How are you?

 

COLERAINE INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

SUNDAY 15 SEPTEMBER 2024 – MR KEITH WILSON

NEHEMIAH 1 VERSES 1 – 11

“How are you?”  A question we often ask.  As Christians we are good at putting on a face.  We tell everyone we are doing brilliantly.  There is the other side of that too.  There are people who can only see the negative side of life.  You almost fear to ask them how they are.  They constantly fell they are under attack after attack.  In verse 2 Hanani one of his brethren came to where Nehemiah was and Nehemiah asked him “how are you?” Now remember Hanani was one of the people who came out of the captivity and were now back living in the promised land.  Nehemiah chapter 7 verse 6.  You would nearly think that this is a great situation - being taken away from the opposition of Babylon.   Remember God spoke to King Nebuchadnezzar and brought him to himself.  He was driven out into the wilderness, he lost his mind and became like a wild animal.  God humbled him.  You would nearly think that this is great getting rid of that opposition, going back to their own land.  That they would be determined to build up the land again.  Reading these prophets we see a parallel with the world we are in today.  “For lo I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation , which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwellingplaces that are not theirs.” (Habakkuk 1 verse 6)  Nehemiah is enquiring of his bothers and asks Hanani “how are you?”  He was given a response that everything was ok, he was given an honest response.  How we need to be honest with ourselves before God.  Verse 3 “And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach; the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down and the gates thereof are burned with fire.”    Put yourself in their shoes.  Put your mind into that situation.  What were they saying?  The people were in great affliction and reproach.  The walls were broken down, the gates are burned with fire.  We are not doing that well.  He is being honest before Nehemiah and before God.  This drove the prophet Nehemiah to tears.  It is powerful how God got a grip on this man.  He was more interested in what was going on with God’s people.  How were they dealing with affliction they were in?  Verse 4 “And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept and mourned certain days and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.”  Now this was not mourning for 5 minutes.  We may be disturbed by an event but will we remember it in a number of days from now?  Probably not.  Nehemiah is mourning “certain days”.  He is doing this for days on end.  The state of God’s people and their discouragement.  Then he does what these prophets often do – he gets down to prayer.  He sat down.  He wept.  He mourned.  He fasted.  He prayed before the God of heaven.  What is your interpretation of fasting?  I know there are those who cannot fast for medical reasons.  Fasting is good for the body, it cleanses out toxins and bacteria.  God has ordained fasting.  It might not be food that we fast from but it might be taking a break from something we are involved in.  Nehemiah sat down and wept, mourned, fasted and prayed for the God of heaven.  As we see the sin of our nation, as we experience times of trial and difficulty, bitterness, despair, loneliness, rejection – many times we feel there is little we can do.  There are many times when we are wounded.  Perhaps we have been rejected by people.  We are lonely but are we honest with ourselves and God.  Do we address the issue that things are not good in our walk with God?  In our family?  In our business?  In our church?  Will we be a people that will weep before God?  Nehemiah was concerned how things were going.  Look at what he prays.  When these Old Testament prophets prayed they were serious in their prayers.  It was not a quick prayer.  They were digging deep with God.  Verse 6 “Let thine ear now be attentive and thin eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant which I pray before thee now, day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee: both I and my father’s house have sinned.”  He wasn’t saying “Lord this nation is in a state because of the sin of that Christian” or “it was that person’s sin that brought us into captivity.”  No he realised God had led them into captivity.  He asks God to listen to him, to hear his prayer and he admits that everyone has sinned.  Deep down from the bottom to the top, from the leaders to the servants.  It was an honest confession.  God made them go into captivity and he brought them back again.  God wanted them to build the temple again.  The foundations were laid.  In verse 11 he asks the Lord to hear his prayer again.  The people wanted to prosper but they could only do that be desiring God again.  It is good when we get to that stage in life where we realise the dangers of sin.  It is good to be honest before God if sin has crept in.  Sometimes people act as if they don’t sin and everything is rosy.  A person like that cannot weep over their sin.  They are not going to fast because of their sin.  They are not going to pray to God over their sin.  They are not going to find God breaking through.  But when we mourn over our sin and the state of our nation, when we look at ourselves and see how we have let God down we fin God is merciful. Psalm 119 verse 133 “Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.”  When you as a believer weep over your sin, when you mourn for your sin, when you fast and get real with God that is when God does the impossible.  Nehemiah loved his God.  He loved the people of God too.  He was no lording it over the people, not high and mighty, not more important than them.  Look at Nehemiah chapter 2 verse 1.  He was the king’s cupbearer.  Because he was serving the king, the king noticed him.  He noticed he was sad.  Then the king asked him a question.  Nehemiah asked the Lord a question and now before the king, the king asks him “how are you?”  Verse 3.  When we think of our land why should our countenance not be sad?  Are you saddened this morning?  Are you wanting to get the ear of God?  For God to be attentive to you?  Are you mourning over your sin?  Over the sin of the land?  Are you praying with earnest expectation for God, that he would come and break through?  This was before Calvary.  We have the Spirit of God living in us today, we have God living in us today.  Isn’t that amazing?  Back in the Old Testament times the Holy Spirit came on his people but now he is dwelling in us.  “All power is given unto me” Jesus said.  We are more than conquerors through Christ that loved us.  There is power in the blood today.  Christ has paid it all today.  The kin asks him what he wants – verse 5.  God was going to use this man Nehemiah to rebuild Jerusalem.  Nehemiah was given the start of that task – verse 7.  He asked first for letters to be given to the governors beyond the river to allow him to pass through the land.  Then he asked for one specific letter to Asaph for timber.  Today we don’t really understand who is living within us.  The hand of God, the one who created all things, sustains all things by the word of his power is living in us.  The good hand of God was upon Nehemiah.  The good hand of God is upon you today.  Nehemiah’s name means encouragement.  The Lord brought him to bless the people.  Nehemiah made his request to God.  He knew he was on his side.  Ephesians 3 verse 20 “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.” The Lord is able to do great and mighty things with us today.  He is able do to those things way above anything we can ask or think.  Jeremiah had the same request for God – to do the things he knew not of.  All God wants us to do this day is to get real with him.  Nehemiah got the ear of God.  My challenge to you this week is to get alone with God, shut out all distractions and hear what God is saying to you.

