Thou God seest me!

Notes from a sermon heard on Sunday 28 April 2013

Genesis 16 verses 1 – 16

“And she called the name of the Lord that spake unto her, Thou God seest me: for she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth me?” verse 13

God promised to Abraham a son that he would bless the world with.  He became impatient and so did his wife.  They were well past the hope of having any child naturally speaking.  Sarah came up with an idea – I have a maid here, if I give her to you as a wife maybe she will conceive and have a son.  Abraham goes along with the plan and Hagar does conceive and she despised her mistress so leaves her masters home and it is at this point we take up the story.

Hagar’s pathway – “And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face” verse 6.  Her path took her out of her master’s house and right into the wilderness.  Remember the demonic in the gospels.  His life was spent in the tombs.  Day and night he cried out, no-one could bind him.  The devil had driven him out into the wilderness, from the home he had with his mother and father, separated him from them.  Hagar is found running away, fleeing from her master’s house.  She is trying to make her way back to Egypt where she felt she would be happier.  When we are not saved there is a hunger for something to satisfy the longing in our heart.  Hagar thought what she would desire was down in Egypt – food, safety shelter but she only found hardship by the score.  The Bible tells us “the way of the transgressors is hard.”(Proverbs 13 verse 15)  Hagar was forced this way by the disobedience of Abraham and Sarah, her master and her wife.  If we profess the name of Christ we need to be careful that we don’t drive men and women away from Christ, bring hardship and difficult times for them.  When we are not saved there is always a restlessness in our hearts.  Remember the prodigal son sitting in his own home, the delights of a far off field were starting to call out to his heart.  One day he said to his father ‘would you give me the money due to come to me?’  I’m sure the father looked at him, pleaded with him to leave his money alone but the son wanted it then and there.  The world was calling him.  He packed his bag “not many days since.”  There was something more that he needed in a far country.  He wasted his living on riotous living.  He made plenty of friends, took him to places never been to before, introduced him to people never met before.  For a time he had a great time until a famine hit the place and hard times came.  It all started with a restlessness on his soul.  Onesimus was the servant of Philemon.  One day he had restless feet and he ran away from the house of his master.  He thought he would find his pleasure in Rome and ended up in a prison house.  Where’s the pathway you are on leading you to?

Hagar’s pursuit – “And the angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur” verse 7.  She is running away to Egypt, to somewhere she thinks she will find all she needs.  Here in the wilderness God finds her.  Jesus left his father’s side to come down into this world to draw alongside you and wants to talk to you.  He finds us whenever we are not looking for him.  There are times when God speaks to our hearts when we are not looking for him.  There may come a time when we find he is not to be found.  There is a great myth today that says you can get saved when you want.  The only way to come is when God is drawing you.  It is possible he may pass you by.  Proverbs 1 verses 24 to 28 says “Because I have called and ye refused, I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded; But ye have set at nought all my counsel and would none of my reproof; I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh… Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early but they shall not find me.”  God knows all about you.  He was pursuing Hagar.  He knew her by name verse 8.  “Hagar, Sarai’s maid.”  He knew her name and whose maid she was.  The God of heaven knows everything about us and where we are right now.  “Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.”  (Hebrews 4 verse 13).  As Nicodemus approached Christ that dark night he came silently and secretly to the Lord.  He tried to camouflage himself by the questions he asked and the praises he would give yet the Lord looked right through him.  Jesus told him ‘you are not saved Nicodemus’. There is not a heart bypassed by God and he knows those who are his.  He knows exactly where you are right now.  Hagar may have been in the wilderness but she was by a fountain.  A place where she could be satisfied.  Jesus is the living water.  You can be found in him right now.  “Where have you come from and where are you going Hagar?.”  God wants honesty.  He wants to make it clear the direction you are going.  The pathway you are on will lead you to hardships in this connection.  How many times has God called you in the past?  How many times have you realised you need to be saved?  It is not a joke, something to pass away – you need to be saved.  Remember the woman at the well.  Jesus called for truthfulness “go and call your husband.”  She replied “I have no husband, I have had 5 husbands.”  She was opened up to her sin.  There is a problem tonight because people cannot admit they are sinners.  In verse 8 we read the words “he said.”  God talked to Hagar.  Thank God for the one pursuing you.  There will be a joy in Christ’s hearts if you would only trust him.

Hagar’s plan – “And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands” verse 9.  You will have to return to where you came from, submit to your master.  God had a plan for her and he has a plan for us.  Repent of your sin, stop and turn around just as Hagar had to do.  For her to find satisfaction and peace in her heart with God she had to turn around and make her way back to the home of her master.  Mistakes had been made and things had to be sorted out.  Every sinner has to return and come under the authority of the Lord because Jesus said let a man take up his cross, let him deny himself and come after me.  The prodigal lying in the pig sty thought to himself “in my father’s house there is room for me.”  Onesimus found the Lord in a prison house but he had to make his way back to his master.

Hagar’s prize – “And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael, because the Lord hath heard thy affliction” verse 11.  A child would be born.  The promise of a new life with Christ is our prize if we accept Jesus as Saviour and Lord.

Hagar’s promise – “And she called the name of the Lord that spake unto her, Thou God seest me: for she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth me?” verse 13.  You can come to the Lord, find him as Saviour but you must do it earnestly and seriously.  The moment you do that there will be a well fountain of praise welling up in your heart.  Psalm 40 “he put a new song in my heart even praise unto our God.”

WAKE UP!

