent to free the Israelites from the most powerful nation in the world: the Egyptians. Moses told God that he was not very good at speaking, but God told him that He would take care of that. Moses then asked what he should take with him and God replied that he should only take the stick that was in hand.

Joshua was leading the people into the promise land and Jericho, the most fortified city in the world, stood as an unsurpassable obstacle on their journey. The Lord said to Joshua that He would give him the city. So Joshua asked what he should do and the Lord replied that he should get the people to walk around it; so for seven days they walked round it. On the last day God told them to walk round the city seven times and to shout as they did it. So they did it and in the whole of history Jericho is the only city that fell because of shouting.

Gideon was told that he had too many to defeat the army of the Amalachite’s. When he had only a small army left, God said that that was the army He would use to defeat them.
When God chose the prophets He chose some unlikely people. God chose Amos who was a gardener, but was prepared to listen to do the word. Hosea was chosen when his wife was a prostitute and his bakery business had gone bust. This goes on into the New Testament. When Jesus was choosing His disciples He did not go to the universities and to those who had learnt the law. He went to the beach and chose fishermen and tax payers. He said later on that these were ignorant and unlearned men. This is the foolishness of God.

The foolishness of God is wiser than men. What lies at the heart of all this? One thing that lies at the heart of all this is that God chooses the weak things of the world, and the things which are not, so that when the end is accomplished the glory will not go to men but to God. If Moses had set the people free with a great army it would have been said that Moses was a great general. But because he did it with a stick it is recorded that God was a great God. Sarah had a baby when she was weak and old, so the glory went to God. The Lord gave Joshua the city because they simply walked round it. When the prophets and disciples were chosen people knew that their wisdom was of God because they were not learned people. Thus, they knew that their words were the word of the Lord. God’s power is demonstrated through the things which are not. Paul writes that God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise things and the things which are weak to shame that which is strong.

The second great factor in the foolishness of God is that He has chosen that men and women will know Him and will do works for Him by faith. Because Abraham set out not knowing where he was going, he went by faith. Moses had only God’s word that without an army he would set the Israelites free. So, he acted upon God’s word in faith and the promise was fulfilled. Gideon had only the word of the Lord, Hosea and Amos had only the word of the Lord. Throughout the whole of the scripture, all human beings have had is the promise of God, and when they have obeyed God without understanding but in faith, God’s power has been released.

In the New Testament Jesus came walking on the water and Peter asked Jesus to bid him to walk to Him on the water. So the Lord said ‘come’. Peter then stepped out of the boat and stood on the water. The trouble with many Christians today is that they praise God from the safety of the boat, they are not prepared to walk in faith on the water.

2000 years ago the great God of the universe, who created everything, was going to come into the world. The Holy Spirit had made the whole of the Roman empire alive with the expectation that He was going to send a Saviour. How would He come? The Romans and the Greeks said that the only suitable place for the Saviour to come was in the palace of the Roman emperor. The Jews hated the Romans and they did not believe that God would come to the emperor’s palace. They believed that God would come from the skies. They believed that trumpets would sound and blast throughout all the world to announce His arrival. But, Bethlehem, though that are the least amongst the cities of Judah. A peasant woman, poor and lowly, but holy. Not an emperor’s palace, not even an inn. When God came He lay in a cattle trough and He who created the heavens and the earth suckled for sustenance. They missed Him because they did not understand the foolishness of God.

Then, God is going to redeem mankind, He is going to save individuals within the human race from the power of sin. How would God save the human race? The generals say give us better arms and weapons, and they still say it today, asking for nuclear armaments so that they can save the world. The inventors would ask for better technology. The educationalists would say that they will save the world through education. The politicians ask for new political theories. All human beings since time began have been using their brains and hands to save the human race from total destruction. But how did God save the world? How did He save you? He hung seemingly helpless on a cross with the mockery of a crown of thorns and an inscription: “This is the King of the Jews” above His head. The crowds jeered at him saying that if He was the King of the Jews He would be able to save Himself. But He cried out: “I thirst”. Then the author and giver of life bowed His head and died; that is the foolishness of God.

The word of the cross is to those that are perishing foolishness. God has made foolish the wisdom of the world. God was well pleased through the foolishness of the word to save those who heard it. When you share this word with others and say that it is the cross and His death that will save you, to them it will seem foolishness.

1 Corinthians 2:3-4

What are the qualifications for flowing with the Holy Spirit? There are two things: one is weakness and one is faith. Some years ago I was asked to take a mission at Cambridge. They had set up discussions and forums where students would be able to ask me about theology. I was there for ten days and the discussions made my head ache. And after ten days not one person had given their life to Christ. So, I decided to have a meeting and invited the students to a church. So, I preached about the blood of Jesus and the old rugged cross. I was with them in weakness and in fear and in much trembling but I preached the blood of Jesus. At the end a student came up to me and said that he had come to the meeting to hear something sensible. He said that he was suffering from depression and that he had written a suicide note and that if I couldn’t help him he was going to hang himself. He said that he didn’t want to hear about the blood of Jesus and the old rugged cross. He said that he would only believe if he could see and understand it. But I said that he must believe and put his trust in Jesus. This man was in need, he was weak, he wasn’t proud and arrogant; the first qualification. Then he said: “I believe in Jesus and the cross.” So I laid my hands on him and he fell on him. Then he stood up and declared that his depressions had gone and that he believed in the cross. The other students had seen this and then rushed forward, and scores of students gave the hearts to God that day.

I was in America one day and was talking to an eminent doctor. He said to me one day that he had a magnificent house, a yacht, that he was an eminent man but that he was a drunkard. He had tried to cure the drunkenness with medical science, but the harder he tried the deeper into alcoholism he got. It got to the stage where his wife left him and was considering filing for a divorce. This man was weak. Then one day his wife decided instead of filing for a divorce, to go to a church and pray for her husband. To her astonishment her husband joined her and told her that he was going to put his trust in Jesus. In that instant he was cured of his alcoholism.

God chose me after years of depression and sickness. I had hardly gone to school because I was incurably ill, and was expected to die at the age of 21. But there came one night when I put my trust in the blood of Jesus and the cross. That is why I am here today at the age of 75. When I got baptised in the spirit I began preaching the Gospel with power. I saw thousands of conversions and healings every year. I laid my hands on people and they were healed. But these are not special hands; they are like Moses’ stick.

There is power in weakness. If you want to get you must give. It is all upside down according to the world. Are you weak? Are you in need? There’s only one way to be saved: to put your trust in Jesus. If you think you are a real good Christian, you will be lost. It is a constant sense of need and weakness, it is dependence on Jesus. It is constant faith on what He did at Calvary. You’ve got to become a nobody before you can become a somebody in the kingdom of God.