The challenge of prayer

 

COLERAINE INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

SERMON NOTES FROM SUNDAY 1 SEPTEMBER 2024 – MR PHILIP ROBINSON

LUKE 18 VERSES 1 – 8 AND 1 TIMOTHY 2 VERSES 8 - 15

Luke 18 verse 1 “And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray and not to faint.”

1 Timothy 2 verse 1 “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions and giving of thanks, be made for all made.”

Prayer is a very hard subject to preach on.   I know a lot of people struggle with prayer.  Many a Christian could say they struggle with prayer.  When we think of prayer we define it as sitting with our eyes closed and arms folded.  To a Christian prayer is so much more.  Being able to spend time with God in prayer.  It is taking all our troubles and fears to God.  We can take all our worries to God in prayer.    J C Ryle wrote a book called “Challenging subjects for today’s Christians.”  “But this I do say that prayer is one of the surest marks of a true Christian.  Prayer is the most important subject.  In practical religion all else is secondary. Nothing is so important as prayer.”  I want to bring a few simple thoughts on prayer. 

First, prayer is needful for the Christian.    When we eat or drink we are fueling our bodies.  Prayer is like oxygen for the Christian.  It keeps our spiritual life alive.  It is vital for the Christian.  We cannot stress how important that is for the Christian.  It can be quite challenging sometimes.  Sometimes you don’t know what to say to God in prayer but you know God understands what we are feeling at that time.  Many godly Christians spend time first thing in the morning in prayer.  Being continually in prayer.   We can pray to God at any time in any place.  We do not have to do it at a specific time of the day or time of the day.  We can pray to our heavenly father whether we are walking or sitting or relaxing.  That is why we pray.  As Christians we know that we asked the Lord into our hearts, we prayed that God would come into our life.  Prayer is needful for salvation.  Many say can get to heaven in different ways.  Giving money into your church will get you higher into heaven.  Ephesians 2 verses 8 and 9 tells us we can only get in by faith.  When we ask Christ to come into our lives, asking for forgiveness of sins.  John 14 verse 6.  We can only get into heaven by Jesus Christ.  Asking God for the forgiveness of sins.  We can only have faith through the Lord.  Many say they go to church but that will not get you into heaven.  Prayer is the communication line between us and God.  Think of those organisations that have a 24 hour help line – prayer is similar.  We can have access with God in prayer.  No matter what we are doing we can spend time with God in prayer.  We can pray to God at any time in any place.  When we think of our physical bodies eating and drinking makes us come alive and breath in life.  By praying to God we are giving by God that spiritual oxygen.  As human beings we must keep eating and drinking.  The same is true with prayer and bible reading, feeding ourselves on the word of God.  Many Christians struggle with prayer.  Pastors and ministers struggle with prayer.  There are times when we can go in and feel we can pray for hours and other times we can simply say “Lord help me.”  Many struggle with prayer

Secondly prayer is the surest mark of the Christian.  Luke 18 verse 1 shows us that prayer is a mark of the true Christian.  We should want to spend time with God in prayer.  If we have asked the Lord to come into our lives we should want to go to that place of prayer.  Angus Buchan’s testimony - all he wanted to do was spend time in prayer when he became a Christian.  It can be hard to pray in the busyness of life.  I am always reminded you can spend time driving in the car, walking or working outside.  Spending time with Christ with God in prayer.  Luke 18 verse 1 “Be in continual prayer.”  One of the beauties of being a Christian, people say I don’t know what to say to God, then all you can say is “Lord help me “.  You don’t need to have education or qualifications.  Just spending time in prayer with God is important.  It shows the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives as we pray.  There are many different things that can help us to pray – Prayermate is an app for example.  Pray with other people can help us in our prayer times.  Many people find it beneficial.  When we become Christians we are asking the Lord into our hearts putting our faith in Christ.  We didn’t know what prayer was up to that point.  As Christians is vital for us to grow in our lives as Christians.

Thirdly, the place of private prayer.  This is the point all of us struggle with.  This aspect is something we struggle with.  In the busyness of life it is hard.  Times when we struggle to pray.  Perhaps when we are going through a valley that we don’t understand what is going on.  The place of private prayer can become a challenge to the Christian.  The place of private prayer in our own quiet times is neglected for different reasons.  Lot of people “say you ministers have it easy you can sit and study you have no problem” but sometimes it is not easy.  You don’t know what to pray to God about.  As Christians, the Lord knows our thoughts.  He knows what is our minds. He knows the trials that you are going through.  We can pray on the mountain tops when the Lord is blessing us, we can give thanks to God.  Say this as a challenge to myself – how is our place of private prayer?  We can be challenged by how our private prayer is.  Something we don’t like to talk about often.  It is the hardest subject to talk about.  How can we find the private place for prayer?  Angus Buchan would have sat in his maze fields and prayed for hours.  We can find that quiet place to find time to pray.  Perhaps by a lake or at a beach.  A place where we can appreciate the creation of God.  We have people to pray for – family, work colleagues.  Someone might come to say “that man has something different in his life.”  There was a film a couple of years ago about a person who built a ‘war room’ in their house.  It was a closet in their hallway.  There they did business with God.  She spend hours in prayer for family and friends.  When they went to buy the house a pastor came in to look at the house.  He was able to say there was something different in this particular room.  He experienced the presence of God in that closet.  Sometimes we can find it difficult to find time to pray.  How much time do you spend with God in prayer?  Do you spend extra time each day in prayer?  Taking time early in the morning to pray to God. 