Notes from a sermon heard on Sunday 28 April 2013

Zechariah 4 verses 1 – 14

Verse 6”not by might nor by power but by my spirit saith the Lord”

The background to this book is that God’s people, the Children of Israel had been brought into the land of blessing.  What it cost them when they came into this land in which they are living.  Go back to that night in Egypt when God’s people were in bondage in Egypt under Pharaoh.  He had them for slaves to do his work.  God heard his people crying under oppression.  God still hears today and answers the prayers of his people.  He heard their prayers and he sent down Moses to bring them out of Egypt.  God brought them through the wilderness, across the Red Sea and brought them into the land of blessing.  Imagine what it cost to bring me into God’s salvation today.  Think of it with the bread that was broken, the blood that was shed.  He had to do it all for us that we might be brought into the land of his blessing of salvation.  It cost the God of heaven so much.  The children of Israel were now in the land of blessing and had been there for a number of years but they forgot God.  They thought they had come into this situation by their own strength and power.  God had been left out of their thinking, he had been set aside.  Is that not the society in which we live in today?  God has been set aside and is only used when needed.  God had other plans.  He hadn’t forgotten them.  He had to chastise his people.  He allowed the King of Babylon to come down and defeat the children of Israel and carry them away to captivity because of their rebellion and rejection of God.  The temple of God was raised to the ground by Nebuchadnezzar.  Some 70 years later God moved again and brought them back out of Babylon into Canaan again.  The Babylonian army and nation had fallen by this stage.  God used the Medes and Persians to bring his own people back into the land of Israel.  That is where Zechariah was.  The people were happy to be back in the land and the first thing they did was build up the temple of the Lord.  They laid down the foundations of the house of God then the work stopped.  They settled down.  God brings his word to the prophet Zechariah.  Remember the prophet Ezra - when he got the people back to rebuilding the temple the opposition came from governors and people who didn’t like to see God’s work progress.  Many today don’t like to see the work of God going on.  God comes with great encouragement.  He gives his prophet this great scene.  He says to you “let not your heart be discouraged, don’t get yourself down, it is not by your might and power that you will see things done but by my own Spirit.”  If we are doing things the way God wants us to do he is in the midst of it all.

First of all – the slumber God deals with.  Verse 1 “And the angel that talked with me came again.”  God will use his prophet again another time.  Are we in that position that if God came to us would we recognise his voice?  “and waked me” he is described as a man who is comfortable on his bed.  God has to deal with his sleep before he can begin a work again in the land.  Maybe God has to deal with our slumber today before he can deal with the situation in our nation.  He has to lift you and I out of our slumber so that he will work through you and I.  Before he could show him this vision he had to open his eyes out of sleep.  “Where there is no vision the people perish.”(Proverbs 29 verse 18)  Men and women are losing their souls today.  There are those in our family who are going out into a lost and Christless eternity unless we reach them with God’s saving grace.  God had to awaken his servant from his sleep, awaken him to the dangers all around him, to lay aside the spirit of the age in which he lived in.  It was one of coldness and carelessness.  It is easy to get influenced in such a day but we need to keep ourselves in a place where God can use us.  The danger is we can be asleep in the society in which we are living in and we are oblivious to everything and everyone that is all around us in our world today.  Remember the man in Luke’s gospel – one beggar and the other a rich man.  Two men who lived side by side.  The beggar lived at the gate to the house of the rich man.  He begged for his food day and night.  The beggar died and the angels picked him up and carried him into the kingdom of heaven.  Then the story turns to the rich man living behind the gates.  “In hell the man lifted up his eyes being in torment” reminding us there is a heaven to be gained and a hell to be shunned.  There are those on their way to heaven and home today but there are others on their way to a lost and Christless eternity.  Both are as real as the other.  The rich man could do all sorts of things in hell – he could lift up his eyes, he could see, he could talk, he could plead but now he was awakened to his plight.  Zechariah was being influenced by the people all around him.  We need to be awake that we don’t get into a cold religion today.  One time people were very excited to get the temple built but now they had become complacent.  The condition of the prophet now – he had preached and prayed for so long prophet but fell into the same apathy of the nation.  God has to come and open up his eyes.  We live in a day when men and women are cold to the things of God.  Such an environment exists today.  The church is called to live in that environment today but sadly the church is asleep today.  God is still God and he can still come, touch us, revive us, arm us for the days in which we are living in.  Remember Jonah – when God came to Jonah and spoke to him “I have a word for Nineveh will you go and preach the word of God?”  What did Jonah do?  “He arose” and ran away “from the presence of God.” (Jonah 1 verse 3)  He felt he could either take or leave the word of God.  He got on a ship and fell asleep.  Such was the spirit that had entered into his life.  The old captain of the ship couldn’t believe that Jonah was fast asleep while the waves were raging overhead.  Jonah was out of the will of God and there was danger all around him.  When we get out of the will of God and are not doing what God would have us to do then there’s danger all around us.  Jonah should have been in that city of Nineveh.  Jonah had to be awakened and thrown into the sea.  Paul wrote to Timothy the character of the days before Christ’s return “know also that in the last days perilous times shall come for men, shall be lovers of their own selves” (2 Timothy 3 verses 1 and 2) These are the last days before Christ comes to make his appearance.  The word implies a cloak to be thrown over the top of something.  Paul said to the church at Ephesus “Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee light.”(Ephesians 5 verse 14)  30 years later John was asked to write to them “you have left your first love.”  We are living in those days of Laodicea found in  Revelation 3 verses 15 and 16 20 “you are neither cold nor hot .. thou art lukewarm.  There is a slumber God was dealing with here in Zechariah’s day but there was also tremendous blessing ahead.