Surrender All

By Rev. Trevor Dearing

At the feeding of the five thousand Jesus took the five loaves and two small fishes from the boy, He blessed them, He broke them and He used them. In our own lives we must give all that we have to Jesus and He will bless all that we have given. We also have to be prepared to be broken by God because only when we have been broken and we have realised that we cannot do it by ourselves, can God take our inadequate life and use it.

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We’re going to look tonight at the only miracle recorded in all four gospels.

John 6:1-14

A sign is a miracle, but it is more than a miracle: it is a miracle with a meaning. It’s not only what Jesus did at that time to meet a particular need. A sign has a spiritual message within for Christians of every generation. This spiritual message is about how you can reach your full potential in Christ Jesus. It is about how you can know in your life a magnificent blessing that you have known before. It is about spiritual revival and how to live a productive Christian life. There’s so much in this seemingly simple account of this incident, that words hardly can be found to describe the spiritual lesson that this sign teaches. Tonight I want you to take away four actions which Jesus performed: He took, He blessed, He broken and He used. We do the same thing every time we have Holy Communion. I want to convey to you that this is the central focal act of God in the Christian life, for those who are really willing to yield themselves to Him.

So, what did Jesus take? I’d like you to go in your imagination to a little house in Galilee where a family are getting up in the morning. The little boy says to his mother: “Can I go today mum?” and she asks where he wants to go. So He replies that He wants to go and see Jesus of Nazareth. So his mum replies, asking how long he will be gone and he says that he thinks he will be there all day. Now mum’s always make sure that their sons have plenty of food. So this mum told him that if he was to go all day he would need something to eat. They found five barley loaves and two small fish and he took them with him. So the little boy goes, the day wears on and everyone gets hungry. He also remembers and is very grateful for the food. Just as he is about to take the first mouthful, a man comes up to him and asks for his food. Despite protestations, he gives the man the food because he is told that Jesus wants them. This is the moment where spiritual blessing begins. This is where all that God can give you starts, when you give Him the lot.

I had to learn this lesson myself. At the age of 19 I had just become a Christian, when my minister had said to me that I didn’t know my Bible and told me to go to a Bible School. So I arrived at this Bible School and was going through the door when a great big fellow gave me a great big hug and said: “Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!” and welcomed me. Soon I found myself among forty men I had never known existed, who knew their Bible back to front, preached on the streets, had fellowship meetings and all the time they were talking about Jesus. I wasn’t happy because I thought these people were fanatics. So, I decided to go home at the end of term. In the last meeting of the term the preacher asked if there was anyone who was unhappy in their life as Christian. He said that if you were unhappy it was because you had not fully given yourself to Him. He said you must abandon everything and a become a living sacrifice for Jesus. I realised that I had to do something. I thought that I should run through the door, but then this man, as if he had heard my thoughts, told me not to. He said that I should instead run down to the front; so I did. That day God got all their was of Trevor Dearing. That day I became happy.

Every year Anne and I go back to that college. I go back to the church and kneel on the spot where I had knelt when I was twenty and do it all over again. I never want to do anything else other than surrender everything to Jesus.

So Jesus took all that the little boy had. As He has done for two thousand years, He has taken all for us. For me this meant that I had to become a minister of the gospel. This is not the same for everyone. When you make that act of full surrender God tells you what to do in your life, as long as you don’t count that cross. He took, He blessed. He took the loaves of fish in His hands and gave thanks over them. It is an amazing truth that when I, at the age of 20, knelt in that little church, Jesus put His hands underneath me, lifted me up to the Father and gave thanks for an inadequate life. It is wonderful to be a blessed man, to have so given all to Jesus that He gives thanks to the Father. He gives thanks to the Father for you and for me.

I learnt after some years that the greatest blessing Jesus could give me here on earth was the fullness of the Holy Spirit. God, the first person of the trinity, dwelling in my life. This is the greatest gift: that God should dwell so fully within us that He overflows us. I had a pretty grim king of ministry for a while, with the Methodists. Then Anne got mixed up with the Pentecostals, much to my dismay. I decided that I would never go to a Pentecostal church, even though she went and took the children. She came out and she was so excited about the worship and the speaking in tongues and the healings. So I said that I would go next time. I sat in the back row trying to be inconspicuous. It was a remarkable service; a different dimension of Christianity from what I’d known. Then the pastor called forth the sick and a woman, who had been in a wheelchair for 14 years, was wheeled forward. The pastor then laid his hands forward and said: “I command you to walk in the name of Jesus Christ.” And to my astonishment she got up and began to run up the church.

At the end of the service I went up to the pastor and announced myself as an Anglican clergyman, to which he was not particularly impressed. After I gave him my testimony he said that I needed the baptism of the Holy Spirit. So he took me to the scriptures and asked me if I wanted to receive it, to which I replied yes. He took me to a back room and then he, and four others, began to pray for me, running round me and getting very excited. When they had finished they asked me how I felt and told me that their prayer would be answered. And it was. I began to read my Bible more than ever and praying more than ever. Then one night I knelt down and began to pray. I was so earnest and fervent to receive the baptism of the spirit. Then, all of a sudden, the room was filled with light and I began to speak a tongue I didn’t know. Then a finger reached out and I asked: “Who are you?” and he replied that he was Gabriel and that I was sent to heal the sick. When Anne came in she said that my face was shining, and I told her that I had been to heaven.

That little boy, with five loaves and two fishes, could have given only four of the loaves. Jesus would not have forced him to give all. But what he had kept would not have been part of the blessing. The blessing of God in your life is in proportion to that which you have given Him. Partially given, partially blessed. Fully given, fully blessed. I am grateful that God has taught me about full surrender because since that day I have been fully blessed.

The Evangelical doctrine about what it means to be broken is much neglected in the preaching of churches these days. But, when you give all to Jesus and are fully blessed, you have to be willing to be broken. This is not like when a dog is broken so that it fears its masters, but it is like the taming of a horse that must be broken so that it can obey its master. I’ve counselled hundreds of Christians and they’ve all explained to me how they have gone through a period of brokenness.

To give an illustration: Peter was proud and boastful. He promised to stand by Jesus no matter what. But before the cock crowed He had denied Jesus three times as Jesus had foretold. The last time he denied with the strongest language he could use. Then the cock crew and Jesus turned and looked at Peter. Then Peter went out and wept bitterly. The angels rejoiced because Peter had come to the end of himself and was now a man whom God could use.

God uses all manner of things to break us, to get rid of the flesh and self-importance. If we really put ourselves into the hands of God there will be a time when we know we can’t do it ourselves, when we realise we can’t live this Christian life on our own. Once we are shattered to the core He will be able to use us.

Then Jesus used the food. When He broke the food and used there wasn’t initially incredible large amounts of food. But as they gave away the food it was multiplied more and more until there were twelve baskets left over. This is the key to the Christian life: if you hang on to the Christian life and your blessings for your own satisfaction and gratification, you will lose your blessings. But, give away your blessings, and they will be multiplied.