Fourthly, prayer is the greatest encouragement.  Prayer can be encouraging to us as Christians but also to others as we think of them.  We don’t often think of prayer as being encouragement.  Some regard it as a chore but we need to think instead of prayer as encouragement.  Being able to spend time with God in prayer.  We can take all our worries and fears to God in prayer.  Everything we are going through we can take it to God in prayer.  As we go through the trials of life it can be encouragement for us whatever we are going through.  We know we have a God who hears our cries.  Christ is the mediator between God and man.  Whenever we are praying Christ is taking our prayers to God.  If you have a cheque and if you have the person’s name on that cheque, if that person doesn’t sign the cheque or the name to whom it is written that paper is worthless.  It has lost its value. Not worth anything at all.  That piece of paper is worth more when the signature is put on it.  Whenever we pray Christ is taking our prayers to God.  What an encouragement to know God hears our prayers.  At times when we struggle we can know that the Lord understands what we are going through.  The Lord gives us many promises relating to prayer.  Matthew 7 verses 7 and 8.  If it is in God’s will he will answer our prayer.  Matthew 21 verse 22.  John 14 verses 13 and 14.  All of these passages on prayer should encourage us as Christians.  When we feel as though the Lord is not hearing or answering our prayers, we need to be reminded of what God has said in his word.  We need to pray for those who are sick or going through trials.  That can be an encouragement to them. 

Fifthly, a great source of happiness.  In a world were there is so much sorrow and sadness, we will find joy and peace in praying with God.  In a world against Christianity, the world we live in has forsaken God completely, when our own government does not obey the laws of God’s word.  In a world with so much war and sadness we can find as Christians joy in coming to God in prayer.  We can find peace in knowing God hears our prayers.  He understands the things we are going through.  Prayer is a great comfort and source of encouragement for the believer.  Taking time with God in prayer will help many.  Those who practice other religions throughout the world do not have the true happiness Christians have.  Spending time in prayer and reading God’s word.  The mindset of the world is how much fun you can have, how much money you can make, how much drink they can consume.  There is a short joy in this for a time and happiness for a time.  All will eventually pass away.  As Christians we can know true enjoyment today.  We know that Christ is always with us.  In all the trials of life we can pray and ask for God to continually be with us.  “I have got that joy, joy, joy down in my heart.”  As Christians we have that joy.  Being able to sit in the quiet place, being fed from the word of God.  Sometimes it is hard to find what God says in his word but spending time in prayer, asking for him to help us can give us true happiness.  I challenge those unsaved today - you need to put your faith in Christ to know that joy.  All that matters is if we have trusted in Christ.  As a Christian what priority does prayer have today in your life?

The Promise of His presence

 

COLERAINE INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

SUNDAY 8 SEPTEMBER 2024 – PASTOR DENIS LYLE

Exodus 33 verses 12 – 23

The Promise of His Presence

Years ago in the deep south in the United States of America a Baptist church was struggling with whether to allow an African man to become part of their congregation.  This brother had been the church caretaker for a number of years and he decided he wanted to be part of the church family.  There was a special vote of the congregation was called for.  Finally the decision was made and he lost his bid to become a member of that congregation.  Thinking on this fact of being rejected by the membership of the church he talked to God “I don’t understand those folks in that church, I wanted to join their family and they voted against me.”  The Lord seemed to speak to him and say “Don’t worry about it my child, I have been trying to get into that church for years, they won’t let me either.”  “The world is perishing for lack of the knowledge of the God and the church is famishing for the want of his presence.” A W Tozer said.  Nothing is scarier in church in churches today that the absence of the presence of God.”  Yet is that not the thing Moses longed for.  The children of Israel were making their way to the Promised Land.  Sin had entered into the camp.  The Lord had indicating the loss of his presence – chapter 33 verse 3.  “I will not go up in the midst of thee.”  The loss of God’s presence.  What a sad state they were in.  A time of indifference to their leader.  "As for this man Moses we don’t know what has become of him.”  We don’t know where he is or what he is doing.  The implication is we don’t care.  You can tell a lot about a local church by their attitude towards the Lord’s man.  They were indifferent towards their leader, towards to God. They proposed that Aaron to make new gods to follow.  A time of idolatry -Aaron made a calf.  God was degraded to being a cow.  Whenever we give to anything the allegiance and devotion that belongs to God alone then we are guilty of idolatry.  A time of indulgence - naked Israelites dancing before a golden calf.  No much wonder God said “I will send an angel before thee.”  Are there many believers who really grieve over the loss of God’s presence and power today in the church?  As long as the church machinery keeps running.  Leaders are willing to overlook the absence of any spiritual power.  As long as our lives are comfortable, individual Christians are the same. A business as usual attitude will never bring the revival we need.  Moses understood this - do we?  In this passage we see great things in not great times.  In chapter 33 verses 7 – 11 we see a great preparation. In chapter 33 verses 12 – 13 we see a great prayer.  In chapter 33 verse 14 we see a great promise.  God knew what Moses was after – not the presence of angels but the presence of God for which Moses was pleading.  The Lord responds in verse 14 “My presence shall go with thee and I will give you rest.”  Notice 3 things about this promise.

