Month: January 2016

Matthew 6:5-15

 DL Moody wrote; “Man can as well live physically without breathing, as spiritually without praying”.

I believe that the reason we don’t place such an emphasis on prayer in our private devotions and corporately is because we don’t understand the privilege we have in prayer, and we don’t understand the incredible potential in the power of prayer. (James 5:16)

 Have you ever been around someone who, when they pray, you want to know how to pray the way they do – not because of their words, but because of the obvious power and faith that is exhibited in their prayers?

There is a mystery to prayer that we will never fully understand this side of heaven, but it takes faith. Faith to trust and believe that the God of the universe hears our every word, and that prayer changes things.

Prayer takes faith. We don’t need to know how it works – how the God of the universe can hear our prayers, even the unspoken ones, and move on our behalf for his Glory.  It is when we begin to pray that the spiritual war starts.  Satan is unsettled when the saints pray,so he does everything in his power to distract and prevent you from praying. If only we knew the importance and effectiveness of our prayers!

In Matthew 6; Jesus turns his attention to prayer.  He doesn’t say that the disciples should be praying, rather he says, “when you pray”.  He takes it as a given that they will be praying, that prayer is part of their lives. But their model for prayer was wrong; Jesus needed to correct some things about the way they prayed. He points to the Pharisees and condemns their method of praying – they stood on street corners and in the synagogue, praying loud and eloquent prayers, repeating phrases that made them sound more holy than the man beside them. They were praying to man and not to God. Jesus said the Pharisees have already received their reward in full, they had received the desired effect of their prayers – being recognized by those around them and having their egos stroked.

Jesus goes on to teach the disciples what we know as the Lord’s prayer, but in reality it is the disciples prayer, and Jesus presented this prayer as a model for prayer for all his disciples. Jesus never intended for it to be a prayer that is simply memorized and repeated on a daily basis without thinking about the words. Rather, he intended to model for the disciples the basic principles of prayer, and a format that they (and we), can use in our prayers.

Look how the prayer starts; “Our Father in heaven….” What a statement! Our father – the omnipotent God, wants us to call him father, and we can walk directly into his presence. There is no middle man, no barrier, and we can present our prayers directly to the throne of the Almighty, who is also our heavenly Father!

In this format of prayer that Jesus gave, we have various aspects of prayer that we can emulate. We have worship, repentance, petition, and we also have in verse 10; “your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”. Not our own selfish and shortsighted requests, but God’s plans and purposes.

What a privilege, we as believers, have.  We get to speak directly to God. The creator of the universe. So many people have a wish list of who they would like to speak to; various presidents, both living and dead, great military leaders, sports stars, human rights leaders – who would you like to speak to? But we get to speak to the Lord of Lords, the Creator, the Great I am. We squander that privilege, and oftentimes we couldn’t be bothered. It is too hard to pray, we don’t have the time.

Jesus encouraged his disciples to pray alone. We must always pray in secret before we pray in public. It is not wrong to pray in public. In fact corporate prayer is the life blood and a sign of the health of a church. But, we must first develop our prayer life in private, wrestling with God over issues and burdens that he lays on our heart.

We as believers also have a responsibility to pray.

Jesus taught his disciples to pray for the Kingdom of God to come, for his will to be done. We complain about crime in our neighborhoods, but are we praying for God’s will to be done – for his kingdom to come? We complain about our leaders – but are we praying for them? It is our responsibility. The primary purpose of prayer is to glorify the name of God. To worship him and to praise him, and then we ask him to accomplish his will on the earth. Prayer always begins with God’s interests and not ours; God’s name, God’s Kingdom and God’s will – it is all about Him. Robert Law said; “Prayer is a mighty instrument, not for getting man’s will done in heaven, but for getting God’s will done in earth.”

As we focus and on what is on God’s heart, He aligns our hearts and minds with his purposes, and then we begin to pray correctly. If we put what is on God’s heart first, then we can bring our own needs before him and know with certainty through faith that we are praying according to God’s will, because we will know what is on God’s heart.