The scene that Zechariah was to see.  God was to open up the scene before him.  Not the activity of man but the activity of the Holy Spirit.  Will we allow God to work through us to see the sin before us and work through us as a result?  

Where is your faith?

Notes from a sermon heard on 24 March 2013 (pm)

Romans 10 verses 1 – 13, Luke 8 verses 22 – 25

In Luke’s gospel chapter 8 we find the Lord has given his disciples a command, a commission to get into this boat and together they would sail across the sea.  A thrilling episode in the life of the disciples.  The Lord asks a question on this particular day and there was nowhere for them to run – “where is your faith?”  The disciples were terrified in the little boat.  The Lord had retired from them and he was sleeping.  The waves and the wind got up and closed in on the boat and the disciples were very afraid.  They came with their plight to the Lord Jesus Christ.  There is no other place for the lost and perishing soul to go to tonight.  The Lord stands in our midst still.  Stands with beckoning call, invited you to come to him for salvation.  Verse 25 “where is your faith”.  One question but there are many applications in this question.

The Lord scrutinises their faith.  The Lord Jesus is asking them a question not when the sun shining, nor when there were fair blue skie and the sea was calm with no wind blowing.  It is when they were going to perish that he asks this question.  If you were to answer that question where would your faith be?  The man without the Lord is like the disciples on this boat out on this restless sea.  Travelling to and fro distraught, minds don’t know where to turn, felt they were going to perish.  What a place to be in for an unsaved man or woman until we feel that we will never cry out for the Lord Jesus Christ and never ever be saved.  These disciples came.  Is my faith in the finished work of Calvary, on the middle cross of Calvary, on the work he accomplished there for my sin?  That is what the Lord is seeking for.  You cannot be saved any other way.  "Without faith it is impossible to please God for he that believes in God is a rewarder of them that diligently seek God."  That key will open God’s salvation for you.  Only the key of faith.  It is only when I take it that it will open the door of heaven.  You can take the key of works, religious life, creed of good works but they will not turn the lock in God’s door.  It is only childlike faith.  Key is faith.  "Being justified by faith we have peace with God."  It is only when we accept Christ as Saviour and he cleanses us from all unrighteousness that he will put a peace in your heart beyond any understanding.  F B Meyer delivered a message on the quantity and quality of faith.  He took a mustard seed and held it up in front of the congregation.  In his other hand he took a pebble from the church car park.  Comparing them in size and colour he told his congregation "there is only one that has the capacity to bring forth life."  It takes faith the size of a mustard seed, not great faith to save you but a great Saviour to save you.  If we believe that Jesus died and that Jesus rose again.  Remember the 4 who brought the sick man on a stretcher to Jesus. They couldn’t get to Jesus so went up on the roof, pulled the roof back and lowered the stretcher down to Jesus’ feet.  “When he saw their faith”.  Remember when Jesus sat in the house of Simon an immoral woman came in to wash his feet.  She was exercising her faith in the Lord.  The woman with the issue of blood had been cut off from religious society, tried every doctor and no doubt had gone to the priest.  After 12 years she was no better, in fact she was getting worse.  One day Jesus passed by and she thought “if I may touch the hem of his garment I will be made whole.”  Then the Lord said “who touched me?”  There was a great crowd around the Lord on that day.  The disciples were amazed at him “Lord look at the crowd and you ask who touched me.  He knew it was a different touch, a touch of faith.  There are those touching the Lord today.  There are also those who desire and would love to be saved but they want the Lord to take account of their religious acts but he will not do that for them.

The subject of the faith.  “Where is your faith?”  The boat was filling up with water and for a time they felt they could manage.  Today men and women are realising they need to be saved but instead are holding tight to what they have.  They realise the boat of their lives is filling up with water but they are sitting tight.  Our faith can be in many things.  Faith in creed, good works.  You and I need to bring the faith into our hearts right to the feet of the Lord Jesus.  Remember in 2 Kings 5 Naaman was a mighty man, a great soldier who had done many great things for the government of his land, claimed much ground but the Bible says he was a leper.  There was a maid in his household who said to her mistress “if my master would only go down to the prophet he would be healed.  Naaman set sail with all his money in his pockets and people with him.  He went to the king and then realised he was in the wrong place.  Is there one who realises they are looking for salvation in the wrong place?  Maybe you are saying 'I am just going to hold onto it, I cannot be that far wrong.'  If it is not in the finished work of Calvary Christ himself you will be lost for all eternity.  Many have been brought up in church, have heard the gospel, their father and mother have prayed for them, showed them their need of salvation and how they can be saved but the God of this world has blinded their eyes.  They want to hold unto that until the day when they are dropped into a Christless hell.  That is the reality. 

The simplicity of faith is shown.  The disciples ran to Jesus and said “we perish”.  What a prayer.  Faith is simple and honest.  They acknowledged they could do nothing of themselves.  If you don’t do something for us we will perish.  The only one who can do anything for us is Christ.  If you don’t trust in him you will be lost.  Sometimes we miss out because of the simplicity of our faith.  Remember Rahab who hid the spies.  "We have heard so much of your God, promise me I will be safe when you come to your city."  The spies were let down from her window with a red cord.  They told her to hang it on the day they came in to take the city.  The armies came marching and Rahab hung it out of the window.  All were safe behind that cord.  Just stating the simplicity of her faith.  Just like the night of the Passover.  "When I see the blood I will pass over".  Every family was depending on that blood.  Believe the word of God who said “when I see the blood I will pass over.”  Depend on the blood of Jesus to cleanse you from every sin.  “Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

The security of their faith.  The master arose and rebuked the wind and the sea calmed.  If you were to come to Christ he forgives your sin, makes you a new creature in Christ, makes you ready for heaven and home.  The Lord wants to save your soul but you have got to come, step out, leave all behind, trust him with everything.  Will you take God’s salvation?