The timing of it in the life of Moses.  When did this promise come?  The nation of Israel has sinned.  Moses is on the mountain receiving the commandments, the pattern for the tabernacle.  While he is on the mountain the people have turned aside quickly to idolatry.  They are dancing naked before the golden calf.  Moses comes back to the camp.  He sees the idol worship in progress, the tablets of God dropped from his trembling hands.  He sees the wretched image, he burns it in the fire, he grinds it to powder.  Moses is angry.   He is broken hearted.  It was in lovingkindness toward his heart broken servant that God gave this assurance.  Here was a promise given to a man with little help.  A lonely man – perhaps he was more lonely in the desert with 2 and a half million people than when he was with the flock at the backside of the desert.  Even Aaron his brother had let him down.  He was disillusioned.  The people on whom such high hopes had been set had proved faithless.  Tablets of law were broken.  The wrath of God burned against this stiff-necked people.  His disappointment was great.  Yet it was to this man God gave this comforting word.  “My presence shall go with you and I will give you rest.”  Am I speaking to some disappointed Christian? You started out with godly intentions and high hopes but experience has brought disillusionment.  Now you are disappointed with life.  There is perhaps an incurable dull ache in your heart.  Disappointed with the way things have turned out.  Perhaps you are disappointed with yourself, disappointed with Christian friends, disappointed with the circumstances of life, disappointed with other believers.  This promise is specifically for you “my presence shall go with you and I will give you rest.”  The Lord is really with you.  He is wanting to become so real to you.  Your disappointment will be transformed into triumph by his realised presence.  This promise was given to a man with little help, but also to a man with little heart.  A man whose great work for God seemed to be falling to pieces.  How discouraged and dispirited Moses must have been.  Not only have the people proved utterly independent and utterly perverted, 3000 Israelites has been slain by the sword, the tabernacle had been removed from the corrupted camp but God has indicated the withdrawal of his presence.  It was true that God had said an angel would lead the host but an angels presence without God himself means guidance without fellowship.  Dispirited, despondent, Moses comes before the Lord - verses 12 and 13.  Are you a discouraged servant today?  Why those falling tears? Maybe you are here and you have been jealous for the honour of your master and it seems that there is nothing but misunderstanding.  Maybe you have been faithfully witnessing for Christ and you have seen no souls come to the Saviour.  Maybe you have been seeking to win children for the master and they have been so unresponsive.  Maybe you have been seeking a deeper spiritual life and it hasn’t come.  Depression has taken hold of you.  Discouraged believer this promise is for you “my presence shall go with you and I shall give you rest.”  He wants to make his living presence a reality.  What a difference it makes if we travel in the conscious realisation of his presence.  Here was a promise given to a man with little hope, a man bending with the weight of great responsibility. He felt that his burden was greater than he could bear.  He was apprehensive about the future.  Did ever a man carry a heavier load than Moses? Imagine being responsible for 2½ million people to bring them out of the land of Egypt, to guide them through the wilderness and bring them into the promised land.  Is it any wonder Moses longed for the personal presence of God himself?  When God calls a man out for his service there is always a sense of responsibility but also a sense of loneliness.  He longed for the Lord’s personal presence with him.  Has God ever failed us?  To those who carry heavy burdens, to those who are lonely because of your ministry for Christ, here’s a promise for you.  Is this promise for you specifically.  You are here with little help, little heart, little hope because of your burden for the master – “my presence shall go with thee.”

The telling of it – what did this promise mean?  The Lord did relate to Moses in spoken words – verse 14 “and he said”.  What did God say? “My presence will go with you and I will give you rest.”  John Wesley’s death bed exaltation “the best of all that God is with us.”  What is this promise all about?  It is all about companionship.  The Lord is promising Moses, the Lord is promising us certain companionship.  “My presence shall go with thee.”  Dr Sydney Baxter said of this text“The divine assurances are never weakened by any suggestion of falteringness.  They are all yes and in him Amen.  They are doubly sure. He means without any perhaps, or peradventure he will be with you right through to the end.”  Certain companionship.  It is also about close companionship.  The word “my” pronoun gives the emphasis.  God’s promise to send an angel far from satisfying Moses, but now God tenderly yields to his servant.  The Greek translation of the Old Testament says “I myself will go with thee.” The pledge is the step-by-step, side by side, heart to heart fellowship with God through all our way.  This meant more than God guiding Moses from a distant heaven but ever close companionship of one sufficient to meet Moses’ need for guidance, for sustenance, for strength.  An unchanging friend who will sit with him in the tent, go with him in the fields of battle, stand with him in the counsels.  How can we be lonely with this everlasting friend has promised to travel with us down the desert road? Literally translated “my face shall go with thee.”  Suggests intimacy of fellowship.  God indicates his gracious favour.  The face of God, the smile of God, company of God. Certain companionship, close companionship, calm companionship.  “My presence shall go with you and give you rest.”  Many think this rest is rest in Canaan after battle.  There are 2 sorts of rest.  Rest after toil, the lying down of weary after the march.  The other is rest in toil, the liberty of rest while the battle is going on today.  God was promising this to Moses – rest in the battle.  The kind we need today.  Did you ever think you would live in a day of so much restlessness among believers?  How we need that soothing inner quiet that only God.  His rest grows out of the consciousness of God’s presence.  A rest, a peace that nothing else can give.  Rest from doubt, a rest fear for if God be with us who can be against us.  Rest from anxiety, rest about fear about the future.  “My presence shall go with thee and I will give you rest.”  Do you know this rest?  Do you need this rest?