Looking at Matthew 6:8; you may ask if God knows what we need even before we ask, then why do we need to pray? Because prayer is the God-appointed way in which he responds and moves. Prayer prepares us for the proper use of the answer – if we voice our needs and concerns to God, trusting him in faith for the provision, then we will be able to make better use of the answer than if God forced it on us. God aligns our hearts with his purposes.

So we see that prayer is our privilege and prayer is our responsibility, but prayer is primarily about a relationship; a growing relationship with God. As you spend time with God, he reveals glimpses of his personality and his character – and you begin to pray differently. As you know and trust God, you begin to pray from the depths of your heart, getting away from clichés and the recitation of prayers that we have memorized for years.

How is your prayer life? None of us can say that we have arrived – we have achieved some goal in our personal prayer life, we can all be growing and learning more about the character and nature of God through the discipline of a personal prayer time.

Faith Part 3 – “Living Faith” (Try this at home)

Text: Genesis 12:1-9

Abraham is a man who stands as a benchmark of faith in the bible, but what made this man so special?

Genesis 12 picks up the story some 4000 years ago, Abram, lived about 2090 years before Christ. We know that his father was Terah, and they were originally from a place called Ur. Ur was in modern day Iraq, and was an important center of culture in ancient Mesopotamia.

But if we look at the dates between the death of Terah and the age at which Abram was, we see that Abram moved on some 60 years before his father died. The first verse of chapter 12 says the Lord told Abram to leave his father’s household and move on, do not settle. I don’t think we fully grasp how difficult this must have been for Abram, leaving homeland and family was a huge risk in the ancient Middle Eastern culture.

Abram had no idea where he was going or what it would be like there, this was early civilization, the incident at the tower of Babel had occurred a few generations before, the world was splintering and there was no way to communicate. He did not have our 21^st century communication tools, he was going in faith, leaving all he knew and to make his step in faith even more impressive, God didn’t tell him where he was going, God simply said, “go to the land I will show you”

Abraham knew that in leaving he would never see his family again, it was goodbye. Abram risked everything that he held most dear to be obedient to God. You will remember from the story of Abraham later on that he did a similar thing when he was prepared to offer his only son Isaac as a sacrifice in obedience to God.

Abram’s speedy response and ongoing obedience to God resulted in him being called the “spiritual father of all who have faith” Paul dedicates the entire Romans 4 to Abraham (see Romans 4:16-17).

But where did this faith come from? Surely Abram was brought up in a Godly home and taught the ways of the Lord?

Not so, Abram lived in the Old (Old) testament, before Moses and the giving of the law on mt Sinai. Abram grew up in Ur of the Chaldees, a city devoted to Nannar, the moon God. Abraham did not know the true God, probably his family worshipped gods and idols of the day. But then the God of the universe intervened in History, and He visited Abram and all of history changed. Abram left the idolatry and ways of the Chaldeans, and followed the one true God, because he met him and heard his voice!

Genesis 12:1 is the first recorded time when God speaks to Abram and he does so on seven different occasions in the rest of the account of the life of Abraham. But God gives Abraham two imperative instructions, the first is; “Leave your country and Go…” and the second is missed in some of our modern translations as we read verse 2, it literally means; “go and be a blessing”.

Abraham was told to leave his home and family and then to go and be a blessing to the nations he met along the way. Abraham’s calling had a purpose.

God made several promises to Abraham in verses 1-3, Firstly, the promise of a great nation. The fact that Jews, Christians and Muslims all call Abraham their father is a testament to this promise of God coming true, approximately half the world’s population. Secondly the promise of land, Abraham was promised land, but died with only a burial cave as his personal real estate (see Gen 23). The promise of the nation of Israel was to be fulfilled long after the death of Abraham. And then finally the best promise of all, the promise of a savior. Jesus is the fulfillment of the promise that Abraham’s people would be a blessing to all nations. Jesus is the blessing to all nations, the provision of salvation to all who would put their faith and trust in him as their savior. ‘

It all started with the God of creation speaking to a man who was receptive and open to God. The voice of God spoke and faith grew (See Romans 10:17). You may be wishing you had more faith, well the prescription is as simple as Romans 10:17, read the Word of God, live the Word of God and your faith which is more precious than Gold will grow and you will begin to touch other lives in ways you never even imagined.

No one is naturally born with faith, it is a gift of God and not something we can boast about in any way.