I’ve been given a gift of healing despite my inadequacies. But I haven’t been given it so that I can say how good I am. I have been given it to give away. Give it away. We worship a generous God who gave us His only begotten son that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish but have everlasting life. But if we want to blessed we have to be giving people because as we give them away they will be multiplied. Give and it will be given to you, running over. Hold on to it and you will lose it.

In the week before Good Friday I always meditate on Him. When you meditate you use your spiritual imagination. All that week I am there watching Jesus hanging on the cross, with such sorrow and love in His eyes. When I was meditating on this years ago, I had a realisation: that if I could offer all the world to Jesus, it would be an inadequate offering compared to what He has given me. And then I realised that I have something far more precious to give him: my life. Your greatest possession is not your house or your car, it is your life. He that saves his life will lose it and he that loses it will save it. I want to ask you a question. You’ve come out on a Friday night to a Christian meeting. Let me take it for granted that you are a Christian and have been baptised in the holy spirit and speak in tongues. What I will not take for granted is that you have given your life. Has God spoken to you tonight about giving your life away to Jesus? Has God spoken to you tonight about giving Him all? Take my life and let it be consecrated unto thee. You must give your life away.

The Father’s Heart: Love, not Law

By Pastor Kent Hodge

Over and over again, we see that Jesus put people above law and tradition. If we’re to have the heart of God, we need to do the same.

When you go through the epistles of Paul, one of his main topics is our love for one another. I love the scriptures where he uses “one another”. He talks about us as on body, one family, and supporting one another. We get stronger in our support when we see people not doing well in some respect. When we see people in need, our love and our support ought to grow all the more. We need to get behind one another and garrison each other around.

We shouldn’t use the law to count one another out. The law is to lead us to Christ, to show us our need of Christ and of salvation. It’s not there for us to meet together and draw differences between one another. When we see someone failing in respect of Christian things, our compassion needs to go out all the more – we shouldn’t dismiss them as people who just aren’t up to it.

The people we invite for lunch shouldn’t be the people who will invite us back again. The Bible says we are to invite the unrighteous. We should reach out – not in a legalistic way, but we should be prepared to invite people who are different.

We ought to reach out to one another as brothers and sisters in the Lord, and we are a family. The thing which makes us a family is the blood of Jesus – we’re not the same in any other respect, but our differences don’t matter. It’s the blood of Jesus which makes us a family.

Titus 2:11-14

He gave himself to change our hearts and our lifestyle. He wanted a people different from the world. There’s something different about the way we live. We’re not like the world in the way we react to one another. In the world, fellowship is based on sameness – people need to have the same opinions and likes, or else we don’t like them. There’s something above all of that, above these other things – the love of God, the bond of perfection. I need to fellowship with people in the body of Christ based on nothing else other than the love of God.

Titus 2:14-15

Paul told Titus to be very clear on these things. This is what it means to fight the fight of faith, to fulfil your duty as a pastor.

Titus 3:1-2

This is our Christian behaviour and conduct.

Titus 3:3

The people in the world have malice to one another, especially over things they have done in the past. They keep records. They split people up into camps. God doesn’t like to be put in a box. His salvation is for all people. Sometimes we can put God in a denominational box. But we can’t do that. God is for all people and His love is for everyone. In the church, the family of God, we have a different way of live, and we have an example for the world to see – the love of God is working un our lives through the love we have one to another.

Titus 3:4-9

Many years ago my family and I were in a small town in western NSW, in the back of beyond. Ruth’s parents live there. We were at one of the church meetings at the church my in-laws go to. At one meeting, one brother – a young, zealous believer – who was trying to draw distinctions over water baptism. He was making a stand over the age someone has to be when they are baptised. He said he’d had a revelation from the scriptures, and he was prepared to separate from the other spirit-filled believers who didn’t see things the same way. He thought he was doing it for God, but there are other things in the body of Christ which are more important – that we are one family. If people have love and faith in the Lord, and it’s working in their lives, and they are true brothers and sisters, then we should receive one another even if we have minor difference. The most important thing in our lives is people, and what God is doing in their lives.

This brother separated himself and started to have meetings over how old people should be baptised. People like this think they are serving God. But that’s not the issue. The issue is people, that we love one another, and that we see what God is doing in transforming our lives.

John 13:3

John 13:4

He dressed Himself like the lowest person in the house. He lowered Himself below His disciples in what He was about to do.

John 13:5-15

I love the challenge of fellowshipping with believers who are different from myself – and I do all the time. I went to an Anglican church once – a good place with a good pastor. I love variety. I love different traditions. And we ought to be able to handle them, because the substance is Christ, not the tradition. He’s the one who died for us. So let’s not get bogged down by minor issues.

This Anglican church had three queues for wine. I thought they might be for different groups of people. I asked why there were three queues. It turned out one was for wine, one for port, and one for grape juice.

Churches are different. I go to lots of different churches. It’s a challenge, but we begin to look at what fellowship about. What is the family of God about? And we come to see it’s about Jesus Christ and His love for us. He loved each one of us equally, and He died on the cross and gave Himself for us as His church.

John 13:34-35

When we speak of “all men”, we begin at Brentwood. We’re a witness. But what do we witness of? It’s not that I got baptised on the right day and in the right way. Our witness starts in Brentwood, not by ranting and raving and campaigns and good artwork. People will know we are disciples by our love for one another. The world has all these things, but the one thing it doesn’t have is unconditional agape love, family. We have family, and that family is shown by love.

John 15:10-14

We have a friend who has laid down his life for his friends. He was in a cinema when there was a fire. He came out with two friends, but one friend remained inside, and he went back to help, and died. Even in the church today, many would say that was a waste of his life, but not according to Jesus. He was a good friend to us.

I told Ruth these scriptures were too challenging – talking about the love of God and what He says about our lives. I don’t always feel I’m up to doing it. But this is what the scripture says.

Jesus would not allow anyone to put God in a box. He came for the Pharisees, for the publicans, for the sinners. He wouldn’t let people put expectations upon Him because of their traditions. He wouldn’t allow that to happen.

Mark 3:1-2

Here we have someone who needs to be healed. He has a withered hand All the Pharisees were concerned about was whether it was the sabbath day or not – they had their traditions.

One of or brothers is in Egypt currently, preaching at many different kinds of churches. We went there not knowing what to do, and God has opened doors. I believe the Gospel is the only answer. There must be a move of God in those nations.

This man preached at a widows meeting on Jesus from John 3, and there was a lady there who came out for prayer. He said he knew God was going to do something. He stuck his fingers in her ears, and she began to hear. When the meeting was finished, he went out and people began to rush to him. Sometimes they’ve been so enthusiastic, he’s been afraid they’d draw attention to him. The people took him to a house, and an impromptu house meeting began. Then he went to a pastors’ meeting and he spoke to 13 pastors. Then he was taken to a Presbyterian church – all on the same day. He said they wanted to start a five-day meeting immediately. And the only meeting actually arranged that day was the first meeting for the widows.