Entry into Jerusalem

Notes from a sermon heard on Sunday 24 March 2013

Luke 19 verses 28 – 44

We are seeing here the Lord as he makes entry into the city of Jerusalem the Sunday before Easter.  Making this great majestic approach.  Something is going to happen, this city would turn their backs on the Lord.  Judgement will fall on this city.  “He steadfastly set his face toward Jerusalem”.

A day for the fulfilment of scripture.  Here they saw the Lord ascending on this little colt.  He was their Saviour. He was doing this all in fulfilment of scripture.  Matthew takes them back in the Old Testament  to Zechariah 9 verse 9.  500 years later we have that very incident before us.  This was just one of the prophecies.  Zechariah 11 verse 12 30 pieces of silver would have bought a slave.  Matthew 26 verse 15.  Zechariah 11 verse 13 Matthew 27 verse 3 – 5.  Judas took the 30 pieces of silver offered to him for betraying Jesus and threw them back at the people who had given it to him.  Verses 6 – 10 when I look back and see the Old Testament prophecies coming to bear in the New Testament how could that be anything but tremendous mind behind all these scriptures.  We see everything coming to pass exactly as Zechariah had prophesied.

A day of fervent spirit.  The whole city was moved Matthew says.  The whole multitude began to sing Luke says.  Are we still excited about the word of God today as we were when first accepted him as Lord and Saviour?  We are here to meet the king of kings and Lord of Lords.  Luke 19 verse 37 even before he arrived, entered into Jerusalem this city was excited that they went out to meet him.  Are we fervent in spirit today?  One day Jesus met a man with a withered hand.  The Lord Jesus came into the synagogue that day.  The Pharisees watched him to see what he would do, interested in what he would do.  Can we come with our minds and thoughts on Jesus today?  Are we expecting him to do something for us today?  Here was a people came out who were fervent in spirit.  Didn’t know what to expect with the Lord.  Gathered because seen the mighty works he had done.  In the days of the Revival came to the meetings 1½ hours before the meeting.  Wanted to get in, couldn’t get them out again afterwards.  Why – so taken up with the things of God.  Can we take Jesus and love him?  That is the fundamental question.  Can we take the meetings in the church or leave them?  John 12 verse 17.  The Psalmist said "the very heathen thanked God for what he had done" Psalm 126 verse 2.  John 12 verse 20 there were certain Greeks amongst the crowd.  There to worship Jesus, didn’t know anything about Jesus but there in the midst of the people.  When they looked at these believers these Greeks came to Philip and they said “Sir we would see Jesus”.  When they looked on the face of the believers realised something they didn’t have.  You see they saw something in these believers.  Is that how people look on us and know we have a difference in our lives?  Are we fervent in spirit living and burning for the Lord Jesus Christ.  Is that our testimony today?  When they saw the joy in their spirits they went to the disciples and said "we want to see Jesus as well."  Wonderful when people gather with us who are not saved, when people are looking on us, not saved, go away with one desire to know the Lord as Saviour.

A day of fruitful surrender.  The disciples were given specific instructions.  They followed them to the letter.  They went down and found the colt and unleased it.  The owner asked them what they were doing.  They simply said the master has need of them.  Maybe the Lord has been speaking to you, he desires a full surrender today.  He will add to your life.  Peter out in the boat mending his nets contemplating that night.  Not able to catch anything.  The people were gathered all around him.  They wanted to see Jesus.  Jesus told Peter “I need your boat, launch out into the deep”.  The Lord touched the need of the people because Peter was willing to give of his little boat.  I wonder what God will ask of us to give to his service.  A little boat, a little colt.

A day of fearless song.  Not afraid of any one.  Sang from the depths of their hearts.

A day of fearful statement.  Many will reject me, calamity will come on many.

The big questions in life

Notes from a sermon heard on Sunday 10 March 2013 (pm)