The testing of it - where did this promise apply?  Can we doubt that Moses did not put this promise to the test.  He took it.  He discovered God was able to perform.  Imagine the comfort and assurance Moses experienced when Israel were brought out of Egypt came to the Red Sea they were in a cul-de-sac no way out.  The Egyptians were behind them.  The mountains around them.  The enemy couldn’t touch them because the angel of God protected them.  Angel of God stood between Pharaoh and the camp of Israelites.  In chapter 18 we read that the presence of God stood between Israel and Egypt.  Do we not need his protecting presence every day?  Do you not need his presence as you wrestle with the world, the flesh and the devil?  Here’s Moses the man of God taking this promise working it out in the warfare of God.  He is also working it out in the work of God.  God told him “my presence shall go with thee.”  David Livingstone said on his announcement of his return to Africa “Would you like me to tell you what supported me through all the years of exile, among a people whose language I could not understand, whose attitude towards me was always uncertain and often hostile?  It was ‘Lo I will be with you always even unto the end of the age.’  On those words I stake everything and they never fail.”  Will you prove this promise in the will of the Lord? God’s will is always blessing but is often baffling.  It seemed there was always a crisis when Moses was leading the Children of Israel.  There was a water crisis, a food crisis, crowd crisis.  He must have felt like he was stumbling from one crisis to the next.  Maybe that is what you are feeling today – like Jacob facing a family crisis?  Esau wanted to kill Jacob then God met Jacob at Bethel.  When he fled from Esau’s presence he saw the ladder going up to heaven and God promised him his presence.  Maybe you are facing a fiery crisis.  Nebuchadnezzar was trying to consolidate his empire, he knew the best way to unite people politically was to unite them religiously.  Have a common religion.  There are at least 3 attempts to instigate a world religion.  One was in the Tower of Babel.  Days of Daniel in the plain of Dura.  The final event will take place in the last days.  The image of Antichrist will be set up it the temple in Jerusalem.  There will be one world religion – ecumenism.  Here were 3 Hebrew children facing fiery crisis.  They wouldn’t bow and when they were threatened they wouldn’t budge.  Because of their faithfulness to God they were thrown in the fire.  They wouldn’t burn.  They would not alone in the fire, the Lord was with them. Are you facing a family crisis like Jacob, a fiery crisis like the 3 Hebrew children.  Like Paul maybe facing a friendship crisis in the Roman courtroom.  He could see no friendly face.  No man would stand with him.  “No man stood with me, all men forsake me” he wrote to Timothy.  “Not worth standing the Lord stood with me and strengthened me.”  Maybe you are facing a family crisis, or a fiery crisis or a friendship crisis.  Maybe you are here today and you are getting on a bit in life and you are anticipating the final crisis.  Somehow you feel that soon the Lord will take you home.  Don’t fear.  The Lord will never forsake you in death.  “Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil.  Why? The ultimate is my intimate as I go through the valley of the shadow of death.”  Times of walking away come to all of us.  We may find a loved one walk away in death, a friend may walk away in distance, a son/a daughter may walk away in marriage, a colleague may walk away in work, a servant of God may walk away in retirement but “my presence shall go with thee and I will give thee rest.”  When we know and love the Lord, we will never walk into the unknown future alone because God is with us.  We can step into the future with tremendous confidence. 

The timing of the promise - when did it come? 

The telling of the promise - what did it mean? 

The testing of the promise - where did it lie?  In the warfare of the Lord, in the work of the Lord, in the will of the Lord. 

What a promise - God’s presence with us.  “My presence shall go with thee and I will give you rest.”  God’s presence for the present, God’s rest for the future.  What more can we want?  He will be with us now and we with him then.  Take it home with you, take into this new week with you.  “My presence shall go with thee and give thee rest.”

You Make the Call

 

COLERAINE INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

SUNDAY 8 SEPTEMBER 2024 – REV DENIS LYLE

JEREMIAH 33

THE UNLIMITED POSSIBILITIES OF PRAYER OR YOU MAKE THE CALL

Verse 3 “Call unto me and I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not”

When everything seems against us, and all hope is lost we begin to think we are utterly alone.  We have tried everything that we can think of and still we come up empty and yet it is precisely at such times we must prevail in prayer for great and mighty things.  Is that not what Jeremiah was commanded to do?  Here he was in the midst of a nation that had become totally apostate.  It had been raised up to be a testimony to God to all the nations of the earth but it had become as bad as the worst of them and now it had sinned beyond recall.  Such was the state of Judah.  All hope that she could be saved from the Babylonian invasion so clearly foreseen by Jeremiah was now lost.  The nations doom was sealed.  The best thing Judah could do was get the best terms from the Babylonians and submit to them.  Jeremiah wrote the decree down – there would be 70 years of captivity.  That was the great message of Jeremiah and he was hated for delivering it.  The Babylonians came, Judah was defeated, Jerusalem was taken, the temple and its treasures carried off by the robber.  Yet here was hope from God.  He had given to his people a promise.  This is regularly misquoted.  Given to Judah in the book of consolation – Jeremiah 29 verse 11 “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you saith the Lord thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you an expected end.”  Given to Judah, to the southern kingdom of Israel.  These chapters of Jeremiah describe the dawning of a new day for the exiles in Babylon but also for the Jewish people in the last days before the Lord returns.  For when the Jewish people in the last days are finally purged of their sins they will come back to the Lord.  There is a future for the nation of Israel.  Look at Jeremiah’s circumstances - outside the city of Jerusalem is the Babylon army inside, disease, drought, death, famine.  Jeremiah is himself shut by the wicked king Zedekiah.  Seeking To stifle the prophet.  In the mist of all of this God says “call unto me and I will answer.”  Jeremiah y make the call.  A pastor would bring the kids down to the front of the church every Sunday morning to tell them a story and one day he brought in a telephone to illustrate prayer.  You talk to people who are invisible but they are on the other end of the line.  You can’t seem him but he is listening.  That is like talking to God.  A little boy piped up “what’s the Lord’s number”.  Prayer is a hotline to heaven.  When we pick up at our end of the line God also picks up at his line also.  In this statement there are 3 aspects of prayer.

