A Complete Change

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Everything’s all right

Or, for the older folk among us, “It is well, it is well, with my soul”.

How can we sit in our church pews and sing those songs when everything is definitely NOT well with the world? How many of us even bother to connect with some of the people for whom everything is all wrong?

There are millions of people for whom a single meal per day would be a luxury, and a roof over their heads is a dream. There are those who are afraid to go to their homeland, and those who are being daily attacked by the prince of Persia[1].

How many of us will go home from church today to a sumptuous Sunday lunch, completely ignoring the millions to whom Sunday is just another day, because they do not have the saving knowledge of Jesus in their lives?

We need to get off our comfortable church pews, and onto our knees, to pray for these people. How will we know about their needs? Why don’t we make personal contact with some of these people, and listen to what they go through every day? Use the internet; use Yahoo Messenger or similar; get out there, and chat to them in the Christian chat rooms on Yahoo. I guarantee that you will not come out of there unscathed.

Yet all the talking and all the praying in the world is not going to get a single meal into their bellies or a roof over their heads. To make that happen, action is needed from people in the western world to reach out with material assistance to those who through no fault of their own, are not able to eat and sleep the way we do.

As James says: If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? James 2:15 It is my opinion that even prayer and fasting is not enough when we are able to render assistance to these people, but are unwilling to put ourselves out for them.

Yes, I know of the many aid organisations that are out there giving assistance to third world countries, but at the end of the day, how much of the money which is given to them actually gets used to help the people to whom the funds are supposed to be directed.

I can hear you say, “If I give to someone directly, how will I know they’re not ripping me off?” I say to you, put your trust in the Lord, and let Him take care of that situation. Yes, it is going to cost you, but think of the prise: through your caring attitude, you will have helped another person to make it through another day. Even if you can’t assist them financially, you can connect with them and give them comfort, an ear to listen to them, and another person to share their prayer life. I tell you from personal experience, that there is nothing more satisfying than to be able to team up with someone in a third world country, and pray with them, and share our Christian walk with them. They get great comfort and spiritual uplifting from that.

I challenge you today to get out there, and connect with someone who is financially challenged, or spiritually in the doldrums because of their situation. You will make a difference.

May God bless you all.

[1]. Daniel 10:13 The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days, but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I was left there with the kings of Persia.

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If I can’t love myself, how can I love my neighbour?

The two commandments that Jesus left with us are these:

(Matthew 22:37-40) And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

Often, that last command is the one which causes us much grief. We find it so very difficult to love another person, be quite a few of us cannot love ourselves! We are so disgusted with ourselves because of things we’ve done or things that have been done to us that we find ourselves unable to forgive ourselves, let alone forgive our brother or our neighbour.

Jesus said that unless we forgive our brother or neighbour, our heavenly Father cannot forgive us (Matthew 6:15). So, we need to work on a way to be able to forgive ourselves.

Please remember that the forgiveness that Jesus bought at such a great price when He died for us on the cross was for you and me.

If God in His infinite love can forgive us, we must accept that love and forgiveness, and therefore forgive ourselves. There is no sin that we commit (except one) which Jesus’ blood did not wash completely away. It is Jesus’ love for us that provided us with this forgiveness.

Love, I hear you say. That’s what got me into this mess in the first place.

The love that Jesus offers, however, does not depend on anything that we can do. His love is available to us even if we can’t love ourselves. Jesus’ love is all about giving. It is about Him giving all He had for us, to make us acceptable to God the Father. The love that gets us into trouble is all about what I can get out of it. That sort of love doesn’t give anything, but takes everything, and very quickly it takes away our self-respect. Then when we can no longer look ourselves in the eye, we find ourselves not only being unable to love our brother and neighbour, but having difficulty loving God also. Loving ourselves went out the window with our self-respect.

Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Paul adds: “Of whom I am the worst”. Paul would have had every reason to doubt the love of God. He had persecuted and killed many of the members of the first century church. Paul could have said to himself, “There’s no way God will love me after what I have done”, but did he? Emphatically No! Quite the opposite. He proclaimed the love of God to anyone who would listen to him. Are you worse than Paul? I doubt it. Can Jesus’ love change your life? Most definitely! Can Jesus’ love change the way you think about yourself? It can if you choose to allow Him into your heart.

Do you want to change the way you’re living now? Do you want to be rid of the fear, the loathing, the nightmares, and the disgust with yourself? Paul did. You can too. Look at what Paul went on to do with his life. You too can do great things once you are re-powered by the Holy Spirit.

If you want to change, you only need to do one thing. Here’s what Paul said to the jailer at Philippi:

(Acts 16:31) And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”

There is no reason to fear rejection. Jesus never rejects anyone who comes to Him to ask for forgiveness and to ask for His love. He always gives it.

