Is there any limit to the kind of evil that man is capable of doing? We in Jamaica came face to face with that question this past week. And many others continue to do so around the world. Not being satisfied with "ordinary" murder, which continues unabated in the land, a group of teenagers went a step further this week, and dismembered another teen, much to the horror
of the entire nation - and we are past being shocked easily, having, "walked in the shadow of death", for so long. And to add insult to injury, a rumour was spread that the boy had also been sodomised. So much so, that when the autopsy results were released, the father was quick to point out, almost in relief, that no such thing happened. But his son was still very dead!
And while the nation grieved, it also held its collective breath, as another youngster was reported missing and a massive manhunt was carried out searching for a little girl, eleven years old, who did not come from school. Sadly that situation which remains unchanged as I write. Then this week news broke of the massive bomb blast in The Marriott Hotel in Pakistan's capital city, killing scores of people, including a female security guard leaving behind four, now motherless children.
Certainly mankind has been faced with evil throughout our existence: the civil war in Rwanda;the Holocaust in Germany; the slave trade out of Africa; Apartheid in South Africa, to name a few. But why would teenagers, hack to death, with machetes, another teenager? Why do people abduct children and either kill, them or demand money in exchange for their lives? Why do fanatics main and kill innocent people in their quest for revenge or what they consider
" justice"?
Those are serious questions that as a nation and as a world we grapple with. But there are even more profound questions that we need to pose to ourselves. Are we capable of carrying out such heinous crimes? Do we have it within us to inflict such pain on another human being and his or her family, given the "right " circumstances? What makes us different? And are we that far removed when we hurt others with our deadly barbs, lies, malicious rumours, and snide remarks? Are we that different when we allow anger, bitterness, and a sense of vengeance to dominate our thoughts? Is there any less pain in the heart of wife or husband, when, after many years of conjugal bliss, unfaithfulness rudely - or some other activity which affects the relationship - interrupts the joy of marriage, because there is no physical abuse? Is 'consensual' sex with a young foolish, easily influenced and needy, teenager worse than rape? Is pornography a private matter or does it, " fly the gate and let in the pirates", in a home and in a community? Does internecine fighting and squabbles, name calling, the hurling of insults, the assassination of character, within and between political parties remain in that arena, or are there consequences for the wider society? Is there an element of greed in the meltdown of the US financial markets, and what does that say about how individual economic decisions can affect an entire nation and in fact the whole world? Finally as we reflect on these things, are thoughts, though unwelcome and unprovoked, and not acted upon, just as bad?
So, from whence cometh all this evil, which cannot be constrained, restrained or privatized, but works through every facet of life, once released, to affect the nation, the community, the homes, the mind with potential and very real, devastating consequences?
As these questions float into my mind, based on the events which took place locally and internationally this week, it cannot be a coincidence that the Lord provided a meditation on Temptation for my reflections and which answers, in some measure some of the questions posed.
TEMPTATION'S ADVERSARY CHRIS TIEGEN SEPT. 2
" Lead us not into temptation". Luke 11:4
IN WORD Temptation is a struggle for all who have ever tried to live a godly life. Godliness doesn't come naturally to us, and we are constantly tempted with what does: ambition, lusts,
bad habits, self interest, conflicts and more. The natural self is much harder to live with once we have decided not to follow it anymore. It just won't go away. Most of us will go through stretches when we can successfully subdue it. But those stretches don't last. We give out, and the sinful nature is still there. All we have to do is let down our guard and relax for a minute, and it quickly reminds us of the old thing it offers us.
Much of " Christian living" literature tries to address this problem. We are encouraged to starve the sinful nature, ignore it, talk back to the devil who feeds it, beat it into submission, and more.
These can all be helpful and effective techniques. But there is another that should come before all of them. We should ask God to lead us away from tempting situations. We often determine to subdue the flesh and then live in a climate that cultivates it. We decide to abandon lust, but watch programmes that provoke it. We decide to break a habit of food or drink or other substance, but we do not rid our environment of that substance. We want to starve the flesh, but we don't really want to.
IN DEED Jesus gives us an acceptable - even commanded - model prayer. Ask God to lead you away from temptation. Cooperate with Him. Ask yourself why can you be so embracing of temptation and be so hesitant in faith, when it really should be the other way around. The deceitfulness of the sinful nature is subtle. The only effective counterattack is a firm " no" and an appeal for divine assistance. It's OK to ask for that; Jesus tells us to. Don't hide your temptations from the One who is glad to oppose them. Point them out and let Him steer you away.
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As I reflected on the events of this week in church this morning, the joy of taking part in Holy Communion was very special. I pondered deeply on the fact that, in Christ Jesus, in the act of remembering His death and Resurrection, in taking part in His Body and His Blood, and in
" seeing Him face to face", in the Holy Sacrament, all of my sins, every single one of them, done or left undone, every action or every unwanted evil thought, was washed away. And further, because the Spirit of Christ is being formed in me, more and more each day, so too, the power to resist temptation. It was a very liberating thought and I wondered, why were people so reluctant to enjoy this fellowship with Christ and so find rest for their souls, and escape from the evil which is so pervasive in the land and has the potential to lead one into all kind strange behaviour.
No doubt this is why the words from the following hymn came into my mind this week, and I had to Google it, as only the first line of the third verse came to mind.
The King of love my Shepherd is,
Whose goodness faileth never;
I nothing lack if I am his
And he is mine forever.........
Perverse and foolish oft I strayed,
but yet in love he sought me.
And on his shoulder gently laid,
And home rejoicing brought me.....
The great reality of life is that though because of our sinful nature, foolish though we are, we continue to stray. But according to Jonah, in the OT reading for today, " God who is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger an abounding in love, and who relent from sending calamity", is always calling us back to Himself in Christ Jesus to forgive us of our foolish ways. The sad thing in my view, is that so many people continue to resist opening themselves up to the God to whom "all hearts are open and all desires known". Who continue to resist the call to repentance, and through whom then, the evil that abounds in the land, continues to bring weeping and much pain, as sin is not a private matter, but one which wreaks havoc across the entire land. And if we as Christians have such a hard time dealing with the temptations caused by sin, how much more difficult it is when there is no God Almighty to rescue those who do not call upon His name in truth, and thus protect the land from it's consequences.
Let us then renew our efforts to be faithful in worship and in our private devotions so that the Christ Who is being formed in us more and more each day, will enable us to pray to the Father, to lead us away from temptation, and to share the good news with others, for the glory of God, and the rescue of our nation.
This is the essence of the message contained in verse in the Psalm for today and which struck me most forcibly. It is best read using the NIV:
" One generation will will commend your works to another".
Psalm 145: 4
Amen.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Bless the Lord O my soul; let all that is within me bless his holy name. Now we can celebrate Bolt.
Two things left indelible impressions on me this week. The return of Usain Bolt - our super athlete. And a deeper understanding, based on my own experience, of the pervasiveness of the culture of vengeance and reprisal in our society. It's not just a " downtown thing", and it is by far, the biggest contributor to the frightening spectre of crime and violence in our nation. The sad, if not ironic reality, is that these two seemingly quite different issues are not unrelated. What's the evidence?
They came from near and far, waited in the sun and then in the rain, on a work day, in fact the first day of the week, to catch, even a glimpse of " king Bolt". Perhaps even to touch the" hem of his garment". And he did get a few scratches. Even the Prime Minister was not to be outdone in paying homage to this "son of the soil", who, by his exploits on the track in Beijing, placed our small and important country firmly on the world stage - once again. So he greeted Usain on the tarmac at the airport, and at one stage pandemonium broke out, as the crowd surged forward, breaking all protocol, in their desire and determination to see and to touch this remarkable young man.
Celebrating our sporting heroes is nothing new in Jamaica and the West Indies. I still remember the joy of going to Sabina Park to watch the West Indies Cricket team thrash the visitors - be they Indians, Pakistanis, or the Englishmen. And we would stay up all night, when our team was playing " down under" in Australia and especially if Garfield Sobers was at the crease. I even recall, as a young sports fan, and a professional, leaving work early one evening, to go home and drown my sorrows, when Brazil exited the World Cup finals prematurely. And it was not, and that practice continues, unusual for two of my former Rectors to announce the cricket score in church, if the match was "delicately poised". Certainly when Asafa ran his first sub ten seconds 100 metres at our national Stadium, I was there. And so was I earlier in the year, when he and Bolt clashed at our trials, and the girls gave a hint of what was to happen in Beijing, when the three "would be " medalists, shut out Veronica Campbell-Brown in the 100 M, and who up until then was considered our top performer over that distance.
So even though I am a time honoured sporting fan, and not a "waggonist", I could not help but reflect on the fact, that so many Jamaicans, would quite rightly, " pull out all the stops", to honorthis young superstar, on a workday, but would never consider, even on a day of rest, paying honor, and giving glory to the King of all Kings, and their Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
I was so disturbed by my reflections that I send out a text message to that effect, to many of the folks on my cell phone directory. One wit, and a relative, suggested, in jest, that perhaps the King, should send down " bolts of lightening" on these people. And as I write, I am thinking that we should not make those kinds of jokes when the Hurricane season is not yet finished.
Then this week I was confronted on two separate occasions by the reality of the culture of vengeance and reprisals in my country. So much so that I sought audience and spent some time with my pastor discussing the issue, as he had recently devoted a sermon to this evil which is affecting the minds of our people and wreaking havoc on the nation, as " bloodshed follows bloodshed and the land mourns". So what's the connection between vengeance and reprisals and the " crowning of king Bolt"? The sad reality of life is that if we do not give God all the Glory and all the Praise, which belong to Him and Him alone, then we will be forever seeking to elevate ordinary, even extraordinary human beings, and worse of all, ourselves, as kings upon our hearts. Thus fulfilling one of the great observations of all times, that " the hearts of men are restless until they find rest in God". It is a restless heart which is an unforgiving heart and which moves so easily to seek revenge for real and even perceived wrong - " like the dissing of a mother, or father, or girlfriend, or community, or political leader or worse of all the "don". And the reality is that, it is not just the "wicked inner city misguided youths", who are manifesting this restless nature, thus leading to all kinds of anti-social behaviours. Yes they may have ready access to weapons of death, but the same murderous intentions are " alive and well" in the homes and communities of middle and upper class Jamaicans. In the hearts of children, siblings, lovers, adults, and leaders in all spheres of life.
And God, who is the God who alone knows the full extent of the condition of the human heart, drew my attention to the this unforgiving nature of man, in what should have been the Old Testament reading for this Sunday - they changed it for a special festival .
" The wrong a man does recoils on him, and he does not know where it has come from.
An arrogant man deals in mockery and insults, but retribution lies in wait for him like a lion.
Those who rejoice at the downfall of good men will be trapped and consumed with fire before they die.
Rage and anger, these also I abhor, but a sinner has them ready at hand.
The vengeful man will face the vengeance of the lord, who keeps strict accounts of his sins.
Forgive your neighbour his wrongdoing; then when you pray, your sins will be forgiven.
If a man harbours a grudge against another, is he to expect healing from the Lord?
If he has no mercy on his fellow-man, is he still to ask forgiveness for his own sins?
If a mere mortal cherishes rage, where is he to look for pardon.
Think of the end that awaits you, and have done with hate;
think of mortality and death, and be true to the commandments;
think of the commandments, and do not be enraged at your neighbour;
think of the covenant of the Most High, and overlook faults".
Ecclesiasticus 27:27-28:7
It is not often that I get to read the books of the Apocrypha, but having reflected deeply on this remarkable passage of Scripture, I was moved to send a message to the " movers and shakers" of this land, asking why have we disregarded such wisdom, why have we not placed a priority on teaching our people this kind of attitude and thus relieving our land of the suffering caused by vengeance? Yes by all means celebrate the exploits of " lightening" Bolt, VC ( Veronica Campbell-Brown), Melaine, Kerry-Ann and others, but for God's sake , and for the salvation of this land let us bow down and worship Him who died for all mankind on the Cross of Calvary.Let us give Him all the honor and praise. Let us come out in the rain and in the sunshine, let us travel from far and wide, let us bring our children and grandchildren, let us urge our leaders, our friends and neighbours to, come and worship God Almighty, the King of all Kings, on a Sunday morning or on a Sabbath - depending on your denomination.