Firstly, the asking side of prayer – supplication.  What is our part in the matter of prayer?  Does it involve a formula, is it only for Christians of many years standing.  Must we be in the prayer room for many years and be able to pray acceptably?  Simple definition of prayer – “call unto me.”  The creature calling on the creator.  The child coming unto the father.  Who?  The Lord who commands us to pray.  Do you see the authority.  In the Hebrew language this verb is in imperative God doesn’t ask us to pray he demands us to pray.  When you refuse to exercise prayer not just weakness its a wickedness, it is not a shame it is a sin.  “The greatest tragedy of life is not unanswered prayer it is unauthored prayer.”  Prayerlessness is sin.  Samuel said “God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you.”  Here the Lord commands us to pray.  The authority.  The simplicity – “call unto me says the Lord.”  Prayer is calling upon God and asking for his gracious help.  When you pray you talk to the Lord directly.  You don’t talk to an angel, to a mechanical animated recorder, you talk to the living God.  Prayer is so simple.  We are apt to make it so complicated.  All you have to do is call on me.  The variety here. What area does prayer cover? What are the limits of prayer?  What should we be talking to God about?  God commanded Jeremiah to seek his face that he might fulfil his promises to his people Judah.  They are promises relating to the re-gathering, and the returning and the restoring of the nation of Israel.  God hasn’t finished with the nation of Israel.  He says to Jeremiah “Call unto me.”  Sure the dark clouds of judgment are coming personally, prophetically, presently but a new day will dawn when the Jewish people will not only return to the land but to the Lord. God says “Jeremiah call unto me.”  Do you bring the big things as well as the little things to the Lord in prayer?  Do you know when you are to talk to God?  Any time. Where are you to talk to God?  Any place.  What you are to talk to God about?  Anything.  Who – “the Lord who commands.”  The Lord who creates.  The Lord commands Jeremiah to pray then he backs it up with his creative power.  Verse 2 “the Lord is his name.”  That is a reminder of his omnipotence.  The Lord is able to do whatever to make his promise come true.  Chapter 32 verse 17, verses 26 and 27.  We are people today who have got difficulty with miracles.  If you believe in Genesis chapter 1 you are home free.  God made the whole thing.  He can do with it as he pleases.  The problem is not with God and his ability, it is with man and his unbelief.  No promise too hard for God to fulfil.  No prayer too hard for God to answer.   No problem too hard for God to solve.  No person too hard for God to save.  No place too hard for God to revive.  “Call unto me.”  Who - the Lord who commands it.  The Lord who creates.  The God who controls.  I know the thoughts that I think toward you saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”  Here’s a statement about prayer that is given in the midst of national problems.  There are problems locally.  There are problems nationally.  There are problems internationally - think of the war with Ukraine and Russia.  We think of the unrest in the Middle East.  We think of the turmoil that immigration is causing not only in this land but right across Europe.  There was chaos and confusion in Jeremiah’s day but the Lord says “everything is under my control.”  There is going to be Babylonian captivity.  All these things will happen.  In Jeremiah 32 God talks about his plan for Israel – 10 times God says “I will” in verses 37 – 42.

“I will gather them out of all countries”

“I will bring them to this place”

“I will cause them to dwell safely”

“I will be their God”

“I will give them one heart”

“I will make an everlasting covenant with them”

“I will put my fear in their hearts”

“I will rejoice over them to do good”

“I will plant them in this land”

“I will bring upon them all the good that I have promised them” 

Who is in control?  Yes there will be a captivity, 70 years of exile, a return to land presently and prophetically.  There will be the future coming kingdom of God.  God says to Jeremiah call until me.  In prayer we unite with God in regulating the nations and operating the universe.  God prophesied what he will do.  We can do nothing to stop him yet we are to pray for his kingdom to come.  We know it will come and yet we are told to prayer. What a weapon prayer is in a time of local, in a time of national, in a time of international calamity.  God says to call unto me - why - because I am still on the throne.  We have to trust God.

Secondly, the answering side of prayer – confirmation.  “I will answer thee.” It is one thing when someone says they will do something for us, it is another thing when God says he will do something for us.  No might, may or could answer - God says “I will answer thee.”  Does God always answer prayer? Yes.  What do we really mean when we say this? When God answers prayer he does it in 4 ways.  That prayer may be specifically delivered.  Hannah was longing for a child and God answered her prayer.  Samuel came and Hannah came into the presence of God “For this child I prayed and the Lord hath given me the petition which I asked of him.”  The Psalmist said “The Lord hath heard my supplication, the Lord will hear my prayer.”  Has there not be a time when the Lord has answered your prayer immediately and directly?  Sometimes it is specifically delivered. Sometimes it is strategically delayed.  The request might be right but the timing could be wrong.  Lazarus was ill and his sisters sent for Christ.  The Lord didn’t come immediately.  Christ publicly and personally delayed in order out bring greater glory to God in raising Lazarus from the dead.  Sometimes God delays to answer our prayers because his timing is different from mine.  George Mueller raised so much money for housing 2000 orphans in Bristol.  He prayed in the money and daily the food came.  A man of great prayer.  He prayed for 60 years for the salvation of his friend for years.  Some time after George’s death his prayer was answered and that man was gloriously saved. Sometimes that prayer of mine is specifically delivered, strategically delayed.  Sometimes it is significantly different.  You might ask God for one thing and God gives you something better.  Paul had a thorn in the flesh.  3 times he prayed for it to be removed - “if only could I get rid of this physical affliction I would be much more useful in your service but the Lord said “I am not going to take something from you but I will give something to you – my grace is sufficient for you.”  Sometimes God says “I am going to give something better than you want”.  The Lord says “call unto me I will answer you”. Sometimes the answer is sovereignly denied.  Sometimes God gives the “no” answer.  Isn’t it a mercy that God doesn’t answer all our prayers?  Elijah under the juniper tree was depressed. despondent, disillusioned.  He asks God take away my life “I am no better than my fathers.”  But God gave his life back to him and much more beside.  Amy Carmichael as a child prayed for her eyes to be changed from brown to blue.  She didn’t realise Gods purpose for her lay in the land of India where she was to become the mother of thousands of unwanted temple children.  In India there are only brown eyes there.  God gave Amy the eyes she needed.  Do you ever thank the Lord for saying no to your prayers?  We glibly come into the Lord’s presence.  The Lord says “you don’t know what you are asking for.”  “Nothing lies outside the reach of prayer except that which lies outside the will of God.”  The answer is still there – “I will answer thee.”