Matthew 27 verses 11 – 26

Many of the big questions in life are found in the word of God.  When God speaks it penetrates to our heart and conscience.  You cannot shrug it off.  Adam and Eve created in the Garden of Eden were given everything they could want but then God’s voice was heard “Adam where are you?”  Adam and Eve hid because it was penetrating.  Peter writing in his epistle said “judgment must begin at the house of God and if it first begin at us what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?”(1 Peter 4 verses 17 and 18).  It is a question of logic.  If God has offered his mercy and it has been rejected by the righteous what chance then shall a sinner have?  Another question Pilate asked himself, it came to his conscience as Jesus stood before him – “what shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ?”  Pilate was in a quandary.  The most important question that he ever faced and the most important question you will ever face or ask yourself or answer.  It is important that you answer honestly.  Think of it seriously and take it to heart.  If you do the right thing with Christ you will gain everything that is worth having in life and in eternity.  If you do the wrong thing with Christ you forfeit everything that is worthwhile and viable in life and in eternity as well.  The consequences are inseparable and inevitable.  What we do with Jesus determines this life and the next.  Our acceptance of God depends on what we do with Christ.  John 3 verse 16 is a familiar verse but the next verse says “For God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”  What we do with Christ determines whether we are condemned before God or accepted of God.  Maybe you are depending on acceptance because of the church you attend.  or because of the sacraments – have been baptised and have partaken of communion, worked for that church and paid into that church.  If you are already in the condemned cell does not depend on what we do, who we are or what we belong to but it depends on what do with Christ.  We don’t need to wait until the judgment.  So many people have false idea “I hope he will let me in.”  You cannot know until you stand before God they say.  You can know right now.  We are either trusting Christ or we are not trusting him for salvation.  Not only depends on what we do with Christ but our peace of heart depends on it.  Paul writing to the church of Rome said “therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”  We only have peace with God through Christ.  Two young people were riding horses through a forest one day.  They were careless about religious things, students of philosophy, involved in worldly things.  Suddenly they were overtaken by a thunder storm and flashes of lightning.  One of them was struck and he died.  It had such a profound effect on the other one.  All he could think of was his friend and himself, that one day he would go out to meet his God and he could find no peace.  He decided peace must be found and he would turn to religion.  He began to attend his church and did all the church asked of him.  He became very religious but still he had no peace.  Then he thought he would give up his career and studies and join the church.  He became a clergy man but still he had no peace.  Then he thought he would do some penance but still he didn’t find peace.  He went to Rome the capital heart of his religion St Peter’s Cathedral when a verse flashed through his mind “the just shall live by faith.”  It was only by trusting Christ that peace came to his heart.  That man was Martin Luther.  Your joy in life depends on what you do with Christ.  Peter wrote “whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.”(1 Peter 1 verse 8)  God has called you to an inheritance reserved in heaven even though you are in trials.  They were going through trials and they felt every burden on them in spite of that.  You don’t see Christ now but you love him, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.  The Christian can have joy in life even in difficult time because know it is going to get better.  Does that not cheer your heart?  If you know you could you be happy.  If living with guilty conscience how could you be happy, dread of death and what comes after?  How could you be happy?  Our joy depends on what we do with Jesus Christ.  Our peace depends on what we do with Jesus Christ.  “He that hath the son hath life, he that hath not the son hath not life.”  There are inevitable consequences.  So much depends for this life and also for eternity on what we do with Christ.  Pilate was asking himself this question.  Pilate’s conviction was sure.  He had examined and questioned Jesus.  He concluded “I find no fault in this just man.”  He was a judge.  He had examined all the evidence.  I don’t see any reason of death what evil hath he done?  Pilate in his conscience and heart knew that Jesus was not worthy of death.  His conviction and witness of his conscience.  Convicted of what he ought to do with Christ.  Am I not speaking to someone tonight?  From your childhood or youth or maybe only a few weeks ago you have been presented with the gospel that Jesus loves you, cares about you, come to the cross and died in your place and mine that we might be forgiven.  That calls for a decision in your heart.  You know what you ought to do.  Feel convicted in your mind this is truth, this is right what you hear and read in the word of God has a ring of truth about it.  He had the warning of his wife.  We read in the passage she had a dream about Christ.  She wanted him to have nothing to do with Christ.  God was sending him a warning and the witness of what he ought to do.  His convictions were sure.  In himself he knew but he had a problem.  If he did what was right concerning Christ the crowd were crying for him to be crucified.  Caesar would no longer be his friend.  His courage was lacking.  He didn’t have the courage to do what he ought to do with Christ so he tried to evade the issue.  He washed his hands and said I am innocent of the blood of this just person see ye to it.  He tried to make it look as though it didn’t concern him.  You can pretend you are not interested even though deep in your soul you know what we say is truth.  There was cowardice.  Knew what he ought to do but hadn’t the courage because of the crowd, because he was Caesar’s friend, because of those crying out.  Maybe it is the crowd you hang around with.  If you become a Christian what would they say.  You are afraid to face them even though you know it is right.  I will compromise, scourge him, let him go which would please the Jews  Some people try to do that – meet the people half way.  This man’s courage was lacking.  His conviction was sure.  The consequences were inevitable.  He knew what he ought to do.  His courage was lacking.  His choice was fatal.  He did the wrong thing.  He delivered Jesus to be crucified.  Tonight you are faced with a choice.  One of 3 things – reject Christ.  I want nothing to do with Christianity, the Bible, church, carelessly neglected him.  I know what he is saying is right and some day I will get right with God but not now.  Put it off.  “How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?”  Or tonight you could gladly accept the Saviour, confess you are a sinner and have hurt God, tell him you want to be rid of sin out of your life.  That is repentance and recognise that Jesus did that we might be forgiven.  “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.”