The importance of giving God glory was also validated in a meditation I was led to read and contemplate this week - so much so that I have been singing, or making a joyful noise, all week " Hallowed be Thy name".
PRAYER AGENDA CHRIS TIEGEN AUGUST 26TH."
Father, hallowed be your name". Luke 11:2
IN WORD We fly by the words with little recognition of what they mean. We know they are about the glory of God, but they are a formality, a ritual part of a ritual prayer. Once we've said them -- or the whole prayer, for that matter -- we can get on with the real prayer, the real reason we are coming to God in the first place. We need something. The " hallowed" part acknowledges who He is before we acknowledge what we need. It's the proper protocol.
But wait. Why did Jesus start with this? Why is it the first line of His model prayer after that beautiful, comforting address to "Father"? And why, after starting with such intimate familiarity, does He go straight to this holy, formal language we have come to expect and ignore? " Father" is a good start to the prayer, but we lose Him soon after. We pray " hallowed be your name" much more often than we mean it.
So what does it mean? Obviously, it's about high and holy things, like the glory of God and bringing honor to His name. But what is Jesus trying to tell us with this ultra formal lead sentence? Could it be that this is somehow to be our emphasis in our praying?
Yes, Jesus is setting the agenda for us. When we pray, we are to begin with a clear statement that what we seek above all else is God's honor and and His kingdom. We're not here in this prayer conversation primarily for us, though we will surely benefit; we're here primarily for Him. We're setting our agenda by explicitly stating that we desire His. We bend our knees and bow our heads because there is something higher at stake here than our own desires du jour ( of the day).We must confess that our interests --as legitimate as they may be -- are consistent with the highest value in the universe: God's glory.
IN DEED Is this where your prayers begin? Not with that particular statement, necessarily, but with that attitude? It's an essential key in unlocking the mystery of prayer.
God's glory is the point of all creation. it should be the point of our prayers as well
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The original Psalm for this week, 103 encourages us to bless the Lord:
" Bless the Lord O my soul, and let all that is within me bless his holy name.
Bless the Lord O my soul and forget not all his benefits.
Who forgives all our iniquities; who heals all your diseases"
Ps. 103 1-3 KJV
This too should be our attitude, as it is only a heart which has elevated God to the highest place that will find favor with Jesus Christ. And it is only a heart in which Christ lives, that can be transformed and leave behind the murderous intentions of the vengeful, the wicked and the unforgiving, who are at the epicentre of the " storms of reprisals", which are destroying our people and affecting the wonderful work which our sports ambassadors are performing on behalf of our nation. Amen
They came from near and far, waited in the sun and then in the rain, on a work day, in fact the first day of the week, to catch, even a glimpse of " king Bolt". Perhaps even to touch the" hem of his garment". And he did get a few scratches. Even the Prime Minister was not to be outdone in paying homage to this "son of the soil", who, by his exploits on the track in Beijing, placed our small and important country firmly on the world stage - once again. So he greeted Usain on the tarmac at the airport, and at one stage pandemonium broke out, as the crowd surged forward, breaking all protocol, in their desire and determination to see and to touch this remarkable young man.
Celebrating our sporting heroes is nothing new in Jamaica and the West Indies. I still remember the joy of going to Sabina Park to watch the West Indies Cricket team thrash the visitors - be they Indians, Pakistanis, or the Englishmen. And we would stay up all night, when our team was playing " down under" in Australia and especially if Garfield Sobers was at the crease. I even recall, as a young sports fan, and a professional, leaving work early one evening, to go home and drown my sorrows, when Brazil exited the World Cup finals prematurely. And it was not, and that practice continues, unusual for two of my former Rectors to announce the cricket score in church, if the match was "delicately poised". Certainly when Asafa ran his first sub ten seconds 100 metres at our national Stadium, I was there. And so was I earlier in the year, when he and Bolt clashed at our trials, and the girls gave a hint of what was to happen in Beijing, when the three "would be " medalists, shut out Veronica Campbell-Brown in the 100 M, and who up until then was considered our top performer over that distance.
So even though I am a time honoured sporting fan, and not a "waggonist", I could not help but reflect on the fact, that so many Jamaicans, would quite rightly, " pull out all the stops", to honorthis young superstar, on a workday, but would never consider, even on a day of rest, paying honor, and giving glory to the King of all Kings, and their Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
I was so disturbed by my reflections that I send out a text message to that effect, to many of the folks on my cell phone directory. One wit, and a relative, suggested, in jest, that perhaps the King, should send down " bolts of lightening" on these people. And as I write, I am thinking that we should not make those kinds of jokes when the Hurricane season is not yet finished.
Then this week I was confronted on two separate occasions by the reality of the culture of vengeance and reprisals in my country. So much so that I sought audience and spent some time with my pastor discussing the issue, as he had recently devoted a sermon to this evil which is affecting the minds of our people and wreaking havoc on the nation, as " bloodshed follows bloodshed and the land mourns". So what's the connection between vengeance and reprisals and the " crowning of king Bolt"? The sad reality of life is that if we do not give God all the Glory and all the Praise, which belong to Him and Him alone, then we will be forever seeking to elevate ordinary, even extraordinary human beings, and worse of all, ourselves, as kings upon our hearts. Thus fulfilling one of the great observations of all times, that " the hearts of men are restless until they find rest in God". It is a restless heart which is an unforgiving heart and which moves so easily to seek revenge for real and even perceived wrong - " like the dissing of a mother, or father, or girlfriend, or community, or political leader or worse of all the "don". And the reality is that, it is not just the "wicked inner city misguided youths", who are manifesting this restless nature, thus leading to all kinds of anti-social behaviours. Yes they may have ready access to weapons of death, but the same murderous intentions are " alive and well" in the homes and communities of middle and upper class Jamaicans. In the hearts of children, siblings, lovers, adults, and leaders in all spheres of life.
And God, who is the God who alone knows the full extent of the condition of the human heart, drew my attention to the this unforgiving nature of man, in what should have been the Old Testament reading for this Sunday - they changed it for a special festival .
" The wrong a man does recoils on him, and he does not know where it has come from.
An arrogant man deals in mockery and insults, but retribution lies in wait for him like a lion.
Those who rejoice at the downfall of good men will be trapped and consumed with fire before they die.
Rage and anger, these also I abhor, but a sinner has them ready at hand.
The vengeful man will face the vengeance of the lord, who keeps strict accounts of his sins.
Forgive your neighbour his wrongdoing; then when you pray, your sins will be forgiven.
If a man harbours a grudge against another, is he to expect healing from the Lord?
If he has no mercy on his fellow-man, is he still to ask forgiveness for his own sins?
If a mere mortal cherishes rage, where is he to look for pardon.
Think of the end that awaits you, and have done with hate;
think of mortality and death, and be true to the commandments;
think of the commandments, and do not be enraged at your neighbour;
think of the covenant of the Most High, and overlook faults".
Ecclesiasticus 27:27-28:7
It is not often that I get to read the books of the Apocrypha, but having reflected deeply on this remarkable passage of Scripture, I was moved to send a message to the " movers and shakers" of this land, asking why have we disregarded such wisdom, why have we not placed a priority on teaching our people this kind of attitude and thus relieving our land of the suffering caused by vengeance? Yes by all means celebrate the exploits of " lightening" Bolt, VC ( Veronica Campbell-Brown), Melaine, Kerry-Ann and others, but for God's sake , and for the salvation of this land let us bow down and worship Him who died for all mankind on the Cross of Calvary.Let us give Him all the honor and praise. Let us come out in the rain and in the sunshine, let us travel from far and wide, let us bring our children and grandchildren, let us urge our leaders, our friends and neighbours to, come and worship God Almighty, the King of all Kings, on a Sunday morning or on a Sabbath - depending on your denomination.
The importance of giving God glory was also validated in a meditation I was led to read and contemplate this week - so much so that I have been singing, or making a joyful noise, all week " Hallowed be Thy name".
PRAYER AGENDA CHRIS TIEGEN AUGUST 26TH."
Father, hallowed be your name". Luke 11:2
IN WORD We fly by the words with little recognition of what they mean. We know they are about the glory of God, but they are a formality, a ritual part of a ritual prayer. Once we've said them -- or the whole prayer, for that matter -- we can get on with the real prayer, the real reason we are coming to God in the first place. We need something. The " hallowed" part acknowledges who He is before we acknowledge what we need. It's the proper protocol.
But wait. Why did Jesus start with this? Why is it the first line of His model prayer after that beautiful, comforting address to "Father"? And why, after starting with such intimate familiarity, does He go straight to this holy, formal language we have come to expect and ignore? " Father" is a good start to the prayer, but we lose Him soon after. We pray " hallowed be your name" much more often than we mean it.
So what does it mean? Obviously, it's about high and holy things, like the glory of God and bringing honor to His name. But what is Jesus trying to tell us with this ultra formal lead sentence? Could it be that this is somehow to be our emphasis in our praying?
Yes, Jesus is setting the agenda for us. When we pray, we are to begin with a clear statement that what we seek above all else is God's honor and and His kingdom. We're not here in this prayer conversation primarily for us, though we will surely benefit; we're here primarily for Him. We're setting our agenda by explicitly stating that we desire His. We bend our knees and bow our heads because there is something higher at stake here than our own desires du jour ( of the day).We must confess that our interests --as legitimate as they may be -- are consistent with the highest value in the universe: God's glory.
IN DEED Is this where your prayers begin? Not with that particular statement, necessarily, but with that attitude? It's an essential key in unlocking the mystery of prayer.
God's glory is the point of all creation. it should be the point of our prayers as well
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The original Psalm for this week, 103 encourages us to bless the Lord:
" Bless the Lord O my soul, and let all that is within me bless his holy name.
Bless the Lord O my soul and forget not all his benefits.
Who forgives all our iniquities; who heals all your diseases"
Ps. 103 1-3 KJV
This too should be our attitude, as it is only a heart which has elevated God to the highest place that will find favor with Jesus Christ. And it is only a heart in which Christ lives, that can be transformed and leave behind the murderous intentions of the vengeful, the wicked and the unforgiving, who are at the epicentre of the " storms of reprisals", which are destroying our people and affecting the wonderful work which our sports ambassadors are performing on behalf of our nation. Amen
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Christ died to make men holy: let us live to make men free
Following the excitement of the Olympics came the trials of Hurricane Gustav. When we recovered, it was back to the excitement of the US presidential race as is being played out on CNN. But even Barack Obama and Palin - where is McCain - took a backseat this week for the US Open , where we witnessed some amazing tennis from both Serena and her sister Venus Williams in the quarter finals - perhaps the best match they have ever played. And now, as I write, my wife and I just just finished watching the finals, and once again Serena reigned supreme, despite a gutsy performance from Jankovic. So what's next on the excitement trip?
Bolt's homecoming tomorrow, when no less than the Prime Minster will meet him on the tarmac at the airport! The Reggae Boyz trying to qualify for the World Cup in South Africa next year? The next holiday weekend coming up? Add to that the constant cell phone calls, the text messaging, and the e-mailing, the long hours at work. And I have not yet factored in spending quality time with family! Or music on the iPod in the car or on the computer - no, definitely not when I am exercising in the mornings!
What does this all add up to? This is one very busy world, and if we are not careful the constant demands on our time will not only overwhelm us, but more importantly set the tone for our relationship with God - just enough to get by.
So no doubt with all this excitement in the air the Lord led me to read two very important meditations. One about prayer - which is the foundation of out relationship with our Father in heaven. And the other about the role of a Christian in this world. The second one sets up the need for the first and so that one precedes the other.