 

Thirdly, the assuring side of prayer – confirmation.  What is it that God will show us?  God’s power is centred around 3 things.  Great and mighty things and things we don’t know.  Great things - nothing is beyond the ability of God.  Remember Esau when Jacob stole the birthright.  Esau said to his mother one day “I will kill him”. When the vengeance of Esau seemed inevitable Jacob experienced the great deliverance by God .  When Pharaoh drew near the Israelites the people experienced great deliverance of God.  Gideon thought little of himself, I am the least of my father’s brethren, yet God did great things on his behalf in the days of judges.  Daniel and his 3 friends were about to be destroyed in Babylon but God in heaven who knows great secrets and they received great promotion.  When Judah was taken into captivity and Zedekiah’s sons were murdered before his eyes.  The very last image he saw - all hope of deliverance was gone.  God moved after the exile.  The temple was rebuilt and the city was restored and the walls were reinforced.  God assured Jeremiah “I will show you great things.” God has the power to deliver the great things he has promised.  Nothing is beyond the ability of God.  Have you made the call?  There is not one of us that cannot contact heaven.  Don’t say “there is nothing I can do.”  Prayer is something you can do.  God has asked us to pray, God has commanded us to pray, God has invited us to pray.  We are weak but he is strong, we are nothing but he is everything, we are powerless but he is powerful.  Nothing is beyond the ability of God – great things.  Nothing is beyond the excess of God - mighty things.  The Hebrew scholar says it describes something which is inaccessible by fortifying it or enclosing it.  The Babylon army surrounded the city was under siege.  That is what mighty things are - everything out of reach is within reach where we call upon the Lord.  He delights in doing mighty things for this children.  “With men this is impossible but with God all things are possible.”  How challenging.  We should bring these things to God tonight.  “Things which you know not” - nothing is beyond the abundance of God.  Something you have never seen.  You cannot conceive as though God is saying “I will surpass anything I have done for you ever before”. The Lord is saying to you “call unto me.”  How often do you make the call?  Have you a time for prayer, a place for prayer?  It was said of D L Moody that never made long prayers but never went long without prayer.  C H Spurgeon said “we have hours for the world but only moments for Christ.”  Are we so preoccupied that we can hardly believe that prayer will make that much difference.  God says “call unto me and I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not.”  Will you make the call tonight?

The burden of Habakkuk

 