I tried to encourage him to go to the Coptic church too, but he said the Pentecostals were unsure about that, because you had to kiss the priest’s hand. But there are good Christians in Coptic churches too, and if you have to kiss the priest’s hand to get in there, then do it!

Take the woman who was a prostitute. What someone has done in the past doesn’t matter. What have I done in my past? I’d be counted out on that basis. The challenge for us as Christians is to love one another regardless, and leave room for God to move in their lives.

When we receive one another as Christians and love one another, that gives God’s love space to transform a life. The thing which gets me most is God’s unconditional love for us, that while we were sinners, He died for us. That’s why I serve God – His unconditional love has got my heart.

If others around us don’t seem to be serving the Lord as much as we think they should, we shouldn’t hit them with the Law. When the unconditional love of the Lord gets hold of them, it’ll make the difference.

What I want to draw from Mark 3 is that the person mattered more to Jesus than did the law, the tradition, the sabbath, the issue that the religion people were standing on. The person, the family, the fellowship ... that this person was a child of Abraham mattered more to Jesus than the tradition. Are we not children of God in one family, and isn’t that the issue amongst us a people, and as brothers and sisters in Christ.

In all of the Gospels, it was people that mattered to Jesus, not the law. The two commandments are that we love the Lord with all of our heart – not to check up on how someone else is doing in that respect; and to love my neighbour, people, people, as myself. People are brought to the top. It’s not our traditions and laws and our righteousness which matter. My stand isn’t my righteousness – the blood of Jesus is my righteousness.

In Ephesians 2, Paul is talking about division between Jew and Gentile, which was based on the law. “They don’t eat the food we eat, don’t worship on the same day, don’t have the same traditions.” And so Jew and Gentile were separated under the Old Covenant. But under the New Covenant, its’ not the tradition, but the blood of Jesus which matters.

Ephesians 2:1-10

We are His workmanship – the one who went away and the one who remained. In ancient church history, there was a persecution in Egypt. Some people stood and died in the persecution. Others didn’t. They confessed what they were told to confess, and they survived. After the persecution was over, those who compromised wanted to come back into the church, and those who had stood firm said no. That was a big issue in church history. I don’t have an answer, but we have to give place for God to work, and God can transform and save a life, because He’s done it with me. I’ve compromised, and He’s saved me, so I know He can do it. I have to let God have space to do it.

Ephesians 2:11-12

The wall of the Jewish traditions has been removed out of the way because God wanted to make one family, making Jew and Gentile one.

Ephesians 2:13

He is our righteousness – not our stand on something. I’m not talking about abandoning our standards. I’m talking about the Gospel.

Ephesians 2:14

If God has broken down the wall, how dare we build it up again? How dare we behave as though that wasn’t done by Christ?

Ephesians 2:15

To bring that which was divided by the law ... by fulfilling the Old Testament law, and fulfilling the conditions, He removed those conditions, and His blood became the righteousness of those ordinances. So we now come to Him as one man, based on His body. It’s not our cultures which draw us together, but the blood of Christ.

The enmity was the stand, the divisions. His blood becomes our righteousness and therefore he can make one body based on peace, on agape, on His love for us.

Ephesians 2:16-17

“Far off” – the Gentile, the outsider, the one we reject; “nigh” – those within the church.

Ephesians 2:17-18

The spirit of God who comes to live in us. I don’t have access to God because I’ve done enough good things. If my access was based on that, I wouldn’t have access. But my access is based on grace.

Ephesians 2:19-22

Not through the law, but through the spirit.

Paul is an apostle to the Gentiles, and he’s talking about one body united. We have to forget the laws and traditions, but talk of the blood of Christ instead.

The publicans and sinners ... the publicans were the “church people” – those who were doing His will.

Luke 15:1-3

Jesus gives various parables. He speaks of the lost sheep, as an example of what God’s heart is. He speaks too of the woman who loses a coin, and had a heart for the lost one – and that needs to be our heart too.
v11 gives the parable of the prodigal son. Some people say the parable is concerned more with the prodigal’s brother, not the prodigal himself.

Luke 15:11-21

This must be our passion – to forget about the hundred and go for the one.

Luke 15:22

There’s been a real change of God in the heart. There was a complete turnaround, a change of heart, of nature. It was full and genuine, and the man was filled with God’s spirit.

Luke 15:23-29

The brother recounts the things which the prodigal has done in the past.

Luke 15:30-32

If the brother is really concerned for the Father’s heart, he’d know it was the Father’s heart for the two brothers to be one. It’s not pleasing the Father for us to insist on doing everything just so – what pleases Him is when people are brought together in His love.

In Hosea, it talks of the sins of Israel. Once I was about to exclude someone because of their immaturity and behaviour. And the Lord spoke to me from Hosea, and said “Don’t exclude them, but love them.” My love won’t change someone, but God’s love can work through us. We have all of us gone prostituting away from God.

Hosea 2:16-20

They have gone astray from Him totally, and His heart had been wounded deeply. And yet out of this comes the full love of God, speaking of the rejoicing and salvation to come. He would change their heart and make us lovers of God.

Hosea 3:1

God tells Hosea to take a harlot to wife. This is against the law, I think. But redemption fulfils the law – our guilt under the law. “People who have had problems in their past ... I will love them and change them.”

Ephesians 4:1-2

Forbearing one another in love. Yes, Christians have faults. They’re people. There are hypocrites in the church, but there are more outside.

Philipians 2:1

If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,

We’re all fellows on the same ship. You may say there’s something wrong with it. Well, fix it! Be part of the solution, not part of the problem.

Philipians 2:2

“Likeminded” doesn’t mean we agree on the same things. Some people have been taught that if we don’t agree exactly, we can’t have fellowship, but our fellowship lies in the love of Christ.

Philipians 2:3-4

The Matters which Matter

By Pastor Kent Hodge

So many people get caught up on minor points of doctrine which end up dividing us. But God called us to love and care for one another. We need to major on the major.

1 Timothy 1:1-4

There are things which are of major importance to Christians – and they are faith and love. They had people in Ephesus who were debating the peripheral things. You can make a big issue out of small things. People can get in a twist about things and put them ahead of their brethren. But the important thing is our brother and sister in Christ, not the way we worship or whatever. To put these things ahead of the brethren is totally against God’s will. He died that we might be one. His will is that we should be happy together in the Father’s household.

In Ephesus, people were making their righteousness of things which had nothing to do with righteousness. Our righteousness is in the blood of Christ, not in the way we do things.

1 Timothy 1:4

What builds the church up is faith. Godly building is faith. Faith that works through love – that was really Paul’s Gospel.