KEEP WATCH AUGUST 22 CHRIS TIEGEN
" Stay here and keep watch" MARK 14:34
IN WORD Peter, James and John had surely noticed Jesus' distress on their walk to the garden of Gethsemane, but they were blissfully unaware of the nature of the battle raging around them. They see only with their eyes. But Jesus is nearing the conclusion of a long warfare with the enemy, and the unseen war is most intense in the garden. Whether the Cross of Christ will or will not occur hangs in the balance between the bitterness of Jesus' assignment and His submission to the Father. We know the outcome, of course, and all the suspense is lost on us. But the three disciples in the garden didn't even know suspense was in the air. They slept.
life can give us the same illusion. We know it has its struggles, and we are distressed on occasion. But we are often blissfully unaware that there is a cosmic warfare going on around us, and it is always intense.. We have been told to stay awake and keep watch, but we keep falling asleep. Like the disciples, we may be thinking only about tomorrow's issues while our enemy is waging a war over eternal issues. We think we're taking a midnight stroll in the garden; but our Commander has led us into a high-stakes battle. Regardless of our apathy or exhaustion, this is not a time to sleep.
IN DEED Whether we like it or not, when we put our faith in Christ we left civilian life. We try to revert to a peacetime lifestyle whenever we can, but the attacks of the enemy have a way of reminding us where we are. We are on the battlefield, and though we know the outcome already, our opponent, Satan, forestalls his final defeat as long, and as vengefully as he can.
That's why the New testament emphasizes faith and prayer as much as it does. Faith is our weapon against the enemy, and prayer is our communication with the head-quarters from which come all our resources. And until we have been called home to Jesus, His orders for us remain the same -- stay here and keep watch.
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It just cannot be coincidence that this week's Scripture reading in my church focuses on the need the Redeemed people of God to act as " watchmen" for the nation and indeed for the church.
" Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from e. When I say to the wicked, " O wicked man, you will surely die, and you do not speak out to dissuade from his ways, that wicked man will die for his sins and I will hold you accountable for his blood. But if you do warn the wicked man to turn from his ways and he does not do so, he will die for his sin, but you will have saved yourself"
Ezekiel 33:7-8 NIV
Or that the gospel reading highlights Jesus' promise that " Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and that whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven".
Matthew 18:18
Our Pastor in a fiery sermon this morning was at pains to point out that there is culture of revenge and reprisal in the land, and which is manifest even among the children, and is the cause of much mayhem and murder in the country. Further, that this kind of warfare - my words - can only be "loosed' by the church demonstrating God's love as manifest in His mercy and grace - thus leading to forgiveness and reconciliation in the church when members are wronged by others. having practiced that kind of love, then we will, in the name of Jesus, be able to
" bind up" the sin of reprisal in the nation, and "set loose" the spirit of forgiveness in the country.
This is the very same message from Chris Tiegen's meditation. That for far too long we have lost sight of the eternal spiritual battles taking place in the world, and have focused primarily on dealing with tomorrow's pressing issues. Issues which if successfully conquered leads to a sense of accomplishment and letting down of the guard and allowing " the excitement " of life to distract us from constant prayer and reflection. In short to "keep watch". This metaphor of those who choose to follow Christ having to leave civilian life behind, is a very apt one. For if we think otherwise, and fail to keep watch, fail to be a watchman for the society, the demands of a busy life and the temptation of the world, will lead both society and church astray -as the church is the only salt and light for any society as without it, nations and civilizations crumble and die. The Roman and Greek civilizations being prime examples.
This then leads to the subject of prayer and our expectations of God, often coloured by our busy fast paced lives. If we live a good life, and inundate God with our requests, He is sure to grant us the blessings we demand - and very quickly so that we can get back to our pleasures and pursuits. I need a wife - right now Lord! A new car -right now Lord! A house would be good Lord - just in time for Christmas. I need deliverance from sickness Lord - right now. So what is the Lord saying this week to us His " busy" people.
I had one of three meditations on the following passage of Scripture from which to choose.
What swayed me? Just a strong feeling in my soul.
PERSISTENCE REWARDED AUGUST 21 CHRIS TIEGEN
Everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened."
Matthew 7:8
IN WORD As much as we hate to admit it, we are never more tuned to God's voice than when we are in desperate need. We search our hearts for obstructive sins; we examine our relationships for hindrances or conflicts or bitterness; we diligently dig into God's Word for His promises and assurances; and we hang on to any little word of His faithful and unfailing character. We grow during those times more than any other. Most people looking back on their lives will readily admit that the times of need were the times of flourishing in their relationship with God. ( one such need drove my wife and myself to our knees in prayer in the morning before leaving for work many years ago and which practice continues in good times and in bad times until now) And God built us exclusively for relationship.
Given this, why would God possibly want to rush us through that process? Why would He hasten to answer our prayers and subvert the purpose of this experience? We often think His delay is due to some divine indifference, a lack of caring on His part for those He says he loves. But it is just the opposite. His delays are granted us precisely because he cares so much. Immediate answers to fleeting prayers would never bring us this close to Him, no matter how much we try to assure Him that they would. he knows how we work. he knows we can learn from Him and be conformed to His image in no other way.
IN DEED We see our need as a desperate situation. God designs it for an opportunity to know Him more intimately. When we are truly needy, we learn of Him as Provider. When we are really sick, we learn of Him either as Healer or as Comforter --whichever role He wants to reveal to us. We might think we are being punished by His silence. We are not. We are being rewarded. He is drawing us close to Him saying ," Come nearer, learn from Me, know me as your Strength, your Defender, your Refuge". Keep praying. That is a far greater blessing than an immediate answer.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So let us "keep watch". Let us not follow the pattern of this world and become too busy to listen to God's Word. Let us understand that we have left the civilian life behind and are not involved in an intense warfare for the souls of men and women around us. Involved in a struggle to rescue our nations and indeed the world.
No doubt this is why the Lord led me to meditate on some words of the glorious hymn
" Mine eyes have seen the glory of the
coming of the Lord.........
In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in his bosom that transfigures you and me,
As he died to make men holy, let us live to make men free,
While God is marching on.
Glory glory Alleluia.......
So let us keep watch with God in Christ who died to make men holy,
so that we can live, like watchmen, to make men free from reprisal, murder and mayhem,
in the name of Christ Jesus and by the power of the Holy Spirit.
This is not a time for sleeping. Amen
Bolt's homecoming tomorrow, when no less than the Prime Minster will meet him on the tarmac at the airport! The Reggae Boyz trying to qualify for the World Cup in South Africa next year? The next holiday weekend coming up? Add to that the constant cell phone calls, the text messaging, and the e-mailing, the long hours at work. And I have not yet factored in spending quality time with family! Or music on the iPod in the car or on the computer - no, definitely not when I am exercising in the mornings!
What does this all add up to? This is one very busy world, and if we are not careful the constant demands on our time will not only overwhelm us, but more importantly set the tone for our relationship with God - just enough to get by.
So no doubt with all this excitement in the air the Lord led me to read two very important meditations. One about prayer - which is the foundation of out relationship with our Father in heaven. And the other about the role of a Christian in this world. The second one sets up the need for the first and so that one precedes the other.
KEEP WATCH AUGUST 22 CHRIS TIEGEN
" Stay here and keep watch" MARK 14:34
IN WORD Peter, James and John had surely noticed Jesus' distress on their walk to the garden of Gethsemane, but they were blissfully unaware of the nature of the battle raging around them. They see only with their eyes. But Jesus is nearing the conclusion of a long warfare with the enemy, and the unseen war is most intense in the garden. Whether the Cross of Christ will or will not occur hangs in the balance between the bitterness of Jesus' assignment and His submission to the Father. We know the outcome, of course, and all the suspense is lost on us. But the three disciples in the garden didn't even know suspense was in the air. They slept.
life can give us the same illusion. We know it has its struggles, and we are distressed on occasion. But we are often blissfully unaware that there is a cosmic warfare going on around us, and it is always intense.. We have been told to stay awake and keep watch, but we keep falling asleep. Like the disciples, we may be thinking only about tomorrow's issues while our enemy is waging a war over eternal issues. We think we're taking a midnight stroll in the garden; but our Commander has led us into a high-stakes battle. Regardless of our apathy or exhaustion, this is not a time to sleep.
IN DEED Whether we like it or not, when we put our faith in Christ we left civilian life. We try to revert to a peacetime lifestyle whenever we can, but the attacks of the enemy have a way of reminding us where we are. We are on the battlefield, and though we know the outcome already, our opponent, Satan, forestalls his final defeat as long, and as vengefully as he can.
That's why the New testament emphasizes faith and prayer as much as it does. Faith is our weapon against the enemy, and prayer is our communication with the head-quarters from which come all our resources. And until we have been called home to Jesus, His orders for us remain the same -- stay here and keep watch.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It just cannot be coincidence that this week's Scripture reading in my church focuses on the need the Redeemed people of God to act as " watchmen" for the nation and indeed for the church.
" Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from e. When I say to the wicked, " O wicked man, you will surely die, and you do not speak out to dissuade from his ways, that wicked man will die for his sins and I will hold you accountable for his blood. But if you do warn the wicked man to turn from his ways and he does not do so, he will die for his sin, but you will have saved yourself"
Ezekiel 33:7-8 NIV
Or that the gospel reading highlights Jesus' promise that " Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and that whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven".
Matthew 18:18
Our Pastor in a fiery sermon this morning was at pains to point out that there is culture of revenge and reprisal in the land, and which is manifest even among the children, and is the cause of much mayhem and murder in the country. Further, that this kind of warfare - my words - can only be "loosed' by the church demonstrating God's love as manifest in His mercy and grace - thus leading to forgiveness and reconciliation in the church when members are wronged by others. having practiced that kind of love, then we will, in the name of Jesus, be able to
" bind up" the sin of reprisal in the nation, and "set loose" the spirit of forgiveness in the country.
This is the very same message from Chris Tiegen's meditation. That for far too long we have lost sight of the eternal spiritual battles taking place in the world, and have focused primarily on dealing with tomorrow's pressing issues. Issues which if successfully conquered leads to a sense of accomplishment and letting down of the guard and allowing " the excitement " of life to distract us from constant prayer and reflection. In short to "keep watch". This metaphor of those who choose to follow Christ having to leave civilian life behind, is a very apt one. For if we think otherwise, and fail to keep watch, fail to be a watchman for the society, the demands of a busy life and the temptation of the world, will lead both society and church astray -as the church is the only salt and light for any society as without it, nations and civilizations crumble and die. The Roman and Greek civilizations being prime examples.
This then leads to the subject of prayer and our expectations of God, often coloured by our busy fast paced lives. If we live a good life, and inundate God with our requests, He is sure to grant us the blessings we demand - and very quickly so that we can get back to our pleasures and pursuits. I need a wife - right now Lord! A new car -right now Lord! A house would be good Lord - just in time for Christmas. I need deliverance from sickness Lord - right now. So what is the Lord saying this week to us His " busy" people.
I had one of three meditations on the following passage of Scripture from which to choose.
What swayed me? Just a strong feeling in my soul.
PERSISTENCE REWARDED AUGUST 21 CHRIS TIEGEN
Everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened."
Matthew 7:8
IN WORD As much as we hate to admit it, we are never more tuned to God's voice than when we are in desperate need. We search our hearts for obstructive sins; we examine our relationships for hindrances or conflicts or bitterness; we diligently dig into God's Word for His promises and assurances; and we hang on to any little word of His faithful and unfailing character. We grow during those times more than any other. Most people looking back on their lives will readily admit that the times of need were the times of flourishing in their relationship with God. ( one such need drove my wife and myself to our knees in prayer in the morning before leaving for work many years ago and which practice continues in good times and in bad times until now) And God built us exclusively for relationship.
Given this, why would God possibly want to rush us through that process? Why would He hasten to answer our prayers and subvert the purpose of this experience? We often think His delay is due to some divine indifference, a lack of caring on His part for those He says he loves. But it is just the opposite. His delays are granted us precisely because he cares so much. Immediate answers to fleeting prayers would never bring us this close to Him, no matter how much we try to assure Him that they would. he knows how we work. he knows we can learn from Him and be conformed to His image in no other way.