Influence of women of God in Timothy's life

Notes from a sermon heard on Sunday 10 March 2013 

2 Timothy 1 verses 1 – 7, chapter 3 verses 13 – 17

Paul was writing to this young man Timothy.  He was looking after the church in Ephesus and Paul had seen great blessing in this church.  Now he was writing to Timothy to encourage him.  He knew he would not be coming out of his prison cell – “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.” (2 Timothy 4 verse 6) 

The influence of the women of God.  Paul spoke of 3 generations in this chapter, ladies who had such an influence on the life of Timothy.  He remembered Timothy’s grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice.  Grandmothers and mothers have been a great influence in our own lives.  When Paul spoke of these 2 women he referred to their faith, their experience of God that became real to Timothy.  It was not something just believed in their heart but a deep conviction within their heart.  These ladies were Jewesses and were brought up as such, would have been taught the Old Testament scriptures, how the Israelite people were brought out of Egypt.  Their faith was much more than head knowledge but rather something personal and real to them.  It was a faith convicted of the reality of God.  They knew the experience of God in their lives.  In the day in which we live there are many people who claim to be Christian, claim to be Protestant, church people, believe in the Bible, people who believe in a God who created the world, that Christ came and died and rose again and is coming back.  All of it is intellectual knowledge but not a deep conviction in the heart.  These women were such an influence on this young boy growing up.  They had such a personal experience that God was real to them.  Not only a real conviction in their own lives but a faith that was communicated to Timothy.  They could speak of it because they had it themselves.  They maybe could have taught him many things but that would never have brought him to the conviction of sin.  They communicated their faith to Timothy.  What a responsibility we have to our children not just to put food on the table, clothes on their backs, to take them to all the organisations – our responsibility is to see them moulded and directed to the word of God.  It is like a young sapling tree.  When it is young it can be moulded, shaped and it will remain that way for life.  When it gets to maturity you cannot mould it, it becomes too strong.  When it comes to people most people have come to Christ at an early age because of the influence of a godly mother.  We have that responsibility to our children, they are given to us by God.  When Hannah went to Shiloh to pray God gave her Samuel and she replied “for this child I have asked of God.”(1 Samuel 1 verse 27)  Samuel was a  special gift from God to Hannah.  If God has given us children with them comes the responsibility to see they are directed in the things of God.  The influence towards Christ - kept away from the world and its evil influences.  We see from this incident an influence of the women of God.

Notice Paul also spoke of the impact of the word of God.  “Thou hast known the holy scriptures.”  It is the only means, set apart because it tells us the way of salvation.  This is the purpose of the holy scriptures, to make us wise unto salvation, to show us the way to God, to heaven, to know it and to experience the reality of God in our lives.  Verse 16 states “all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.”  The impact of the word of God on this young man’s life.  The Bible tells us we have gone wrong, reproofs us from our sin.  “The wages of sin is death.”(Romans 6 verse 23)  Every man shall die from his own sin.  “Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned.”(Romans 5 verse 12)  God cannot allow sin into heaven.  We will never be there until sin is dealt with, until we come to hear the word of God.  God will reprove and rebuke you through the word of God.  Have you felt God troubling you about your sin?  Maybe you memorised the scriptures as a child and now it is becoming real.  The Bible is not only given for reproof but also correction.  It tells us about the Lord “he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”(Isaiah 53 verse 5)  God has provided the way for our sin to be forgiven.  John tells us of Jesus.  “He came unto his own and his own received him not.  But as many as received him, to them gave he the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.”(John 1 verses 11 and 12)  You can know the faith Lois and Eunice knew in their heart not just an intellectual faith but the real experience of God in your heart.  It is only at the cross, by coming to Christ.  “If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”(1 John 1 verse 9)  God instructs us day by day how to live, he doesn’t leave us, he is always with us through the journey of life.

The importance of the work of God.  Timothy had a good mother and grandmother, we don’t know anything about his father, perhaps he was Greek.  Maybe he was a believer, maybe not.  It was not enough for Timothy.  He had to have the personal work of God in his own life.  He knew the experience in his own life.  That is why he ended up where he was, that is why he went out to preach, to do the work of an evangelist.  Paul was able to say ‘I am ready to go but I am glad I have a young man coming after me.’  In this work some of the original members have gone home to the Lord, those who are here are moving on to eternity but God is looking for young men and women to continue the work of God in this place.  If there are those in our congregation who want to do the best for our families it would be best for them to get to know God and then communicate God to their children.  Perhaps you are a young person who knows about the faith in your father and mother but you do not know the reality of it in your own life.

A decision to be made

Notes from a sermon heard on 3 March 2013 (pm)

JEREMIAH 42 VERSES 1 – 12

Whenever we are looking here at this chapter we are going back many centuries.  It was a difficult day in the life of Israel, dark and fearful time, a difficult time to live in.  There are many similarities to the situation we find ourselves in today.  It is all about a nation that has come to a crisis point, a crossroads.  A nation that has to make up its mind, a decision to make.  Maybe you have come to a serious crossroads, a road to take.  That is where this nation found themselves in verse 3.  They were eager to know the way of God.  Is there a hunger, a burden in your soul to know what God would have to say to you?  To what direction God would turn your heart to?  Consider the words Christ spoke “him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.”  There is an open way to Christ.