1 Timothy 1:5

The end of the whole thing is that we love one another. Anything which will hinder that is not according to God’s will and purpose for our life. The end of the matter is that we are brethren and love one another. Jesus said the most important commandment was that you love the Lord God with all of your heart and mind, with all of your strength, with all of your being ... and that you love your neighbour as yourself.

1 Timothy 1:5

“Pure” in the sense of there being just one thing in the heart, wanting to walk God’s way.

These are the main things.

I want to talk about the brother of the Prodigal Son. We’ll get to that later on. But there are many parables Jesus gave. When Jesus spoke about the Prodigal, He was with the publicans and sinners. The sinner was the prodigal son, and the publican was his brother. As far as the Father was concerned, both were His sons, and He accepts both according to His redemption.

The most wonderful thing we have from God is redemption. God’s ability to take someone like the prodigal and by His love alone change their life and heart and make them a new person in Christ. On Sunday we’ll look at Hosea, who was told to take a prostitute to wife. It was a picture of God redeeming Israel. I want to look at how there is power in the Gospel, in the love of Christ, to change someone. I’m not talking about lowering our standards in Christ, but I’m talking about the heart of God and His redemption. Somehow His love is able to work through us in a miraculous way and reach out to people who are living wrong or don’t know Him. There’s a love in us which reaches out to these people whereas others would reject them.

The way we sometimes deal with other people, and the things we say about other Christians, are wrong. We write people off. We speak things which ought not to be said. If God is working in us, the challenge is that there is a love which is able to reach through us and touch other people’s lives.

This thing about the publicans and sinners ... Jesus dealt with this issue many times, and it got Him into trouble, because it wasn’t what the religious people expected of Him.

Mark 3:1-2

I’ve heard people talk about how they baptise only according to specific principles. A man came to me and said he was getting baptised again because they hadn’t used the right words the first time. But you’ve been baptised into Christ when you are born again and repent and turn to Him.

I remember people making a big deal about how old you should be when you are baptised, and it caused a split with other brethren. They thought their doctrine was better than other people’s.

If God was ticking people off about things like this, He would have ticked me off years ago. When we tell people off, there are three fingers pointing back at us. There has to be a different way. And that is the way of love.

I’m not talking about lowering our Christian standards. Truth is truth, righteousness is righteousness. But we’re talking about people, and God changing them as He has changed us.

Mark 3:2-4

These people were taking the letter of the law. But the law furnished us with principles. In the law it talks about a woman who is taken by force. The law says if the woman screams, it’s by force, otherwise it’s by consent. That was a principle for judges to use in courts. But the law isn’t giving the letter there. Maybe the person was unable to scream – maybe their mouth was bound. The judge has to look for the principle of consent. The reason the law furnishes the principle is that God loves the lady. To take the law and kill with it is contrary to the purpose of the law, which was to protect. If we refuse to talk or eat with people, we’re like Peter when he was sent to Cornelius, and initially baulked against it.

Mark 3:4-5

What mattered to Jesus more was the person, not the sabbath. Not the law, but the person the law was made to protect. The Pharisees had turned this around and put the law above fellowship and love and restoration and healing of our inner man, not just our body.

Matthew 12:1-4

One of the reasons for this was that it wasn’t lawful for a king to presume to be a priest. So it was something to keep people out of this. People weren’t born again in the Old Testament and had to go by these strictures. And we also have the division of powers today where the legislature is separate from Parliament etc.

But David wasn’t going against the law here. He wasn’t presuming to be a priest; he was simply hungry. David loved the law, read the word. All the Psalms are about his respect for the law of God. He could see Christ in the law. He could see the shepherd heart in the law. Because of the Holy Spirit on his life, he was able to see this. He wasn’t bogged down in religiosity, but he loved the Lord.

Matthew 12:3-5

God says He wants mercy. Brethren are to be walking in love, not to be divided by doctrine etc. We’re one body redeemed by His blood. In my own life in Nigeria, the more direct I get in my preaching, the more I have to love people.

Matthew 12:6

The Pharisees didn’t like that. They had made a religion out of law, and the temple was the symbol of it.

Matthew 12:7-8

The kingdom is faith that works through love, not a question of abstaining from certain kinds of food and so on. We have liberty, but we don’t use it in a way that might offend people. The main thing is to love our brother. The main thing in our own lives is not the meat, but to love one another. And that’s the will of God for us. We are all baptised into one body and all drink of one brook. That’s the issue. Cornelius and Peter didn’t eat the same meat, but they both drank from the same brook.

At our conference, I asked why, if we all drank together, we couldn’t have a communion. That brought a stunned response. But we were eating of Jesus together. I said I’d invite the Anglican Archbishop to do it. He has been persecuted and stood faithful and true to the Gospel. They have come through persecution. But he wasn’t available. So we didn’t do it.

What we want is one body with spirit-filled reformed theology. I love it. Let’s go on with the Gospel which is the power of God unto salvation.

We are one body and eat of one bread. That’s what matters. Basically we need to exercise patience with one another, so God can move. Give God space to move in someone’s life.

Mark 2:23-28

Mark 2:27

This is one of the things in the parable of the prodigal son. When he came back, the other son recounted all the things that he had done. And that wasn’t what the father wanted. He wanted both sons. Some people have called this the parable of the prodigal’s brother. Jesus was peaking both to the publicans and to the sinners.

The sabbath was made for man and not man for the sabbath. The law was made to help and protect man, not to destroy him.

If we get someone who has messed up in the past, we don’t want to destroy them with the law. We want to think about how we can move on. When we take the Gospel out into the world, it’s not a perfect world. When I was first saved, I had an issue with restoration. You had to think about all the things you did before you were saved and sort them out. What God says about us is, “Let him who stole, steal no more.” God wants a changed heart and life. If I were to go back and restore everything, I’d have to leave my family. I don’t even know the people any more.

1 Timothy 1:7-9

The law testifies against sinners and protects us. But we know the law is good if it is used lawfully – and that means using it to help and protect, not to pull down.

Believing Thomas

Pastor Linnecar continues to look at the truth which lies behind the man we have learnt to write off as Doubting Thomas, but who should rather be seen as Believing Thomas.

Thomas, is often referred to as Doubting Thomas, and he has that title because of the episode we know, when he wanted to be sure for himself that Jesus had risen from the dead. I referred to the earlier time when he was with Jesus.

The wonderful thing about studying the characters of the apostles is that it dawns on you that Jesus Christ manages to reach any individual, any personality. I want to state categorically that Jesus Christ is alive. It doesn’t matter what the enemy throws at you, doesn’t matter what voices you hear off-stage, what people try and cover up with, Jesus Christ is alive and is here now. How do we know that? He’s here by His Holy Spirit. He was here when the choir got here this morning to practise. He’s here because He loves you.