IN DEED We see our need as a desperate situation. God designs it for an opportunity to know Him more intimately. When we are truly needy, we learn of Him as Provider. When we are really sick, we learn of Him either as Healer or as Comforter --whichever role He wants to reveal to us. We might think we are being punished by His silence. We are not. We are being rewarded. He is drawing us close to Him saying ," Come nearer, learn from Me, know me as your Strength, your Defender, your Refuge". Keep praying. That is a far greater blessing than an immediate answer.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So let us "keep watch". Let us not follow the pattern of this world and become too busy to listen to God's Word. Let us understand that we have left the civilian life behind and are not involved in an intense warfare for the souls of men and women around us. Involved in a struggle to rescue our nations and indeed the world.
No doubt this is why the Lord led me to meditate on some words of the glorious hymn
" Mine eyes have seen the glory of the
coming of the Lord.........
In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in his bosom that transfigures you and me,
As he died to make men holy, let us live to make men free,
While God is marching on.
Glory glory Alleluia.......
So let us keep watch with God in Christ who died to make men holy,
so that we can live, like watchmen, to make men free from reprisal, murder and mayhem,
in the name of Christ Jesus and by the power of the Holy Spirit.
This is not a time for sleeping. Amen
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Are Hurricanes " Acts of God"? What is the will of God.
At first we did not taken Storm Gustav, this "Act of God", seriously. We actually began to wonder why we had drawn the shutters, bought extra food and stored water, as the first few
hours were " nothing much to write home about". But then things got decidedly worse, as the wind began to howl, and torrential rain began falling. And fall it did, as if it would never stop.
All night long and far into the following day. We did not have to wait for the news to inform us that ten people were missing and presumed dead, and that many had lost their homes and that a few bridges were down, and that many many road were impassable. This was one " hell of a storm" - pardon the expression. The question of course is, was this really an "Act of God"?
Would a God who, many Jamaicans, including pastors,, were of the firm conviction that our success in the Olympics was due to His divine intervention, would this God then turn around,
within days and wreak havoc on this MFN - most favoured nation? We are taking about Billions of dollars of damage to our infrastructure and who can ever assign a monetary figure to the loss of a loved one!
Furthermore, what was so special about the Cayman islands, that seemingly so miraculously,
Gustav cut a path right through the middle of those two Islands, leaving relatively little damage in its wake? Is Haiti under a curse why so often so much suffering is visited upon that poverty stricken country by these "Acts of God. I have heard the theory that New Orleans is such a
" wicked city", perhaps pretty much like our capital city Kingston in the days of Henry Morgan,
when it copped the prize for the "wickedest city" in the new world, that God is so displeased with
" Big Easy" and hence its destruction by Katrina. So as Gustav, which has now morphed into a dangerous Category 3 Hurricane, once again threatens this city, is this further proof of God's will? Or perhaps being on the side of the Democrats, He just wishes to mess with the Republican Convention! That's a joke, but with all seriousness, many Americans, who perhaps assume that because their politicians constantly pronounce " God's blessing on America", are convinced that they are a MFN, and wondered where was God when that infamous attack on 9/11 took place. No doubt the present day Jews, even the secular non-believing ones, may feel that they too, and in fact, all Western countries, unlike Muslims ones are MFN's, in God's eyes. Of course, we in Jamaica know only too well how many of our politicians behave as if God is in their corner, and have even fallen prey to "prophets" who encourage such belief.
So the God, who is always way ahead of us, began teaching me, and all of us from the Old Testament reading, appointed for this Sunday.
" I f you repent, I will restore you
that you may serve me;
if you utter worthy, not worthless, words,
you will be my spokesman.
Let this people turn to you,
but you must not turn to them".
Jeremiah 15:19-20 NIV
And it continued with the Lord leading me to a special prayer in the book of Colossians.
" For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of HIS WILL through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way; bearing fruit in every good work.
Colossians 1:9-10 NIV
So three points are of importance here, in knowing God's will. One that the will of God is revealed by revelation from God. Not by speculation, theorising and by intellectual superiority. Two, that such revelation comes through prayer, by those, and to those, who have a repentant heart - those who continually ask God for mercy for their sinful state, their rebellion against God, and their disobedience. In short, those who have a different kind of worldview than non-believers - those who cannot, will not, and refuse to accept, the sanctifying blood of Christ on the Cross of Calvary. This renewing of the mind, this new worldview, that it is by God's mercy that we have been brought from darkness into light, that it is by God's mercy that we come to know HIS WILL, that it is by God's mercy that we are protected by storms and not because of any MFN status, that is the essence of the reading from the Epistle for this Sunday.
And three, that the purpose of God's will being revealed to those with a renewed mind, is that they may bear good fruit - not to enjoy public acclaim, or to reap personal reward, but to
bring glory to God's Son - the image of the invisible God.
" For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.
Oh, the depths of the riches of the wisdom and the knowledge of God!
How unsearchable are his judgements,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counsellor?..........
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to to test and to approve of what God's will is --- his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Romans 11:32-34: 12:1-2 NIV
One of the great tragedies in the history, both recent and distant, of the Christian church is the
extent to which the " teachings of man" has replaced revelations from God. How many of us have been conforming to the pattern of this world, rather than being transformed by the renewing of our minds. So we glibly ascribe to the Lord all kinds of behaviours and promises that our puny little minds can dream up, and proudly pronounce them , with assurance, as God's perfect and pleasing will. Ignoring the Scriptures which warn us , " How unsearchable are his judgements, and his paths beyond tracing out" - recently I heard, with my own ears, a pastor, blaming the recent fires in California on the fact that the state had recently passed a law allowing same sex marriages ! Yes same sex marriages, in my understanding of the Scriptures, are against God's holy will and purpose, but does that necessarily translate into God's immediate judgement of California? What then would become of us here in Jamaica, the murder capital of the world!
Finally on this issue of God's will, the gospel reading for today places everything in perspective.
GOD'S WILL is discovered and sustained only through our sacrificing our very lives and following the life of His Son Jesus Christ.
" Then Jesus said to his disciples, " if anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up the cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it". Matthew 17:24-25 NIV
So will Gustav destroy "wicked " New Orleans? Will an earthquake, in a few seconds, destroy Jamaica - the murder capital of the world - one day? Is it the will of God that Obama ( or Portia or Peter or Bruce in the Jamaican context ) should become the next President of the USA? Has HIV/AIDS come to teach us that those who willfully oppose God's teachings about sex - fornication and homosexuality - and marriage are under judgement? Was it the prayers of the Christian right wing that resulted in George W. Bush becoming the President of the USA, and then to lead his country into - a most unjust and unpopular - war in Iraq? Is it the will of God that the communion of the Anglican church worldwide is now in jeopardy on account of the ordination of a practising and unrepentant homosexual to the high post of Bishop? Is it the will of God that all murderers should be executed? Is it the will of God that some of our struggling young people should migrate to greener pastures, or that those who have succeeded should return home? Is it the will of God that I should marry that lady or that man? Is it God's will that I should end this marriage and leave this abusive husband or bad tempered wife? Was it God's will that my child, the many starving children in Africa, or a sibbling, or my spouse, should die so young and so suddenly, and before me? Why could we not live together into a ripe old age and do His Work? Did God send alternative investment schemes to benefit his church, especially those working in the inner cities? Is it the will of God that I should have Diabetes or Cancer, or should I, in the name of Christ "rebuke it"?
Many people struggle with these personal, national and world issues! How do I really know God's will is a frequent question?
The answer from this message may not satisfy all the questions, but there are some important principles for us to consider. First you have to believe that He really exists and to trust Him with our lives as He is our Creator and loving Father. And we know that He loves us because His Son Jesus died on the Cross of Calvary for your sins and for mine. That by this great act of mercy we have been rescued from the sin and death unto everlasting life. Therefore we should live a life of repentance and seek to renew our minds through prayer, the reading of His Word, worship, and self-denial. Then ask for mercy, not only for personal or national needs, but that through us, the Name of His Son may be glorified through His church.
In other words, just like Gustav, do not take this matter of life lightly. Jesus raised a profound issue in the gospel today ," For what good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world and yet forsakes his soul". Like Gustav, it may seem a simple matter at first blush, but life sometimes comes at us very quickly and we have no answers and no defence, except to appeal to God for mercy. So this issue of the reality and well-being of our souls, which belong to God, should be paramount in our minds and our plans for life. As life is not merely about the physical, the predictable, the obvious, but equally so about the mysterious, the transcendental, the spiritual, the eternal. Someone in a Bible study class today raised the question of whether, during Gustav, God was saying to Jamaica, caught up in the euphoria of our success at the Olympics:
" Pay attention here! Celebrate yes, but do not go overboard. Do not worship these people. Worship me only, as all things have been created by me and to me belong all honor and glory. And I am your only protector"! . Equally so, God is saying to us in this message, do not judge, as judgement belongs to the Lord, but rather carry out good works in keeping with our call to repentance, to deny self and to follow Christ.
Let us resolve then, to keep our mind fixed on the author and perfecter of our faith, Christ Jesus and to guard our souls against evil, for as the Scriptures remind us:
" For who has known the mind of the Lord,
that he may instruct him?"
But we have the mind of Christ"
1 Corinthians 2:16 NIV
Amen.
hours were " nothing much to write home about". But then things got decidedly worse, as the wind began to howl, and torrential rain began falling. And fall it did, as if it would never stop.
All night long and far into the following day. We did not have to wait for the news to inform us that ten people were missing and presumed dead, and that many had lost their homes and that a few bridges were down, and that many many road were impassable. This was one " hell of a storm" - pardon the expression. The question of course is, was this really an "Act of God"?
Would a God who, many Jamaicans, including pastors,, were of the firm conviction that our success in the Olympics was due to His divine intervention, would this God then turn around,
within days and wreak havoc on this MFN - most favoured nation? We are taking about Billions of dollars of damage to our infrastructure and who can ever assign a monetary figure to the loss of a loved one!
Furthermore, what was so special about the Cayman islands, that seemingly so miraculously,
Gustav cut a path right through the middle of those two Islands, leaving relatively little damage in its wake? Is Haiti under a curse why so often so much suffering is visited upon that poverty stricken country by these "Acts of God. I have heard the theory that New Orleans is such a
" wicked city", perhaps pretty much like our capital city Kingston in the days of Henry Morgan,
when it copped the prize for the "wickedest city" in the new world, that God is so displeased with
" Big Easy" and hence its destruction by Katrina. So as Gustav, which has now morphed into a dangerous Category 3 Hurricane, once again threatens this city, is this further proof of God's will? Or perhaps being on the side of the Democrats, He just wishes to mess with the Republican Convention! That's a joke, but with all seriousness, many Americans, who perhaps assume that because their politicians constantly pronounce " God's blessing on America", are convinced that they are a MFN, and wondered where was God when that infamous attack on 9/11 took place. No doubt the present day Jews, even the secular non-believing ones, may feel that they too, and in fact, all Western countries, unlike Muslims ones are MFN's, in God's eyes. Of course, we in Jamaica know only too well how many of our politicians behave as if God is in their corner, and have even fallen prey to "prophets" who encourage such belief.
So the God, who is always way ahead of us, began teaching me, and all of us from the Old Testament reading, appointed for this Sunday.
" I f you repent, I will restore you
that you may serve me;
if you utter worthy, not worthless, words,
you will be my spokesman.
Let this people turn to you,
but you must not turn to them".
Jeremiah 15:19-20 NIV
And it continued with the Lord leading me to a special prayer in the book of Colossians.
" For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of HIS WILL through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way; bearing fruit in every good work.
Colossians 1:9-10 NIV
So three points are of importance here, in knowing God's will. One that the will of God is revealed by revelation from God. Not by speculation, theorising and by intellectual superiority. Two, that such revelation comes through prayer, by those, and to those, who have a repentant heart - those who continually ask God for mercy for their sinful state, their rebellion against God, and their disobedience. In short, those who have a different kind of worldview than non-believers - those who cannot, will not, and refuse to accept, the sanctifying blood of Christ on the Cross of Calvary. This renewing of the mind, this new worldview, that it is by God's mercy that we have been brought from darkness into light, that it is by God's mercy that we come to know HIS WILL, that it is by God's mercy that we are protected by storms and not because of any MFN status, that is the essence of the reading from the Epistle for this Sunday.