First of all think of the confession that is straight.  Chapter 41 gives the background.  The Babylonian king had invaded the nation and it hadn’t happened before.  He is happy to carry away the Northern part of Israel but now makes incision into the Southern parts.  He puts a young man governor to rule over the affairs.  Another man Ishmael was a callous man, deceitful man who comes against the government and puts him to death.  There is a change in circumstances now.  Up until this time things were going well.   There was trouble ahead.  This young man had been taken off the throne of Israel.  Now we find this nation, where are they turning to?  To the prophet Jeremiah.  We are in a difficult place here.  We want you to go and placate the throne room of heavenly grace for us.  To see what way God would have us get out of this situation.  We are talking about eternity tonight – where your soul will be not only this night, next week but a million years from now.  When we come to that place of death it is not the end.  The grave is not the closing point of our lives.  The body will go to dust but the soul lives on and goes out into God’s eternity.  There are 2 places for that soul – place with Christ which he has prepared for all those who trust him and follow after him.  There is another place prepared for the devil and all his angels.  There is a decision to be made.  Straight talking.  Your soul is too precious to miss out.  ”What shall it profit a man if he should gain the whole world and lose his own soul?”  You soul can be lost.  Make no mistake about that.  People came with straight talking and went to Jeremiah "will you ask the Lord what way we should travel?"  Isn’t it wonderful how circumstances of life makes changes.  Enoch was a man who didn’t die.  The Lord took him before that.  His life was ordinary until one day a child was born into his home.  Something happened as a result of that birth.  He had the responsibility of a little child coming into his home.  He was transformed.  He began to walk with God.  Was there a moment when something like that happened in your life?  Was there a moment when you invited the Lord into your heart and life?  When you flung open your hearts door and asked the Lord to come into your life?  It is as real as opening the latch of a door and stepping in.  Have you ever done that?  In 2 Kings 4 we read of widow woman.  Her life was going on so well, her husband was bringing in the money and her children were growing up.  One day her husband died and with that her circumstances changed.  She fled to the man of God and she pleaded with him.  Are your circumstances changing?  Here was a people whose confession was straight.  "Jeremiah we don’t know what to do, we don’t know what God would have us to do."  Here were a people confessing they were lost.  That is the first step of getting saved – to confess we are lost.  They were afraid of this king of Babylon and didn’t know what way to turn.  The Lord knows all about our fears and doubts.  Sometimes God will settle the storm for the child but sometimes God allows the storm to settle the child.  Maybe you are in a storm.  Maybe you have not come to Christ.  People confessing and it was straight.  They were ready to admit they were lost.  No substitute to forsaking our sin although we need to be ready to step away from it too.  “If we confess our sin he is just and faithful to forgive us all our sins and he will cleanse us from all iniquity.” 

Notice a course to be sought.  They said to Jeremiah in verse 3 “pray for us, ask the Lord to show us the way.”  God’s way cannot be found by way of intellect.  Cornelius in Acts was on his knees, he wanted to know his sins forgive, to know he was on his way to haven and home.  That everything was right between him and his God.  He prayed that day.  The angel of the Lord came from the presence of God and stood beside him.  He told Cornelius what to do, 'send down to Joppa and there’s a man called Peter there and when he comes into you he will tell you words whereby you must be saved.'  The angels know nothing of redemption.  Peter came up and opened up the word of God.  As he preached the Holy Spirit came down and converted Cornelius and his family.  As the preacher preaches the word of God that is all he can do.  It takes the Holy Spirit to touch our hearts.  If you are beginning to see him, how he died on Calvary and are longing to get right with God it is not the preachers doing that but the Holy Spirit is beginning to open up that heart of yours, to show you your need of salvation, to show you the one who died to save your soul.  Is that happening for you tonight?  God is at work.  "It is not by might nor by my power but my Spirit saith the Lord."  There’s something happening.  Man has mapped his way through the darkest foreign continents, covered lands hidden for years, has sent rockets into space, stood on the moon but there is one thing he cannot do – find his way to heaven without Jesus.  When the Lord spoke to his disciples in John 14 knowing the cross was before him and he was leaving this earthly scene he said to them “let not your heart be troubled ye believe in God believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions if it were not so I would have told you so.  I am going back to prepare a place for you, whither I go the way ye know.”  Thomas was standing and he doubted “we know not whether thou goes how can we know the way?”  Here’s a people here and they have a confession straight and a course they are seeking.  

There is a caution here that is very serious.  Verse 4 “I have heard you; behold, I will pray unto the Lord your God according to your words  and it shall come to pass that whatsoever thing the Lord shall answer you, I will declare it unto you; I will keep nothing back from you”.  He was being sure they could handle the truth.  When we know the way to heaven and home, that we can get to it by confession of sin he will forgive us every sin.  The next step is to respond.  When we confess we walk away from sin, leave it behind us then we believe.  I am trusting in thee.  A little ship got into difficulty along the Cornish coast.  A rescue ship came alongside the floundering ship.  The order was given to abandon ship.  One by one the crew began to abandon the ship.  All but 1 man and he clung to the side of the faltering ship.  The cargo on the ship was so precious.  He wanted to do everything in his power to make sure the ship stayed afloat.  Down went the ship and he with it.  Will you abandon the way you are going?  Will you turn and seek the Saviour?  Jeremiah said be sure you can handle the truth.  When the rich young ruler came he asked the question “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”  He turned away when he heard the response.  Why?  Because he couldn’t take what Jesus said to him.  If you are not saved will you come to Christ, abandon everything you have depended on over the years, start for heaven and home.  Here’s a people who had their minds made up.  Maybe you have your mind made up that you are not going to be saved.

A courage here that was simple.  Verses 10 and 11.  They had their minds made up,   They were prepared to go down into Egypt for safety but they found out what God wanted.  They said “no we are going down any way.”  Maybe for you you are saying “I know what you are saying is right and true but you know I cannot give up the church, give up the way I have been working these past 40 years, everything I hold dear.”  You are prepared to cling on to the last moment and perish for all eternity.  When you could come to the cross and turn from your sin, believe on the Lord and be gloriously saved.

Having a vision and venturing forth for God

Notes from a sermon heard on 3 March 2013

Act 16 verses 1 – 10

In this chapter we see the apostle Paul and Barnabas going forth.  God can use very little to do great things.  He is able to use that which we give to him.  Here we find these 2 going out on a missionary journey, they have a longing for souls in their hearts.  The apostle Paul was going forward.