“Lord Jesus, I have messed up my life, and allowed others to mess it up even more. Please help me by giving me the new life that you promised to those who love you”

Listen:

(1 Corinthians 13:4-8) (God’s) Love is patient and kind; (God’s) love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.
(God’s) Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (God’s) Love never ends.

May God bless you all.

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Have you forgotten?

Have you forgotten why Jesus, the son of God came down to this world?

Have you forgotten the state you were in before you accepted the sacrifice He made for you, which He freely offered?

Have you forgotten that you were DEAD IN YOUR TRESPASSES AND SIN?

(Colossians 2:13-14) When you were stuck in your old sin-dead life, you were incapable of responding to God. God brought you alive–right along with Christ! Think of it! All sins forgiven, the slate wiped clean, that old arrest warrant cancelled and nailed to Christ’s Cross.

Have you forgotten that he bore the sadism and the pain of the crucifixion, just so you could have eternal life without cost?

(1 Peter 2:24) He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

Have you forgotten that all the world must be taught that they, too are not just sick, but they are DEAD?

Have you forgotten where they will go if we do not tell the world that Jesus lives for them?

(Matthew 8:11-12) I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Have you forgotten?

Don’t wanna stand here and shout Your praise
And walk away and forget Your Name
I stand for You if that’s all I do
‘Cause there is none that compares to You

‘Cause all I want in this lifetime is You
And all I want in this whole world is You

Tell the world that Jesus lives
Tell the world that
Tell the world that
Tell the world that He died for them
Tell the world that He lives again

No longer I but Christ in me
‘Cause it’s the truth that set me free
How could this world be a better place
But by Thy mercyBy Thy grace

C’mon c’mon We’ll tell the world about You
C’mon c’mon We’ll tell the world about You

(Tell the World. By Jonathon Douglass, Joel Houston and Marty Sampson)
((c) Hillsong Australia)

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Go out… where?

(Acts 1:8) But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Jesus said these words to his disciples just before he ascended into heaven. It is similar to the great commission in Matthew 28, but is much more specific about where the disciples were to go, and in what order.

The sequence was important.. In some ways, the toughest customers were dealt with first. Those in Jerusalem were the hardest to convince. They were firmly entrenched in the Jewish traditions. They were harder to convince, also, because the disciples were known to them.

Where does that fit in with our own ministry? Jerusalem is the equivalent of our own family, and indeed, our own heart. If we cannot or will not be a witness to our own family, bringing our children, our wives, and husbands to a saving knowledge and fear of the Lord, then we have failed before we have rightly begun. How can we be a witness even to our neighbour, if we have not been able to teach our children about the love of God, and the salvation that He so freely offers us? To teach our family members, we must first be right with God ourselves. If we do not know that God is a loving God, and that Jesus, God’s Son died to give us salvation, how can we ever convince our children? All our preaching would be meaningless. Perhaps it would not be fruitless, because God will choose to use any means available to preach the Gospel.

The next layer to be reached by the disciples was Judea; Judea, the land of the common people. The disciples were known there. While the traditions had less hold, and maybe they were easier to convince, still there was the cry, like that about Jesus:

(Matthew 13:54-57) and coming to his hometown he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” And they took offence at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honour except in his hometown and in his own household.”

For the disciples’ preaching to be successful in Judea, they needed to be able to demonstrate that they really were dedicated followers of Christ. They had to break through the barrier of tradition, and of familiarity.

Our Judea is our local community; our street, our workplace, our clubs, and yes, our church. These places are where we are well known, and where, if we don’t live up to what we believe in, we will get the most ridicule. These people are hard to convince, because some of them have watched us grow up, and have maybe seen our faults, our mistakes. Yet these are the people who we must not turn our backs on. These people can be reached by our love and our community spirit, not only by our preaching. These people will respond best to being shown how it is done, by walking the walk, as well as talking the talk. We may not ignore these people, because they can become our backup and support for the next layer of outreach.

Ah, yes, Samaria. The people who the Jews loved to hate, because they believed that they had let the side down by intermarrying with the nations around them. They were of the Jewish race, but definitely not part of the community. They were the outcasts, left to their own devices, and preferably ignored. They were not to be associated with, but Jesus broke that unwritten rule, when he talked to the Samaritan woman at the well.

(John 4:5-9) So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour. There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)

So where is our Samaria? Who are the outcasts that we would rather not preach to? Who would we rather not associate with? I’m sure we could think of a few, and each of us would probably have a different list. Prisoners, homeless people, people with drinking or drugs problems, people with higher or lower social standing than us. The list is almost endless. Jesus preached to them.

(Luke 19:10) For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

(Mark 2:16-17) And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

So too, we must reach out to these people, with kindness, and with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They’re not different from us. We too were lost in trespasses and sin, before we were called by his grace to be followers of Christ.

Once we have organised ourselves to reach the three groups of people already mentioned, some of us can be qualified to take the salvation of Jesus to the rest of the world. Not all of us, by any means. Not all are called to bring the gospel into a diverse multi-cultural environment that is outside the borders of our own country. There is a huge amount of preparation to be done before we can venture out there into the world. Preparation of ourselves, preparation of our support group, preparation of our families is essential. All need to be trained in the task they will do in the larger scheme of world missions. Rarely does a missionary go out without some sort of support from home, and without long periods of preparation.

The apostle Paul was a good example of this. He certainly did not blunder out among the gentiles straight after he was converted on the road to Damascus. He spent about twelve years in preparation, part of that time in the church at Antioch which hadn’t been formed yet when Paul was converted. After all his preparation, Paul was sent out from that church with their blessing and their support, and also with a partner.

I know some of us would love to go out into the world to preach the gospel, but are we ready? Do we have our other layers secured and ready? Are we ready within ourselves? Have we gone through the procedure as shown us by Jesus? Have we preached in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, so that we are ready to preach to all the world? If not, we may well need to go back to square one, and humble ourselves in prayer before our Saviour, and ask him for guidance, and ask the Holy Spirit again to top us up with his fire.

May God bless you all.

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Why do the children suffer?

In memory of Ashley Taylor.

You know, I often hear the question, “How can you believe in a God that lets innocents and children suffer?”

Just today, I was told that Ashley Taylor, the niece of a friend, had died from cancer – osteosarcoma. Why does it happen to the little ones? Many people reject God because they see Him as allowing the innocents to suffer.

The God I believe in does not punish innocents. The bible says: (Romans 3:12) “All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” Are children capable of doing wrong? Certainly they are, but no-one would accuse them of being bad. No, the blame rests squarely on our shoulders. It is we who continue to do wrong, and the harsh consequences of what we do flow on to our children, and to those innocents we all love.

We could say: “If only Adam had chosen to do God’s will”, but that is not what happened, and wishing it were not so doesn’t change things.

What can and will change what happens to our loved ones is what we do about it in the here and now. If we conscientiously take up the call of God to do His will, we will change the future of our children. It is only by the way we live as an example to them that they will learn to trust the God we believe in. If we give a bad example, it will be that much more difficult for them to choose to do God’s will when it is time to make their own choices.

Going to church once a week is not enough! Living a Godly life is not a one-hour-a-week timeslot in a busy life. It means a 24/7 commitment to God, allowing Him to control what we do, and how we act; how we speak; how we live.

Do I hear a groan? Yes it’s hard. Hard? It is virtually impossible. It is only by the grace of God and the working of the Holy Spirit that we can come close to doing any part of God’s will. By ourselves, we fail completely. There is only one way for us to know and do what He wants, and that is to be in constant communication with Him. He is our creator. If we’re in doubt, we need to refer to the handbook… the user’s manual, which He has made available… the bible.

Will all this bring Ashley back? No it won’t. I believe that it will give comfort to her family just knowing that she is now with our Lord and Saviour, enjoying a pain-free life with Him. Her family is left behind to grieve. It is not bad to grieve; Jesus did that when he was at the grave of Lazarus. (John 11:35-36) Jesus wept. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” Yet I believe Jesus was not only weeping because of His love for Lazarus, but because He knew that he was going to need to call Lazarus back to die all over again!

What a tragedy! Many would love to have Ashley back to be with them. I didn’t know her, but I believe she would have been like many other 7 year old girls, sweet, playful, silly, loving. But just think about where she is now. All her child-like vivaciousness is now turned to her Saviour and Lord, Jesus Christ. Can you see it? I can. Jesus loves little children. He said: (Matthew 19:14) …Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.“

There are many who will grieve for Ashley, and many will ask that question, “Why?” For those of us who have found our answers in the comfort that comes from believing in Jesus Christ, it is our duty, and joy to pray for the ones who doubt, and who disbelieve.

God’s angels are charged with looking after our children. Jesus said: (Matthew 18:10) “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven”. For the sake of the little ones: (Acts 16:31) And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.“

Let’s give our children a right start in life. Give them the knowledge of God that they may make an educated decision when time comes for them to make the choice between doing God’s will or not. Let us not be responsible for their demise. (Mark 9:42) “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea”.

Remember: we are responsible before God for our children. I know I have rejoiced because my daughters chose to follow Him. I hope you will be able to do that too.

May God bless you all.

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