On Friday we looked at a time when Jesus was saying a few things and the Pharisees and others didn’t like what He said, and were about to stone Him. Jesus left that place and heard that Lazarus was sick. Then He stayed where He was, even though He knew that Lazarus was dead.

John 11:14-16

They knew that when Jesus said they would go over to him, he was walking into a den of lions. But Thomas’s reaction was that he was going to go too. There was a courage in Thomas. He knew as he walked with Jesus over those years, there was something different about Him. As they walked with Him, they tried to work out what He meant – would He bring triumph over the Romans, for instance?

John 13:36-53

Jesus always tells the truth. But here Thomas wondered whether he did know the way.

John 14:5-7

What a reply to Thomas’s question! Jesus patiently in the earshot of all the disciples said He was the way, the truth, the life, and no man comes to the Father but by Him.

So that’s why in the last week, God by His Holy Spirit has been talking to you, and has been asking you this question – “Do you believe in me? Do you realise that up to this point, I’ve guided you. I’ve been with you.” “Right up to this point, I am the way the truth and the life. You don’t have to find out some hidden thing – I am the way.”

I’m sure it dawned on Thomas a little bit more that there was something totally different about getting involved with Jesus. He didn’t say, “I tell the truth”: it was “I am the truth.” It wasn’t that there are various ways you could try: “I am the way.” It wasn’t that there are various forms of life. “I am the life.”

That’s why everything turns on you and your relationship with Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is central to everything. And this morning He wants to remind you that every prayer you’ve prayed in the last week, anything which is on your heart, He’s heard you. And quite specifically this morning, He’s here for you.

“I am the way, the truth and the life.” So when Jesus died on the cross, Thomas couldn’t figure it out. “He told me I am the way, the truth and the life.” He was now crucified. And sometimes we can’t figure things out. Sometimes we think that God has somehow messed it up. Sometimes we think He hasn’t heard us, or that we don’t deserve anything because we’re no good. But there mere thought of getting things from God because of good deeds is completely wrong.

There’s something about the way God plans our lives which shows the intent of Him who loves you to reveal Himself to you. I know some people would dismiss all this, and say, “I don’t believe all this.” But if truth were known, these people in their heart of hearts know that something inside needs sorting out. And God by His grace – somehow He organises things so we find a solution.

“But Christianity is just a crutch. I don’t need Christianity. You do – you’re weak.” Well yes, I am weak. When it came to the power of sin in my life, I needed a solution. I was getting nowhere.

There was an honesty about Thomas. With Peter it was all up-front. Everyone knew what he thought. With Thomas there was always, “That’s true. I believe it. But I need clarification.”

I’ve done quite a bit with personality profiling. It’s often used in interviews – the four different aspects of a personality. And it’s fascinating to me to see the different types of personalities there are – the DISC model. If you’re a high “C” you want to dot every I and cross every T. And we need people like that. If you’re high “D”, it’s over the top, follow me. Thomas, I think, was more of a high “C” than a high “D”. But I think he was actually quite bold, because he often spoke up what others were only thinking – “We don’t actually know the way.” “If he’s going back to Judea, I’m with Him.”

And then Jesus died, and the first day of the week, Mary came to the tomb, and then found Peter and John, and they went to the tomb, and then Mary stood outside the sepulchre weeping, and had a personal encounter with Jesus.

Already before the Holy Spirit was given, Jesus was talking to Mary, telling her He was ascending to His Father, their Father, His God, their God. And that’s why you’re here this morning. Regardless of anything you’ve done this week, God has drawn you.

We’re not told what the disciples thought when Mary went to them. But they were glad when Jesus came to them that evening. But Thomas wasn’t there that evening. We don’t know why. Maybe he wasn’t as afraid of the Jews as they were.

Jesus said to the disciples – “Here are my hands and side – it really is me.”

And then Jesus left. Twice, He said, “Peace be unto you.” When the sea billows roll, there is a peace in Christ, which this world cannot give. He is our peace. And this morning, His words to some of you are, “Peace be unto you – peace, right in the midst.”

Jesus heard what Thomas said. I know you know that. But I want to concentrate on the timing, because God’s timings in your life are perfect.

There are people sitting here who are still looking for a job. I could quote you a number of people who sat where you are, where at the right time the job was made available and it has been secure. There is nothing God will not sort out for you. He’s your provider. Those facing financial difficulties – He is your provider. Whatever your difficulties are, God’s timing is perfect. What happened last year is in God’s timing for your life.

Was Thomas being stubborn – “I won’t believe unless I put my hands into His side”? I don’t think it was like that. I think he almost didn’t dare to believe what they were saying as true. He’d been so close to Jesus.

That night, Thomas went to sleep wondering. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust what the others disciples were saying. He’d been with them for at least three years. Why didn’t God include Him in what had happened? God listens to our thoughts. We’re talking here about the character of God who is a God of love. He hears you. Even this week He’s been listening. He’s not weak.

The next night Thomas went to bed like this. And the next, and the next. For seven nights he was trying to reconcile himself to the fact that God had revealed Jesus to the others and he hadn’t been there. He wanted it to happen to him. He wanted to be certain. He didn’t dare believe until he was sure.

Don’t stop coming to church. There’s something about when we meet together, that God by His Holy Spirit through His word reveals Himself. We don’t earn brownie points by coming to church, but when God reveals Himself it’s special.

Thomas still met with the other disciples even though Jesus hadn’t revealed Himself to them. And then Jesus came again. Imagine the effect upon Thomas. Wow – He’s showed up again! He’s here – I can see Him! What am I going to do now? What’s He going to say to me after what I’ve done?

It doesn’t matter what you’ve done in your life. It doesn’t matter the verbal abuse you’ve aimed at God – He’ll still keep coming.

Don’t react by saying you’ll just carry on doing it. Inside you know what I’m saying is true – you’ve been like Thomas. But Jesus by His Holy Spirit is here this morning.

When Jesus came He didn’t have a go at Thomas. He liked him. He knew he was straight and honest. Jesus didn’t speak to the others – He just looked straight at Thomas and told him to reach into His side.

“Be not faithless, but believing.” This is the bottom line for you this morning, and for me.

“Blessed are they who have not seen and yet have believed.” That’s us. He’s here by His Holy Spirit. Same thing.

A little later, Thomas was with the disciples on the beach when Jesus appeared and told Simon to throw out the nets. Thomas specifically is mentioned as being there this time.

Thomas’s life thereafter was a continuous proclamation of the risen Christ. He ended up being martyred for the Gospel, but it’s thought that before that he preached the Gospel at various places in India.

God by His Holy Spirit causes us to see. He’s doing that even now as I speak. To see what? To see who Jesus Christ really is. “My Lord and my God,” Thomas said. Is He your God this morning? Or is your God yourself, your intellect? Is your God mere cynicism and dismissiveness, bound up in me, me, me? God doesn’t want that.