The vision he had.  The Acts of the Apostles should really be the Acts of the Holy Spirit working through the lives of men and women, individuals like you and I.  The Spirit took someone like you or I for the extension of his kingdom.  He does use it.  We don’t understand it but never the less he does it.  The vision Paul has.  We read in chapter 15 about the missionary outlook Paul had.  Verse 36 “where we have preached the word of the Lord and see how they do.”  In other words 'let’s go back and visit those places where we preached the word of God.'  Can we say 'let’s go back and visit that person we spoke to the other week, told them about the Lord Jesus Christ?'  Is there anybody I could say I am going back to?  This is missionary outlook.  He wanted others to hear the message he had heard, to come to this saving faith he had come to.  When Paul met the Lord on the road to Damascus God did something for him that would change his life.  That is what God does.  He changes our lives.  The moment we are saved we are changed.  When you look back in your life the things you loved, were content in, you wouldn’t be content in them now.  The moment God saved us there was a change in our hearts.  God gives us a new heart and we become a different person.  He will change us totally.  God puts new desires in our heart.  This man wanted to see others getting what he had.  Remember when in front of King Agrippa, there was a time when he was listening to Paul just declaring what God could do for his heart and soul.  Agrippa was in a real dilemma and he told Paul “almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.”  Maybe you could say “almost”.  Maybe you know there was a time when you were almost saved just like Agrippa.  Agrippa listened with a heavy heart but Paul replied “I would to God that now not only thou Agrippa but also all that hear me this day would be almost and altogether such as I am except these bounds.”  Acts 26 verse 29.  Romans 10 Paul bears his soul for the nation “my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved.”  What a longing, what a heart.  Here in Acts 15 he says to Barnabas “let’s go back again.”  He had a desire in his heart, a longing in his heart.  He thought that maybe the tempter had got in and they had been taken away.  He had a passion for souls.  He had plenty of time for people in that place.  We need to be going out and bringing them in, gathering them in, praying and seeking God for souls.  You and I need to have that same passion and desire to see the work of God going on.  To be not just a member but a soul winner.  Remember Andrew when he met Christ one day.  His first thought was to share the message with Peter his brother.  He told Peter “Here’s the Messiah, he is the one who claims to have come into the world to save everyone.”  We need to reach our families for God.  Remember the young man out in the tombs who couldn’t go out of that place because of the demon possession.  One day he met Christ.  He wanted to go with Christ and follow him but Jesus told him to go back to his own town, to his own family and friends and tell them of the great things God had done for him.  The woman at the well, when the Lord dealt with her, she left her water pot, her home, her sinful past, relationship with a man who was not her husband, she left everything and went out to the surrounding towns and country to tell them about what God had done for her.  C T Studd said “O that God would give you and me a vision.”

The void that Paul faced.  In verses 6, 7 and 8 we read that the places Paul visited were closed to him.  What had happened?  Look back to chapter 15 and verses 36 – 40.  Paul and Barnabas did not leave together.  There was a dispute over a young man called John Mark.  Barnabas wanted to take him with them but Paul said no because he deserted us before.  A dispute arose between the 2 and they parted company., they went their own ways.  Barnabas took John Mark and Paul took Silas.  As they arrived at these places we read – verse 6 “were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word” and in verse 7 “but the Spirit suffered them not.”  Paul knew in his heart that he was going to Asia but the Spirit said no.  That was why there was no blessing.  Paul didn’t go away with bad blood, with a chip on his shoulder though.  Maybe you are at a place today and God is closing doors on you.  Maybe things are not moving quickly enough for you.  The devil is perhaps pointing to something in your past.  You are not receiving the blessing of God, we need to be careful we don’t run before the Lord.  Saul the first king of Israel God left him down before the Philistines waiting for Samuel to come and offer a sacrifice.  There he was waiting for Samuel.  The Philistines were gathering so Saul decided to do something.  He slew an animal and made a burnt sacrifice.  He shouldn’t have done it.  Maybe we are thinking God is not moving fast enough and we think we should move quickly into a particular area but it is not God’s will.

The voice that Paul heard – verse 9.  Do you hear the cry of precious souls today, going into a Christless lost eternity?  Do we hear it?  There was Paul wondering which road to go.  God was closing doors all around him then God opened a door.  A man from Macedonia in his vision was asking him to come and visit, show us Paul how we can be saved.  Paul heard that cry.  Do we hear that today?  We need to take care today.  Have we heard the call from Christ?  We need to get into the habit of winning souls.

The venture that Paul takes.  Notice the 2 words in verse 10 - “immediately” and “assuredly”.  The team went off with great assurance.  John Wesley had a vision in the 1700’s.  When the church doors were being closed down he preached a message of saving grace and sanctification in the spirit.  No-one wanted to hear it.  “The world is my parish” he said.  C T Studd prayed about China but nothing happened.  Then he prayed “take my life and let it be consecrated Lord to thee.”  His vision never materialised until he ventured out.  Our vision will never materialise until we move, lay our all on the altar for Christ.  Nehemiah came to Jerusalem  with God’s word burning in his heart.  Peter came to the house of Cornelius with God’s word burning in his heart.

The victories that Paul saw.  Lydia and the Philippian jailer and his family came to know Christ as Lord and Saviour as a direct result of Paul going to Macedonia.  If you are willing to go through with God today what would you do?  Would you go on with him to see this vision, see this call and do what you can for the extension of God's kingdom?.