COLERAINE INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

SERMON NOTES SUNDAY 25 AUGUST 2024 – MR KEITH WILSON

Habakkuk 1 verses 1 to 17

I am sure that most of us will be able to quote a familiar verse from the book of Habakkuk.  For instance chapter 3 verse “ “O Lord revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy.”  Maybe as far as the book or the man is concerned you know little.  Why did he pray that prayer?  Where did he live?  What did God call him to do?  It is God that has made us.  We are not our own.  We have to be reminded that there is an appointment for you and I with God.  We are not guaranteed tomorrow.  The only guarantee is of judgment.  There is a God who sent his son to save us from our sin.  “I have heard thy speech and was afraid revive thy work.”  Have you ever been afraid of God?  There are many things we could be afraid of but we should be afraid of the terribleness and awesomeness of sin.  God will judge sin.  Habakkuk has found himself in the centre of a sinful nation, a nation that had turned from God.  I love reading these prophets – they are only minor because of the size of the book written.  Here is Habakkuk praying for revival.  It is not so much revival that I want to look at today but there is no doubt that personally we need it, nationally we need in.  We are in desperate need of revival in our nation.  How many of us are prepared to pay the cost for revival?  That cost is a surrendered life.  Salvation at a cost.  Salvation is offered to you and I freely.  I remember asking God for forgiveness of my sins at 12 years of age.  God has never left me.  It had a cost.  It was mercy, grace, forgiveness and redemption at a cost, for Christ paid for my sin.  The cost for revival – we don’t live our lives in sin, we depart from iniquity and live a life for God.  Salvation – the cost for you and me.  There are things in our lives that we have to give up.  To allow God to have his own way in our life.  Habakkuk is like the book of Job.  Habakkuk speaks to God.  Have you ever spoken to God.  Really desperate to hear from God?  That God would come and speak the word?  I want to talk today about the burden Habakkuk had.  Have you that burden?  For loved ones, that God would come and save them?  That God would give us the victory? That he would give us more grace?  Like Job Habakkuk speaks to God and God speaks to him.  All I want to concentrate on is the words “the burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see”.  Habakkuk was burdened because he was discouraged.  This was a prophet who had a a dialogue with God in dark days.  He spoke with God in the dark days in which he was living.  I would be surprised today if there wasn’t one who is not discouraged.  When we are discouraged the enemy has a way of knocking us down further and further.  Habakkuk begins with these words.  He was burdened for the sin of Judah.  Burdened that God would raise up the Chaldeans to chasten his people – verse 6 “For lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwelling places that are not theirs.”   I wonder have you ever had a burden that God would send his nation over to a more evil nation>  Are we burdened for the sin of this land?  For our lost family members, friends, neighbours, work colleagues?  Do we really see the full picture?  People have no time to repent.  Habakkuk was living in a land where the people were taking advantage of other people.  There was cheating, lying, stealing.  God was going to come in judgment and deal with the people who had no concern for their own soul, for those around them.  Habakkuk was burdened for the sin of Judah – that God would send the Chaldeans to chasten God’s people.  Habakkuk was very discouraged and that is one of the enemy’s greatest tactics.  Those who care the most are burdened the most.  That burden manifests itself in discouragement.  It is very hard to get out of that discouragement.  Habakkuk found himself in that position. Discouragement has the power to get us off track.  To get our eyes off the Lord.  It has the power to look at the situation we find ourselves in instead of the God who is above the situation.  We see the problem rather than God who is above the problem.  Habakkuk was burdened because God would not intervene, he would not answer him.  People were falling away from God.  There is no-one in our government today who is burdened like this, concerned that the nations have drifted far from God.  It seemed to Habakkuk that God didn’t care because he wasn’t answering.  Have you ever felt like that?  You pray and God is not answering.  God is silent.  David the Psalmist cried “be thou not silent unto me.”  Job asked God questions – in fact question after question.  God remained silent up to chapter 38.  God didn’t respond until then.  God asked Job “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?”  Job realised that almighty God is and how limitless he is.  But Habakkuk is asking the question in verses 2 and 3 “how long shall I cry Lord?”  In other words how long shall I pray and you will not listen?  He is burdened about the spoiling, the plundering in the land.  The law is slack, justice is never seen, wickedness is in control.  Your people are living in sin.  How long Lord will this continue?  He saw such sin in his people.  How could God answer?  How could God send revival?  There was no-one doing his will yet Habakkuk comes with the burden.  Where are we today as a country?  God will not remain silent forever.  Psalm 50 verse 3 “Our God shall come and shall not keep silence; a fire shall devour before him and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.”.  When God speaks you will hear.  My challenge or warning is – if God speaks to you today or this week listen to his voice because he might become silent again.  You will not hear his voice again.  Habakkuk was burdened because of the of the nation.  He couldn’t hear his God.  God will come and he will speak with judgment.  There is an eternity around the corner waiting for those that reject Christ.  God will not keep silent.  God spoke but not in the way Habakkuk wanted.  God was going to speak in judgment.  God would send the Chaldeans and chasten them.  That was not the way Habakkuk wanted but the people of God needed the judgment.  That is the truth of God’s word today.  They are trying to silence God’s word today.  We wonder why these things are happening, why God is silent.  God didn’t keep silent.  When Habakkuk heard God speak he realised God was going to send chastening.  Hebrews 12 verse 6 “For whom the Lord loves he chasteneth.”  Thank God for those mercies – that God holds us when we are going the wrong way, when we take the wrong turn.  God brings us back into the fold.  Thank God that he breaks the silence with a word of judgment.  If only we had this same burden.  Elisha prayed when Elijah was going up to heaven “give me a double portion of thy spirit when you leave.”  If only we had that same double portion, that we were burdened for sin and for the lost.  In Habakkuk’s day the godly king Josiah had died.  He had restored the temple and offerings to God.  He reinstated many of the sacrifices and we can read of him in 2 Kings 23.  “And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul and with all his might according to all the law of Moses, neither after him arose there any like him.”  When he died Judah sank into sin.  The reforms he had made were soon done away with.  People turned their back on God.  God sent the Chaldeans in to judge them.  Habakkuk was now about to witness their captivity.  He would see the mighty hand of God.  When we came to Christ we witnessed the mighty hand of God on our lives.  He lifted us from darkness into his light.  We should be burdened for souls today.  Habakkuk was concerned but he was also discouraged.  When we think of discouragement in the bible we remember Elijah under the juniper tree.  He had seen the mighty hand of God at Mount Carmel.  God destroyed the prophets of Baal yet around the corner he became discouraged because of Jezebel.  It is easy to get our eyes off the Lord.  When we do we can be led down a path of discouragement.  David was discouraged many times as he fled from Saul.  Think of the many people who suffer in these days.  They become discouraged.  C H Spurgeon suffered discouragement.  He saw his church burned and many lives taken.  We need to have victory over it and not allow it to conquer us.  That goes for many other vices too – alcohol, drugs, pornography.  We need to focus on God.  Others things like doubt, fear, lack of assurance can creep into our lives.  How can we overcome these things?  Look at Habakkuk.  He was a prophet.  We have thought also of David who was a king.  No-one is exempt.  Either a prophet, priest or king or a layman or laywoman.  Anyone can be discouraged.  There are lessons to be learned from Habakkuk.  What did he learn?  That God’s words are not his words.  Discouragement has overwhelmed me in times past.  It is very hard to speak to someone when they are discouraged, to come alongside someone who is thinking negative thoughts.  How do you go to an alcoholic and say there is hope?  Habakkuk learned to encourage himself in his God.  God’s ways are not our ways.  God is working in the midst of silence.  He was doing his work in the way he chose.  If we can understand and learn this vital lesson – the God is doing his work in his way, that he will not change his mind, God has a plan.  Habakkuk learned to trust God no matter the situation.  He was in these dark days but he learned to delight himself in the Lord.  Chapter 2 verses 1 to 4 shows us that Habakkuk was no longer asking questions.  He took himself into a tower, sat down and waited on God to speak to him.  God will speak in his time.  The answer is coming.  We are not to live by feelings, how we feel about our success or experience but to live by faith.  We should live surrendered to God.  Habakkuk goes to God and he waits.  He is no longer demanding God to answer him.  This discouraged prophet begins to praise his God and delights in him.  Habakkuk 3 verses 16 to 19.  When he couldn’t see God at work, God lifted him out of his discouragement and Habakkuk lifts his eyes solely upon God.