Faith is like a muscle, the more you exercise it the more it grows, but if you do not exercise it, your faith will wither and die.

As you begin to live a lifestyle of faith, you will discover two things;

With God’s strength in you, no test is impossible, and with his Grace, no failure is permanent.

You may have walked with the Lord for many years, but you have become sidelined, not because you are injured, but somewhere along the way you just lost your trust in God. He is your savior, but you just don’t have that experience of the life that it totally given over to him. This happens so easily in a world that teaches us to plan carefully our own futures, make sure you have a plan…. It would be irresponsible to live otherwise, wouldn’t it???

Rather than living the way that the world prescribes try living Proverbs 3:5 and 6 says; “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.”

Whatever it is, you know what God is telling you today, be obedient. God is not looking for your expertise or your credentials, he is simply looking for you to say yes. Will you say yes to him today and commit to a lifestyle of faith? You know when you see a daredevil perform a stunt on TV, they always say; “don’t try this at home”, but this is a dare that I want to challenge you to “try this at home” and let God build up your faith.

“Change the World”

Text; Matthew 5:13-16

If you are reading this today, you are still on this side of eternity; God has called you to be a change agent, someone who God can use to change the world around you.

Evil and sin are so prevalent in our society and world today it can be overwhelming. But as Edmund Burke once stated; “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” The reality is that throughout history, there have been excessively evil days. Gen 6:11, Psalm 14:3 and in the New Testament we find frequent references to the presence of evil all over the world.

God has an ultimate solution to this problem of sin and evil, it is the rule and reign of Jesus when he returns in Glory. But until that day God has placed Christians all over the world to be change agents, to influence and halt the spread of corruption and evil. Jesus calls us to be the salt and light in a dying and corrupt world.

Let us look at these two elements of Salt and Light. Often we read these two elements as having the same functions, and being a similar symbol. However they have quite different functions. Salt is a preservative and an enhancer and provider of flavor. Salt was also used as a method of payment and a trading commodity; it affected many lives on a daily basis. The Rabbis and the teachers used salt as a symbol for wisdom; in fact they would say that if someone loses their saltiness, they had become foolish. Another aspect of salt is that is produces thirst. Jesus is saying that as his followers, we need to be setting an example in every area of our lives so that people who see us are drawn to the source of life, the living water. Haven’t you been around someone who so lives their Christian walk that people around them are drawn to them, or want to be like them? So we see that salt is such a rich symbol of the personal Christian walk, it serves to preserve against the evils of society, impacting the people who are in direct contact with the Christian, creating a thirst for righteousness.

Then we need to look at the analogy of the Light. Light emphasizes visibility and illumination. Those who want to do evil will use darkness to conceal their actions. But followers of Christ are to be those who dispel darkness and illuminate the way to Jesus as the true source of light.

As Christians we should not strive to be a light that people look at, rather we need to be a people who turn the spotlight on Jesus, so that he can be illuminated. The attention must always be on Jesus. As I mentioned last week, we must never attempt to draw any attention to ourselves, if we do things in order to receive a pat on the back or for the glory of recognition, we are in a dangerous position indeed. Verse 16 is very clear; “¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” We must let our light shine, we must be doing good deeds, we must be serving and blessing our community, we must be involved in the alleviation of poverty and pain in our society. But the sole purpose of doing this is to bring Glory to our Father in heaven. Our light is to be a reflection of Jesus.

So how do we live this out? How do we change the world? In order to make a difference, to have the influence of salt, we need to be involved in the world. Too many Christians are trying to live a monastic lifestyle, separating themselves from contact with those who do not know Jesus. Salt is a wonderful flavor enhancer and preservative, but it is only effective if it is used. We need to be influencers of our environment, affecting the world by being a living and breathing representation of the Gospel message. As we live our lives are we joyful or complaining? Are we generous or selfish? Are we caring or careless? As we live lives of Joy, generosity and care, we will promote a thirst for the one thing that the world needs most. We will create a thirst for righteousness, a thirst for the life giving relationship with Jesus Christ.