What Jesus was all about was others, others, others – the whole world. This morning, I want to encourage each one of you that in the same way that Jesus heard all that Thomas thought and said, so Jesus Christ has heard you this week. And this morning He’s speaking to you because He wants that relationship to be real to you.

I think rather than Doubting Thomas, the phrase should be Believing Thomas. He was true and honest, and God revealed Himself to Him.

The True Thomas

Everyone has heard of Doubting Thomas. But that is far from the whole story.

Thomas. It got me to thinking about his life. I want to talk about one episode in his life. He started off with Jesus, and is often known as Doubting Thomas because he wanted to see the nail prints. But if we look prior to that episode, we can see something totally different.

External Links:Listen to the online sermon (Podcast) »

Matthew 10:1-3

There’s Thomas, number seven in the list. He was given power against unclean spirits to cast them out. He was given power to heal sickness and disease – God working through him. Sometimes I think we consider him just in the later episode and forget that he was an apostle, a disciple of Jesus Christ.

There are some here who are weighing up their future. I want to convey the fact that when Jesus called His disciples and said, “Follow me,” that’s exactly what we’re meant to do. We’re to follow Him and do what He wants us to do. No matter what the circumstances, no matter what appears to be against it, follow Jesus Christ.

Here Thomas witnessed this power that God worked through him.

John 10:22-30

That last was the phrase that got to them.

John 10:31-49

Judea was where they had been ready to stone Him. He was under threat of being killed. When the news of Lazarus comes, He stays with the family for a couple of days, and then ...

John 11:8-15

Jesus knew exactly what He was doing. To the disciples as they journeyed with Jesus through life trying to figure out who He was, what His destiny was, so they wondered why He was going back to Judea, when He had only to turn up there for them to stone Him. But He knew what God would demonstrate through the episode of Lazarus.

John 11:16

To the other disciples, that was like a bombshell. What did it reveal about Thomas? As far as he was concerned, Jesus was what it was all about. And if Jesus was to die, as far as Thomas concerned, he was with Him.

Later in the same chapter ...

John 11:43-46

There’s something about being a Christian which means, “for me to live is Christ”. That’s my life. And if Jesus wants me to go somewhere, that’s where I’m going. If Jesus wants me to talk to someone, even if it means a loss of face, it’s what I’ll do.

As Thomas walked with Jesus over three years, he took note of the good things Jesus was doing and he believed in Him, and it was real. When he revealed his heart to the disciples, it hit them. By nature I’m sure Thomas’s demeanour would have been to say the bottle was half empty. But don’t discount Thomas for his personality. It doesn’t matter what personality we have. Jesus is getting specific with you just as you are.

It grieves me when I hear about some young people concerned about what other people have said about them, giving the impression that these young people are not good enough. Jesus is totally interested in you as an individual. There’s no way He’s not interested. He’s interested enough that He wants you to be changed on the inside in such a way that you no longer live for yourself, but for Him. Others, others, others ... not me, me, me.

Jesus talked quite a bit to the disciples.

John 12:23-25

Strange. Jesus is saying, if you love your life, you’ll lose it. If you hate your life in this world, you’ll keep it to life eternal. “But I love life and want to live it and visit loads of places.” But what Jesus was saying to His disciples was, “The life I’m talking about is the life which comes from above, a life which cuts right across what you have. If you’re honest about it, you realise that you do want to get things right on the inside. You’re good at putting on a show, but when push comes to shove, you have to admit, ‘I’m empty, I try to do what’s right and I don’t.’ ”

And here in Thomas’s life, it was a case of “If Jesus is going somewhere, I’m going – for all that He’s done for me.”

Jesus is saying, “If you’re aware that life in this world doesn’t fulfil you on the inside ...” We are a worshipping being. I was reminded of that following the recent death of Michael Jackson and references to him as the king of pop. Somewhere, somehow we have a king. We all have a king. Who’s our king? It’s either the King of kings, the Lord Jesus Christ., or it’s the king of self – me, me, me. And because it’s all me, I’ll pull you down.

And here Jesus is very clear ...

John 12:26

I don’t know what it is, but there’s something stirring at this time in many people’s hearts. They’re weighing up whether or not this is for real. I’m convinced that this weekend and next, it will be an occasion where God by His Holy Spirit will zero in on you, because He loves you.

He doesn’t want you that way. And ,He came back for Thomas, who wasn’t at the first meeting when He appeared to His disciples. He came back because Thomas knew as evidenced here, that there was something about Jesus Christ that was totally different. And Jesus had got hold of Thomas.

Tradition has it that Thomas later became a missionary, and some think he ended up Southern India, and died as a martyr.

This is the time that, because of His love for you, God is getting really specific. What’s it going to be going forward in your life? God wants an openness of heart. He wants us to be honest, and to cut off the peer pressure which takes us the wrong way.

If you love your life, you’ll lose it. If you hate your life in this world, you’ll keep it to life eternal. And that’s the most fulfilling way to live life to the full.

The Christian Race

By Paul Frimpong Manso

In the Christian life, it is important that we start the race right, that we run right, and that we finish right. And for those who are feeling that all of this is beyond them, we should take encouragement from the fact that our God is alongside us.

I want to encourage you with words from the Word of God.

Hebrews 12:1-2

Whenever someone becomes a Christian, he enters into a race. If someone is running a race, he will need the rules and the principles that govern the race. Whenever someone enters a race, he sees the end from the beginning. His purpose is not only to cross the line, but to win the race and receive the trophy.

The Christian race is not like competing to be first, but to finish. Other people want to be first. Our goal is to finish.

The writer of Hebrews wrote to a group of Jewish Christians who had turned from the Jewish faith with its tradition and laws. They became Christians, but they began to face trials, and they wanted to go back to the old ways. This assumes that the letter was written before the Temple was destroyed. The old religion was still there. They had come to Christ, but began to encounter problems. The writer wrote this letter to encourage them in their new-found faith.

Probably we are not facing that particular problem. There’s no religion we want to go back to. But maybe other things are drawing us back. Maybe things are demoralising us – pressure from family, work, friends. We are at a cross-roads and we don’t know what to do. I’m here to encourage you that you can make it in Jesus’ name.

For the Jews it was the Jewish religion. So the author told them that God indeed did speak through their forefathers, but in these last days had spoken to us through His son, who is above all of these. He encouraged them to realise they didn’t need to go back and offer the same sacrifices again, but to hold on to Christ.

He says that all those who went before them had also gone through difficulties. They went through persecution. And he said all these men and women of faith are there as witnesses to encourage and motivate us. And they are encouraging us and cheering us on.

The people in Heb 11 are there to inspire to us. And he goes on to say that we should look to Jesus who is the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.