And three, that the purpose of God's will being revealed to those with a renewed mind, is that they may bear good fruit - not to enjoy public acclaim, or to reap personal reward, but to
bring glory to God's Son - the image of the invisible God.
" For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.
Oh, the depths of the riches of the wisdom and the knowledge of God!
How unsearchable are his judgements,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counsellor?..........
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to to test and to approve of what God's will is --- his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Romans 11:32-34: 12:1-2 NIV
One of the great tragedies in the history, both recent and distant, of the Christian church is the
extent to which the " teachings of man" has replaced revelations from God. How many of us have been conforming to the pattern of this world, rather than being transformed by the renewing of our minds. So we glibly ascribe to the Lord all kinds of behaviours and promises that our puny little minds can dream up, and proudly pronounce them , with assurance, as God's perfect and pleasing will. Ignoring the Scriptures which warn us , " How unsearchable are his judgements, and his paths beyond tracing out" - recently I heard, with my own ears, a pastor, blaming the recent fires in California on the fact that the state had recently passed a law allowing same sex marriages ! Yes same sex marriages, in my understanding of the Scriptures, are against God's holy will and purpose, but does that necessarily translate into God's immediate judgement of California? What then would become of us here in Jamaica, the murder capital of the world!
Finally on this issue of God's will, the gospel reading for today places everything in perspective.
GOD'S WILL is discovered and sustained only through our sacrificing our very lives and following the life of His Son Jesus Christ.
" Then Jesus said to his disciples, " if anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up the cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it". Matthew 17:24-25 NIV
So will Gustav destroy "wicked " New Orleans? Will an earthquake, in a few seconds, destroy Jamaica - the murder capital of the world - one day? Is it the will of God that Obama ( or Portia or Peter or Bruce in the Jamaican context ) should become the next President of the USA? Has HIV/AIDS come to teach us that those who willfully oppose God's teachings about sex - fornication and homosexuality - and marriage are under judgement? Was it the prayers of the Christian right wing that resulted in George W. Bush becoming the President of the USA, and then to lead his country into - a most unjust and unpopular - war in Iraq? Is it the will of God that the communion of the Anglican church worldwide is now in jeopardy on account of the ordination of a practising and unrepentant homosexual to the high post of Bishop? Is it the will of God that all murderers should be executed? Is it the will of God that some of our struggling young people should migrate to greener pastures, or that those who have succeeded should return home? Is it the will of God that I should marry that lady or that man? Is it God's will that I should end this marriage and leave this abusive husband or bad tempered wife? Was it God's will that my child, the many starving children in Africa, or a sibbling, or my spouse, should die so young and so suddenly, and before me? Why could we not live together into a ripe old age and do His Work? Did God send alternative investment schemes to benefit his church, especially those working in the inner cities? Is it the will of God that I should have Diabetes or Cancer, or should I, in the name of Christ "rebuke it"?
Many people struggle with these personal, national and world issues! How do I really know God's will is a frequent question?
The answer from this message may not satisfy all the questions, but there are some important principles for us to consider. First you have to believe that He really exists and to trust Him with our lives as He is our Creator and loving Father. And we know that He loves us because His Son Jesus died on the Cross of Calvary for your sins and for mine. That by this great act of mercy we have been rescued from the sin and death unto everlasting life. Therefore we should live a life of repentance and seek to renew our minds through prayer, the reading of His Word, worship, and self-denial. Then ask for mercy, not only for personal or national needs, but that through us, the Name of His Son may be glorified through His church.
In other words, just like Gustav, do not take this matter of life lightly. Jesus raised a profound issue in the gospel today ," For what good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world and yet forsakes his soul". Like Gustav, it may seem a simple matter at first blush, but life sometimes comes at us very quickly and we have no answers and no defence, except to appeal to God for mercy. So this issue of the reality and well-being of our souls, which belong to God, should be paramount in our minds and our plans for life. As life is not merely about the physical, the predictable, the obvious, but equally so about the mysterious, the transcendental, the spiritual, the eternal. Someone in a Bible study class today raised the question of whether, during Gustav, God was saying to Jamaica, caught up in the euphoria of our success at the Olympics:
" Pay attention here! Celebrate yes, but do not go overboard. Do not worship these people. Worship me only, as all things have been created by me and to me belong all honor and glory. And I am your only protector"! . Equally so, God is saying to us in this message, do not judge, as judgement belongs to the Lord, but rather carry out good works in keeping with our call to repentance, to deny self and to follow Christ.
Let us resolve then, to keep our mind fixed on the author and perfecter of our faith, Christ Jesus and to guard our souls against evil, for as the Scriptures remind us:
" For who has known the mind of the Lord,
that he may instruct him?"
But we have the mind of Christ"
1 Corinthians 2:16 NIV
Amen.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
What time is it? Time for the Olympics. What time is it? Harvest time.
What time is it? Time for the Olympics on television. Time for Usain Bolt to smash another world record and then to perform the " gully creeper" and the "nuh linga." - two of the latest moves in the dancehall scene in the island. Time for the Jamaican women sprinters to sweep the 100 m race. Time for a relatively unknown young lady from a tough inner city community to cause pandemonium to break out, not only in her neighbourhood, but across the length and breath of an entire country. Time for her mother to send a strong message to all Jamaica, and especially the gunmen, that with hard work , everybody's child can achieve what her daughter did. Time for this simple but very wise mother to give thanks to God Almighty for Kerry-Ann's success. What time is it? Time for VC ( Veronica Campbell - the princess of athletics in Jamaica) to retain her 200m title and to send a message to the entire world, that her God comes first. Did you notice that her first act after winning the historic race was to stoop and clasp her hands in prayer. Time for Asafa Powell, one of the favourites to win the 100m final, but who failed again to medal, to win a well deserved gold medal in the relays. Time for Melaine Walker, another young lady from a tough inner city, to bring glory to herself, her country and her community by winning the 400m hurdles in an Olympic record. Time for her people to celebrate wildly. Time even for a moment of disappointment when arguably, the four faster women in the world, failed too carry the baton around the track in the women's sprint relay. Time for Half-Way-Tree, with the help of a big screen TV, to become the country's " Beijing", where masses of people gathered everyday to witness the success of the Jamaican stars and to share in the vibes.
What time is it? Time for the news about crime and violence to take a backseat to the events in Beijing. Hopefully time for the gunmen to take a permanent break from their wickedness and give Jamaica a chance to really achieve its full potential both on and off the sporting arenas of the world. What time is it? All too soon, time for the athletes to return home to what will no doubt be a tremendous reception, as a grateful nation, pours out its love and appreciation for the exploits of these men and women. Time to savor the sweetness of the Track and Field section of the Olympics being dominated by the Jamaican stars - third behind the USA and the Russian federation. Time to give thanks to the coaches and the administrators. Time for the Government and the private sector to" step up to the plate" and harness this momentum of an outpouring of national pride and unity, for the long term benefit of nation desperate for good news.
What time is it? It's celebration time here on the "rock".
But during the course of the week, as we celebrated with wild abandon the victories in Beijing, jumping up and down like mad people, donning the national colours, festooning even our vehicles with the national flag, the Lord reminded us that there is another imperative, another time that we must not lose sight of - Harvest time. As for Christian people, for the Redeemed people of this world, our role is to spread the good news, as we were reminded in church this morning, that in the Eternal Kingdom, unlike in the Olympics, there are no winners and losers, no stars, but we are all rescued from sin and death, by the mercy of God, in and through Christ Jesus. What time is it then? Time to tell the story of Jesus' death on the Cross of Calvary, of the wonderful love of God, poured out in the Blood of the Lamb, for Adam's helpless race. Time to reassure all peoples, that just as how Jesus was raised from the dead, with power ( of the Holy Spirit) so all who have sinned, all who are under God's righteous judgement, can, in Baptism, rise to a new life in Christ Jesus. What time is it? Time to remind people that the time to accept Christ is now, as " no man knoweth when the Son of Man shall come". That Christ has died, Christ is risen and Christ shall come again. And that nearer and nearer draws the time when the earth shall be filled with the glory of God as waters cover the sea. Time to share the good news with Bolt and Phelps, with the Chinese and with the Russians, with the top class coaches, the high performing media personalities at TVJ, CMC, NBC, CVM, the ill informed President of the IOC Jack Rogge and even with the Prime Minister of Jamaica, who is speaking to the nation even as I write this message from the Lord.
Where did I get this message about Harvest time?
HARVEST EYES CHRIS TIEGEN AUGUST 4
" Open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest" John 4:35
IN WORD The contrast between Jesus and His disciples in this passage is stark. Jesus is busy telling a sinful woman of eternal truths. The disciples are focused on their physical needs. Jesus sets off a spark and sees a whole town ablaze with spiritual hunger. The disciples are obsessed about their daily bread. Jesus was ready to minister to people. The disciples were ready for lunchtime.
Don't we see a similar contrast in our own lives? Sometimes we can be outward focused, seeing other people's needs and trying to meet them. More often we are just trying to to get through the day, feeding ourselves and our families, and trying to earn enough to pay the bills. We get caught up in our own agenda and neglect the more urgent need of a hurting world -- perhaps not in principle, but certainly in practice.
Jesus urges His disciples to look beyond themselves. He tells them to thrive on a different kind of food -- the will of God and His passion for people who need the gospel. They are to be outward focused, filled with vision. Their ambition should be to see the gathering of the Kingdom of God, not just to get through the daily grind.
IN DEED We tend to neglect the eternal purposes of God and hone in on the peripherals of life. But life isn't about going into town to shop ( John 4:8) or about lunchtime ( vs 31). Those are the necessities of sustaining life, not its substance. The substance of life is eternal, and we can invest it in either the kingdom or in the world. Jesus points us to His kingdom.
Are your eyes filled with visions of harvest? Do you understand why we are here? Do not be distracted by the daily routine or by the needs of the hour. learn to recognise moments for reaping. Jesus has given us a mission and told us to have a vision for what's going on around us. Focus outward, not inward. Lift up your eyes and look at the fields. It's harvest time.
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Some of special moments for me, as a Christian, at the Olympics were Veronica Campbell's public act of thanksgiving; Bolt and the many others, including the Brazilian 50 m swimming champion, consistently making the sign of the Cross and thus giving God the glory; the eight finalists in the 100m men race gathering for prayer before the race; Bolt's donation of US 50,000 to the victims of he earthquake in China - what effect this might have on millions of Chinese and others in the far east, who have never heard the gospel, only God knows. But no doubt these were special moments for "sowing the seed".
Looking back I can understand how and why, as a nation, we have elevated these men to super star status. And celebrate we should and must. But as the Redeemed people of God, we should always be celebrating and giving thanks, every day, every hour, to the One who set us free from slavery to sin and rescued us unto Everlasting Life. This is what must excite us to worship and to tell the good news, in season and out of season. When there is excitement and celebration in the nation and when there is pain and sorrow and grief. Let us then be obedient to our calling, and follow the example of Christ. Let us not be overly concerned about our nation's achievement, the successes of Bolt and VC, but rather use very moment as an opportunity to witness for Christ. This is what the final message from the Lord through His servant Martin Luther is all about.
QUICKENING GRACE MARTIN LUTHER
Zechariah 12:10
When a Christian begins to know Christ as his Lord and Saviour, through whom he is redeemed from death and brought into his kingdom and inheritance, his heart is aglow with a flaming love of God and he would gladly help everyone to the same experience. For he knows no greater joy than that he possesses this treasure, that he knows Christ. Therefore he goes out and teaches and exhorts other people, praising and testifying to it before all men, praying and yearning that they too might attain to such grace. That is a restless spirit enjoying the highest rest in the grace and peace of God, for it cannot be silent or idle, but is always striving with all its power to spread the honor and glory of God among the people, that others too may receive this spirit of grace and may then help with the work of prayer. For where the Spirit of grace is, he quickens our hearts, so that we can, and may, and must begin to pray.