Note Jesus says; “you are the light of the world” not; “you should be the light of the world”, or; “I wish you were the light of the world”, no; “YOU ARE”. We need to understand that all true believers, who live lives that are led by the Holy Spirit and who have died to their past lives of sin, are a light to the world around them.

What we value is expressed in our actions. Those who hold kingdom values, the values of the Word of God, will witness by words and deeds of the Love of God to those around them. The very real danger is to put our light under a bowl, or to keep the salt next to the pot. We can change the world, we can make a difference. That is the reason God has placed each of us where we are.

Text: Lamentations 3:22-27

 As we rapidly approach the end of another year, it is normal and healthy to look back and evaluate the year. It is vital to spend some time in prayer, looking back and evaluating our lives. How have we grown? And to have the courage to look at the mistakes we have made, learning from them and making adjustments to our lives. If we are not more like Jesus today than we were this time last year, we need to take a serious look at our Christian walk. Often times looking back is painful, reminding ourselves of the hurts we have experienced, perhaps the loss of a loved one, or the sting of a broken relationship, or maybe the regret of missed opportunities. But if we look back and are honest with ourselves, we will also see something that even in the midst of brokenness and pain is undeniable, we will see the faithfulness of God. It is in the midst of pain and suffering, struggles and hardship that God is most real to us.

It is widely agreed that the prophet Jeremiah is the author of Lamentations. This poetic collection was probably written after 586 BC, right after the fall of Jerusalem and the time when the Southern Kingdom of Judah was taken into exile. The people were still overwhelmed with grief, Jeremiah himself describes the agony of the time and the personal pain that he himself went through. The book of Lamentations describes in detail some of the pain and the anguish that the nation experienced. But Jeremiah was not simply a reporter recording the things he was seeing, no, he was personally in pain as well. Looking at the verses that precede our scripture reading today, we see a vivid picture of the suffering prophet. He ascribes his affliction to the hand of God, he understands that this is God’s punishment for the sins of the nation.

Can you imagine the depths of despair that Jeremiah was experiencing, it was not a happy time of looking back.

But then we see a shift in his mindset, in verse 21 we read; “Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:”

He begins to look at the faithfulness and love of God, and he sees things from a different perspective. In the midst of his pain, he sees the compassion of God! He understands that God is compassionate in his correction and discipline. God is not playing with his people, rather he is working out his perfect plan.

Looking back on 2014 at Grace Point, we can also see the faithfulness and compassion of God. It has been a year of change, and a year of fruitfulness. I believe that we have seen the beginning of a revival that the Lord is doing in our midst. We are seeing lives changed and the community being impacted with the Gospel message of Jesus Christ.

On a personal level, this has been a defining year for us. At the beginning of 2014 we were in South Africa visiting my mom and family, and we really did not know what the Lord had for us. It was a time of uncertainty that certainly stretched our faith. I knew that the Lord wanted me to apply for the position at Grace Point, but couldn’t see how it would all work out. It seemed all to unlikely. Yet we began the interview process. Graduating from Seminary in May and beginning the position of Senior pastor here on August 1^st, all seemed to happen so quickly and smoothly. It was not without its stress, but the Lord was clearly moving and directing our path. I had the absolute joy of baptizing Christie, and in addition to all this we were miraculously blessed to be able to buy a house right near the church.

Maybe for you, 2014 was a very difficult year, you experienced the sharp pain of the loss of a loved one. You may have experienced some other loss or personal brokenness. I want to assure you that what Jeremiah experienced is still valid. If you go through trials and pain without God, it is impossible to sustain hope, true hope can only be found in the promises and the knowledge of the faithfulness of God. You heavenly Father knows you better than you know yourself, he is working all things together for your good as Paul writes in Romans 8:28. He has not forgotten you, his promises are still valid. We are always in such a rush to get out of the hot fire of the crucible that God has us in, we want to find a shortcut, an easy way out to avoid the pain and discomfort. But God knows what you need, and he Loves you more than you can imagine.

The truth that we so easily forget is that we are not made for this world, this world of corruption and sin will pass away, and Jesus will come again as our savior and King. Our role throughout our journey here on this earth is to be the salt and the light, declaring his praises and proclaiming the message of Jesus to a lost and dying world.