There are so many things which can inspire or de-motivate in our Christian life. But if we make Jesus our aim, then we can make it. I believe that by the grace of God, all of us will make it to the end.

There are three things involved in any race: there should be the start, the right run, and the right finish.

A few years ago Linford Christie was going to run. He had two false starts, and that was the end of his career. There are rules which govern any race. So too there are rules which govern Christianity. For you to start you need to get the basis right. You have to acknowledge you’re a sinner, you want to repent from your sins and take the Lord as your Lord and Saviour and be willing to live for Him.

God doesn’t have grandchildren or in-laws. He has children. So if your parents are in the church, you still need to become the child of Jesus yourself. If you have followed a husband or wife to church, you still need to make a personal decision. If you don’t get the right start, you feel like a stranger among foreigners. We must all at a point in time realise that we were sinners, that we made a decision to turn away from our evil ways, and made a decision to take Christ as our Lord.

As part of this, we should surrender ourselves to His teachings and be baptised in water. These things are never optional. You cannot opt to be baptised – you must be baptised. There was an exception, with the thief on the cross, because there was no opportunity. But with Philip and the Ethiopian, the latter was baptised. And the Great Commission involved baptism. So when people become Christians, they need to be baptised as a sign of identification with Christ. You need to confess Him as Lord and Saviour. You need to be baptised in water. And you need to be part of the fellowship of believers.

Some people say they’re Christians, but don’t got church. That’s wrong. Jesus gave gifts unto men – apostles, etc. These were given to prepare the saints for the work of the ministry, to make us grow in the things of God. When someone becomes a Christian he needs to take part of the Christian fellowship. Walk with Christians. There’s a need for Bible study and prayer, a need for evangelism, if there is any group in the church which will promote his growth, he should join it. And the church should provide to nurture such growth. In this church, you have everything you need to grow mature Christians.

After the right start, you need the right run, according to the rules.

As we are running we need to set aside anything which would hold us back. No one runs in athletics wearing a business suit. People wear the things which help them go faster. They do exercises. I don’t believe in do- and don’t- Christianity. But I believe as you grow in the Word of God, it will help you know what will aid you in making it. You need to cast aside the things which would draw you back, and focus on Jesus.

In Pilgrim’s Progress, we see Christian wanting to moving from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City. There were many obstacles, but the Evangelist gave him the book and he followed it.

Some people want you to believe that when you become a Christian, all your problems are over. No. We’re in a battle. Sometimes we lose. But the next day we fight again and win. We don’t wrestle against flesh and blood. Some things – peer pressure etc – will come against us.

There are no shortcuts in the Christian race. Sometimes it is tempting to take the easy way. There is no easy way. There was a women who won many trophies at athletics, but lost everything when it turned out that she cheated. We can cheat and deceive man, but we can’t do that with God.

We need to follow the rules. Noah walked with God. He did not run ahead or sit behind. He took it one day at a time. If you are finding the going tough and it looks as though the whole world is against you, and you want to throw in the towel, take it one day at a time.

The journey to destruction is easy and many choose it. But if you want to take the journey which leads to eternal life, it is not easy. There are trials and temptations, but with the grace of God, with patience and the help of the Holy Spirit you will make it.

You keep pressing forward. You need to focus. “That I may know Him.” You have an idea of focussing on Jesus, not on anything else. Christian in Pilgrim’s Progress had the focus to reach the Celestial City.

He who began a good work in us is able to complete it. If you abide in Jesus, you will bear fruit. The way to run the race is to focus on Jesus, remain in Him and turn away from the things of the world. We should not allow the world to dictate to us.

1 John 2:15-17

We will always be confronted with the things of the world, with pressures, because the enemy is always out to pluck people away. He always wants to get someone down. In the race there are always people who want to see the negative side. But if we remain close to God, He will help us. To run the race right, we must draw near to God, we must focus on Him, and we should run according to the rules. We should not try to be clever in our own eyes and do things our own ways. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not upon thine own understanding.” Let us learn to trust Him.

Some people believe they cannot make it. They dread the future. But you can make it. By the grace of the God, by the gifts that God has given your leaders to counsel you, you can make it. And it helps people when they come to the fellowship. As a pastor it has been one of my responsibilities to get involved in the activities. So many people come as spectators. They hear the message, hear the choir, and just sit back. But it is easy to lose out that way. But every member in the church is given a gift and a responsibility. If you learn what to do and do it – cleaning, making tea, joining the choir, doing the things we see as insignificant – those are the things which keep you in the faith and help you make it.

It impresses me the number of people here who are always around giving their time. I want to commend those, and encourage the others who think that services are all there is to it. I want to encourage those people to take part in these activities.

The right finish.

Someone can run and get to the line, but if they don’t cross the line, then they haven’t finished. It is easy to start and impress, but we measure things by the time you cross the line. Sometimes you see marathon races on TV. You see people who start in the lead, but some fall by the wayside.

1 Corinthians 9 motivates me a lot.

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

We must come into Christianity with one focus – to be with the Lord Jesus. Should the Lord tarry, we serve until we die. If He come now, He will see us as faithful.

In the Christian life, you can’t go halfway and then say “I am coming back.” In Roman times, if you were enlisted for the army and went to war and died, they would inspect the body, and would give you a military burial only if you were wounded in the front. If you were wounded in the back you were assumed to have been a coward. There is no turning back.

I am motivated any time I read 2 Timothy 4.

2 Timothy 4:7

2 Timothy 4:10

Somebody could not make it. My prayer is that we do not measure our Christianity by what happened yesterday, and by what is happening today, but by tomorrow. Are we going to drop out of the race or carry on to the end?

It breaks my heart when you see people with whom we did things, but along the line they allow the pressures of this world to make them fall behind. My prayer is that the good Lord would give us the grace and strength to carry on – those of us who have started already. And for those about to start, let us get things right from the beginning. Baptism is very important, and we need to be a regular, willing, open part of the fellowship.

We need to subject ourselves to discipline if there is a need. If we don’t do that, then we are illegitimate children. There are people who want to be in the church and enjoy everything, but run when discipline comes. If you run away from one discipline to another, the discipline from the first church still follows you. Church discipline is a must, not an option.

We must do things one day at a time, with a focus on Christ, and we should be in fellowship and find something to do in the church. Some people who do nothing end up gossiping and creating confusion.

And finally there should be the right finish. The journey is not how you started, but how you finished.

Jesus hung on the Cross and said, “It is finished.” Paul said, “I have finished my race.” The lord wants us to finish the race, so He can say, “Well done, though good and faithful.” It’s not important that we should be first, but to finish.

I have come to encourage you. If you are facing problems – personal, family, corporate body – the Lord is with you, and His amazing grace and love will carry you through. He cares about you, is concerned about you, knows all your problems, and will not desert you. He is with 24 x 7. And by the grace of God you will make it to the end.