Amen
What time is it? Time for the news about crime and violence to take a backseat to the events in Beijing. Hopefully time for the gunmen to take a permanent break from their wickedness and give Jamaica a chance to really achieve its full potential both on and off the sporting arenas of the world. What time is it? All too soon, time for the athletes to return home to what will no doubt be a tremendous reception, as a grateful nation, pours out its love and appreciation for the exploits of these men and women. Time to savor the sweetness of the Track and Field section of the Olympics being dominated by the Jamaican stars - third behind the USA and the Russian federation. Time to give thanks to the coaches and the administrators. Time for the Government and the private sector to" step up to the plate" and harness this momentum of an outpouring of national pride and unity, for the long term benefit of nation desperate for good news.
What time is it? It's celebration time here on the "rock".
But during the course of the week, as we celebrated with wild abandon the victories in Beijing, jumping up and down like mad people, donning the national colours, festooning even our vehicles with the national flag, the Lord reminded us that there is another imperative, another time that we must not lose sight of - Harvest time. As for Christian people, for the Redeemed people of this world, our role is to spread the good news, as we were reminded in church this morning, that in the Eternal Kingdom, unlike in the Olympics, there are no winners and losers, no stars, but we are all rescued from sin and death, by the mercy of God, in and through Christ Jesus. What time is it then? Time to tell the story of Jesus' death on the Cross of Calvary, of the wonderful love of God, poured out in the Blood of the Lamb, for Adam's helpless race. Time to reassure all peoples, that just as how Jesus was raised from the dead, with power ( of the Holy Spirit) so all who have sinned, all who are under God's righteous judgement, can, in Baptism, rise to a new life in Christ Jesus. What time is it? Time to remind people that the time to accept Christ is now, as " no man knoweth when the Son of Man shall come". That Christ has died, Christ is risen and Christ shall come again. And that nearer and nearer draws the time when the earth shall be filled with the glory of God as waters cover the sea. Time to share the good news with Bolt and Phelps, with the Chinese and with the Russians, with the top class coaches, the high performing media personalities at TVJ, CMC, NBC, CVM, the ill informed President of the IOC Jack Rogge and even with the Prime Minister of Jamaica, who is speaking to the nation even as I write this message from the Lord.
Where did I get this message about Harvest time?
HARVEST EYES CHRIS TIEGEN AUGUST 4
" Open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest" John 4:35
IN WORD The contrast between Jesus and His disciples in this passage is stark. Jesus is busy telling a sinful woman of eternal truths. The disciples are focused on their physical needs. Jesus sets off a spark and sees a whole town ablaze with spiritual hunger. The disciples are obsessed about their daily bread. Jesus was ready to minister to people. The disciples were ready for lunchtime.
Don't we see a similar contrast in our own lives? Sometimes we can be outward focused, seeing other people's needs and trying to meet them. More often we are just trying to to get through the day, feeding ourselves and our families, and trying to earn enough to pay the bills. We get caught up in our own agenda and neglect the more urgent need of a hurting world -- perhaps not in principle, but certainly in practice.
Jesus urges His disciples to look beyond themselves. He tells them to thrive on a different kind of food -- the will of God and His passion for people who need the gospel. They are to be outward focused, filled with vision. Their ambition should be to see the gathering of the Kingdom of God, not just to get through the daily grind.
IN DEED We tend to neglect the eternal purposes of God and hone in on the peripherals of life. But life isn't about going into town to shop ( John 4:8) or about lunchtime ( vs 31). Those are the necessities of sustaining life, not its substance. The substance of life is eternal, and we can invest it in either the kingdom or in the world. Jesus points us to His kingdom.
Are your eyes filled with visions of harvest? Do you understand why we are here? Do not be distracted by the daily routine or by the needs of the hour. learn to recognise moments for reaping. Jesus has given us a mission and told us to have a vision for what's going on around us. Focus outward, not inward. Lift up your eyes and look at the fields. It's harvest time.
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Some of special moments for me, as a Christian, at the Olympics were Veronica Campbell's public act of thanksgiving; Bolt and the many others, including the Brazilian 50 m swimming champion, consistently making the sign of the Cross and thus giving God the glory; the eight finalists in the 100m men race gathering for prayer before the race; Bolt's donation of US 50,000 to the victims of he earthquake in China - what effect this might have on millions of Chinese and others in the far east, who have never heard the gospel, only God knows. But no doubt these were special moments for "sowing the seed".
Looking back I can understand how and why, as a nation, we have elevated these men to super star status. And celebrate we should and must. But as the Redeemed people of God, we should always be celebrating and giving thanks, every day, every hour, to the One who set us free from slavery to sin and rescued us unto Everlasting Life. This is what must excite us to worship and to tell the good news, in season and out of season. When there is excitement and celebration in the nation and when there is pain and sorrow and grief. Let us then be obedient to our calling, and follow the example of Christ. Let us not be overly concerned about our nation's achievement, the successes of Bolt and VC, but rather use very moment as an opportunity to witness for Christ. This is what the final message from the Lord through His servant Martin Luther is all about.
QUICKENING GRACE MARTIN LUTHER
Zechariah 12:10
When a Christian begins to know Christ as his Lord and Saviour, through whom he is redeemed from death and brought into his kingdom and inheritance, his heart is aglow with a flaming love of God and he would gladly help everyone to the same experience. For he knows no greater joy than that he possesses this treasure, that he knows Christ. Therefore he goes out and teaches and exhorts other people, praising and testifying to it before all men, praying and yearning that they too might attain to such grace. That is a restless spirit enjoying the highest rest in the grace and peace of God, for it cannot be silent or idle, but is always striving with all its power to spread the honor and glory of God among the people, that others too may receive this spirit of grace and may then help with the work of prayer. For where the Spirit of grace is, he quickens our hearts, so that we can, and may, and must begin to pray.
Amen
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Celebrate with Bolt and Fraser but trust in God through Jesus Christ
They call it the greatest show on earth. And so it is. But for us in Jamaica it is celebration time. First Bolt, and now Shelly-Ann Fraser -with all three medals going to Jamaica in an unprecedented turn of events - making it two gold medals so far. And with an expected,
at least, four more to come, this Olympics is turning out to be Jamaica's best ever. The excitement is at a fever pitch, so much so that although we were in church this morning
when the women's 100 metre final was run, at the end of the service, just before the dismissal, the ( very happy female) priest announced the results, and spontaneous applause burst out. From the Prime Minister down to the ordinary man on the street, all who have been interviewed on radio or television, have been showering praises on Usain Bolt, Shelly-Ann Fraser, Sherone Simpson and Kerron Stewart. Perhaps the most insightful comment however, came from Shelly-Ann's mother who spoke about her love for Jesus, about the possibility of even the gunmen - she lives in a tough inner city community - having their children doing as well as her child ( if they change their ways) and about the need for parents to keep close to their children. The PM spoke about the resilience of the Jamaica spirit as manifested in the high level performance on the world stage, and assured us that if we applied the same attitude to some of our pressing social problems,
like crime and violence, there is no doubt that we could overcome them. The one disappointment, however, was that once again Asafa Powell, perhaps and deservedly so, more
popular worldwide than Bolt, failed to live up to the huge expectations of him.
So how did the Lord prepare me for this level of excitement, and what is His message for us this week. The message began with the words of a hymn. I wrote about it last week, and this week, time and time again in my early morning devotions ,I was drawn back to it and to meditate deeply on the words:
1. O Jesus I have promised *** 4. O Jesus, thou hast promised
To serve thee to the end; *** To all who follow thee,
Be thou for ever near me, *** That where thou art in glory
My Master and my friend: *** There shall thy servant be;
I shall not fear the battle *** And, Jesus I have promised
If thou art by my side, *** To serve thee to the end
Nor wander from the pathway *** O give me grace to follow
If thou wilt be my guide. *** My Master and my friend
2.O let me feel thee near me: *** 5. O let me see thy foot-marks
The world is ever near; *** And in them plant my own;
I see the sights that dazzle, *** My hope to follow duly
The tempting sounds I hear; *** Is in thy strength alone
My foes are ever near me, *** O guide me, call me, draw me,
Around me and within; *** Uphold me to the end
But, Jesus draw thou nearer, *** And then in heaven receive me,
And shield my soul from sin. *** My Saviour and my friend
3.O let me hear thee speaking
In accents clear and still,
Above the storms of passion,
The murmurs of self-will;
O speak and reassure me,
To hasten or control;
O speak, and make me listen
Thou guardian of my soul.
Key messages : O Jesus I have promised.....I shall not fear the battle if thou be by my side; ..the sights that dazzle... the tempting sounds...foes ever near me...around and within....shield my soul from sin; O let me hear thee speak....above the storms of passion....speak and make me listen.....thou guardian of my soul....my hope to follow thee..is in thy strength alone....and then in heaven receive me. My Saviour and my friend.
So while for a few days, the name of Bolt and company would be on the lips of many, the Lord reminded us that the name of Jesus is to be on our lips at all time. To worship Him, to listen to Him above the passions of this world --and the excitement of the Olympics creates so much passion. To understand that He is the guardian of our souls - so easily tempted away from Him by the tempting sounds and dazzling sights. I pray that young Usain is properly handled, so that
what has overtaken so many of our sportsmen and women, and other famous people - pride, womanizing, abuse of drugs, the excessive love of money, breakdown in family life - does not befall him.
And not only that we should call on the name of Jesus constantly, but of equal importance,
that we should believe in Him as our only Saviour, trust Him as our only hope, and only then
will we be able to be obedient to His will. The message? It is not possible to obey God unless
we first believe and trust in His Son, regardless of the circumstances. One of the great problems why Christianity is failing to impact the lives of many people around us , is that fact that too many of us are trying to be obedient, to live a Christian life, and to witness to others, ( and failing, thus resulting in a dilution of the witness of the church, at best, and ridicule at worse) without a complete trust in the power of Christ to change our lives. " My hope to follow
duly, is in thy strength alone".
Two passages of Scripture to which the Lord led me helps us to appreciate this truth.
One from the great chapter of faith in the book of Hebrews.
" And without faith, it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him,
must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him"
Hebrews 11:6 NIV
And the other a lesson in perseverance found in the gospel lesson appointed for today in my church.
".....A Canaanite woman ( an outsider to the Jewish faith) from that vicinity came to him, crying out, Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering from demon-possession.
........He answered, I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.
The woman came and knelt down before him. Lord help me! She said. He replied, It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs.
Yes Lord, she said, but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table.
The Jesus answered, Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted. And her daughter was healed from that very hour.
Matthew 15: 21-28
Whatever the complete understanding of this passage may be, for me, and I think for this nation, the important message is that we must persevere in praying ( O let me hear thee speaking) regardless of what God may appear to be saying to us about the crime and violence.
We are all dying, sadly for some very literally, and also metaphorically, for the murders to stop. Just this week the headlines in one newspaper " screamed" - Merciless! As gunmen killed three persons on one street. One of whom was a young girl who had just given birth to a baby.
So it would appear that God is not listening. But He is, and we must exercise the same faith that this non -Jewish woman demonstrated and was duly rewarded. How much more should we who
know Christ, trust Him.
The world is being powerfully influenced by Jamaican music, Jamaican food and Jamaican sportsmen and women. But all of that cannot help when people are in a crisis. When a relative develops HIV/AIDS; when a child gets caught up with gangs and becomes a murderer;
when marriages and relationships fail; when drug abuse threatens to destroy an individual and a family; when news of a terminal illness comes, or sudden death of a loved on; when the sexual orientation of a husband or wife or child is finally revealed; when sexual temptations of fornication and extra-marital affairs rise up; when family homes are threatened with foreclosure; when jobs are lost and there is no income. And when a child is demon-possessed people need to know how to turn to the One True Almighty God, as manifested in and through Christ Jesus. Olympics will come go, and so will the joy of the gold medals, but troubles, which are always with us, don't set like rain or storm, as often there is no warning. We who claim Christ, ought to encourage
others who don't, by our faith and our actions, just like the Canaanite woman, to trust Him, even in the most difficult times- and to persevere. This instruction is conveyed in a meditation
from a book which I use before retiring at nights;
THE THEOLOGY OF REST OSWALD CHAMBERS MY UTMOST FOR HIS HIGHEST
Why are ye so fearful, O ye of little faith? AUGUST 12
Matthew 8:26
When we are in fear we can do nothing less than pray to God, but our Lord has a right to expect that those who name His Name should have an understanding confidence in Him. God expects His children to be so confident in Him in any crisis that they are the reliable ones. Our trust is in God up to a certain point, then we go back to the elementary panic prayers of those who do not know God. We get to our wit's end, showing that we have not the lightest confidence in Him and His government of the world; He seems to be asleep, and we see nothing but breakers ahead.
" O ye of little faith"! What a pang must have shot through the disciples----" Missed it again!"
And what a pang will go through us when we suddenly realize that we might have produced downright joy in the heart of Jesus by remaining absolutely confident in Him, no matter what was ahead.
There are stages in life when there is no storm, no crisis, when we do our human best; it is when a crisis arises that we instantly reveal upon whom we relay. If we have been learning to worship God and to trust Him, the crisis will reveal that we will go to the breaking point and not break our confidence in Him................
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In a reply to a friend who asked today, what makes Jamaica, a small country, produce such outstanding athletes, among other things, I mentioned our " can do " attitude.
That, as a people, we are blessed with self-confidence and unafraid of anyone - sometimes too much so for our own good. And that a school motto of one of our prominent high schools, sums it all up. Fortis cadere non-protest - the brave may fall but never yield. Further, that is why Asafa is such an enigma and a disappointment, as we Jamaicans thrive under pressure - like Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser. The question we must answer as Christians, is why we are so confident
in our own abilities, but so lacking in faith in an Almighty God - who has demonstrated His power and His love for us, again and again, day by day and throughout history and even more so, on the Cross of Calvary. How can we sing the popular song : "God is so good to me,
how can I let Him down, how can I let Him down." And then turn around and do just that, by not trusting in Him in every situation.
So as we continue celebrate the performance of our athletes in Beijing, let us remember the message from the Lord - that we are helpless and weak, fearful and of little faith,
all because we have not placed our entire trust in the saving Grace of His Son. Because
the Name of the Lord Jesus is not constantly on our lips - asking for mercy.
So this week let us promise and ask the Lord Jesus for Grace, to follow Him to the end.
Amen.
at least, four more to come, this Olympics is turning out to be Jamaica's best ever. The excitement is at a fever pitch, so much so that although we were in church this morning
when the women's 100 metre final was run, at the end of the service, just before the dismissal, the ( very happy female) priest announced the results, and spontaneous applause burst out. From the Prime Minister down to the ordinary man on the street, all who have been interviewed on radio or television, have been showering praises on Usain Bolt, Shelly-Ann Fraser, Sherone Simpson and Kerron Stewart. Perhaps the most insightful comment however, came from Shelly-Ann's mother who spoke about her love for Jesus, about the possibility of even the gunmen - she lives in a tough inner city community - having their children doing as well as her child ( if they change their ways) and about the need for parents to keep close to their children. The PM spoke about the resilience of the Jamaica spirit as manifested in the high level performance on the world stage, and assured us that if we applied the same attitude to some of our pressing social problems,
like crime and violence, there is no doubt that we could overcome them. The one disappointment, however, was that once again Asafa Powell, perhaps and deservedly so, more
popular worldwide than Bolt, failed to live up to the huge expectations of him.
So how did the Lord prepare me for this level of excitement, and what is His message for us this week. The message began with the words of a hymn. I wrote about it last week, and this week, time and time again in my early morning devotions ,I was drawn back to it and to meditate deeply on the words:
1. O Jesus I have promised *** 4. O Jesus, thou hast promised
To serve thee to the end; *** To all who follow thee,
Be thou for ever near me, *** That where thou art in glory
My Master and my friend: *** There shall thy servant be;
I shall not fear the battle *** And, Jesus I have promised
If thou art by my side, *** To serve thee to the end
Nor wander from the pathway *** O give me grace to follow
If thou wilt be my guide. *** My Master and my friend
2.O let me feel thee near me: *** 5. O let me see thy foot-marks
The world is ever near; *** And in them plant my own;
I see the sights that dazzle, *** My hope to follow duly
The tempting sounds I hear; *** Is in thy strength alone
My foes are ever near me, *** O guide me, call me, draw me,
Around me and within; *** Uphold me to the end
But, Jesus draw thou nearer, *** And then in heaven receive me,
And shield my soul from sin. *** My Saviour and my friend
3.O let me hear thee speaking
In accents clear and still,
Above the storms of passion,
The murmurs of self-will;
O speak and reassure me,
To hasten or control;
O speak, and make me listen
Thou guardian of my soul.
Key messages : O Jesus I have promised.....I shall not fear the battle if thou be by my side; ..the sights that dazzle... the tempting sounds...foes ever near me...around and within....shield my soul from sin; O let me hear thee speak....above the storms of passion....speak and make me listen.....thou guardian of my soul....my hope to follow thee..is in thy strength alone....and then in heaven receive me. My Saviour and my friend.
So while for a few days, the name of Bolt and company would be on the lips of many, the Lord reminded us that the name of Jesus is to be on our lips at all time. To worship Him, to listen to Him above the passions of this world --and the excitement of the Olympics creates so much passion. To understand that He is the guardian of our souls - so easily tempted away from Him by the tempting sounds and dazzling sights. I pray that young Usain is properly handled, so that
what has overtaken so many of our sportsmen and women, and other famous people - pride, womanizing, abuse of drugs, the excessive love of money, breakdown in family life - does not befall him.
And not only that we should call on the name of Jesus constantly, but of equal importance,
that we should believe in Him as our only Saviour, trust Him as our only hope, and only then
will we be able to be obedient to His will. The message? It is not possible to obey God unless
we first believe and trust in His Son, regardless of the circumstances. One of the great problems why Christianity is failing to impact the lives of many people around us , is that fact that too many of us are trying to be obedient, to live a Christian life, and to witness to others, ( and failing, thus resulting in a dilution of the witness of the church, at best, and ridicule at worse) without a complete trust in the power of Christ to change our lives. " My hope to follow
duly, is in thy strength alone".
Two passages of Scripture to which the Lord led me helps us to appreciate this truth.
One from the great chapter of faith in the book of Hebrews.
" And without faith, it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him,
must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him"
Hebrews 11:6 NIV
And the other a lesson in perseverance found in the gospel lesson appointed for today in my church.
".....A Canaanite woman ( an outsider to the Jewish faith) from that vicinity came to him, crying out, Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering from demon-possession.
........He answered, I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.
The woman came and knelt down before him. Lord help me! She said. He replied, It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs.
Yes Lord, she said, but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table.
The Jesus answered, Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted. And her daughter was healed from that very hour.
Matthew 15: 21-28
Whatever the complete understanding of this passage may be, for me, and I think for this nation, the important message is that we must persevere in praying ( O let me hear thee speaking) regardless of what God may appear to be saying to us about the crime and violence.
We are all dying, sadly for some very literally, and also metaphorically, for the murders to stop. Just this week the headlines in one newspaper " screamed" - Merciless! As gunmen killed three persons on one street. One of whom was a young girl who had just given birth to a baby.
So it would appear that God is not listening. But He is, and we must exercise the same faith that this non -Jewish woman demonstrated and was duly rewarded. How much more should we who
know Christ, trust Him.
The world is being powerfully influenced by Jamaican music, Jamaican food and Jamaican sportsmen and women. But all of that cannot help when people are in a crisis. When a relative develops HIV/AIDS; when a child gets caught up with gangs and becomes a murderer;
when marriages and relationships fail; when drug abuse threatens to destroy an individual and a family; when news of a terminal illness comes, or sudden death of a loved on; when the sexual orientation of a husband or wife or child is finally revealed; when sexual temptations of fornication and extra-marital affairs rise up; when family homes are threatened with foreclosure; when jobs are lost and there is no income. And when a child is demon-possessed people need to know how to turn to the One True Almighty God, as manifested in and through Christ Jesus. Olympics will come go, and so will the joy of the gold medals, but troubles, which are always with us, don't set like rain or storm, as often there is no warning. We who claim Christ, ought to encourage
others who don't, by our faith and our actions, just like the Canaanite woman, to trust Him, even in the most difficult times- and to persevere. This instruction is conveyed in a meditation
from a book which I use before retiring at nights;
THE THEOLOGY OF REST OSWALD CHAMBERS MY UTMOST FOR HIS HIGHEST
Why are ye so fearful, O ye of little faith? AUGUST 12
Matthew 8:26
When we are in fear we can do nothing less than pray to God, but our Lord has a right to expect that those who name His Name should have an understanding confidence in Him. God expects His children to be so confident in Him in any crisis that they are the reliable ones. Our trust is in God up to a certain point, then we go back to the elementary panic prayers of those who do not know God. We get to our wit's end, showing that we have not the lightest confidence in Him and His government of the world; He seems to be asleep, and we see nothing but breakers ahead.
" O ye of little faith"! What a pang must have shot through the disciples----" Missed it again!"
And what a pang will go through us when we suddenly realize that we might have produced downright joy in the heart of Jesus by remaining absolutely confident in Him, no matter what was ahead.
There are stages in life when there is no storm, no crisis, when we do our human best; it is when a crisis arises that we instantly reveal upon whom we relay. If we have been learning to worship God and to trust Him, the crisis will reveal that we will go to the breaking point and not break our confidence in Him................
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In a reply to a friend who asked today, what makes Jamaica, a small country, produce such outstanding athletes, among other things, I mentioned our " can do " attitude.
That, as a people, we are blessed with self-confidence and unafraid of anyone - sometimes too much so for our own good. And that a school motto of one of our prominent high schools, sums it all up. Fortis cadere non-protest - the brave may fall but never yield. Further, that is why Asafa is such an enigma and a disappointment, as we Jamaicans thrive under pressure - like Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser. The question we must answer as Christians, is why we are so confident
in our own abilities, but so lacking in faith in an Almighty God - who has demonstrated His power and His love for us, again and again, day by day and throughout history and even more so, on the Cross of Calvary. How can we sing the popular song : "God is so good to me,
how can I let Him down, how can I let Him down." And then turn around and do just that, by not trusting in Him in every situation.
So as we continue celebrate the performance of our athletes in Beijing, let us remember the message from the Lord - that we are helpless and weak, fearful and of little faith,
all because we have not placed our entire trust in the saving Grace of His Son. Because
the Name of the Lord Jesus is not constantly on our lips - asking for mercy.
So this week let us promise and ask the Lord Jesus for Grace, to follow Him to the end.
Amen.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
It does not, therefore depend on man's effort or desire, but on God's mercy
There is nothing like death to trigger deep discussions about life. That's what happened last Tuesday after the funeral of my mother-in-law. A group of young, and not so young, people, at different stages of their faith in God, together with a young pastor and myself, engaged in a very lively and useful debate about Religion in general, Christianity in particular and life. Life after death. Life without the need for Religion. Religion without the need for Christ. Christianity without the need for rules and regulations - worshiping God alone at home, virtual church, how critical is Holy Communion/Lord's Supper/Eucharist. And what exactly is this Christian "ritual".
Then today, I went to visit a friend, a classmate in med school, who is terminally ill. I left deeply
disturbed and wrote to the rest of my colleagues encouraging to pray for him. One Christian colleague, who lives in Trinidad, and who is a convert from another faith, and very passionate about Christ, wrote back re-affirming the need for us to pray for the salvation of the souls all our colleagues.Of course, as the media remind us daily, even in the middle of the greatest distraction on earth, the Olympics, all of this reflection is taking place as murder and mayhem continue to stalk Jamaica "land we love". Just tonight, there was a report on the local television, of a teacher, visiting, a formerly peaceful and quiet rural district, and who was ambushed and killed. The pathos in the voice and angst etched in the face of the brother who was interviewed, was so obvious, as was the total amazement why someone should have carried out this dastardly act.
And God who is always calling His people unto Himself, and revealing Himself through His Son and His Word spoke in the following ways.
On Wednesday morning after the discussions, a friend sent me an e-mail concerning a speech delivered -for the first time ever - by the Chief ( Jewish ) Rabbi in the UK, to a meeting of Anglican Bishops from all over the world, and who meet at Lambeth in London every decade. The Topic - Covenants. The essence of the speech, which was well received, was about the role and importance of Religion in today's world, and an exposition on two different kinds of covenants. Having been reminded recently that Christianity is not about common sense, but about supernatural revelation, I accepted this e-mail and its contents, not as coincidence, but as a validation of the critical discussion concerning the role of Religion about which we had engaged on the night before. Therefore I have selected excerpts which are relevant to this message and which are as follows:
"..........What's worship about. What does it create and distribute? And that's a good question, because for the past 50 years, our lives have been dominated by the other two institutions: politics and economics, the state and the market, the logic of power and the logic of wealth. The state is us in our collective capacity. The market is in us as individuals. And the debate has been: which is more effective? The left tends to favour the state. The right tends to favour the market. And there are endless shades shadings in between.
But what this leaves out of the equation is a third phenomenon of the utmost importance, and I want to explain why. The state is about power. The market is about wealth. And there are two ways of getting people to act in the way which we want. Either we force them to - the way of power. Or we pay them - the way of wealth.
But there is a third way...imagine you have total power, and then you decide to share it with nine others. How much do you have left? 1/10th of what you had when you began. Suppose you have a thousand pounds and you decide to share it with nine others. How much do you have left? 1/19th of what you had when you began. But now suppose you that decide to share , not power or wealth, but love or friendship, or influence, or even knowledge with nine others. How much do I have left? Do I have less? No I have more, perhaps 10 times as much. Why? Because love, friendship and influence are things that only exist by virtue of sharing. I call these convenantal goods - the goods that, the more I share, the more I have.........Wealth and power, economics and politics, the market and the state, are arenas of competition, whereas convenantal goods are arenas of co-operation. Where do we find convenantal goods like love, friendship and trust?
They are born, not in the state, and not in the market, but in marriages, families, congregations, fellowships - even in society, if we are clear in our minds that societies are different from the state. One way of seeing what is at stake is to understand the differences between two things that look and sound alike but actually are not namely contratcs and covenants. In a contract two or more individuals, each pursuing their own interest, come together to make an exchange for mutual benefit...A convenant is something different.....two or more individuals, each respecting the dignity and integrity of the other, come together in a bond of love and trust, to share their interests, sometimes even to share their lives, by pledging their faithfulness to one another, to do together what neither can achieve alone......So economics and politics, the market and the state, are about the logic of competition. Covenant is about the logic of co-operation.....why is it that societies cannot exist without co-operation? Why is it that state and market alone cannot sustain a society?........
To cut a long story short what they ( scientists ) have discovered is that though natural selection works through the genes of individuals, individuals...survive only because they are members of a group. And groups survive only on the basis of reciprocity and trust, on what I have called covenant, or the logic of co-operation........It is one of the great discoveries of our time. Individuals need groups. Groups need co-operation. And co-peration needs covenant, bonds of reciprocity and trust.
Traditionally, that was the work of religion.....And now it has been scientifically demonstrated. if there is only competition and not co-peration, if there is only state and the market and no covenantal relationships, society will not survive. What then happens to a society when religion wanes and there is nothing covenantal to take its place?
Relationships break down. Marriages grow weak. Families become fragile. Communities atrophy. And the result is that people feel vulnerable and alone. if they turn those feelings outward, the result is often anger turning to violence. if they turn them inwards, the result is depression, stress related syndromes, eating disorders, drug and alcohol abuse. Either way there is spiritual poverty in the midst of material affluence..
It doesn't happen all at once, but slowly, gradually and inexorably. Societies without covenants and the institutions needed to inspire and sustain them, disintegrate. Initially, the result is a loss of graciousness in our shared and collective lives. Ultimately, it is a loss of freedom itself.
That's where we are ........."
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Then today, I went to visit a friend, a classmate in med school, who is terminally ill. I left deeply
disturbed and wrote to the rest of my colleagues encouraging to pray for him. One Christian colleague, who lives in Trinidad, and who is a convert from another faith, and very passionate about Christ, wrote back re-affirming the need for us to pray for the salvation of the souls all our colleagues.Of course, as the media remind us daily, even in the middle of the greatest distraction on earth, the Olympics, all of this reflection is taking place as murder and mayhem continue to stalk Jamaica "land we love". Just tonight, there was a report on the local television, of a teacher, visiting, a formerly peaceful and quiet rural district, and who was ambushed and killed. The pathos in the voice and angst etched in the face of the brother who was interviewed, was so obvious, as was the total amazement why someone should have carried out this dastardly act.
And God who is always calling His people unto Himself, and revealing Himself through His Son and His Word spoke in the following ways.
On Wednesday morning after the discussions, a friend sent me an e-mail concerning a speech delivered -for the first time ever - by the Chief ( Jewish ) Rabbi in the UK, to a meeting of Anglican Bishops from all over the world, and who meet at Lambeth in London every decade. The Topic - Covenants. The essence of the speech, which was well received, was about the role and importance of Religion in today's world, and an exposition on two different kinds of covenants. Having been reminded recently that Christianity is not about common sense, but about supernatural revelation, I accepted this e-mail and its contents, not as coincidence, but as a validation of the critical discussion concerning the role of Religion about which we had engaged on the night before. Therefore I have selected excerpts which are relevant to this message and which are as follows:
"..........What's worship about. What does it create and distribute? And that's a good question, because for the past 50 years, our lives have been dominated by the other two institutions: politics and economics, the state and the market, the logic of power and the logic of wealth. The state is us in our collective capacity. The market is in us as individuals. And the debate has been: which is more effective? The left tends to favour the state. The right tends to favour the market. And there are endless shades shadings in between.
But what this leaves out of the equation is a third phenomenon of the utmost importance, and I want to explain why. The state is about power. The market is about wealth. And there are two ways of getting people to act in the way which we want. Either we force them to - the way of power. Or we pay them - the way of wealth.
But there is a third way...imagine you have total power, and then you decide to share it with nine others. How much do you have left? 1/10th of what you had when you began. Suppose you have a thousand pounds and you decide to share it with nine others. How much do you have left? 1/19th of what you had when you began. But now suppose you that decide to share , not power or wealth, but love or friendship, or influence, or even knowledge with nine others. How much do I have left? Do I have less? No I have more, perhaps 10 times as much. Why? Because love, friendship and influence are things that only exist by virtue of sharing. I call these convenantal goods - the goods that, the more I share, the more I have.........Wealth and power, economics and politics, the market and the state, are arenas of competition, whereas convenantal goods are arenas of co-operation. Where do we find convenantal goods like love, friendship and trust?
They are born, not in the state, and not in the market, but in marriages, families, congregations, fellowships - even in society, if we are clear in our minds that societies are different from the state. One way of seeing what is at stake is to understand the differences between two things that look and sound alike but actually are not namely contratcs and covenants. In a contract two or more individuals, each pursuing their own interest, come together to make an exchange for mutual benefit...A convenant is something different.....two or more individuals, each respecting the dignity and integrity of the other, come together in a bond of love and trust, to share their interests, sometimes even to share their lives, by pledging their faithfulness to one another, to do together what neither can achieve alone......So economics and politics, the market and the state, are about the logic of competition. Covenant is about the logic of co-operation.....why is it that societies cannot exist without co-operation? Why is it that state and market alone cannot sustain a society?........
To cut a long story short what they ( scientists ) have discovered is that though natural selection works through the genes of individuals, individuals...survive only because they are members of a group. And groups survive only on the basis of reciprocity and trust, on what I have called covenant, or the logic of co-operation........It is one of the great discoveries of our time. Individuals need groups. Groups need co-operation. And co-peration needs covenant, bonds of reciprocity and trust.
Traditionally, that was the work of religion.....And now it has been scientifically demonstrated. if there is only competition and not co-peration, if there is only state and the market and no covenantal relationships, society will not survive. What then happens to a society when religion wanes and there is nothing covenantal to take its place?
Relationships break down. Marriages grow weak. Families become fragile. Communities atrophy. And the result is that people feel vulnerable and alone. if they turn those feelings outward, the result is often anger turning to violence. if they turn them inwards, the result is depression, stress related syndromes, eating disorders, drug and alcohol abuse. Either way there is spiritual poverty in the midst of material affluence..
It doesn't happen all at once, but slowly, gradually and inexorably. Societies without covenants and the institutions needed to inspire and sustain them, disintegrate. Initially, the result is a loss of graciousness in our shared and collective lives. Ultimately, it is a loss of freedom itself.
That's where we are ........."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This very wise and humble Rabbi went on to make some very important theological points about the nature of covenants. Suffice it to say that this is one of the most profound expositions I have ever read which articulates so very clearly , the reasons why my country is suffering so much." "It doesn't happen all at once......relationships break down, marriages grow weak, families become fragile..communities atrophy". Not because of material poverty, which is the 'diet' on which we have been fed by sundry talk show hosts, and puffed up sociologists, for far too long. But because of spiritual poverty, because religion has waned in Jamaica, and nothing covenantal has taken its place. And no doubt this is a phenomenon taking place all over the world.
Two more issues were addressed by the Lord as the days slipped by this week . Both from His Word. Both deeply related to the issues above.
" Hear, O my people, and I will warn you---if you would but listen to me, O Israel! You shall have no foreign god among you; you shall not bow down to an alien god. I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth and I will fill it. But my people would not listen to me; Israel would not submit to me. So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices. If my people would but listen to me, if Israel would but follow my ways, how quickly would I subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes!.
Psalm 81: 8-14 NIV
The question therefore arises, how much does the Jamaican history mirror that of Israel? Did the Lord rescue our forefathers in a similar way that Israel was rescued from Pharaoh? And therefore, does the same message apply to us, that we have turned to the gods of wealth and power, of market and politics, of Olint and Cash Plus - alternate financial schemes - of music and movies? Has the Lord "given us over" to our own devices? Do we believe that it is a small thing for God to deliver us from the gunmen, wicked police, businessmen and corrupt politicians, if only we would " listen" to the Lord who has a history of providing for his people in Jamaica, and is not a stranger.
Secondly and even more profoundly is the message - from a God who is speaking to us through all our experiences - that, despite the profound nature of the Rabbi's speech, despite the revelations about the reasons for the suffering in my country, he is, and all others who do not know Christ, are in need of Salvation. And that it is not just a matter of the waning of religion why Jamaica and and indeed the entire world is suffering, it is the loss or absence of, a relationship with the risen Christ why we suffer so much. This is the message for those young people with whom I was engaged this week. This is my prayer for my colleague who is terminally ill, and indeed for all those whom I have come to know, by the grace of God. And this is my prayer for the Jews, the Muslims the Buddhists, for those in the UK, Canada, the USA - the whole world. For Bishops, for priests, for the entire congregation, for my family and for myself, that we may be convicted of Sin, repent of our sins and seek God's mercy, which can be found only in and through Jesus Christ his Son. And so the Lord led me to this passage and another one like it, even before I realised that it was the Epistle appointed for today.
" I speak the truth in Christ -- I am not lying, my conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit --- I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ.......... It is not as though God's word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham's children.....In other words it is not the natural children who are God's children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring...What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all. For he says to Moses,
I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.
It does not therefore depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy.........
For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all
Romans 9:1-16 & 11:32 NIV
" Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God, for the Israelites is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. Christ is the end of the law, so that there may be righteousness for all who believe....
Romans 10: 1-4
Finally, the Lord who leaves nothing to chance, spoke to my soul at the end of church this morning in the closing hymn
O Jesus I have promised
To serve thee to the end;
Be thou for ever near me,
My Master and my friend
I shall not fear the battle
If thou art by my side,
Nor wander from the pathway
If thou wilt be my guide.......
Amen
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