We need to remember that we are living for eternity, this brief sojourn on earth is merely a blink of an eye, but the decisions we make here and now affect eternity.

So this week as you look back, I encourage you to spend some time sitting down and writing a journal. Asking the Holy Spirit to remind you of the many times that God has been faithful to you, and I am sure you will be surprised. Looking back is not healthy if we wallow in the pain or regret. Rather looking back should fuel our passion to give more of our lives to living for Jesus next year. Committing to make the most of every opportunity and making our lives count.

Text: John 1:14-18

In this second part of our Christmas series, I want to look at the miracle of Jesus coming to earth as a child, what in theological lingo is called the incarnation, which comes from the Latin word for “flesh” – carnis. Literally it is the taking on of flesh by almighty God.

John the Apostle was the last apostle to die and wrote this Gospel or portrait of Jesus, some 40 years after Jesus’ ascension to heaven. John’s Gospel is unique in that its purpose was to unveil the Man Jesus and reveal him as God in the flesh. (John 1:14)

Let’s go way back to get some perspective. Let’s go back to before the creation of the world. A time before time existed, before light existed. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit existed together in unity. Jesus, the Word of God, speaks creation into existence. Jesus was present at the moment of creation and He spoke it into existence. (Colossians: 1:15-17)

Jesus always was God and will always be God. He is uncreated, eternal God. (John 1:1-2)

Jesus clearly understood himself to be equal with the Father, and had the right to do things that only God had the right to do. He was self conscious of his deity, he referred to “his angels” his kingdom”, Jesus forgave sins; he declared that he would judge the world. And in his most revealing and powerful declaration of his deity, Jesus said in John 8:58; ““Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” I AM! That is the name God called Himself when Moses asked for his name. (Exodus 3:14)

Jesus made many statements regarding who He was, “I and the Father [God] are one” John 10:30. “If you knew me, you would also know my Father” John 8:19. “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” John 14:9 . “I am the way and the truth and the life” John 14:6.

One of the difficulties that people have in understanding the Deity of Jesus is the term “Only Begotten Son” that is found in John 3:16, in the KJV and the NASB and other versions. This does not mean that Jesus was created by God, or there was a time when Jesus did not exist. However here the NIV gets it right by translating the term “one and only son”, meaning that Jesus is unique and the only one of his kind. Jesus Christ is eternal God and has always existed.

God has revealed himself to mankind in various ways. Theologians use the term “general revelation” to explain the revelation of God through nature and through his works in History. But the Word of God is what is known as “special revelation”. Special Revelation is needed, so the gospel can be known and preached. The Bible is the written word of God and Jesus is the incarnate, living Word of God. Jesus is the special revelation of God.

Jesus came to reveal and explain the nature of God (1:18), and everything he said and did revealed something of the nature of God the Father.

Verse 14 of our text today says that Jesus dwelt among us. This is a reference that the people would have understood, to the time in the Wilderness when God had Moses construct the tabernacle for the dwelling place of the Lord. Now let us be sure to understand, God does not need a place to reside, or be confined to. But by the grace and omniscience (all knowing) nature of God, he had Moses build the tabernacle to point to Jesus. Jesus would be confined in the human form for a time, dwelling with mankind, revealing God to us. The Greek word that John uses here describes literally that Jesus “pitched his tent” here on earth. I love the way the Old Testament points towards Jesus!

Jesus said in John 8:12; “I am the light of the World”. He came to his own creation, pitched a tent here and humbled himself. Jesus became a man in order to lead us to our salvation, he took on flesh, pitched a tent here on earth in order to be the light to direct us to God the Father. Even though Jesus was and always is God, he was also fully man. He experienced temptation, he experienced hunger and thirst. He felt sorrow, joy and anger. He was not exempt from the human experience. He experienced life on earth just like you and me.

Jesus did this in order to be the bridge between God and man. Jesus had to become a man in order to be the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. This is the foundation and ultimate truth of Christianity that sets it apart from any other religion.

Jesus is the only way. I don’t care how well meaning any other religious leader might be. Christianity is the only “religion” where God himself stepped down and became one of us in order to provide a sacrifice for us to spend eternity with him in Heaven.

Here is a great story told by the late Paul Harvey that puts a unique perspective on the incarnation: